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Todd had insisted weeks ahead of time that he didn’t want to make a big deal out of his birthday. This wasn’t the same “plea” she had made in February – this was an actual hope of Todd’s that they could keep his birthday celebrations to a minimum. “Celebrating your birthday after 21 is pointless,” Todd maintained countless times.
Taking his request to heart, she planned a dinner weeks in advance at his favorite steakhouse. No friends, no outlandish surprises, but most importantly to him, no call ahead to the maître d’ letting him know that it was Todd’s birthday.
“Right this way,” he told them immediately upon their arrival. Each somewhat buzzed off their two glasses of Duckhorn Cabernet that they’d had in preparation for the dinner, Todd had already sent an email letting his subordinates know that he’d be coming a couple hours late the next morning. Granted, his subordinates solely consisted of two interns and a new hire, but still.
Being the incessant planner that she is, she had called ahead three weeks in advance for the reservation. “The table in the back corner opposite the jazz trio,” she explicitly told them. “With a bottle of Duckhorn Cabernet waiting at the table for us.” It had become Todd’s favorite wine after their trip to Napa, but they rarely drank any despite her affinity for expensive things.
As they sat down, there was a tacit communication between her and the host. “Well done,” she told him with her eyes. “Please be correct so I don’t get an angry phone call in the morning,” the host wished to himself. He walked away quickly after seating them and nodded a water boy over to their table who promptly filled their glasses with sparkling water. But even though the night was beginning without a hitch, it almost seemed too seamless to Todd.
He reached across the table and grabbed her hand – “Seriously, thank you for not making a huge deal out of tonight.”
She nodded knowing how well she’d done, and simply responded, “Of course – anything for you.”
Todd took his menu and set it aside already knowing what he was going to order. The 26-ounce bone-in ribeye that was dry-aged 32 days. An absurd order, yes, but an order he’d only made once before at a celebratory client dinner that forever changed his perspective on what steak should actually taste like.
She, on the other hand, picked up a menu and looked over it longingly. She knew she wanted to start with pâté, but she had yet to make a decision on what she wanted as her entree. It was probably the only part of the night that she hadn’t planned out ahead of time, and she kicked herself for it.
In an attempt to shift the focus from it being a nice mid-week birthday dinner, Todd changed the conversation to something more playful – Halloween.
“I think I’m just going to go as one of the students from Dead Poets Society this year,” Todd told her in an attempt to essentially tell her, “We aren’t doing a couple’s costume.”
“I have that red sweatshirt I can wear, and everything else is pretty easy,” he continued while she debated between the shellfish risotto and the ahi tuna tartare.
Todd laughed to himself before remarking, “I feel like you’ve probably had your costume planned for about a month now.”
He was wrong. She had it planned for two months now. While putting down her menu (“I’ll do the shellfish risotto and a wedge salad to start,” she’d later say), she explained, “Um, I def already claimed Wonder Woman in our group chat even though I know Katie is probs going to try to be her as well.” Between her, Katie, and Caroline, they all decided to go with an “empowerment” theme this year for their costumes rather than trying to match with their significant others. A big stride for feminism, one costume at a time.
Elated, Todd made a mental note to text John after dinner and make his Dead Poets group costume pitch. He found it easier to get into Halloween if there was a group mentality going into the night.
But after his train of thought regarding Halloween had run its course, he noticed her eyes nervously shifting towards their waiter. Their wine glasses had just been filled, so he wondered what she was looking for.
“Everything okay?” he asked, somewhat startling her.
She laughed before telling him, “Of course, everything’s totally fine, babe.”
“You seem nervous,” he explained to her before cracking the joke, “You’re not proposing to me tonight, are you?”
She smiled before assuring him that “even [she] isn’t that crazy,” only to follow up with, “Actually, maybe I am.”
Todd knew he had to change the subject and was now the person waiting for the waiter to come take their dinner orders. He didn’t want any engagement talk on his birthday, nor did he want to further plant the seed that it was acceptable in their relationship for her to propose to him. You know, Wonder Woman empowerment and all.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the saving grace both of them had been waiting for. But something was up because outside of the bottle of wine that was ordered prior to dinner, they hadn’t spoken to the waiter about anything. What Todd saw approaching was some sort of covered platter, as if there was going to be a reveal.
“Babe,” he hesitated, “What is happening?”
With the waiter just steps away, she rushed to get out, “I know you didn’t want any big hurrah for your birthday, but I had to have something up my sleeve.”
“For your first course,” the waiter began while lifting the lid off of the tray, “A specialty.”
What was revealed was something that Todd hadn’t anticipated. What looked like a small piece of paper on the tray wasn’t actually a small piece of paper at all. His eyes fixated on it while she sat on the other side of the table with her hands clenched and a smile on her face.
All he could see were two things: a date – December 1st – and airport abbreviations, the second of which being Paris Charles de Gaulle.
“You didn’t,” he said while lifting the faux-plane ticket off of the tray. “How did you–”
“I know, I know,” she interrupted him. “You didn’t want to make a make deal out of your birthday, but I thought it was time we did something special.”
“How could you even afford to do this?” he asked despite knowing in his mind that it was a question he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to. Fortunately for her, she had prepared her answer for that question prior to the dinner, along with all of her other preparations.
“Okay,” she started nervously, “I knew you’d ask this, but I talked to my mom the other night when they came into the city to watch the Yale game. I pitched her the idea while you and daddy smoked your victory cigars, and they agreed to help us out with the cost of the trip.”
“But babe,” he said, “They don’t need to–”
“They want to, Todd,” she interrupted again. “You never use your personal days and I thought it would be so romantic for us to take a trip this year.”
His eyes looked at the ticket while she explained and justified every aspect of the trip. Considering everything she said, he became more and more welcoming to the idea – especially given that she’d already sorted out most of the costs that he was afraid he’d have to incur.
But at the same time, he knew this trip wasn’t simply going to be about drinking more wine and seeing the Arc de Triomphe. Now there was an expectation. .
Respond
Will
Will (Twitter / Instagram) is the host of The Sunday Scaries Podcast.
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Girl pulls BIG league move and gets Todd a trip to Paris for Todd’s birthday. Certainly cornering Todd into proposing over the romantic trip. Just like FBI cornered total pervert alert @RepWeiner, noted cousin of Micah Weiner, in his sexting scandal. 21 MONTHS IN PRISON! Very sick man…Todd almost thought Girl was unhinged enough to possibly propose TO HIM at birthday dinner! WOW, maybe even more unhinged than totally awful NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. League should back U.S. Tell them to stand!….Even with parents help, Girl’s expensive tastes on special trip will now cost Todd even more than the broken healthcare system in this country is costing Obamacare victims. We will have the votes for Healthcare but not for the reconciliation deadline of Friday, after which we need 60. Get rid of Filibuster Rule – BAD!
Will, I know you’ve explained the “must be logged in to upvote” logic, but is there any way y’all can disable it for The Donald? I miss him having like 500 upvotes, and frankly, we all know he does too.
You severely overestimate how much control I have.
You severely underestimate yourself, big dog.
uncle tony ain’t no narc, and uncle tony ain’t no cuck. quit calling him narc cuckerberg. it name is carlos danger
The increased character limit is really allowing you to do some of your best work now.
These comments make my week. We need The Mooch on PGP too.
George is clearly paying for this trip so that Todd will finally propose and take ‘Girl’ off his payroll.
One last short-term investment with big long-term dividends
Gotta spend money to make money
I get to stay on the payroll though, right?
TGDAG: Plan Her Own Proposal
Part of me kinda respects her (don’t worry I hate myself for that) for this. She’s at least chasing and achieving her goals. Would be better if she at least applied part of that drive towards employment though..
Reading this just made me feel poor as fuck.
This whole series makes me feel poor as fuck.
So…theyll be staying in Paris, with financhial help from her parents. And Todd thought wow, “I guess I really have to propose now.”
This sounded like the first line of “Paris”
Because of the implication…
Hard “would” to the steak in the picture.
Who the fuck is watching me while they gallivant off in Paris?
Surprised that “How could you even afford to do this?” wasn’t met with a sassy comeback that spoiled the rest of the dinner.
Actually a very thoughtful gesture, even if her parents are the ones paying. And great choice on the Duckhorn Cabernet; it’s phenomenal. Very enjoyable wine and a very enjoyable TGDAG. Thank you, William.