The Little Things

Continuation of Caleb and Lila's story


It's true what first caught my attention was her beauty. Lila has these amazingly deep brown eyes you could get lost in. I never got onto the bandwagon of blue eyes are the greatest like everyone else, dark eyes always did me in. Second was her smile which lit up her entire face, as I previously mentioned her smile reminded me of my mothers and that's definitely a good thing. Of course I noticed her sexy, voluptuous body. Why women think men only want stick skinny super models is a concept I never understood. A real woman has thighs, ass, breasts, and various padding throughout her body. Someone you can grab onto and snuggle with without worrying about getting jabbed by protruding bones.

We were friends for about four months before we started dating. I never thought before that romance could be born out of friendship for two reasons: All the friends I had were strictly friends and most of them have been my friends since early childhood. Secondly every couple I know basically dove right into dating. You have to remember I have very little experience in matters of the heart myself. Sarah and I went from zero to sixty in a matter of minutes. There is something to be said for getting to know someone BEFORE you date them.

It was the little things that helped me let my guard down and fall in love with her. When she goes shopping she always puts the cart back no matter what, she would rather chew on a stale piece of gum for an hour while looking for a trash can than spit it out on the ground, she says please/thank you/your welcome at every apprpriate time, she can hold her own with my loud and rambunctious friends, easily the most physically affectionate person I have ever met, and her ability to laugh at herself while in the ER with IV tubes running out of her. What I think got to me the most was when she finally opened up to me about some dark parts of her past, she didn't sound defeated but rather seemed introspective and hopeful.

Easter was what sealed the deal for me. My older sister is always in charge of organizing the egg hunt for the kids, but unfortunately she came down with a late season flu. Without even being asked Lila stepped up to the plate. Not only was she up all night at my parents house decorating dozens of eggs, she also put a twist on the event making it a scavenger hunt instead. My mom found her passed out in the garden around one in the morning. I scooped her up in my arms and drove her home. This was something she had done for me, for my family and at that moment I knew this was it.

For the first time in our entire friendship/relationship I lied to Lila. I told her I was taking a bussiness trip for a few days when I was really driving down to visit her parents. This would be my third interaction with her family, yet another reason things felt so right to me. I strongly believe that a person's character can be traced back to their upbringing. Lila's parents are two of the kindest, most intelligent, and warm hearted people I have ever met in my life. Call me old fashioned, but some things just need to be done face to face and asking for their blessing was definitely one of those things. I think both of them cried; don't tell anyone I told you.


Two Months Later. Lila squeezed my hand on the car ride, "We haven't been bowling a while."

I kept having to remind myself to remain calm, cool, collected. As far as I knew she had no idea what was going on. This was the same bowling alley we had met at nearly a year ago. As per usual I insisted on opening her door for her, then I grabbed an old bowling bag from the back seat.

Lila looked at her watch, "Is the bowling alley open this early?"

Right on cue I responded panicked, "Oh god, let me check. I'll be right back." Then I ran in. I was counting on Lila's inpatience, after about five minutes of waiting in the parking lot by herself she would come in to see what was going on. And she did.

The look on her face when she walked into the completely empty bowling alley was one I will never forget. She followed a trail of rose petals to lane 11, the same lane we bowled in the day we met. I stayed hidden behind the counter watching her as she spotted the old bowling bag with the note attached "Open me". Lila slowly unzipped the bag, pulled out the box, and stood still. I approached her just as the overhead screen lit up "Do you bowl?" She giggled.


Deep breath Caleb, you can do this. I dropped down to one knee in front of her and took her small hands into my much larger ones. "When we first met I was so nervous I couldn't look you in the face, now I can't take my eyes off of you. On that day I asked you a silly question, today I want to ask you something more serious. Lila you have become my best friend. I feel I can tell you anything and because of you I believe in love again."

Lila interupted, "Yes!"

I laughed, "I haven't finsihed yet, but you definitely helped take some of the pressure off. So...thanks. Your touch, your smile, the way you are with my family and friends, there are so many things about you I admire. I feel like we fit each other and we get eachother. Let's grow old together. Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" With that I swept her up in my arms and kissed her. When I put her down she looked up at me and asked, "Were we still going to bowl?"