More Than Friendship Material Pt. 06

"I want to make it a memorable award ceremony, Lizzy, and I'm about to pass out" Todd said blearily. "Would you hate me if I ask you to wait till noon tomorrow? That's still 12:00."

"OK, teach," Liz sighed. " I can wait a little bit longer."

"Thanks. I appreciate it. While I'm still awake almost, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Todd. Anything."

"K. When did you take the Vogue quiz about me?"

Liz chuckled to herself. "Well if you must know, I never did, sweetie. I don't like Vogue quizzes anyway. The ones in Rogue are much better. See you in the morning."

A confused expression crossed Todd's face, as Liz winked at him, turned off the light, and closed the door.

Liz crashed right after him, huddled under her blankets. A sleeping pill was out of the question after all the drinking, but she was far too tired to care. Smiling, she snuggled down and slept deeply until the late morning hours. Stretching like a lazy cat, Liz rolled onto her belly and buried her face back into her pillow. She was still groggy, still tired and didn't want to move. Reaching over to her night stand, she flipped on her radio and the lyrics from the night before, Taylor Swifts 'You Belong To Me' filtered through the air.

She groaned and smiled a little into her pillow, feeling lucky to have such wonderful friends and wondering if Todd was still passed out himself. Drifting back to sleep, she soon woke back up to Taylor who continued to sing through one of the verses. Liz didn't know which one. When it got to the chorus though from the other side of the bed, the singer's voice was joined with a male one.

Liz sat straight up to see Todd, dressed in a suit and tie and holding a tray of breakfast, juice, a single flower in a vase, and a small wrapped box. "You know her stuff isn't that bad when you get used to it," he said. "The show with her and Def Leppard was actually pretty good. Here's your prize. It looked like you were going to sleep through our appointment, so I brought it to you. Don't get up."

He carefully set the tray beside her on the bed and sat on the foot of the bed. Liz found herself surprised and excited all at once. She smiled softly and flushed, "Well, you can actually carry a tune when you're sleeping." She teased softly. "I can't believe you're up before me."

He grinned, looking dashing in his outfit and smelling fresh for his early shower. She bit her lip as she eyed the breakfast which smelled real good and the box. She glanced back him, anxious to see what was inside the box. "Do I have to eat my breakfast before I open it up?" She asked, her pretty blue eyes batting his way.

"Well, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but it's your award, " Todd answered. "You can open it first."

Liz took the box. It was small and cube shaped with a lid. She had no idea what could be in it. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply and took off the lid.

"It helps to see it if you open your eyes," he commented cheerfully.

Liz slowly opened her eyes. Inside was a large gold ring on a gold chain, her gaze widening as she looked at him. "This...this is..."

"Granddad's college ring, I know. You were with me when he gave it to me just before the end. I want you to wear it. He was the first person in our family to go to college. He was so proud that I was the second. If anything shows that you are never going to lose me, this should be it. You are never, and I mean never going to lose me unless you decide to and hand me that ring back. You. Belong. With. Me."

Tears stung her eyes and she blinked them back furiously, but not before a soft sob passed her lips. Her vision blurred and she didn't seen him move, but rather felt him. The bed shifted and suddenly he was near her, taking the chain and gently slipped it over her head. The cool gold rested down between her breasts and as he gently pulled her hair free, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her tightly.

His arms followed by example, "Thank you." She murmured against his shoulder, her tears wetting his clean shirt. Drawing away sightly, she gazed at him, his fingers gently wiping away her tears as she held his gaze. "For this, for always having my back no matter what. I love you, I always have and unless you really piss me off..." her lips twitched, "I always will."

And with that, she pressed her lips softly to his. It was a soft whisper against his, a little uncertain, but certainly wanting. The touch sent a hot flash of pleasure that rolled over her, but she drew back, trying to remain calm before opening her eyes again to meet his.

As Liz opened her eyes, Todd stared into them. "And I'll always love you, unless you were lying on those quiz answers and eat my brain later." he teased. "OK, now that we have that silly "losing each other" stuff out of the way, we have something else to discuss."

Liz sighed, "I don't know who filled out the Vogue quiz, Todd."

"That wasn't it, but I probably would have asked later. What I meant was that now that we know that losing each other is NOT an option, we have to see which of the other two options is the correct one."

Liz tried to say something, but Todd stuck the toast in her mouth. "Wait and let me get through this. I spent like 3 hours getting all of the dialogue worked out this morning."

"MMOKMM" Liz mumbled through the food.

"OK. Here goes. I love you, Liz. Always have. But I, as far as I know, have never been in love with anyone, and I don't think you have either. Things have been wonderful between us the way they have been, but it's time to take off the training wheels. I think we need to try being together as a couple. There's only two options. 1) it doesn't work, but it makes things better between us since then we know, and knowing is half the battle, or 2) it works and we live happily ever after. Now, after hearing me talk in my sleep, I realize i should have done this after I kissed you after that dance. But better late than never and I want to do this right. Liz Mason, I, Todd Farmer, would like to take you on a real, honest to god, date. What do you say?"

She swallowed the piece of toast that he had shoved into her mouth and smiled. This, she had not expected. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but a date wasn't it. Still, it warmed her heart and made her slightly giddy with excitement. "I, Liz Mason, would be honored." She told him, smiling almost shyly and fingering the ring that lay against her skin. "I see you're already all dressed up, so let me finish up here and I'll shower and change."

He grinned and rubbed his hands along the tops of his thighs, almost nervously. Her own pulse skittered. This was uncharted territory, but she was willing to explore. "Take your time."

She held the toast out and watched him take the bite she offered, both of them finishing off that little bit of breakfast. Her eggs had already gone cold and she was eager to get things started. Still, she forced herself to take several bites since he had gone through the effort. "Okay, this is great, but I'm really too excited...I'm going to shower and change, so move your butt out of here..."