Okay, I know I
know another story from me. But this one couldn’t be helped (grins) Melissa
attended the Youmacon 2005 convention and as soon as she showed me a picture of
Chris Violette and Alycia Purrott together, my inspiration came flooding back
almost immediately. So, you’ll have to thank Pink-green-white-4ever for
bringing my inspiration back! Hopefully, more updates will come tomorrow!
Disclaimer: I
don’t own anything you recognize.
xxx
Chicken?
He stared
nervously at the clock, watching as the little hand continued to keep ticking,
indicating that time was slipping away. His palms were sweaty, his heartbeat
was racing, and he felt ill just thinking about it. Today was the day that
could possibly be the beginning of the rest of Schuyler Tate’s life.
That is, if it
went well.
If it didn’t
go as planned, then it would be the end of his life as he knew it.
Two extremes
concerning his life.
And of course,
Sky was hoping for the better scenario of the two.
He had already
picked out the perfect ring with Bridge and Jack months ago. But had he found
the perfect moment to propose? No, he hadn’t. Every time he tried, he ended up
chickening out. All day, he’d thought of what he was going to say to her.
Actually, he had been trying to think of it for the past four months. And he
had never come up with anything that he thought was suitable, or romantic.
He had gone
through lot of trouble just to hide the ring, too. First, he tried hiding it in
Sydney’s jewelry box. But then, he realized that Sydney happened to keep all of
her jewelry in there and would most likely find the brand new ring.
After he tried
hiding the ring in the jewelry box (and then quickly removing it the next
morning when Syd opened it), he decided to hide it in the fridge. Of course,
when Sydney went to open the fridge almost immediately after he hid it there,
he shoved her (in the nicest way possible) out of the way and put the ring in
his pocket. Then, Sydney proceeded to get mad at him for shoving her “so
roughly” and it inevitably led Sky to sleeping on the couch for the night.
Sky was
beginning to see the ring as a bit of a menace.
Finally, he
decided to just hide the ring in one of his old socks that he never wore. He
hid the sock in the upper left corner of his bottom drawer and there it stayed for
three months without being harmed or discovered.
But no matter
what, tonight was the night he was going to do it. He was going to propose to
Sydney even if it killed him.
He had managed
to get reservations at Sydney’s favorite restaurant and they had agreed to head
to dinner at seven-thirty that night. It was already 2:00 in the afternoon,
meaning Sky had four hours before he had to get ready, to come up with the best
speech possible that would determine his happiness for the rest of his life.
He had been
distracted all day, trying to think of anything that could possibly sound
somewhat romantic. Something that would convince Sydney to say, “Yes Sky, of
course I’ll marry you!”
And of course,
he couldn’t come up with anything that he thought was perfect in any way.
He needed some
help.
xxx
“Please,
help me?” Sky pleaded pathetically with Jack after an hour of mindless banter.
“Why should I
help you with this again?” The red ranger smirked as he leaned back against the
couch with his hands rested behind his head and his elbows sticking in the air.
Sky was so
frustrated that he was tempted to break something. Perhaps, Jack’s finger. Or
his arm. Or his leg. The blue ranger wasn’t feeling picky at the moment.
“Look,” Sky
bit out through a clenched jaw, “we’ve already gone over this. We’ve been
going over why you should help me for an hour now. Ever since I drove over here
in an apprehensive mood. My nerves are shot. And, let me remind you, I am less
than calm at the moment with nervousness. And you’re making it worse because
you’re being so difficult!”
“Temper,
temper,” Jack leaned further into the couch and continued to smirk at the blue
ranger. “Remind me one last time. Just so I understand.”
Sky let out a
growl that rivaled Commander Cruger’s. Jerk. I ought to beat you to a bloody
pulp right here and now.
“Fine,” Sky
muttered. “I need to ask Syd to marry me. And I need your help figuring out my
brilliant speech. I’m taking her out to dinner and proposing to her tonight at
the restaurant and I need to say something that will make her say yes. It’s
already 3:00 and I only have three hours before I have to get home and get
ready-“
“Wow Sky, I
never knew you were so girly that you’d have to take excessive amounts of time
getting ready for dinner. I guess Syd has rubbed off on you.”
Sky let out
another growl. He’s doing this on purpose. He’s just trying to get under my
skin because he wants to see me get upset.
“And why do
you need my help again?” Jack gave another smirk.
And it’s
working. He knows exactly what to say to make me lose it. I should just end our
friendship here and now.
Sky glared.
“You. Are. Impossible!”
The red ranger
only gave him a smug grin. “I try.”
Sky took a
deep breath. “Fine, have it your way. Obviously, you’re useless at this kind of
stuff.” He rose from his seat.
“Okay,” Jack
shrugged his shoulders. “Good luck!”
Sky sent
another murdering glare towards Jack. Trust Jack to make his life unbelievably
difficult. “Whatever, I’m leaving.”
“Bye!” Jack
called cheerfully, waving.
The door being
slammed was the red ranger’s only reply.
xxx
Sky buried his
head in his hands.
“So let me get
this straight,” Bridge was saying, “You’re finally going to ask Syd to marry
you? Awesome!”
He let out a
sigh. “Can we please get back to the topic at hand?”
Bridge looked
at him weirdly. “What topic? We never became off topic. You were the one that
brought up the subject in the first place.”
Sky felt his
temper get the best of him. “I meant back to the topic of helping me
plan my speech!”
“Oh.”
There was a
silence.
“So help me!”
Sky burst out. “It’s already-“ he glanced at his watch, “4:00! I only have two
hours to come up with something remotely decent!”
Bridge held up
his hands. “Alright already! Calm down Sky, you’re going to give yourself a
heart attack.” Then, the green ranger stopped and paused. “Can you give
yourself a heart attack by proposing to someone?” he asked thoughtfully.
Sky only
groaned loudly.
An hour later,
they finally came up with a decent plan for the proposal.
“Are you sure
about this?” Sky asked tiredly for the fifth time, rubbing his forehead.
“Look,” Bridge
sighed, rubbing his eyes, looking equally as drained as Sky did. “Just trust
me. And look at it this way, if it doesn’t work, go with the whole ‘I love you,
will you marry me?’ thing. That will work too, you know.”
“But that’s so
unoriginal,” Sky complained.
“This is why
you have your completely original speech to save you. And if it doesn’t
work, you’ll have to go with the boring way. At least it’ll work.”
“Can we go
over it one more time?”
Bridge gave
him a bored look.
“Please?”
“Fine,” Bridge
sighed, “but only because this is one of the most important days in your life.
And don’t forget, I get to be the best man.”
“Yeah, yeah.
So, I have to make sure I act really… nonchalant about the whole thing.
Like it’s not even coming, right?”
“Right.”
“And then, I
have to lead the conversation over to eternity, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Bridge
replied, looking as if he’d fall asleep right there on the couch.
“Wait, how
do I do that?”
“Mention
something about wanting to live for eternity… wanting to stay like this with
her forever…” Bridge said dully.
“Okay… so then
I tell her that and say that I love her and ask her to marry me so we can be
together forever.”
“Yeah…”
“Bridge?”
“Hmm?”
“Thanks a
lot.”
There was no answer.
Sky looked over at Bridge and a second later his eyes narrowed. Bridge had
fallen asleep. “I am not that boring!” The blue ranger said in a huff before
getting up to leave.
xxx
“I can do
this… I can do this… I can do this…” Sky muttered as he stood in front of the
full length mirror, as he put on his tie. His hands were shaking, and heart
rate was probably off the charts. Was it bad that he felt like he was about to
hurl at any given moment?
"Sky,"
Sydney's voice called from the bathroom as she cracked open the door,
"Would you be so kind as to hand me my dress?"
“Huh?” Sky’s
thoughts were broken and he looked around the room.
Syd’s bare arm
stuck out from the bathroom. “Can you hand me my dress Sky?”
“Oh!” Sky
quickly picked up the dress that was lying on the bed and draped it over her
arm. “Here you go.”
"Thank
you," she stated happily before slamming the door in his face.
“I can do
this… I can do this… I can do this…” Sky went back to muttering before the
bathroom door opened once again.
This time Syd’s
head poked through. “Can you hand me my gold earrings? The long dangly ones.”
Sky ambled
over to the dresser, pulling at his too-tight collar, and began sorting through
the small pile of earrings that lay there. Picking up a pair of gold, dangly
ones, he headed back over to the bathroom.
“Thank you
honey!” Syd flashed him a smile before disappearing into the bathroom once
more.
He looked over
at the bedside table and noticed a tube of lipstick on the verge of rolling off
onto the floor. He quickly snatched it up and tossed it behind him towards the
bathroom just as Sydney opened the door again, "Hey Sky, can you get me
my-" With a startled yelp, she clumsily caught the lipstick, and stuck her
tongue out at a highly amused Sky. Then she shut the door with once again.
Sky let out a
sigh, trying to calm his nerves. He walked away from the mirror and went over
his checklist one last time.
Ring? He felt
his front pocket and felt the squarish object. Check.
Money? Check.
Clothes on? Check.
Shoes? Nope.
He put on his shoes and continued the checklist.
Proposal? Check.
He remembered it. At least, he did at the moment.
Sky sighed. He
was prepared as best as he could be.
Minutes later,
Syd stepped out of the bathroom and Sky lost all thought. The pink ranger
smiled cheerfully, enjoying the look on his face. “I’m ready to go now!”
Sky swallowed,
his nervousness back in full force. “Oh…um… yeah… let’s go.”
xxx
They arrived
at the restaurant at exactly 7:29pm on the dot. By then, Sydney had caught onto
the fact that Sky was acting more peculiar than usual. The pink ranger frowned
as she caught her boyfriend patting the front pocket of his coat for the
seventh time that night. Sky was fidgety that night and he was usually never
fidgety!
“Honey,” she
stared at him with puzzled blue eyes. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
Sky stared at
her nervously. “Of course! Why wouldn’t I be? I’m fine, perfectly fine,” his
voice was starting became a little squeaky. “Just fine.” The blue ranger gulped
nervously when Sydney narrowed her eyes at him. “Really, I’m fine.”
Sydney
continued to look at him strangely, but didn’t comment. Within minutes, the
pair was seated and the waiter was handing them the menus.
“So how was
your day?” She asked, after they had ordered their food.
“My day?”
Sydney looked
amused. “Yes Sky, your day.”
“It was good.
Wonderful. You know, the usual. Uh… how was yours?”
There was just
no way he could tell her that he had spent all day obsessing and pondering over
possible proposal techniques. It would completely ruin the spontaneity of the
proposal. Now, that wasn’t his intention at all.
Syd glanced at
him with a concerned expression. “Are you alright?” She knew Sky had his
quirks, but he was just being downright weird today.
“Of course,”
Sky answered quickly. A little too quickly, she thought. “I’m fine. Just
fine. Perfectly fine. I’m just fine and dandy.”
Syd fought the
urge to roll her eyes. Sky was clearly not fine. Honestly, it was just like
talking to him back when he had stuttered around her all the time. That was
some point before they got together officially. “Okay…” she replied slowly.
This was far too suspicious. And with Sky, when something seemed out of the
ordinary, it usually was. “Well, my day was alright. I was able to get a lot of
work done with the Cadets.”
“Oh, that’s
good,” Sky replied.
They both fell
into an awkward silence that also reminded Sydney of their first few dates
together. Honestly, what was going on with him?
“So… Syd…” Sky
began, fidgeting slightly.
The pink
ranger instantly became alert. He’s planning something. He always fidgets
when he plans. “Yes?”
“Wouldn’t you
love to be like this for eternity?” He asked in one breath.
Sydney raised
an eyebrow, feeling a tiny bit confused. “Uh… sure… I don’t know. I’d like to
move on with my life, too. I wouldn’t always want to be this age.”
“You wouldn’t
always want to be twenty-four going on twenty-five?”
“No…” she
replied slowly, her confusion growing. Okay, should I even mention the fact
that I want to have kids at some point? Or is that going to cause a heart
attack?
“Why not,
though?” Now Sky looked confused as well.
“Because…” she
stalled, choosing her words carefully. “Because, I’d want to… uh… get to know…
um… the pleasures of getting older, I guess.”
“What, having
your hair turn white?” Sky was really confused now. When had they gotten on the
subject of getting old?
“No!” Sydney
exclaimed. “I was talking about the… the near future. I don’t know…” He’s
obviously not ready for any discussion of marriage. Or Kids. It’s like he’s
completely in denial. So much, that the thought of marriage or kids hasn’t even
crossed his mind.
“Yes, you do
know,” Sky persisted.
“I don’t think
we need to discuss any of this right now.”
“Why not?”
“Because… just
because,” Sydney said with finality. Another silence elapsed.
After a pause,
Sky decided to continue on with his speech once more. “Well, what I meant about
living for eternity was that… I… um… want to stay like this… with you forever.”
He looked at her meaningfully, hoping that she would catch his drift.
Sydney stared
at him with wide eyes. I didn’t know he didn’t want marriage this badly! He
just wants us to remain as boyfriend/girlfriend. He doesn’t want us to get
married. But… but… but… what about kids? I want a marriage and kids! “Like
what, exactly?” she asked, narrowing her eyes, slightly.
Sky gulped. He
knew that look – he’d known it since he first met Sydney and she introduced him
to her Glare of Death. Perhaps she didn’t want to marry him? “L–Like this?” he
tried tentatively.
“I understand
that, Sky. What is ‘this’?”
“Together,
like this,” Sky said. He didn’t think it was so hard to understand, but
obviously Sydney was having trouble.
“Sky!” Syd
exclaimed irritably. “What is ‘this’?”
The blue
ranger was saved from having to further explain himself because their food had
arrived. He dove into his meal eagerly, thankful for the distraction.
Sydney watched
him, torn between disgust and amusement. And anger at his previous “wanting to
remain like this forever” statement.
“Schuyler
Tate… you better explain to me–“
No, she’s
not making me explain anymore. I will not fight with her right now. She
will not finish that sentence.
“Marry me?”
Sky said, looking up at her, holding out a piece of chicken on his fork.
Damnit. God
damnit to hell, I was only trying to offer her some chicken. She tricked me into saying what
I meant! She ruined the spontaneity of it! Well, no she didn’t, it was still
rather spontaneous, but not what I wanted to do! That was very sneaky of her…
“What?” Syd
asked, her eyes growing wide as she dropped her own fork.
The piece of
chicken dangled limply from the fork in Sky’s hand as Sky did some quick
thinking. What could I have possibly said instead of ‘Marry me?’ I could
have said ‘Chicken?’ After all, that’s what I was trying to say to begin with.
“Chicken?” Sky
tried hopefully.
“No…” Sydney
sputtered, shaking her head slightly, as if in a daze. “No… you said –“
“Asparagus?” Ah,
that sounds more like ‘marry me’. Slightly.
“You don’t
even have any asparagus on your plate. Besides, I hate asparagus,” Syd pointed
out. “But… you said –“
“Pickle?” Sky
offered, holding out his pickle in his other hand so that he was offering her
the piece of chicken and half of a pickle.
“Sky!” Syd
exclaimed.
Despite
himself, Sky couldn’t help but grin. “You don’t want a pickle?” he asked
innocently.
“No, I don’t
want any pickle,” Sydney said impatiently. “Or chicken. So put both of them
back on your plate and stop offering me food!”
“You’re not
hungry?” Sky asked, trying to steer the conversation away from his mistake.
“Stop, Sky,”
Sydney demanded as the blue ranger surrendered and put his food back down on
his plate, his eyes focused on the table. “Now, what did you say before?”
“I said… do I have
to say it now? It’s going to be ruined…” Sky spoke sadly, feeling downhearted.
The pink
ranger hadn’t the faintest clue as to what he was on about. “It’s okay. Just
say it.”
“I said ‘Marry
me?’” he muttered.
Silence
followed.
It was
beginning to be too much for Sky, so he chanced a glance up at his girlfriend.
He saw Syd sitting there with a small smile on her face and tears in her eyes,
looking athim in wonder.
“Are you… are
you… serious?”
He met her
eyes and said, “Yes. I am, actually.”
“Oh, Sky!” Syd
exclaimed happily as she got up and threw her arms around his neck.
“Well, hold
on, I have this…” Sky moved slightly and produced the ring from his pocket.
“A ring?” Syd
asked with a watery smile.
Sky chuckled
slightly. “I had to do at least one part properly. I tried to make the
proposal right… but well, that didn’t quite work out, did it?”
Syd smiled and
looked eagerly at the ring box, waiting for Sky to open it. Sky opened it and
the pink ranger literally shrieked with delight when she saw the ring.
“It’s… gorgeous!”
she exclaimed.
Of course
it’s gorgeous. I did pick it out.
The blue
ranger took the ring out of the box. “Okay, I’m going to have another go at
this.
Syd nodded,
seemingly incapable of speaking. Sky smiled broadly and slipped the ring onto
her finger.
She looked at
the ring happily and then looked at him, murmuring, “I love you,” every so
often. Sky just watched her, in a trance. He was really going to marry her.
He’d been hoping for this since he was… twenty, when he’d finally realized that
he had more than just a crush on Sydney Drew.
Sydney
Drew… Sydney Tate. Sky and Sydney Tate. Something about that just fit together
perfectly.
He looked at
Syd again and saw that her eyes were fixed on his plate. “Is that offer for
chicken still good?”
Sky smirked.
“You didn’t seem so keen on the chicken before.”
He watched her
chew on the chicken in a state of bliss. So it didn’t go exactly according
to plan. Okay, it didn’t follow the plan at all. But perhaps that wasn’t so
bad. She said yes and I’ve never seen her happier. I’ll never think of chicken
the same way again. Ever again.
xxx
Well? Review!
Oh, and thank you for everyone who nominated me! (grins)