*~*The Perfect Proposal*~*

Sophia pulled open the curtains in her room to let the sunlight stream inside. She pulled open the double doors and stepped out onto her balcony, soaking up the warmth from the sun rays. She stretched and smiled, leaning over the railing of her balcony. She had a clear view of the beach from her condo. The water in the horizon shimmered in the sunlight, beckoning for her to go for a swim. She smiled to herself, feeling a sense of calmness fall over her. 

It had been about a month since the last wedding she had planned. As of now, she didn't have another wedding on her list. She had an engagement party to host, but engagement parties were simple and hassle-free. Although Sophia liked having time to herself to do the things she wanted, at the same time, she enjoyed the bustle of planning a wedding. She loved the creative outflow of ideas and coming up with ways to make the bride or groom happy for their big day. Even in her down time, she would be on the internet browsing themes and decor or scouring magazines looking for new ideas. She loved her job and she couldn't imagine being anything else. 

The business of having a wedding to plan left Sophia with little down time. She didn't have much of a social life, which was a bit sad. She was very much married to her work, as she liked to say. So in the few weeks of down time she did get between weddings, she liked spending time with the few friends she had managed to keep.

One such friend was her roommate, Riley. 

Riley owned a quaint little boutique on the boardwalk by the beach. Her shop was nestled between other designer outlet stores, but hers was unique in that she sold only one-of-a-kind merchandise that she designed herself. She wasn't a big-name fashion designer by any respect, but she was famous among the classy elite of the Hamptons. In addition to her diva touch, Riley had a quirky personality, which is why Sophia got along so well with her. Riley was eccentric and wild and Sophia was calm and collected. The two of them had been best friends ever since they had met at NYU seven years ago. 

It was Riley, then, that barged into Sophia's room, disturbing her moment of serenity.

"Soph, guess what?" she said, bouncing onto the balcony next to her best friend.

"It's 8 in the morning, Riley. What news can you possibly have already?" Sophia asked.

"I've been up since 5," Riley said pointedly. Sophia rolled her eyes and shook her head. Riley's sleeping patterns were sporadic at best. She slept whenever she pleased and she got up at the most insane hours of the morning, completely chipper and ready to go.

"Well, I've been up since 5 minutes ago and I haven't had my morning coffee yet. So if this is huge world-changing news, it might have to wait," Sophia said. Now it was Riley's turn to roll her eyes.

"I wouldn't have gotten up that early, but guess who called me and woke me up?" Riley asked, leaning backwards on the railing of the balcony.

"Who?" Sophia asked.

"Guess!" her friend exclaimed.

"Too early for your chipperness," Sophia said flatly. 

"You are no fun, Sophia Hart," Riley said.

"Will you just tell me who?" Sophia said.

"Ugh, fine," Riley said. "It was Justin!" she said excitedly. 

"What? He's back from London?" Sophia asked. Riley nodded vigorously.

"He got back yesterday afternoon, but he's majorly jet-lagged, which is why he called so early," Riley replied. 

"That's so exciting! Are you going to see him today?" Sophia asked. Riley nodded.

"We're going to dinner tonight. It'll be so nice. I haven't seen him in nearly four months," Riley said.

"I know. You talk about it all the time," Sophia said.

"Well, we have been together for four years. Four months apart is a very long time. I think I'm justified," Riley stated. Sophia smiled.

Riley and Justin were perfect together. They had met in undergrad at NYU in their freshman year. They were friends at first, hooking up with random people, but the attraction between the two was inevitable. They simply clicked. And so in their final year at NYU, Justin finally plucked up the courage to ask Riley out. And they had been together ever since. 

Justin was the chief director of an international banking company. He was in charge of a branch that was conveniently located in the Hamptons. Although he worked mostly at his branch, he also traveled a lot to business meetings all around the world. His company had locations worldwide, but he frequented Tokyo and London the most. At first, the distance was difficult for Riley to deal with. But then she came to terms with it as her own small business began to blossom. They both clicked because they understood and respected the fact that they each had their own professional careers to chase. There was an understanding that their bond was strong enough to withhold whatever distance their jobs put between them. And at the end of the day, they were still as happily in love as they were when they first met.

It was adorable.

Admittedly, Sophia was a bit jealous of the two of them. As a wedding planner, she heard all of the cheesy, cliched love stories about how her clients met. But it was different when her very own best friend was experiencing the same sort of story. She only hoped that one day, she would find the love of her life. Someone who would understand her goals as a wedding planner and encourage her to pursue them. 

What saddened Sophia most was that as a wedding planner, she was privy to the wants and needs of all of her clients. But for once, she hoped she would find someone that would ask her what she wanted and what she needed. 

"Well, it's been four months. You're going to have to wow him once again. What are you planning on wearing?" Sophia asked. Riley linked her arm with her friend's and grinned widely.

"I like the way you think," she said. Sophia laughed and the two of them walked back into the condo, discussing ways that Riley could use to make Justin remember why he loved her again.

                                                       *~*~*~*~*~*

"So, how do I look?" Riley asked, giving Sophia a full 360 degree turn. She looked stunning in a bright red A-line dress and black stilettos.

"Beautiful. Justin's going to go insane when he sees you," Sophia replied. Riley clapped her hands together excitedly.

"I'm just so happy that he's back! He said he'll be here in 5 minutes," Riley said.

They heard the ringing of a doorbell.

"Or earlier," Sophia said. Riley squealed, doing a little dance in her heels. She nearly tumbled over and grabbed onto the couch for support.

"Calm down, will you?" Sophia joked, getting up to answer the door. She pulled open the door to reveal a very handsome man with dark, golden hair and blue green eyes. 

"Soph! How are you?! It's so good to see you!" Justin said, pulling her in for a hug. Sophia laughed, hugging him back.

"I'm good! How about you? How was London?" Sophia replied.

"I'm great. London was...busy. I'm happy to be back," Justin answered, pulling away from her and smiling widely. Sophia returned the grin.

"Well, you're not the only one that's happy that you're back," she said, patting him on the shoulder and ushering him inside. She closed the door behind him as he stepped in, his gaze falling on the girl in the red dress. Immediately, his eyes lit up and a goofy grin fell on his face. 

Riley, ever the lady, squealed and lurched forward, launching herself at her beau. He laughed and pulled her close, closing the gap between their faces and kissing her firmly on the lips. Sophia smiled despite herself and looked away, feeling a bit awkward. The two lovebirds pulled away after a moment, simply grinning at each other.

"I missed you," Riley said, breathless.

"I know," Justin replied. Riley laughed, shoving him back playfully. "Do I have permission to take her to dinner?" Justin asked, turning to Sophia.

"As long as you bring her back," Sophia replied. He glanced at Riley and then looked back at me.

"I make no promises," he said with a wink. Riley's cheeks flushed and I rolled my eyes.

"Have fun, you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't," Sophia said.

"That doesn't leave us with much," Justin joked. Sophia aimed a punch at his arm as he walked out with Riley. 

"Bye! Have fun!" Sophia called after them. The couple waved back at her and then she shut the door. 

She really needed to find herself a man.

                                                                  *~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning, Riley thought she was discreetly coming back into the apartment at 6 am, but unluckily for her, Sophia was already awake. She decided that she wanted to go for a morning jog and was just about to leave the condo when Riley opened the door, her hair slightly tousled and her make-up washed off.

"Shit! You're awake!" Riley exclaimed, startled.

"And you never came home last night. Now that we're done stating the obvious, we can give our reasons for why," Sophia remarked.

"Well, clearly you're going to go workout," Riley said.

"And clearly you slept with Justin last night," Sophia answered matter-of-factly. Riley gave her a sheepish look.

"Can you blame me? I've had no sex life for the past four months!" Riley said defensively. Sophia shook her head, but wasn't judging. If she was in Riley's place, she would have done the same.

"Are you guys hanging out today?" Sophia asked.

"We're getting lunch later. Justin said to bring you along, too," Riley answered.

"Why? This better not be another one of his attempts to set me up with one of his banker friends. I am not interested in that lot of people," Sophia said. Riley chuckled, no doubt reminiscing about Justin's previous blind-date disaster attempts.

"I don't know. He didn't say. He just wanted you to come along with us. You aren't busy, are you?" Riley asked. 

"Unless I get another wedding to plan today, then no, I'm free," Sophia answered.

"Perfect! I'm going to go shower. You go for your run. And then we'll meet Justin at Freson's at 12?" Riley said. 

"Sounds good," Sophia answered, pulling her headphones out and plugging them into her iPod, preparing herself mentally for a long run.

Six hours later, Sophia and Riley walked into Fresno's, a classy restaurant in the East Hamptons, to meet Justin.

"Hey! Glad you could make it!" Justin said, as Riley leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. He pulled out their chairs for them and then seated himself next to Riley. Sophia felt uncomfortable for a moment, like she was a third wheel. But she accompanied Justin and Riley to places with them all the time. The three of them had been friends since college, after all.

"I am so relieved that you didn't bring along one of your banker buddies here. I thought for sure you were trying to set me up again," Sophia said. Justin laughed. Their waitress brought them drinks and handed them their menus. "I didn't speak too soon, did I?" Sophia added, looking around. Justin chuckled, shaking his head.

"I learned my lesson after the last one," Justin said.

Their waitress came back and took their order. Then she took their menus off their table and went to fetch their food. The restaurant was filling up quickly, but they were early enough to get their food served to them quickly.

"So, what's the occasion?" Sophia asked as the waitress deposited their meals in front of them.

"Just wanted to hang out," Justin replied with a shrug.

"He thinks you're a loner," Riley joked, snickering. I stepped on her foot under the table, making her yelp. 

"Oh, shut up," Sophia said.

"While I don't think you're a loner, I do think you should consider putting yourself out there, Soph," Justin said. 

"I have my love life under control, thank you very much," Sophia answered, taking a sip of her water. "I hope this isn't the reason you wanted to hang out, though," Sophia said. 

"Just making casual conversastion," Justin said. 

"If this is what you call casual, I'd hate to think what you call intimate," Sophia remarked.

"Sophia is so much fun to mess with," Riley said. "She gets so defensive."

"I am not defensive," Sophia said, accidentally proving her friend right. Riley chuckled. 

"So, anyway, how are things?" Justin asked.

"Pretty good for the most part. Just waiting on another wedding to plan," Sophia answered. 

"She's planning an engagement party at the moment," Riley informed him. 

"Pretty mellow for you, I suppose?" Justin said.

"You have no idea. I had the entire thing planned in a week," Sophia said. 

"When is it?" he asked.

"Next week," she replied.

"You should score us an invite," he suggested.

"You could be my plus one," Sophia said.

"And then Riley can be my plus one," he said. 

"If that's how it worked, I'd be out of a job," Sophia said. Justin laughed. 

"I'm going to go to the bathroom really fast. Be right back," Riley said, standing up. They watched her as she walked away.

"Thank God. I thought she'd never leave," Justin breathed once she was out of earshot.

"What?" Sophia asked, caught off-guard. 

"I didn't invite you here because I wanted to hang out," Justin said. Sophia frowned. "That came out wrong," he covered hurriedly. "What I meant was, that wasn't the only reason I invited you to come along. I needed to ask you something," he said.

"Justin--" Sophia began. 

"It's not anything like that!" he said. "So I was thinking a lot while I was away. About Riley and me," he told me. 

"And...?" Sophia prodded.

"And I want to ask her to marry me," he said. Sophia gasped, sputtering.

"What?! You want to--" she began exclaiming, but he reached over and covered her mouth.

"Shhhh! She doesn't know! That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Justin said. "I want to make it a memorable proposal. Will you help me make it happen?" he asked. 

"Oh my God. I cannot believe this. Riley is going to freak out," Sophia said.

"I know. And I want it to be amazing. So will you help me or not?" he asked.

Sophia leaned back in her chair, looking at her friend across the table. She couldn't believe that two of her closest friends were potentially going to get married. She felt a mixture of happiness and sadness all at once. She was happy because the two of them deserved to be together in matrimony and she felt sad because she was still so alone. But nonetheless, she wanted to be a part of this moment with her friends.

"Of course I'll help. I am the wedding expert, after all," Sophia said. 

                                                  *~*~*~*~*~*

 "Is everything set?" Justin asked, pacing nervously.

"Everything's set on my end. The scavenger hunt is ready. We have the cameras hidden and ready to capture every moment. We have the songs and dancers, ready, too. The only thing now is if you are ready," Sophia replied. 

"I think I'm ready. We've been preparing for this for a week now," Justin said. 

"It's going to be great. Riley's going to love it," Sophia said.

"Ok. So I will meet you guys at the hotel then," Justin said.

"I'm going to get going to the restaurant to meet her. See you in a couple hours," Sophia answered. Justin waved and the two of them parted ways.

The plan was elaborate. It would begin with Sophia and Riley getting dinner together. At the end of the dinner, when the waiter was to bring out the bill, instead of a receipt, Riley would find a note that said to go to the beach for further instruction. Sophia was supposed to take Riley to the beach, where she would have to follow a series of clues relating to Justin and Riley's epic love story. The clues would be scattered all around the Hamptons. The beach would also conveniently have a bonfire party with many people. These people were all in on the plan, too. Once Riley found all the pieces of the scavenger hunt, the bonfire partiers would break into a song and dance routine, leading Riley to a hotel that overlooked the beach. This is where Justin would be waiting. This hotel was the place where Justin first told Riley that he loved her. It held a lot of memories for the two of them, so it was fitting that he propose there. After entering the hotel, in the lobby, Justin would be waiting with a spectacular set-up. Then, the proposal would happen. If all went to plan.

Sophia walked up the path to the Red Lobster restaurant. She walked in and greeted the hostess, Jaime.

"She's waiting inside," she told Sophia.

"Is everything ready to go?" Sophia asked. She had asked Jaime if she could set up a hidden camera that was directed towards where Riley would be seated. The whole proposal was going to be filmed and edited and Justin wanted to capture Riley's initial reaction when she received the note in the billfold. 

"Yes, everything is ready to go," Jaime replied, walking Sophia to the table.

"Excellent, thanks," Sophia said. Riley looked up when she entered the room and smiled, waving at her. She went over to her friend and hugged.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late," Sophia said.

"It's ok. I already figured out what I wanted to order. You can choose now," Riley answered, handing her the menu. Sophia scanned it quickly and decided on a parmesan salmon. Their waitress came and took their orders and while they waited to get their food, they chatted idly.

"So that engagement party is this week?" Riley asked, taking a sip of her water.

"Yeah. Engagement parties are a lot less stressful than big weddings," Sophia said.

"Yeah, but here in the Hamptons, everything is done big. I bet the engagement party is still pretty hectic," Riley pointed out. Sophia nodded.

"How long is Justin back for?" Sophia asked. 

"He said for a while. Unless another meeting pops up," Riley answered.

"Aww. Well, it'll be nice to have him around again," Sophia said.

"I want you to find someone," Riley said. "What about Joey? Why won't you consider him?" Riley asked.

"For the millionth time, Joey frustrates me beyond imagination. I would be charged for murder a week into the relationship," Sophia responded. 

"You just need to be more open-minded," Riley said.

"I just need to find someone that is responsible and mature and understands the nature of my job. All of the pricks that I've dated really under appreciate the job of a wedding planner. If they knew how much work I did, they'd be singing a different song," Sophia replied.

"You are going to die alone," Riley sighed.

"Thanks for the pep talk," Sophia said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. 

Their waitress brought out their food and they dug in, making small talk about work and upcoming events. Sophia kept hearing her phone vibrate inside her purse and she knew it was Justin texting and asking how things were going. After about the fifth text, Riley got curious.

"Who the hell is texting you right now?" Riley asked. Sophia groaned and pulled her phone out. Sure enough, there were five text messages from Justin, all asking how things were moving along.

"It's Brent. He's asking about the set up for the venue for the engagement party," Sophia lied smoothly. She quickly sent a response to Justin.

Everything is going fine. Quit texting me. She's getting suspicious.

"Brent's cute. I like him a lot more than your last intern," Riley said as Sophia put her phone away.

"Brent's useless," Sophia said. Riley shook her head.

"He's a lot less useless than your other interns. Just admit it," Riley said.

"He does do his work. But he's hopeless otherwise," Sophia answered. 

"Maybe you need to find an older version of Brent," Riley said. Sophia scrunched up her nose in disgust. 

"Gross," she commented. Riley laughed. 

"I'm going to make it my goal to find you a man this year," Riley said.

"As opposed to your goals every other year?" Sophia asked. "When have your set-ups ever worked out?"

"Well, there was Camden. He lasted more than three months," Riley said.

"What a success," Sophia said. "Everyone should look to me for relationship advice."

"Like I said, you are too uptight and close-minded," Riley told her.

"Yeah, ok. You done? Let's get our bill," Sophia said. Riley and they called their waitress over to give them their bills. Justin had already taken care of the tab, so what the waitress was actually bringing over was the note. Sophia held her breath as she watched Riley open up the billfold.

She watched as her friend's expression shifted into surprise.

"What the hell?" she asked, extracting the note from the billfold.

Good evening, Riley. Don't worry about the bill. I got it covered. What you have to do instead is a mission. You will find the mission below.

Mission: Go to beach and find clues. Further instructions will be given upon arrival at site.

Good luck.

"What is this?" Riley asked, reading over the note. Sophia extended her hand out and pretended to read the typed note.

"I have no idea," Sophia said.

"Did Justin write this?" she asked. Sophia shrugged. 

"Maybe. Did he say anything?" Sophia asked. Riley's face was full of confusion.

"I don't think so. I guess I'll find out at the beach," Riley said. "Whoever paid for this is awesome, though," she added. Sophia laughed. They left a tip and then walked out the door. Sophia silently thanked Jaime before walking out.

The two drove to the beach and got out. Just as planned, there was a bonfire party in full swing. There was music playing, people milling around, and plenty of beer. Sophia glanced around and spotted Joey, who held a camera discreetly in his hand, pretending to take pictures of the party. There were others that they had asked to film Riley as she went on her little scavenger hunt. 

"Ok...now what?" Riley asked.

"Beats me. I wish I had worn flats," Sophia answered, glancing down at her black suede wedges. 

"Me too," Riley said, glancing down at her own stilettos. Someone threw a frisbee at us and it skidded to a halt at Riley's feet. She bent down to pick it up. On the flip side, there was a note scribbled in Sharpie. 

You made it! Go to the beer keg and do your party trick to find your next task. 

"Party trick?" Riley asked, looking around. Her eyes landed on the beer keg that people were standing around, her brain working to figure out what it was that the note was talking about. Sophia knew, of course. 

In college, Riley had learned how to do a handstand on a beer keg and drink from it that way. She was really good at it and she had earned a lot of attention from the fraternity boys because of it. To them, it was incredibly sexy. But it had been Justin who had first told her how  to do it.

Sophia watched as realization flooded over Riley's face. She knew what she had to do. She threw the frisbee back in the direction it had flown to her from and then marched over to the keg stand. She handed Sophia her purse and then kicked off her heels. 

"Who else besides you and Justin knows I can do this?" Riley asked. Sophia shrugged.

"There are plenty of people we went to college with that live here," Sophia said.

"True..." Riley muttered. Riley sighed and squared her shoulders. "It's been a while since I've done this," she said. A small crowd gathered around her. "I wonder what I'll find," she said. And then, without another moment of hesitation, she put her hands on either side of the keg, kicked her legs up and then, wobbling a little, put her legs up all the way until they were completely vertical. People cheered and someone stepped over to insert the tube into her mouth.

"Drink! Drink! Drink!" people chanted. She did as they demanded, but I could see her eyes scanning her view until they landed on what they were intended on looking for: a boulder that was spray painted with a note in upside down letters.

She brought one leg down and then unmounted from the keg. Everyone around her cheered and Sophia could see a slight flush in her cheeks, partly from exhileration and partly from the alcohol. She chuckled and patted her on the back, picking up her shoes.

"To the boulders," she said, nodding in the direction of the big rocks. Sophia nodded and followed her. The note on the rocks had said:

At the end of our first date, what did we do?

"My first date with who, though? This is Justin, isn't it?" Riley asked once they had gotten to the rocks. Sophia shrugged.

"I have no idea. It's not your guys' anniversary or something, is it?" Sophia asked, feigning naivity. Riley scrunched her face in thought, thinking if it was or not.

"I don't think so. I really hope not. I would feel horrible if today was some sort of hallmark in our relationship and I forgot," Riley said. 

"That would be a first," Sophia remarked. Riley was always the one that remembered their anniversary and planned for it. Justin would often remember the day before and freak out before calling Sophia frantically for help. But Justin had told her to plant doubt in Riley's mind so that she wouldn't become suspicious and instead would spend the entire time thinking about what it was she could have forgotten. Apparently, it was working.

"Ok, so what does the note mean? What did you do on your first date?" Sophia asked. 

"This was back when we lived in the city. We went to dinner and then afterwards we went to the harbor," Riley recounted. 

"What did you do at the harbor?" Sophia asked as they walked around the boulders. They climbed on top of the one that had the note written on it.

"We had our first kiss," Riley said. "And we had a bottle of champagne that we had finished. After we drank all of the liquor in it, we put a note in the bottle that said 'We hope you find a love like ours' and threw it out to Hudson," she said. "Maybe I'm supposed to look for a bottle with a note?" she asked. 

"Maybe. What champagne was it?" Sophia asked. They hopped off the boulder and went searching for a bottle in the sand. After a few minutes of searching, sure enough, they found a champagne bottle with only its neck sticking out of the sand. Riley retrieved it and popped open the cork. Inside was a picture of Riley and Justin sitting on a park bench in Cedar Point Park in East Hampton. Under the picture, it said, Where was this taken?

Just like that, Justin had left little clues all over East Hampton. The clues had something to do with different parts of Justin's and Riley's relationship. Each clue had a significant meaning to Riley and as the search progressed through the course of their relationship, the closer they got to the final clue, which would lead them to the hotel that Justin was waiting at. 

The last clue led them back to the beach where they had started out. 

"I swear to God, Justin better have a good reason for making me go on this wild goose chase all over the city," Riley said as the two young women walked back to the beach. When they got there, the beach was deserted. "Where is everyone?" Riley asked. 

"I don't know. The party couldn't have ended that quickly..." Sophia replied.

"The last clue said to come back here. But for what? Am I supposed to be looking for something else?" Riley asked. Sophia opened her mouth to respond, but a lone figure walked onto the beach from the distance. It was Daniella, the local Zumba dance instructor. Riley looked at Sophia, shrugged and then began moving forward. Sophia glanced around and in the shadows, she could see people holding up cameras, filming, getting ready to capture what was about to happen.

Daniella was walking up to a stereo that was sitting in the sand by the still-lit bonfire. Riley and Sophia were making their way up to her when Daniella hit the play button and the sound of Bruno Mars' song Marry You filled the air. Riley stopped in her tracks and Daniella began dancing. After a couple beats, two others came to join her.

"What the..." she began saying as more people joined Daniella.

"It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do. Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you..." 

More and more people joined the dance as the song continued and Sophia saw Riley looking around, searching for Justin. But Justin wasn't there. He was inside the hotel, which was illuminated and peering over at the beach below just up from the walkway.

"What is this?" Riley asked.

"Well I know tihs little chapel on the boulevard we can go-o-oo," the song continued.

The dancers took hold of Riley's hand and pulled her forward, steering her slowly in the direction of the hotel. Sophia followed along, smiling softly to herself. Riley had an enormous grin on her face as the dancers jumped around and moved her to the beat and lyrics of the song. Riley's eyes met hers a couple times and she beamed back. 

"Did you know about this?" Riley called out to her. Sophia merely shrugged and then lost herself in the crowd so that she could run up to the hotel. There was about a minute left in the song and she had to go tell Justin to prepare himself. She sprinted into the hotel building. The sound of the music could be heard outside. The music would continue to play inside once Riley was brought in. 

"She's almost here. Get ready," Sophia said to Justin, slightly breathless. 

"Oh shit. Was she suprised?" he asked. 

"Big time," she answered. His eyes brightened and he had to fight to suppress his happiness. 

The doors opened and the flash mob came inside, ushering Riley along. Sophia moved out of the way and Justin stood up.

"Who cares baby? I think I wanna marry you," the song was playing. Each moment was carefully planned out. The mob lead Riley to Justin, who stood in the center of the hotel lobby. Inhabitants of the hotel crowded around to watch the spectacle, many holding cameras of their own. Everywhere there were smiles and watery eyes. It was beautiful.

"Just say I do. Tell me right now, baby. Tell me right now, baby. Baby. Oh!" 

The crowd lead Riley towards Justin as the music began slowing and the end of the song came up.

"It's a beautiful night. We're looking for something dumb to do. Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you. Is it that look in your eyes? Or is it this dancing juice? Who cares, baby? I think I wanna marry you," the song ended and Riley stood before Justin, who held both her hands in his. She was tearing up, a giant smile on her face. 

Once the music stopped, the crowd was quieted, waiting to hear what Justin had to say. Sophia stood off to the side, a small smile on her own face. 

"Hey," Justin said. Riley let out a small laugh and shook her head.

"Hey," she said back. 

"How's your night going?" he asked. She simply laughed and shook her head, too overcome with emotion to respond. He chuckled and brought one of her hands up to his lips to kiss it.

"So, I'm guessing you figured out that this was all my doing. Remember when you used to show me all of those videos on Youtube and praised all of those men that proposed to their girls for having such spectacular proposals? Well, I got the hint and so I came up with this little proposal of my own," Justin began.

"I didn't realize how hard it would be. I knew I didn't want to do just a dance because that wasn't close to being special enough to show you how much you mean to me. So I thought, what better way to propose to the girl that I've been in love with for the better part of four years than taking her through the epicness that was our love story? That's how I came up with the plan and with Sophia's help, I went through with it. Which brings us here. At this moment. The final part of the plan," Justin said. Riley was freely crying now, tears of happiness leaking from her eyes.

"Riley, from the moment I met you in college, I have been obsessed. It took me a while to get the courage to ask you out--a good 3 years, in fact. But I'm so glad that I did. These past few years have been the best of my life and I don't want to lose the feelings that I have when you're with me. I've never been so happy and at peace with myself as I am when we're together. And I want to feel like that every day so the best way for me to do that is by asking you to marry me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you because I can't imagine my life without you in it. You and me forever, baby. Just like I promised that first night," he said.

Riley was crying. Her make-up, although waterproof, was beginning to run a little. There were several women in the room that were also tearing up, dabbing at their eyes with the corners of their shirts or scarves. Sophia found her own throat constricting with emotion. She felt the warm sting of tears prick the sides of her eyes, too. She was just so happy for them. It was truly unbelievable.

Justin got down on one knee and pulled out a small navy blue box from his coat pocket. He flipped open the lid of the box to reveal a strikingly beautiful antique princess cut diamond ring. Riley's hands went up to her mouth, covering it in shock and amazement. 

"Oh my God," Sophia heard her whisper.

"I think I've waited long enough and I don't want to wait any longer," Justin said. "Riley Isobel Waters, will you marry me?" Justin asked. 

The silence was so crisp a pindrop could be heard in the room. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for Riley's answer. Sophia, too, found herself holding her breath. This was the moment all of their hard work was leading up to. The final answer.

"Yes! Yes, of course!" Riley cried.

The crowd erupted in cheers. Justin slipped the ring onto his now-fiancee's finger and then stood up, swooping her into his arms and kissing her full on the lips. Sophia found herself cheering along with everyone else and went up to the happy couple. The two of them pulled her into a hug, thanking her for helping out.

This was it. It was happening. Sophia's best friend was getting married.

_________________________________________________________

A/N: This was a VERY long chapter. Took me forever to write because I had to come up with an epic proposal. 

What'd you guys think? Pretty awesome proposal? Tell me in the comments below!

Now that the backdrop of Riley's wedding has been set, this story can really move forward. 

Don't forget to vote!

XOXO