Note: This is my first piece of fan fiction... EVER! So please bare with me! ;P English isn't my native language either, so there may be some grammatical errors & such as well.
Hope you at least like it a little bit! :D


Chapter 2: How to be brave

Rachel & Robb's apartment was only a few blocks further away. By the time Rachel pulled the car to a stop, her boyfriend was already half unconscious. She continued supporting her man up the stairs and was very thankful for those extra arm muscles she gained by practicing archery. When she finally managed to get him into bed, he opened his eyes again and pulled his beautiful girlfriend closer. "What are you doing?!" she screamed utterly startled. "I love you Rachel. I love you so much," he declared with his gazing eyes. "I really want you to be my wife. Will you... marry... me...?" And with those words he fell into the coma again. Rachel couldn't believe her ears. Did he just propose to her? Was that her moment? She tried to convince herself it was just the booze talking, but that didn't stop her from thinking about it all night. By 5 AM she couldn't handle the insomnia anymore and decided to start preparing breakfast.

Richard woke up a few hours later with no Rachel next to him. Confused, he entered the kitchen, were he noticed a breakfast buffet full of pancakes, waffles, brownies, and even Rachel's famous lemon cakes (which were his favorite). "Are we celebrating something?" Richard asked while giving his love a good morning kiss. No, I just... I couldn't sleep. "I didn't snore to much did I?” he laughed while trying to wrap his arms around her. Rachel mumbled something about her eggs getting burned to get out of his embrace. "Okay, talk to me. What's wrong?" Richard questioned. "Nothing's wrong,” she insisted, “Why would you say that?"
"Because I know you better than anyone, Rach! Besides, you’ve got that look on your face when you want to tell me something but you’re too scared to hurt my feelings.” She knew he was right. “Now speak up, you know I love you no matter what," he encouraged her. "Last night, you... euhm, you said something that kind of freaked me out." Richard nodded so she could continue to talk. "You said... you know, it's nothing, really," she denied.
"Rach please..." he sighed while looking at her with those puppy blue eyes, which were her greatest weakness.

"You asked me to marry you okay!” she snapped while turning her back to him.
Both of them were so shocked by what just happened, they didn't know what to say next. Richard just couldn't believe how he had been so stupid! Last night, he and Paul were sort of man-proving their selves by drinking, but apparently he wasn't as tolerant to alcohol anymore as much as he was in his college years.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Rachel was the girl of his dreams, but he could never stand next to her at the alter knowing that he didn't even remember his own proposal.
Finally he broke the silence by gently saying: "Rach, last night, I drank a lot and…" Rachel interrupted him: "I know okay? That's why I said it was nothing. Besides, I'm only 24 years old; I still got my whole life ahead of me. I wouldn't want even want to get married now. So, we're cool right?" Richard felt like someone punched him in the stomach. He couldn't believe what he just heard. Did she just say she didn't want to marry him? Rachel was blown away by her own words as well. Did she really feel that way? Or was she just toughening up in front of him? All she knew was that she needed to go somewhere to clear her head. "Richard, listen, I really need to go right now, but I'll see you tonight okay?" she said. Richard was paralyzed; all he could do was nod. Just as she was about to close the door behind her, Richard called her back and said: "Hey! ... I love you." "You too." were the only words she could bring out without starting to burst into tears.

Paul and Celine were still lying in bed. Last night was the most memorable night of their lives. Everything was perfect. Both of them thought they couldn't love each other more than they already did, but they were wrong. They had never been happier.
"So this is what martial bliss feels like huh?" Celine said while facing her soon-to-be husband. "Easy there tiger, we're not married just yet." Paul laughed. "Well, then I guess I better get started!” she teased. “There's so much work to do: the dress, the location, the flowers, the reception..." "Yeah, yeah, I think maybe it's best if we stayed in bed a little while longer," Paul said without losing his smile. "Hey, you proposed to me remember?" Celine chuckled.
As they were leaning into each other for another round, both of their phones started buzzing. "Oh man, I forgot there was a world outside this bedroom." Paul sighed.

"It's Rachel. She wants to meet me at Starbucks for coffee. Can I please go and tell her we're engaged? Please? Pretty please?" Celine squealed.
Paul smirked at her attempt of being adorable "As much as I want you to stay here in bed all day with me, of course you can. She's one of your best friends. I actually have to meet up with Richard at their apartment." "Richard? Since when did the two of you become BBF's? Celine raised her eyebrows in confusion. Paul shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, since yesterday I guess. He's a cool dude. I like him. And for the record, guys don't use the term BFF's"
"No, it's called a bromance. Wow, it seems like you have a new pal, buddy! Are you going to tell your new pal you got engaged as well?" she screamed out of excitement.
"I don't have to, he already knows." Paul accidently blurted out.
"Future husband say what now?" she stared at her fiancé in confusion. "Well, he doesn't know you actually said yes, but I told him yesterday I was going to pop the question." Paul bit his lip.
"Okay, so a guy you only met twice knew about our engagement before I did?" Celine raised her voice.
"Honey, if you knew about it, it wouldn't have been that much of a surprise would it?" Both of them started laughing.
"I don't know. It felt like I could trust him, like you trust Rachel. They're both great individuals and they're perfect for each other. I wouldn't actually be surprised it they got engaged any time soon." Paul declared. No reaction. He laughed a little inside. This was the second time he managed to keep a secret for her. Usually, she always sees right trough him, like that time he threw her a surprise party for her birthday. This engagement thing is so working for me, he thought proud of himself.

"Dude, no offense, but you seriously look like crap." Paul said to Richard as he entered his apartment.
"Yeah well, I feel like crap" Richard groaned.
"Let me guess, hangover?" Paul asked amused.
"Worse. But first let me ask, how did it go with you and Celine?" he wanted to know.
"Oh, amazing! We're officially engaged, we’re so happy and life is just beautiful right now man!" Paul couldn’t hide his excitement.
"I'm really happy for you guys. How did you ask her?" he genuinely wanted to know.
Paul told his story: "It was actually pretty stupid. I don't know how it happened but somehow I dropped the ring on the floor, she found it, and so I just had no other choice but to ask her at that moment. It wasn’t exactly like I planned it, but luckily she didn't mind it at all. She was thrilled!"
"I'm glad at least your little incident worked to your advantage." Richard grunted.

"I'm not sure I'm following here." Paul asked in confusion.
"I asked Rachel to marry me last night." Richard said silently.
"You did what?” Paul exclaimed in shock. “Dude, what happened to the plan? I know you're excited, but a week really isn’t that long. Did you even present her with a ring?" "Of course I didn't! Because I can't even remember the moment!" Richard didn't want to start yelling at Paul, but he couldn't help it, he was just so mad at himself. "What did she say?" Paul asked calmly. He didn't want to upset Richard more than he already was. "She basically told me she doesn't want to get married at all! Where does that leave us, man? I don't know how to fix my mistake. I love her so much, I don't want to lose her over something so stupid!" Richard covered his face with both of his hands.
"Hey listen, let's not go over the top on this okay? Paul tried to calm him down. “You're not going to lose her, you love each other too much for that. We'll figure something out."

Celine felt like a complete idiot. She had this ridiculously big smile on her face that just wouldn't go away, and she could not stop staring at the rock that was hanging on her finger. Paul had such an impeccable taste; she would never be able to figure out how he had managed to pick out her dream ring. Entering Starbucks, she saw Rachel already sitting in the corner with a cup of coffee. Her hair looked messy, she didn't have any make-up on, and there were dark circles beneath her eyes. "You look happy," she mumbled while Celine took the chair next to her. "That, my dearest Rachel, is because I am! And I wanted you to be the first to know," she basically screamed while shoving her hand almost in Rachel's face. The reflection of the sunlight in Celine’s ring actually hurt Rachel's eyes. As much as she was happy for Celine, she was convinced this was just the universe punishing her for the way she reacted towards Richard. Celine awakened her out her numb state of mind by yelping: "Rach, I know you're happy for me, but if you're going to start crying, I'm going to start crying again and I just applied fresh mascara!" Rachel hadn't even noticed the tear that was rolling down her cheek, but Celine realized soon enough that it wasn't a tear of joy. "Rachel, what's wrong?" she asked concerned. Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "I'm so sorry Celine. I am happy for you, I really am but…" Celine interrupted her by giving her a hug. Neither of them were the must huggable persons on the planet, but they both knew when the other was in need of one.
"Tell me what happened." Celine tried to reassure her.

Rachel shared everything that had happened after she had dropped Paul & Celine off at their home. When she was finished she was too embarrassed to look Celine in the eye. "You must really think I'm a terrible person now don't you?" she asked.
A little annoyed by her friend’s self-loathing, Celine tried to cheer her up. "You're not a horrible person, Rach. You're just a girl who's in love, and who got scared when things suddenly got serious."
"He's never going to propose to me ever again, not after what happened." Rachel covered her face. "Hey, you don't know that." Celine replied. "Yes, I do!" Rachel snapped. Celine hated seeing her friend in so much pain. "I don't believe that. I'm not sure about a lot of things, but if there's one thing I'm sure of is that you and Richard will live happily ever after."
"You know I don't believe in fairy tales." Rachel grunted. "Well, I do! Celine said. “And we'll think of something, okay? I'll talk to Paul and...." Rachel interrupted her. "No, please don't talk to Paul about this!" "Why not?" Celine asked confused. "I'm already embarrassed enough, I don't want him to know. Please promise me you won't tell him." Rachel begged. "Fine, I promise.” Celine said. And she meant it. “I actually promised I'd meet him for lunch, so I have to leave now, but I'll talk to you soon, okay?"
"Of course. I still have to do some grocery shopping anyways since I basically cooked up my entire fridge this morning.” Rachel whined. She didn’t want to be left alone right now, but she would never want to stand in the way of her friends’ happiness either. Just before she left, Celine had still one thing to say to her friend: "Hey, everything's going to be alright. I promise you that as well."

Things had changed a lot since that morning. Their engagement was the last thing on Paul and Celine’s mind. Their friends were their main priority right now.
"Babe!" Stefan yelled at Celine who was standing at the counter of their favorite lunch restaurant. "I've got something major to tell you!" "What is it?" Celine asked, still upset she couldn't tell her fiancé about what happened with Rachel.

After Paul explained to her everything Richard said to him, she was left with her mouth wide open. "Oh my god, this is great news!" she screamed. "Honey, you & I have a very different definition of the words 'good news'. Paul rolled his eyes at his love. "No, you don't understand.” Celine continued screaming. “Rachel wants to marry Richard so badly! She thought he didn't want to propose to her, this is all one big misunderstanding!" Without thinking, Paul grabbed his phone out of his pocket.
"Richard, it's Paul. We have a new plan."


Rachel was not looking forward to return back home. She was too scared, too embarrassed to face her big love. Her biggest fear was that he wouldn't even be there when she opened the door. It took her a few breaths to have the courage to finally do it, but when she entered the room she saw the very last thing she expected to see. The entire space was darkened with the exception of a few candlelights; the floor was covered in rose paddles and was that their song 'Clarity' playing in the background? Out of the darkness came her star, her moon, her everything. He had that irresistible smirk on his face, and was all dressed up. She always thought he looked incredibly handsome, but it was different this time. As he was standing right in front of her, she started panicking. "Richard, I...." Without saying anything, he put his finger on her lips and got down on one knee. This is a dream, Rachel thought. This couldn't be real.

"Rachel, you and I have been through a lot together. No matter what struggles we come across on our path, we always manages to face them, together. Every argument, every misunderstanding, has made us stronger. There's no doubt life will still hold difficult times for us, but I want you to stand beside me when that happens. You are the love of my life; you are my everything. Words aren't enough to tell you how much I love you, but hopefully I get to show you that every day, for the rest of our lives, together. Rachel, will you please marry me?" Rachel was already sure she was having a heart attack, but when she saw her man opening a tiny black box, she officially lost it.
"Yes! Of course I will! She jumped so hard into his arms that they both fell on the ground. After putting the beautiful diamond ring on her finger, Rachel still felt the urge to apologize. While she tried to speak, Richard pressed his lips gently on hers. He stared in her beautiful eyes and said: "I love you so much." "I love you too... my fiancé." Rachel smiled back. They shared what was probably the most passionate kiss they ever had, wondering if they'd ever make it to the bedroom.