FINAL LEVEL

ENGAGE

One year later

I know what you’re thinking: a one year later epilogue? They’re making major life decisions after only one year together? Let me remind you, I’m a lesbian, so one year for us sapphics equals fifty years in straight-people time. I know what I want, so why wait?

Fauna wanted to finish her university classes before she’d let me pop the question. I wasn’t sure why that mattered, but I respected her wishes. Her last class was approximately…twelve minutes ago, and I’d been planning the proposal for months. My tattoo shop quickly promoted me from junior to lead piercer. They’d even let me do a few tattoos on folks, too.

When I’d pulled up to my apartment building, Mary Jane’s kids, Max and Chloe, were playing basketball in the street with some neighbors. I waved hello and found Trevor in his suit and tie, spreading peanut butter on bread in the kitchen.

“Babysitting?” I asked. “They’re coming later, right?”

My twin checked his Rolex watch. “We wouldn’t miss it. Fauna still has no idea, huh?”

“Not a clue. She emailed me to remind me to feed the cats and asked if we could watch Howl’s Moving Castle tonight.”

“Dammit, Chloe wanted grape jelly, and all we have is strawberry.”

I rifled through the pantry and found a bag of chips and scattered them on the kids’ plates. “You’re cute in future-stepdad mode. Speaking of Dad, how’s it going learning the family business? You sure look the part.”

Trevor leveled me with an annoyed stare. “You’re disappointed, I know. But I’d like to get married sometime soon too. A salary isn’t as sexy as being a famous drummer, but we don’t all have musical talent.”

After stealing a potato chip, I raised my hands. “Didn’t say a word.” I coughed, “ Sellout .”

“Listen, as much as I appreciate you taking time out of your special day to heckle me, don’t you have a grand and nerdy proposal to enact?” Trev picked up the plates. “Also…we should get lunch. Tuesday work for you?”

A snicker accompanied my eye roll. “Sure, pencil me in for a lunch. Let your secretary know.”

He flicked me off before disappearing to feed the kids. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sting a little bit having Trevor join Dad in the family business, solidifying his spot as the favorite. Really, I didn’t care who was favorite. I cared that my twin had abandoned any hope of having their own ambitions in favor of being on our father’s salary. Countertop sales, how riveting. Pencil me in for lunch like I’m some grey suit business, bro.

My phone buzzed with an alarm, reminding me to make sure the venue was ready. Shit, I needed to shower and change first. Fauna was getting boba with Joss, who’d then bring her to the spot. After cleaning up in my black button-up shirt, my tattoos freshly moisturized, and my hair slicked back in that way that drove my girl crazy, I was ready to sweep her off her feet.

My phone buzzed with another alarm.

GET KITTENS

Oh, shit, that’s right. I needed to pick up the kittens from Fauna’s place, dress them in bowties and kitten tuxedos, and bring them with me. Technically, they were full-on cats now, but it annoyed Fauna that I still called them kittens and she was cute when she was irritated, so I kept doing it. Suddenly, it halfway crossed my mind that she might say no to my proposal. Worry dampened my mood for only a moment before I realized that if she said no, I could keep pulling stunts to propose over and over again until she had to say yes just to get me to stop. That idea instantly made me feel better.

SET UP VENUE

Shit, okay, I had time.

Text from Joss: We are stopping by the comic book store.

Okay, I definitely had time. Checking my hair once more before leaving, I arrived at Fauna’s to collect the kittens. God, they’d gotten so big. She overfed them, though she swore she didn’t. Three in one large carrier was cutting it close, but they’d manage for a short trip to our destination. Turnip looked handsome in his bowtie. Fauna would flip out over how cute they were. Pinecone tried to evade the fate of his brothers by climbing the curtains, but the rod flew off the wall as I tried to pull him down, knocking over one of Fauna’s game ammibo collections. Great . I’d fix that later. Waffles flopped onto his back, offended at his bowtie, feigning death as I gently shoved him into his holding place. They meowed loudly in protest. “Guys, do me a solid. This is for your mom.”

GET KITT— I silenced that alarm but could not silence the actual alarm of cat yowls as I carried them down the stairs.

GET YOUR ASS TO THE VENUE buzzed in my palm. Okay, I was a tiny bit late.

I made it to the mall, sweaty, hauling really heavy cats in a really bulky carrier. Why’d I choose to wear a sports coat? Because Fauna thought I looked hot in a suit is why. Rollo and Lennon were setting up. “You guys didn’t really have to wear pink bowties. I was joking.”

Rollo and Len gave me a group hug, and Rollo answered. “You know I already had an assortment of multi-colored bowties on standby. I can’t believe our first Mall Rat is getting engaged.” He faked a tear. “It seems like just yesterday you were doing really naughty things to Fauna on your drumset.”

“That probably was yesterday.”

They laughed, and I passed the box of dramatic kittens to Len. The cats immediately calmed, and I shot our keyboardist a what the hell look. With a chuckle, they shrugged.

The gears worked on the pinball machine. Now, I just needed to win a game and make sure all was in order… I flicked the ball, the machine lit up, I won. Across the display screen in analog green flashed?—

FAUNA WILL YOU MARRR ME

“What?” I fiddled with it more. “Len! It’s supposed to say MARRY not MARRR. Will you mar me does sound pretty rock and roll, but I’m going for romance today.”

Lennon came over with a purring Waffles draped around their neck and began working on the machine. I pointed at the cat. “You’re a fuzzy little traitor. I’m the one who feeds you.”

Rollo shouted across the room. “I think Fauna feeds him after you do.”

My alarm buzzed.

GET YOUR ASS TO THE VEN— silenced.

YOU FORGOT THE RING DIDN’T YOU? Alarm buzzed. “Fuck,” I swore. “Why the fuck would I set an alarm reminding myself I forgot something instead of reminding myself not to forget the thing?”

Len scoffed, crawling underneath the pinball machine, the analog lights blinking. Pinecone sauntered over and rubbed against my legs. “This is turning into a disaster,” I grumbled. “But it’s alright, we got this. She should be here in twenty minutes; I have time to run home and grab the ring.”

TEXT FROM JOSS: We are ahead of schedule. Heading to the arcade now. Ring emoji. Heart emoji. Two girls kissing emoji. Church emoji.

“I have to run home; I forgot the ring. Look after the kittens and fix the damn pinball machine, and—ah fuck, I still need to set up my drums.”

Rollo sat his guitar down. “I got the drums, don’t worry. We’ve got the cats too.”

After thanking them, I jogged to my car, phoning Trevor. “Hey, are you still at the apartment?”

“No, we’re on our way to the arcade. You wanted me to pick up the pizzas and slushies, remember? Where are you?”

I replied to Joss, begging her to avoid the arcade. MISSION COMPROMISED STALL TARGET OVER AND OUT.

Tearing through my apartment, I finally found the ring in a special game controller case I got for it. How could Fauna say no to a Mall Ratz pizza party pinball game controller proposal? I was stacking my odds here.

I raced back to the arcade, where everyone but Joss was in place on the stage, Len gave me a thumbs up, letting me know the pinball display was fixed, the kittens had their tuxedos, and Trev, MJ, the kids, and a few of Fauna’s classmate friends were there waiting. The neon lights were all set to pink, the arcade games beeped, and the smell of pizza hung in the air. As I sighed a breath of relief, my phone buzzed. I shushed everyone; the big moment was almost here. Damn, I hoped this was right. I hoped this proposal made her feel special and loved. And I really, really hoped she’d say yes.

Joss: Oh, no. Bad news.

I texted back: What????? Please don’t tell me you lost my girlfriend. She does tend to wander off.

Joss: Well…kind of. It’s her grandma. The nursing home called when we got back to her place. Fauna took off to go see what’s going on.

Shit. I had to be there for her. “Guys, I have to get to the nursing home. I’ll text updates.”

I rushed out before anyone could respond. When I got to Sunny Side, Cheryl waved me through. We’d been through a lot, Cheryl and me. I’d also spent nearly every Sunday at the nursing home hanging out with Gamma and Fauna. The residents knew me, loved me, and I loved them too. I’d made a lot of buddies and— fuck, I hoped Gamma was okay.

When I landed in Ms. Belrose’s doorway, her room was empty. Oh, shit…

A small tap touched my shoulder, and I spun around. Fauna looked up at me with big green eyes. “Remy, what are you doing here?”

I pulled her into my arms. “Are you okay? Is Gamma okay? Joss texted and said something happened, so I rushed over.”

Fauna nodded, “She’s okay. Her blood pressure monitor was broken and giving off a weird reading, that’s all. False alarm. Wait, why are you in a suit? You look so fancy.”

Leaning on the doorframe in relief, I sighed. “I’m so glad. Fuck, I was worried.”

“I’m sorry. Everything’s okay, James Bond.” My girl tucked herself into my arms, and the weight of her head on my chest made every worry disappear.

“Do you…maybe want to get going?”

“I think I’ll stay with Gamma overnight. Do you want to stay with us? It’s live music night—well, without the live music because the quartette cancelled last minute. But the recreation room is all decorated.”

“Of course, I’ll stay with you.” I kissed her on the forehead. “Let me make a quick call, okay?”

Fauna went to find Gamma, and I phoned Trev. “Hey, abort. James Bond is admitting defeat on this mission. I’m staying at the nursing home overnight. We’ll try again next weekend.”

After assuring my twin that Fauna’s grandmother was fine and that music-less music night was imminent, I joined my girl and our elderly friends for a riling viewing of Jeopardy. There would always be another time to get my proposal just right. What mattered is that I had her in my arms—and that I won all the pop culture questions on the TV show and the residents were very impressed.

Cheryl announced it was time for music-night-without-music, and we made our way down the bleach-scented halls.

Gamma held my arm and remarked. “Remy, you look so spiffy. What’s the occasion?”

“Yes, what’s with the getup?” Fauna asked from my other arm.

Charles, another resident friend, answered them. “Can’t someone just look presentable without being interrogated?”

I quirked my eyebrows as Fauna and Gamma chuckled. “I’m with Charles. Let me look sharp. Someone’s got to class this place up. Though, I’m eager to see what music-less-ness is about. Sounds very existential. I can dig that.”

However, as we reached the big double doors to the rec-room, a guitar sounded off, and something buzzed and beeped behind the doors. It didn’t sound like the dreary absence of sound to me. We opened the doors to a room illuminated by neon lights, the Mall Rats thrumming a beat as the nursing home residents clapped and cheered, excited for the promise of an actual show. Rollo, Joss, and Lennon smiled as I took in the room they’d transformed.

Fauna squealed and hugged my arm. “What is this? Did you do this?”

I met Trevor’s gaze from the pizza and slushy table across the room. He raised his flask at me in salute and nodded toward the corner of the dance floor. My twin, my friends…they’d made it happen. Taking Fauna’s hand, I led her to the familiar pinball machine as the band fell into a song I’d written for her.

“This is a new song…and this is our old pinball machine from the arcade,” she said in awe, piecing it together. “Remy?” She looked up at me before pulling the lever on the game. She bounced the ball into the pocket, and the screen flashed in analog green.

WILL YOU MARRY ME?

Her eyes shot to mine. “Is this for real life?”

I dropped to my knee and pulled out the sparkling pink diamond ring. “You know, I knew you were mine the moment I saw you, the moment I heard your voice. Fauna, you’re it. You’re all that matters to me. You’re my home. Be my player two for life?”

She put her hand in mine as tears clouded her eyes. “End game?”

“Yeah, end game.”

“I do, Remy. I always will.”

The crowd cheered as I slipped the ring over her finger, and she jumped into my arms. “Let me spill a slushy on you later?” I whispered in her ear.

Fauna licked my cheek in a playful callback to memories of us.

And that was it.

PLAYER ONE: REMY MONROE

PLAYER TWO: FAUNA MONROE

END GAME?