Chapter 402: I’m not good at hiding good things
Andrew knew he was barely keeping it together, so he didn’t want to draw it out for long. Maxwell could sniff out weakness, and it wasn’t as if Andrew was keeping it under wraps. Why should he?
They were both as anxious as the other to have a mark that proved to the world that they loved each other, and Andrew’s big, beautiful, Maxwell coded mark just arrived.
Andrew was sure he wasn’t subtle about it, and he could tell that Maxwell knew something was up. Hell, Richard knew something was up. Andrew had basically blurted it out to the group when he’d walked back downstairs with a big bag in his hands. He’d had to go to the bathroom before he’d come back into the room and tuck the beautiful velvet ring box into his pocket before stepping in.
It had burned a hole in his pocket the whole day and he was hyperaware of Maxwell until he’d gotten home and was able to stash it away.
He had to hide it in a place that Maxwell wouldn’t think to check.
So he ziplocked it twice, making sure it was well protected and wrapped in a paper towel before he shoved it into the bottom of the flour bin. Maxwell would never check there.
He would check underwear drawers, he would check bathroom drawers, he would probably check the snack cupboard. He would not check the flour bin. He probably didn’t even know that there was one.
It was in times like this that Maxwell’s silver spoon background really worked in Andrew’s favour.
Andrew started planning, doing calls, checking in. He wanted to make reservations, was about to, before he realised that this wasn’t exactly fair to Maxwell. He had to speak to him, since they hadn’t decided on days yet.
So, Andrew, armed with his knowledge of what he wanted to do, approached Maxwell’s office when they were home about two days later. Maxwell was working away in the office, reviewing documents casually that told Andrew he wasn’t too busy, just catching up.
Andrew knocked on the doorframe, signifying that this was a serious conversation, not just Andrew checking in on him. Maxwell looked up, put down his papers immediately, and smiled.
"What’s up?" He asked, his blue eyes sparkling as he stared at Andrew. Andrew gulped. He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. He didn’t want Richard, or the security detail to bother them while they had this discussion. Andrew rushed towards the two chairs that were angled in front of Maxwell’s desk, but were rarely used for anything that wasn’t sexual.
Andrew sat down, and Maxwell grew more intrigued.
Andrew took a deep breath, before speaking.
"I want to set up a week for us." Andrew said, and watched as Maxwell stared at him, before he blinked.
"A week? Like a vacation?" Maxwell asked. "We just had Christmas, so I might not be able to swing it this month, but I could probably do it in another two." Maxwell said and Andrew shook his head. He had partially hoped that the man would be able to read his mind, but that wasn’t the case.
"No Maxy. The week. You know..." Andrew made a hand gesture, telling him rethink it, hurry up. Maxwell stared at Andrew for a moment longer, before his eyes popped wide.
"You have the ring? Already?" He sounded surprised, and Andrew felt his shoulders relax. He nodded, a stupid, giddy grin touching his lips.
"Yeah. I’m not good at keeping good things inside, so I felt like you had noticed already." Andrew said and Maxwell blinked, before a matching smile touched his lips. He covered his mouth, like he was trying to fight it, but Andrew had already caught it.
"I knew you were acting strange, but we just started back at work so I thought maybe it was something with that, or with what Richard had spoken to you about." Maxwell muttered, and Andrew was so glad that was the case. He had forgotten that there were so many other things that had happened in their lives recently that he had a little bit of wiggle room with his excuses for his behaviour.
"Well, it wasn’t any of those reasons, and please don’t go poking around. I will be quite upset if you find it and ruin the surprise." Andrew told him sternly and watched Maxwell’s eyes narrow.
"Have you been poking around?" Maxwell asked, and Andrew shook his head.
"No. I haven’t. It would have been terribly embarrassing if I went to go hide your ring, and found where you had hidden mine. Good news, I didn’t." Andrew told him and Maxwell let out a relieved sigh.
"Oh good. Okay. So you want to set up the week. Whatever week we choose, I want Friday." Maxwell said, laying down the law. Andrew nodded.
"I had a feeling that was the case. I want either Thursday or Saturday." Andrew said, since that was when most of the things that he wanted to book were open. Sunday wasn’t an option. He’d already checked, and while he could probably ask them to open for him, he didn’t want to be that asshole.
Thus they entered into a rather serious debate.
Maxwell had several locations he wanted to book, and thankfully, they didn’t really overlap with Andrew’s. There was one point of contention, the dinner location. Andrew had wanted the place he had booked for them before, and Maxwell had as well.
They had bickered about that location for a while, before deciding that they would order an engagement celebration party there after the event, for the week following. Andrew thought that was a great idea. It still kept the restaurant that they both wanted in the picture, without causing them to bicker over it further.
With that said, they decided for next week. The third week of January. Maxwell seemed a little stunned as the words left his lips. Almost like he hadn’t anticipated that it would be so soon. Andrew was tickled about that.
That was the reaction he was aiming for. Before his birthday, still in winter, but not near New Years, Christmas, or anything else. This would be their own celebration.
Andrew could also see the wheels turning behind his eyes as well. The man was getting excited, his planning skills coming to full life now that they had finalized the dates. Maxwell didn’t select a second day that the proposal could come on. He wasn’t playing that kind of game, and if Andrew was honest, he wasn’t really going to go with Thursday.
He knew that Maxwell wanted to propose first, and Andrew didn’t mind that. They could make the big post on Sunday that way. The one thing that Andrew did want to make sure was that they hired the same photographer for both days.
Maxwell was a little confused as to why, but Andrew made it clear after. First, Maxwell was a little surprised that they were hiring a photographer at all, since this wasn’t a publicity engagement, but Andrew argued that they would want nice photos to look back on. He also wanted the same photographer so that they wouldn’t argue who had the better photos, or who had hired the better photographer. That way they knew the level of quality they were getting, and he was sure that the photographer would love the idea.
After they had figured that out, Andrew came around the other side of the desk and they shopped for a photographer for the next week. Andrew told him to make it for Friday and Saturday, and watched as Maxwell smiled subtly.
See? Andrew knew his soon to be fiancé. He liked to ’win’. This was an easy thing to give up if it meant the man would wear his ring, regardless.
When Andrew finally came out of the office, Richard was in the kitchen grabbing a snack and clearly curious about what they were doing. Andrew had to fight himself to not brag about what was going to happen next week, and instead shoved a pastry into Richard’s hands and turned to go do his own research in the dining room.
He had a lot of planning to do.
~
Andrew had been taking several calls during work hours, but no one had said anything to him. He knew that was part of the privilege of being the partner of the CEO, but he kind of hoped that Richard of all people would call him out.
He finally asked Richard at one point when they were alone in the office on Friday.
"You haven’t called me out for being on the phone a lot these past few days." Andrew said. Out of all people, Richard should be calling him out. He was his boss, after all.
Richard glanced at Andrew between his monitors before he sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"Andy, you have this wide, almost comical grin on your face after you come back from the phone calls. Who in their right mind would call out a man planning like that? Given your strange behaviour, there can only be two options, and I can’t see you cheating on Maxy. So, yeah, we’ve been letting it slide." Richard said, smirking.
Andrew felt his face warm. Yeah, of course they could figure it out. He wasn’t exactly hiding it well.
"Well, thanks for not saying anything." Andrew muttered and Richard burst into laughter.
"Do you know how hard this has been to keep from Mom? She’s going to flip her lid when she realises that I knew something was up. Does Maxy know?" Richard asked and Andrew nodded.
"Well, kinda. We’re...not doing a joint proposal, but kind of?" Andrew said carefully, and watched as Richard’s face broke out into a wide smile.
"That must be what Ellis was referring to as the ’secret mission’ then. Well, good luck. He can’t say no at this point, just make sure you get it as perfect as you want. I doubt there will be a second time, unless it’s a vow renewal." Andrew let out a choked laugh. He was right.
He had to make it perfect on the first go.
Maybe it was a good thing that Maxwell was going first.