i'm still processing. like, i’m sitting on the floor of my room and everything feels like a blurry polaroid that hasn't fully developed yet. it was my 16th birthday—rest in peace to my childhood, it was a weird run—but apparently, i also decided to officially retire from the single life?
i actually did the thing. i proposed to brendon.
it was a thursday, which is already such a chaotic day for life-altering decisions. we had just finished at the hard rock cafe, surrounded by overpriced burgers and all that neon noise, but the restaurant wasn't where it happened. i waited until we got out to the parking garage.
there’s something about those concrete levels—the flickering fluorescent lights, the echo, that specific "liminal space" energy. it’s the kind of place i usually stop to take photos because the shadows just hit differently. i was already vibrating from the caffeine and the general "holy crap i'm sixteen" jitters, and then the air between us just… shifted.
i didn't wait for a "perfect moment" or some cheesy sunset. i just looked at him under those buzzing overhead lights, pulled out the ring, and asked. in a cold, empty parking garage. it was the most us thing ever.
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the ring, it’s perfect. silver and low-key and looks like something a poet would wear while staring at a rainy window.
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his face, 10/10. brendon looked like he was about to glitch out, which is honestly the most romantic thing i've ever seen. he said yes, obviously.
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the logic, look, i know we’re sixteen. i know the internet and our parents are going to have thoughts. but when you know, you just… know? it’s like photography; sometimes you see the shot and you have to take it before the lighting changes.
people are gonna ask why i didn't do it inside the restaurant. honestly? the hard rock was the noise, but the garage was the quiet. when i have my camera, i’m always looking for that one spot where the world feels still. that’s what the garage was. i wanted it to be just us, away from the tourists and the guitars on the walls.
brendon is the only person who actually gets my weird hyper-fixations and doesn't mind when i spend four hours editing a single photo of a mossy brick wall. he’s my person. my absolute idiot of a person.
i’m still vibrating. my hands are shaking so much i can barely type this, but i wanted to document it before the "real world" starts yelling at us tomorrow. today was about us. it was about being 16 and feeling like we own the entire city, even if we can't even drive ourselves home yet.
we’re engaged. i’m jasper, he’s brendon, and we’re officially the main characters of the weirdest indie movie ever made.
"life moves pretty fast. if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you might miss the chance to commit to your person in a parking garage on a thursday night."
anyway, i need to go cry or scream into a pillow. best birthday ever? best birthday ever.
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