When Natalia first woke up that day, she had no idea what was coming. If anything, she thought things were going downhill. “I started to get a little upset,” she said, “’cause Sam told me he didn’t want to go to prom anymore.” It caught her off guard. Prom had been something she’d looked forward to, and hearing that from Sam hurt. Still, she tried to focus on her day. She stayed busy with schoolwork while Sam went to play pickleball—something that normally wouldn’t involve her. But that day, he kept insisting she come. “Sam went to go play pickleball and kept asking me to come for some reason,” she recalled. “I was mainly doing homework, and then Sam called me to pick him up ’cause he wanted to see me.” Despite being a bit annoyed, Natalia agreed. She picked him up, and they sat in the car talking. Whatever tension there had been earlier started to ease as they talked it out. But Natalia still wasn’t interested in watching him play pickleball.“We talked in the car and we worked it out,” she explained. “I didn’t even want to go watch him play pickleball.”

Still, she went—just to be supportive. When they arrived at the courts, all of Sam’s friends were already playing. It seemed like a normal game, until something unexpected happened. “We get to the court, and all his friends are playing the game,” she said, now smiling at the memory. “And then all of a sudden they finish and came up to us and flipped their paddles—and it spelled out ‘PROM?’” Natalia was in shock. Before she could even fully process what was happening, she turned to Sam—and he was holding flowers. “He pulled them from behind and said, ‘I told you I was gonna make it up to you,’” she recalled. “I remember the last thing he said in the car was that.” That’s when it all made sense. The earlier disappointment, the confusion—it was all part of the plan. Sam had been faking his disinterest in prom just to make the surprise even bigger. “He freaking lied to me, making it seem like he wasn’t gonna ask me to prom nor even go to prom,” Natalia laughed. And what was her answer? “I obviously said no… JK! I said yes,” she said happily. “And he apologized, ’cause he did kinda set me off a little bit—but it all worked out in the end.”

Looking back on it, Natalia has nothing but warm feelings about the day. “He truly makes me happy and is very thoughtful,” she said. “I couldn’t have thought of a better promposal.”