She wouldn't wake up. Good.
 
She's always had a fairly irregular sleep pattern, mostly due to the fact she spends days at a time without sleep in order to get work done, or if she gets far too absorbed into a game. More the latter than the former, come to think of it. Anyway, these extended periods of sleep deprivation have always had one thing in common: a near comatose state at the end, lasting at least 24 hours.
 
I'd been going out with Lauren for around a year and a half when the topic of marriage first sprang up. Neither of us had really considered it, but a drunken relative had turned and asked me when the “big day” was one Christmas. Thanks, dad. I guess it did make me consider my future with Lauren a little more seriously afterwards, though. I'd always loved her for the fact we shared so many interests, and shared the same laid-back attitude to life. So after about a month of deliberating, I finally decided that I was going to propose. And after another month or so of planning and preparation, I was almost ready. So when the JRPG she was looking forward to was finally released, I put my plan into action, which leads us back to tonight.
 
She's been asleep for a while now, so time is of the essence. Luckily, she's all but dead to the world in this state. Normally if she was like this I'd just walk into our room with no fear of waking her, but paranoia is causing me to creep in like a shittier version of Solid Snake. Hiding a ring is big business, after all. Shuffling around the outskirts of the bed is no easy task, either. I'd been a bit busy of late and hadn't had the chance to tidy up, and Lauren went straight to bed after she finished the game. So I'm left moving at a snail's pace, trying to avoid standing on anything noisy, sharp or breakable.
 
Rather like the belt I just stood on.
 
Now moving at a markedly slower pace with a slight limp, I finally make it past the bed and to the dresser with my clothes in. To one specific drawer. Thanks to working as a designer for the last few years, I'd gathered contacts from various corners of industry. Cosmetics manufacturers, Concept artists, Games developers, the lot. Though this drawer was thanks to a friend working for a small furniture store. Being a somewhat... strange fellow, he insisted that he make a secret compartment for one of my drawers, because “Every man has meth in his draw- Skeletons in their cabinets”. That was a strange conversation, but I guess it was a beneficial one. The compartment, which had previously been completely bare, now had a use. A quick press of a button, the ring deposited, and then I could go to bed safe in the knowledge that my girlfriend would be none the wiser, and hopefully pleasantly surprised in the morning when I propose.
 
That was the plan, at least. Instead, when I go to deposit the ring, I find a note in the secret compartment. Forgetting what I was doing for a second, I unfold it and read it, accidentally murmuring as I read.
 
“Thought you were so subtle the last few months, didn't you? Thing is, I'm better at playing sneaky buggers.”
 
As I read, I hear the faint noise of someone trying to hold in their laughter. Panic rising, I turn round to see my Lauren wide awake on our bed.
 
On one knee. Holding a ring out in front of her. With a huge grin on her face.