Bette spoke first. “Hi Alice, happy birthday! We just wanted to tell you how much we treasure your friendship, you have been a wonderful friend to both of us, and you continue to do so every day, we thank you for that” Tina nodded in agreement and added to Bette’s words “We are incredibly happy for you and Dana, we all see how in love you both are, so congratulations, and may it last for a hell of a long time to come!” They both grinned at the screen and their faces slowly faded out.

Jenny, Kit and Helena all gave equally touching speeches and by then I could feel the tears flowing easily down my cheeks. Then, when I thought I couldn’t get any more emotional, ‘Chasing cars’ by Snow Patrol began playing and more clips of the day continued. At one point, the camera was zoomed in on my face as I laughed, which Dana had played in slow motion. I hadn’t even noticed her filming this on the day.

When we were in bed at the end of my birthday celebrations Dana had filmed me talking to the camera and this was at the end of the video. “Have you enjoyed your birthday Al?” she had asked me, while sticking the camera in my face. I was lying on the bed looking up at it, laughing.
“Yes I have Dana. Thank you so much. I love you. Now turn that damn camera off!” I giggled and the screen faded to black. At the very end was some text saying “I love you Alice” and the music faded out.

When the video had finished I turned to Dana and she saw the tears running down my face, as I smiled at her. “That was amazing. Thank you so much” I kissed her hard.

“You liked it?” Dana asked. ‘I wanted to play ‘Amazed’ by Lonestar but thought that would be a bit cheesy!”

“Liked it? I fucking loved it! God, I love you so much” I stroked the hair out of her face and gazed into her sparkling blue eyes, lost in her beauty.

Dana

Alice had loved the video and I was so happy, holding her in my arms on the couch. Then, she suddenly jumped from my hold and ran into the bedroom. She shouted as she went “I have something for you too” and she ran back through, holding something behind her back.

She stood in front of her and told me to close my eyes and hold my arms out, which I did. I felt something be placed in the palm of my hands.

“Okay open them” Alice told me and I opened my eyes to see a box, containing a chocolate egg. I laughed. On the front of the egg was iced ‘I love you Dana’.

“I know a chocolate egg is a bit of a crap present after that video but there’s actually something inside the egg”. Alice pointed excitedly and fidgeted while I pulled the egg out of the box. “Hopefully you won’t have to smash it up; it shouldn’t be too hard to pull it apart in two halves”.

As she said, the egg was fairly easy to pull apart without too much effort. Inside I found a silver key. I looked up at Alice.

“I was wondering if you would like to…er…move in with me?” Alice asked me sheepily, raising her eyebrows and waiting for my reaction.

My reaction was to instantly wrap my arms around her and pull her into a tight embrace, resting my head on her shoulder. “I would love to” I whispered into her ear, before pulling away and facing Alice. I leaned in again to kiss her softly, cupping her face with my hands and stroking her soft cheek with my thumb. We continued to make out, cherishing being in each other’s company, until I realized I had to begin cooking for the meal with our friends and unwillingly pulled myself away from Alice and dragged my body to the kitchen, still on a high about being asked to move in with my girlfriend.