LaKeisha

WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN MARRYING YOUR BEST FRIEND?! Malik and I met December 1995 at Toys R Us, he was working and I was picking up a baby shower gift for my new cousin/god-daughter, Mia. I was instantly attracted to Malik when I walked into the Toys R Us pick up area. However, I had been running errands all day and wasn't feeling particularly cute wearing baggy sweats and a t-shirt so I figured he wouldn't give me a second look. As I waited on my package, Malik was looking for something and talking to himself saying "Where's the...?" Me being the smarty that I can sometimes be, I said "I don't know". He gave me a really serious look and I just knew he was about to carry(embarrass) me but instead he asked me for my number. We talked on the phone a lot but with our laid back personalities it quickly became more of a friendship than anything else...basically we were phone buddies. By Fall of 1996 we began casually dating and hanging out. As time went on my feelings for Malik went from my best male friend to something much deeper.  After almost three years of being friends I attempted to express my feelings but it didn't go well. I later found out (10 years later!!!) that he felt the same way at that time but I had just gone away to school and he felt I would forget about him once I started meeting people at school. We remained friends for awhile but eventually lost touch by Spring semester of my second year. After graduating from college I moved back to the area and we ran into each other around my new neighborhood but didn't exchange numbers. We both figured since he knew someone in the neighborhood we would run into each a lot....that never happened. We finally ran into each other again...FOUR YEARS LATER!!! I was riding the metro home when a woman became ill on the train and we were held at one of the stations while EMS stabalized her. Malik, on the other hand, had to work late on that same day. As my extremely delayed and overcrowded train began to clear I noticed a familiar face...it was Malik! We had both been riding the same line and getting off at the same stop for months but we had different work schedules. If it wasn't for the lady getting sick on the train and Malik working late who knows if or when we would've ever ran into each other again. He gave me his number as we walked out the station and I took a whole month to call him...Don't Judge Me. Once we started talking the old friendship came back and we were on the phone to the wee hours again. We hung out as friends the entire summer of 2008, however, September 2008 things changed and Malik decided to tell me I was his girl with the statement "my girl is so pretty". I looked around the room and said "me?!" and he replied "who else would I be talking to?". I've loved this man since Parasuco jeans so I was more than happy to except. THE PROPOSAL Fast forward to Sunday, March 20, 2011. After two and a half years of many ups and a short down stint, Malik proposed in my apartment after church. What's crazy is on Saturday and Sunday of that weekend I woke up feeling excited but had no idea why. When I told Malik about my feeling of excitment he just laughed. What I didn't know was he had been attempting to propose the entire weekend. First attempt was that Friday after dinner, celebrating my promotion. We sat on the Baltimore Harbor for awhile but I got cold and asked to go home...Fail #1. Second attempt was Saturday. It was a nice day and Malik wanted to go back to the Harbor. We sat on Federal Hill and although it started out as a nice day it became cooler as the sun went down so again I asked to go home...Fail #2. I had no clue I messed up two proposal attempts. On Sunday we went to church as planned. I had to attend a second service so Malik waited for me at my place. After the second service I came home and Malik turned on "Happily Ever After" by Case (our song) and asked me to dance with him...nothing unusual for us. After our dance he had me sit on the couch. He wrote my name out "Ms. LaKeisha Powell" and asked if that's how my name is written. Strange...but I said yes. He then wrote "Mrs. LaKeisha Ellis" and ask if that was how my name would be written in the future. My heart began to flutter at the thought of being Mrs. Malik Ellis...but still none the wiser about a proposal. Malik went into the kitchen and I thought he was getting something to drink. He came back out stating how much he loved me and got on one knee. I cried like a baby and said YES...OH MY GOD...YES!!!