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Nick sat on the train with one hand on Charlie’s knee and one hand on his own, forcing himself not to bounce his leg. He couldn’t let Charlie see how nervous he was – he desperately wanted to check again that the ring box was at the bottom of his backpack, but instead he took a deep breath and trusted that it was still where he’d put it.
“How much longer is it?” Olly asked. Charlie’s teenage brother was the only other person who knew Nick’s secret, because Nick had invited him along to covertly take video of the big moment. Nick and Charlie went to this beach – their beach – quite often, so hopefully, Charlie didn’t think it strange when Nick said he’d invited Olly to come.
“I thought he might like to check out the boardwalk,” Nick had said, “and maybe we can take him to that ice cream place we love.”
“You’re really campaigning hard for the favorite brother spot, aren’t you?” Charlie had teased.
On the train, Charlie stopped gazing out the window and glanced at his phone. “Just another fifteen minutes or so, Ol.”
“Ugh, I wish we could get there faster,” Olly replied, with a meaningful look at Nick. Nick shook his head slightly and looked away from his future brother-in-law, hoping Charlie hadn’t seen anything. But Charlie was back to watching the passing landscape outside his window. Nick took a moment to take in his boyfriend’s soft expression and began to feel calmer. The proposal didn’t have to be perfect – it just had to be perfect for them.
When they got off the train, Charlie asked, “So what first? Games?”
“Food, please!” Olly begged. “I’m dying.”
“You ate an hour ago,” Charlie said.
“I know. It’s been forever.”
Charlie had wanted to look in some of the little shops on the walk down to the beach, but Olly wouldn’t have it.
“We can do that later! Come on, I can smell the fish and chips already,” Olly said, jogging ahead of them.
“We’re going to spend the whole time feeding him, aren’t we?” Charlie laughed.
“Hopefully not the whole time.”
After stopping for Olly’s second lunch, then playing a few of the carnival games along the boardwalk, the three of them walked down toward the beach. The water was unusually still, so they tried skipping stones. It soon turned into a heated competition, with Charlie setting a record of seven skips that Nick and Olly couldn’t beat. While the Spring brothers were busy trash-talking each other, Nick slipped the ring box out of his backpack and into his pocket.
“Charlie wins everything,” Nick said as he stood behind his love and wrapped his arms around him. Charlie laid his head back on Nick’s shoulder.
“Except when he plays me on the Switch,” Olly said. He raised his eyebrows at Nick, who gave him a quick nod. “If you guys are just going to hang out here, I’m gonna go check out the carousel again – are there any extra tickets?”
Nick dug one out of his pocket and handed it over, and Olly jogged off.
The couple stood facing the water and holding each other. Charlie tilted his face up toward the sun, and the breeze ruffled his hair against Nick’s ear. He leaned in to press his lips to his love’s cheek. Now was the time.
“Char,” he said, taking hold of Charlie’s shoulders and gently turning him so they were facing each other. “I love you more than I thought was possible. You’re still my favorite person after all these years…” He dug into his pocket and pulled out the ring box. “So I have a question for you –”
“Wait!” Charlie said.
Of all the possible answers Nick had imagined, “wait” was not one of them. He was stunned into silence as Charlie picked up his own backpack and started fishing around in it.
“What... I didn’t… I’m sorry, Char, if you don’t…” Nick could feel his face getting hot. “We can…”
Charlie held up another ring box. “I guess we both had the same idea,” he giggled.
“Oh,” Nick said, exhaling hard as he realized what this meant. He laughed, still a little breathless. “You had me… I was worried that…”
“Did you actually think I wouldn’t want to marry you, you idiot?” Charlie said, cupping Nick’s cheek.
“I had a whole plan!” Nick protested. “You threw me off.”
“Nice to know I can still surprise you.”
“You continually surprise me, Charlie Spring,” Nick said, sliding his hand around the back of Charlie’s neck to pull him in for a deep kiss. As Charlie’s lips met his, Nick felt more certain than he ever had about anything.
“Woo hoo!” Olly yelped in the distance as he ran toward them, kicking up sand as he did. “I got some amazing video of that! Oh, this is great.”
Nick laughed. “By the way, I invited Olly along so he could be our videographer. He knew –”
“Wait, I asked Olly to take video of us…” Charlie began. They both turned to look at the grinning teenager.
“Yeah, I knew both of you were planning to propose today. What was I supposed to do – spill the secret?” Olly said. “Plus, I knew it would make for some great video – wait ‘til you see! You guys are gonna love it.”
Nick looked at Charlie and smiled. “I can’t wait.”
“Dude, you’re gonna be my brother for real now!” Olly hollered. “I’m so psyched you finally asked Charlie to marry you!”
“Hold on a second,” Charlie said, raising one finger. “I don’t think I was ever actually asked.”
“Well, I wasn’t either!” Nick countered.
“Who should go first?” Charlie asked, holding up his ring box in front of Nick’s face.
“You did get the first ‘I love you,’ so I think I should get this one.”
“I don’t know, I –”
“Oh my god,” Olly exclaimed with a massive teenage eyeroll. “You two are ridiculous. Let me get my camera ready.” He held up his phone and took a few steps back. “Okay, go ahead.”
Nick opened the ring box and held it up. “Like I said, I love you more than I thought could ever be possible, and you’re still my favorite person after all these years. Charlie Spring, will you marry me?” When he was planning this day, he thought he might have a hard time getting through the proposal without crying. But as it turned out, his joy bubbled out in the form of laughter instead.
“Yes, obviously!” Charlie laughed. “Will you, Nick Nelson, love of my life and best friend, marry me?”
“Nothing would make me happier.”
Nick opened the ring box that had been burning a hole in his desk drawer for weeks, took out the wide silver band with a carved leaf pattern, and slipped it onto his boyfriend’s – his fiancé’s – finger. Charlie admired it for a moment before taking out a simple gold band and putting it on Nick’s left hand.
Charlie clasped both of Nick’s hands and rested his forehead against his. “I love you so much,” he murmured. “This was perfect. You’re perfect.”
“I love you too, Char.”
“Okay, I am definitely feeling like a third wheel now,” Olly interrupted, “so I think I’m just going to head home on my own so you guys can –”
“No, we should get home too,” Nick said, suddenly darting at Olly and putting him in a headlock. “Little brother.”
“Get off!” Olly yelped.
The two of them wrestled while Charlie gathered up the backpacks. “I can’t believe you actually kept that secret from both of us!” he laughed.
“I can’t believe you didn’t figure out what was up,” Olly scoffed as he squirmed out of Nick’s grasp. “I’m fifteen – do you really think I care that much about ice cream and carousels? Okay, maybe the ice cream. Oh! We didn’t get the ice cream yet!”
They walked back to the boardwalk, Nick and Charlie hand in hand and grinning at each other the whole way. Nick looked down at their clasped hands and saw the ring he’d picked out, finally on his love’s hand. On his own left hand, Nick used his thumb to smooth over the cool metal now surrounding his third finger. He chuckled softly.
“What?” Charlie asked. “What was that?”
Nick held his left hand up. “We’re engaged!”
“You dork,” Charlie laughed. “I can’t wait to marry you.”
Maybe it hadn’t been the perfect proposal that he had planned – but it was perfect for them.