The sun was blazing and causing the grass and flowers of the park to flow into brilliant colors as Melanie walked along the stone pavement, in awe of the beauty of it all. Her hear swelled with amazement, and she smiled at it, glad that she was able to see it and not wanting to take her eyes away from it. She held a cell phone in her hand, flipped open, and she lifted it up to read the text message,
knowing that at some point she’d have to go anyway.

Meet me at the park off of Johnson Street. I want to talk 2 u. I’ll b at the bench near the apple tree.

She knew who it was from, and she knew why he told her where at the park they would meet, instead of just telling her to meet him there. It was quite likely that she wouldn’t recognize him. He was that good at making the disguises to escape from his fans.

He was the lead singer of a popular band, and they’d met several years ago, when she was still in high school and he’d just barely started off in his career. She’d been in the most difficult choir in her school to get into, and their chorus had been chosen to sing at one of the concerts they’d been doing for charity. She hadn’t been chosen to sing the part in the duet that had been offered to do with him, but she hadn’t needed to in order to get to talk to him face to face. If anything, she’d actually tried to avoid him, knowing that the rest of her peers would be flocking to him in hopes that his fame would rub off on them.

That must’ve been what had attracted him. He must’ve been so tired of having people swarm around him that her shyness must’ve been extremely endearing. As a result, they’d swapped emails—she’d scarcely believed that he had wanted to do so—and they’d been close friends for the longest while after that.

Whenever he came to a city near where she lived, she’d get to come and see him, and their close relationship through the internet blossomed even more as a result. Soon she was dating him, and even though the press had managed to catch a snapshot of them together a time or two, they’d been lucky enough to have it seen as just friendship, and nothing more than that.

She stepped around the corner and saw the apple tree that the message had mentioned, but nobody was sitting in the bench beneath it. It wasn’t really surprising actually. After all, she lived less than a mile away from here, and there was barely any doubt that her boyfriend had been halfway across the big sprawling city.

She sighed and walked over to it, planning to use the little while she had to gaze around.

Tomorrow she had a huge exam to pass, and she was worried about passing it. There wouldn’t be any papers involved, but vocals, to prove that she was capable of actually singing. The board of teachers who would be judging her were known for being harsh, and a trickle of fear spurted through her chest. None of them had ever given her a kind word, even though she knew she was very good, and she wasn’t being arrogant when she thought it. So many had told her so, including him, and he should know.

What would she do if she didn’t pass?

“Mel?”

The woman whipped her head around to see a young man wearing wide, colored sunglasses, his hair orange and spread about in a messy, but attractive way. He wore a blue windbreaker, and his pants were made out of black denim.

“Kyle?” she asked, not loud enough to alert people to his presence.

“I didn’t expect you to be here so soon,” he admitted sheepishly, coming over to sit next to her. His voice held an itch of anxiousness, and she wondered why. Was he about to break up with her? She knew that most Hollywood relationships didn’t last long…

“I don’t have any homework to do,” she said, looking down at her hands, “and if I sing anymore my voice isn’t going to be of any use tomorrow.”

“Then stop talking,” he said gently, putting a finger to her lips. He smiled gently, nerves showing in his lips. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Huh?

Kyle stood up and dug into his coat pocket, and Melanie’s heart leapt into her chest. No… he couldn’t be…

He knelt down and produced a tiny black box, his fingers trembling as he flipped it open to reveal a beautiful diamond ring that glittered in the sunlight.

“Melanie Heartson, will you marry me?”

She gasped, nerves and excitement exploding through her chest. She wanted to leap into his arms and shout, “Yes! Yes!”, but there were other things, her whole life to consider! She hadn’t been expecting this, at least not yet.

“But what about your manager?” she asked. “You know how he feels about you getting married… and what about my college?”

Kyle snorted, and then looked up at her, hope blazing in his face.

“My manager doesn’t have a reign over my life, Mel,” he said, certainty in his voice. “As for your degree… you can still finish it. I’ve already asked your father, sweet, and he gave his blessing.”

She swallowed deeply, barely able to get past the lump in her throat, and then looked into his eyes.

“Yes, Kyle… I will!”