Again, my thanks to Techsan for his editing.
A slight side note: To the one critique regarding the geography of Jamaica; been there, seen it, done it. Nuff said!
*
Chapter Two: Sarah
Geoff had set off for the local dance club to meet up with his buddies and, walking in, happened to see Julie with several of her girl friends sitting at a table near the dance floor. Since his friends hadn't shown yet, he walked over and said hi to his sister.
"Geoff! What are you doing here?" she cried. "I usually don't see you coming here."
"Uh...Mike and Ben are meeting me here. I guess there are a couple of girls here they want to meet. I didn't have anythi..." His eyes moved from his sister to her friends only to stop and stare at the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.
"Geoff? Uh...earth to Geoff! Hello, anybody home?" his sister finally slugged him in the arm.
"Wha...oh, sorry about that. What were you saying?" he sheepishly asked.
By this time, Julie and her friends were giggling. All except the one girl that had taken his breath away.
"Geoff, I'd like you to meet Sarah Cooley. She's new to the area and we were showing her the highlights." Julie gestured to the blue eyed beauty with the long tresses of light red hair. The girl shyly looked up and said hi to Julie's brother.
"Geoff, don't be a jerk...say something! Say hello!"
"Shit...no, I mean...sorry. Hello Sarah. I'm Geoff McKenzie...well, of course I'm Geoff McKenzie, my sister already told you who I was and you're Sarah Cooley. Cooley? That sounds Irish!"
All the girls started laughing and Sarah cried, "Geoff, what is the matter with you? God, sometimes you are such a goof. You're a rambling idiot! I'm so sorry, Sarah. He's not usually this goofy. Sometimes, he can even speak in complete sentences and actually make sense."
Geoff turned a bright red but heard the magical tone of Sarah's voice as she laughed and said it was okay and she was very pleased to meet him.
"Uh...it was nice...to...uh...meet you, Sarah. I hope to...uh...see you again. I'll see you later Julie."
With that he turned and nearly stumbled then quickly strode out of the club, listening as his sister and her friends laughed at his plight. When he turned, he saw all of them but Sarah doubling over from convulsions at his expense. She only stared after him, a smile on her face.
Several days later, Julie approached Geoff as he was working out in the weight room.
"Geoff? Can I talk to you?"
Geoff, still stinging from the embarrassment at the dance club, said, "Make it quick."
"Look Geoff, I'm really sorry about the club. I...I just had never seen you like that before. You've always been the rock that everyone envied. All my girlfriends have always had the hots for you. We shouldn't have laughed at you but we didn't think you would take it so hard. Besides, you were so adorable...all the girls fell in love with you...you were so cute!"
Geoff smirked and said, "Cute? Just what any guy wants to hear...he's cute!"
"Anyway, Geoff...uh...Sarah, you know, she's the one with the long red hair. Well...she likes you and wanted me to find out if you might be interested in taking her out some time."
"Sarah wants to go out with me?"
Julie giggled saying, "I never said she had good taste but, yeah, she'd like to see you again...what do you think? She's a really nice girl...not like my other friends. So, tell me...are you interested?"
"Mayb...," before he could finish his sentence, Julie squealed, "Great! Here's her phone number. I told her you would call her tonight."
"Tonight!?"
"Yeah, that a problem?"
He stared at his sister as she looked up at him with those huge green eyes of hers, looking like those paintings of kittens and puppies with the enormous sad eyes, and knew he was in a losing battle.
Shaking his head he said, "Fine...okay, I'll call her tonight."
Julie clapped her hands and jumped up to kiss her brother on the cheek. "Thank you Geoff, you won't regret it, I swear."
I better not, he thought, watching Julie bounce out of the weight room.
That night he did call Sarah and asked her out the following Friday night. That was the start of many dates and Geoff found himself falling in love with Sarah. Any chance he could get away from the university; he would hot foot back home and spend all his time and energy with her. He discovered Sarah was old fashioned when it came to sex. Oh, she enjoyed making out but made it clear from the beginning of their relationship she would not go all the way, that she would remain a virgin until married. It was difficult for Geoff but he honored her demand. He couldn't complain though, other than full on intercourse, she was more than willing when it came to the other aspects of love making.
After going together for a little over a year, Geoff decided to pop the question. He was going to ask Sarah to marry him. That night, they sat on the bluff overlooking the ocean, the stars like shimmering diamonds drifted on the surface of the waters.
"Sarah."
"Yes Geoff?"
"I...uh...I have something I need to say to you. We've been together now fourteen months, twenty-one days, forty-two minutes and," looking at his watch, "thirty-two seconds."
She giggled and gently kissed him on his cheek.
"I...well, I think it's time to..." She watched as he reached in his jacket and removed a small item.
Her breath caught when she saw the tiny box in his hand.
"Geoff?"
