The Proposal is a 2009 American romantic comedy film. The plot centers on a Canadian executive (Sandra Bullock ) who learns that she may face deportation from the U.S. because her visa renewal application was denied. Determined to retain her position as editor-in-chief of a publishing house, she convinces her long-suffering personal assistant (Ryan Reynolds) to temporarily act as her fiancé.[ Source: Wikipedia]

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Fun fact:  Emily likes sitting on the right side of the chemistry station. Nathan always sits on the left.

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Chapter Twenty Two: The Proposal

Here was what I had been planning; after the chemistry class ended, I’d ask Nathan Callahan to go to Prom with me and thank him (I know it'd stroke his ego, insert eye roll here) for all the promposals I had gotten throughout the day. Maybe I would treat him to coffee since he said he knew a good café.

Things were turning out to be very different from my plan. Because as Wong kept calling people forward, and Nathan kept handing them test tubes, I realized something was underway. Everyone was getting called to the front except me.

It was very suspicious. The people in front of me, behind me, sitting in the row beside me; all got their chances while I got skipped.

I glanced at Nathan as another student walked up to the table. Nathan glared at him as he handed him a test tube. The guy poured the solution into a beaker. Wrong called the next person.

After a while, Nathan was arranging the beakers. A few of the solutions were still changing colors.

“Have I forgotten to call anyone?” Wong asked.

If this were any other day, I wouldn't have raised my hand. I didn't want to go to the front of the class and look at Wong any closer than I was obligated to.

But Nathan was there. He was working hard. 

If my theory were true, I wouldn’t know what I'd do.

Wong saw my raised hand and called me.

I was walking up to the front table when his phone rang. Wong walked out of the class as I reached there.

I was looking at Nathan. Nathan was looking at me. He walked around the table and stood beside me, handing me a test tube.

I looked down at the table, and sure enough, the beakers stood in a pattern of words I'd been seeing all day; in crumpled-up paper balls, on a piece of paper on a mint, in a coffee cup. 

I poured the liquid into the beaker he pointed to and set the test tube back in its holder. My hands shook. My heart beat furiously. I stood there and watched the color change.

The solutions were all in pink  and the beakers stood in arrangement of, ‘Prom’.

“There weren't enough beakers for a question mark,” Nathan whispered in my hair. 

I stared at the table. Someone from the front desk figured out what was happening. I heard someone whispering the word promposal. But all my attention was on Nathan's hand, squeezing mine.

I would have never expected this. No one had done anything this nice for me before. 

When I looked at Nathan, he grinned. “Yes?”

I nodded and threw my arms around his shoulders. A girl from the front desk cheered.

Nathan smiled at me as he wrapped his arms around my waist, slightly lifting me off the ground. He turned me around as I faced the class. 

My eyes then fell on Erika, the friend with whom I shared the class. She was staring at me with widened eyes and her mouth open.

Shit.

Nathan and I went back to our seats. His hand was in mine, leading me towards our station. I was still trying to catch my breath. Erika glanced at me as we passed by. As soon as we sat down, Wong entered the classroom.

He started the lesson as if nothing had happened. People were buzzing with conversation around us. Wong shouted a few times, silencing us. We were back to our usual class in no time, learning about why color change happened in chemical solutions.

I had nothing to say, or more like, I had so much to say, but I did not quite know how. Nathan, on the other hand, seemed calm and collected. He opened his chemistry copy and started taking notes, like he hadn't just publicly promposed me. 

My hands shook nervously as I opened my copy. My face felt hot. So did my ears. My heart thudded so loudly I could hear it. I was sure even Nathan could hear it.

I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Nathan had prepared somewhat forty beakers with solutions, along with those test tubes, and asked Wong for help. When did he do all this?

My phone buzzed, and I saw the text notifications from Erika.

Erika: NATHAN????

Me: Umm yeah don't tell any of our friends pls

Erika: people would talk about this, how would anyone not know

Me: but its not like im popular or sth. They would just say there was another promposal in chemistry and move on

Erika: sure whatever. Why do you not wanna tell em?

I did not want to explain everything that had been going on. They'd want to know why I didn't tell them sooner. Plus, there was so much more to tell, and I wasn't ready.

Erika enquired why Nathan Callahan, of all people, was asking me to prom. I told her that he was my seatmate, and I had told him about my ‘date’ dilemma. So he had agreed to come with me, simple as that.

Erika: That promposal was not SIMPLE

Me: He is a drama queen, that is why

Erika: Girl tell me the truth

Me: There is no truth. I love you. You are the best girl ever. Don't tell anyone.

Erika: You definitely do not love me

Me: I dooooo

I typed it in and turned off my screen as Wong glanced at me. He gave me a stern look before going back to the lecture.

I stole a glance at Nathan’s face. He caught me and offered me a small smile. It didn't look arrogant or self-satisfied like I would have expected from him because he pulled all that off. No, it looked almost nervous and sweet.

I realized what his real goal was. He wanted me to die of a heart attack. That was what this was all about.

The class went on for thirty more minutes. The bell finally rang. I stood up from the stool and arranged my backpack, and so did Nathan. Erika gave me a look before walking away from her seat. 

I was thinking about what Nathan might have gone through to arrange all that.

I was completely absorbed in my thoughts, but he interrupted them, by tugging on my ponytail,“Hey, Emily.”

My breath caught in my throat as I looked up and met his green eyes. For a few seconds, my brain did not work as Nathan continued to smile at me.

“Shit, have I made you mute?” he said, grinning like a smug asshole, and I liked it too much–way too much for my well-being.

“Hi?” I finally managed to mutter as I shrugged on my backpack. We started walking as he continued.

“Tell me I'm the best.”

Of course, he would say that. The smile bloomed on my face without my permission.

“You're better than most other people,” I answered, grinning.

Nathan laughed. As we crossed the classroom and reached the hallway, he threw one of his arms around my shoulder and tucked me to his side. He did that like it was the most natural thing to do in the whole world. I remembered how I had thrown myself towards him when he had asked me. My cheeks heated, as did the rest of my body wherever we touched, even briefly.

“Was that your friend who was texting you? What did she say?”

I sighed, “Erika was surprised, of course. But I bribed her with compliments.”

Nathan chuckled and poked my cheek, “You're such a cheap friend.”

“The things I do for you,” I said. We were at the front gate, up the stairs.

“I wouldn't mind if you tell them,” Nathan shrugged, letting go of my shoulders. He held both of my wrists in his.

“You don't mind turning into a normie? I thought you wanted to stay the isolated, mysterious bad boy who would punch anyone if they looked at his face?” I said, in confusion.

Nathan boomed in laughter, “Well, dear Madam, after what I did today, I wonder if that narration will stick anymore.”

After he did that for me, I thought, as my heart swelled three times its original size. 

I swallowed my sudden euphoria and remembered Leanna must be somewhere near.

“Do you want me to drop you off?” Nathan asked.

I wanted to go with him, so I opened my phone only to see a text from Leanna herself saying she couldn't give me a ride today. Huh, weird.

I hadn't had time to discuss anything about the party with her since that weird phone call. I was sick on Monday, on Tuesday the girls were busy with dress shopping talk, and today I was too busy running around because of Nathan Callahan. I wondered what was up with her.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll go with you today,” I said as I pocketed my phone. 

“Great,” he said and pulled me across the stairs. 

We drove towards home while Nathan told me what a horror it was to spend time alongside Wong. My reaction was holding my stomach while laughing.

As we reached home, I said bye to him and stepped out of the car. Then I felt like I was just walking out on him, and I didn't want to. He had been chasing me the whole day. And that promposal at the end was actually the best thing anyone had ever done for me.

So I rounded the car through the front. I felt his eyes follow me. I bent down by the glass on the driver’s side and knocked.

Nathan rolled the glass down with an eyebrow raised, “Can’t get enough of me? I know it's a problem.”

I had to refrain from rolling my eyes. “Can you step out for a little bit?”

He seemed suspicious. Still, he got down. As soon as he did, I took a few steps to get near him. Then I realized the fault in my plan.

The height.

So I told him, “Can you lean down for me, a little bit?”

Nathan's eyes widened, “Wh-what for?”

He stumbled over his words.

“Just trust me and do it,” I tried to keep the nervousness off my voice.

Nathan leaned his face down slowly until he reached my eye level. Even then, I tiptoed, got near his cheek, and pressed my lips on it. I stepped down as soon as I did, but not before I saw the flush slowly spreading across his skin. 

Then, without meeting his eyes, I babbled on, “The promposal, no actually, plural, promposals were the best thing anyone had ever done for me. I can't thank you enough for it. It was the best, really. You actually really did all that, I still can't quite…I'm really grateful. So yeah.”

Then I turned around and ran towards my house.

My cheeks felt flushed. My heart thudded violently. My hands shook. Heat was radiating off of me in waves.

As I got near the door, I looked around for a second. Nathan was still standing exactly where I had left him, the only difference was that he was touching his cheek, on the exact spot I had kissed.

I covered my mouth and squealed a little into it before unlocking the door and getting in.

*****

I had always imagined prom dress shopping with my mom and my friends’ moms and us showing each other what we liked and then choosing ‘the one’.

But the real world wasn't like the books I read, and I had to sacrifice that. My friends were done getting their dresses, and I had only my mom to fall back on. That was what I was thinking after my phone call with TJ, in which she screamed about the fact that Nathan Callahan had asked me out. It went this way:

TJ: OMG! He is totally in love with you!!

Me: umm, no

TJ: you really are believing his excuse of making fun of you at prom is the sole reason of asking you out

Me: well…

TJ: you are so dumb

After that phone call, I kept waiting for mom to come home so I could ask her to take me dress shopping while I finished my geography homework. TJ had something to say about that too.

TJ: take him dress shopping

Me: *booms in laughter*

TJ: What? It's a good idea and you know it. He gets to see you choosing your dream dress. He will probably die of joy, have a heart attack or something. It's perfect.

Me: I dunno

TJ: omg you were imagining the whole ‘you walk down the stairs and he sees you for the first time and dies moment type of thing’, weren't you?

She knew me too well. She laughed, and I got defensive.

TJ: You can still have that moment even if you take him shopping

Me: I’ll just ask mom

Mom finally returned around eight. After dinner, she was opening her laptop, settling down on the couch when I pitched my idea.

“Tomorrow?” Mom asked, taking off her reading glasses.

“Well, Prom is on Saturday, and -”

“It's the junior prom, right?” Mom asked, putting on her glasses and again looking at the screen. 

“Yeah,” I said, sitting at the other end of the couch.

“I have the whole week booked,” Mom said with a frown at her screen, “You have Leanna and the girls?”

Leanna and the girls had already gone shopping. And they didn't even know I was going to Prom, except Erika. I sighed.

Mom looked at me, “I want to take you, but I can't make it. If I go, you'll have to hurry, and I don't want you to do that.”

“Yeah, whatever.” I mumbled as I got up.

“Emily,” Mom said as I left the room and went upstairs. I was thinking about my misfortune and bad timing when another call came through. 

My misfortune had only started.

*****

The next morning, I got out of the house and found Leanna leaning against her car, tapping her foot with her arms crossed.

“Go off, then,” I said as I stood in front of her. She had heard that it was me who was asked out by Nathan Callahan. I guessed all the girls knew. 

Rumors spread despite me thinking people didn't care. It wasn't Erika, at least, so that was that.

“Let's just go to school,” she said as we got in.

As soon as we reached school and got in front of my locker, I saw all my friends standing around it, probably preparing to ambush me. It was a rare sight. I kind of liked having so much attention.

“Nathan Callahan?” Malti bellowed as soon as we got near.

“Nathan Callahan,” Azra said with a dreamy sigh, “I knew something was up with you two.”

“Well, I saw something was up with you yesterday.” Uyen said, and I glanced at her, “Come on, girl, you were holding his hand standing at the entrance.”

Yeah, that had happened. I was so focused on Leanna, I didn't think any of them might see us at any moment.

“Umm,” I opened my locker and hid behind it, but they came around me, “What can I say?”

“What can you say?!” Malti said, and the bell rang overhead.

Leanna was silent through it all, which was weird. As I closed my locker after grabbing all of my books, she said, “Let's talk about it at lunch.”

“Oh, yeah!” Azra said excitedly.

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A/N: sign up here to check on Nathan after Emily kissed his cheek #JusticeForNathansHeart