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This could not be happening today. This had to be the perfect day.

It was her wedding day.

Ariel was sprawled across the floor, her belly flat against the cool tile and her arms stretched outward fumbling through the darkness of the space beneath the couch. She was blindly searching for her keys using her hands as visual aids, slapping them on the floor as if they were metal detectors searching for gold. Kitty mewed at her from somewhere behind and Ariel envisioned her sitting on the windowsill, licking her paws and laughing internally at her owner's plight as she bathed herself in the sun.

The keys were still missing and Ariel began to sweat. She retracted her arms and shifted them under her shoulders, placing her palms against the floor and looking under the darkness of the couch. The view seemed endless and it appeared that in that small space there were a zillion lost items. She spotted a solitary pink sock that Vanessa had lost a few months ago and a small item that appeared to be a Cheeto left over from a small movie party that they had a few months back. She saw countless amounts of dust bunnies, a CD, some unidentifiable piece of food and a box that held an ugly picture frame that her mother had given her a few months ago. However, she did not see her keys.

She hoisted herself up so that she was sitting on her knees with her palms face down on her thighs. She looked quickly down at her white vest and white slacks. They were covered in dust and she cursed at herself for not being more of a Suzy-homemaker and sweeping more regularly. She jumped up and dusted herself off hoping that her wedding day outfit was not ruined. She quickly ran over to the mirror in the hall, forgetting about the need to find her keys, and stared at her reflection. Her hair was cut short with a long side bang and she had run some gel through it earlier in the morning so that it looked fresh and modern. She adorned her neck with the delicate gold necklace that Vanessa had gotten her for their three year anniversary. She quicky patted her vest off and then her pants, hoping that she hadn't stained any part of her outfit. She was determined not to let anything ruin her wedding day today. She wiped some excess liner off of her eye. It had probably smeared while she broke a sweat looking for her key. Ugh, that damn key. She looked at the rest of her face quickly, satifsfied with the makeup job she had given herself and returned to looking for her key. She turned quickly and headed straight for the kitchen, hoping to find the key amidst last night's remnants of a memorable dinner.

Vanessa had decided to make chicken tacos for dinner. Vanessa never really liked cooking unless she had to or unless she felt like she needed to be preoccupied. Ariel had originally planned on working late but Vanessa had called her crying into the phone, sobbing about how terrible her day was and Ariel couldn't help but want to crawl right through the phone and smother her with hugs and kisses. She reassured Vanessa that everything would be alright and that she would pick up a bottle of wine on the way home from work and that's when Vanessa decided that she would make dinner.

Ariel didn't think twice about it, and instead she filled her mind with visions of Vanessa in nothing more than an apron and heels, prancing around the kitchen while a hazy cloud of grilled chicken and adobo scented the air with a savory garlicky smell. She rushed through the rest of her clients, hoping to make time move quickly by focusing on the taste of tacos and the smell of her woman. By the end of the day, Ariel was so worked up to see Vanessa that during her drive home she almost crashed into two cars as she sped down the freeway.

Vanessa greeted Ariel at the door with a long, needy hug and Ariel embraced her so tightly that she could almost count every rib in her body. A bouquet of daisies tickled Vanessa's back and when they broke free from their embrace, Vanessa grabbed them in her hands and smiled so widely that Ariel was afraid that her smile would damn near break her face.

They sat in the screened in patio and eating their tacos-half with their hands, and half with their mouths. Although Vanessa was not an avid chef, her food was delectable and they insisted on eating every last morsel, stuffing it into each other's mouth with their delicate fingertips, using dinner time as a form of foreplay. Vanessa hardly spoke about her terrible day and Ariel didn't press the subject until she was ready. She had learned from being with Vanessa for so many years that she would only feel comfortable in o pening up when she was ready to. It took a while for Ariel to truly understand this, and after a number of disagreements Ariel finally learned to embrace that this is how Vanessa was--take it or leave it.

Of course, Ariel took it.

Now, here they were five years later, still as much in love as they were the first moment they laid eyes on each other. They had made so many great strides together: owning a home; raising two cats; dealing with one another's "crazy" families. Yet, there almost seemed to be something that was still lacking from their otherwise beautiful lives.

"I'm ready now" Vanessa declared as Ariel and her sat facing one another, their knees interlocked and their hands intertwined.

Vanessa exhaled.

Then, she smiled. Ariel's heart dropped.

"I'm pregnant."

She beamed a big moonbeam smile that seemed to suddenly light up an otherwise dark evening. Ariel stared at her in shock. She neither smiled nor frowned, and instead she spent what seemed like an eternity trying to find the right words to say.

Ariel looked at her quizzically. "Are you shocked?"

Ariel just shook her head slowly from side to side.

"I am"

"Are you okay with this? I wanted to surprise you! I know we talked about this before and we said we would wait until after the summer but I just couldn't! I wanted to do this for you!"

There was a hint of apology in Vanessa's voice and Ariel could tell that she was starting to worry that she had made her upset so Ariel searched quickly for something to say.

"Marry me"

That was how it had happened and now here she was, searching for her key, hoping that this wasn't a cosmic sign of some sort that things were not meant to work out the way she had planned. She pushed aside mountains of paper from the kitchen table and fumbled along the top of the table, again, using her hands as eyes, hoping that they would find the lone key somewhere among the mess that they had made in the throes of celebration the night before. Suddenly, she felt the small shape of what she knew was the key and raised it up to her lips, tasting the sweet metal as if she had made out with a handful of pennies.

"Yes!" she spoke to herself quietly.

She quickly walked to the bedroom, swinging the door open with a sense of triumph. She walked over to the bed and as she walked, she spoke:

"It's time! I found the key! Now, like I told you before--all we want you to do is marry us."

A priest in handcuffs and a gag looked back up at her, eyes wide with terror. He nodded in agreement.

She raised the key, ready to unlock their destiny. Ready to make a change in their lives forever. People might not allow them to be together in holy matrimony but that didn't mean that would stop Ariel from trying.

The key glistened in the stream of sunlight that poured through the window and it shined brightly in her hands.

Today was her wedding day. The most perfect day of all.