Here’s how the proposal went down — with Maci and Catelynn calling it “awkward” to witness while they were in town to talk to Amber about Kristina possibly adopting her daughter Leah.
Amber Portwood and Gary Wayt may no longer be a couple, but before Wayt went missing and the pair decided to go their separate ways, the two appeared to be truly in love.
On Thursday’s all new Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, Portwood received a visit from longtime friends and fellow castmates Maci Bookout and Catelynn Lowell, who were in town to help celebrate Portwood’s birthday. But then she was hit with an even bigger surprise — Wayt getting down on one knee!
And she wasn’t the only one shocked by Wayt’s declaration of love, with Bookout and Lowell equally taken aback as he decided to pop the questions moments after they walked in and met him for the very first time.
But before all that, Portwood told her friends while introducing them to Wayt, “He was the second person that I was like, ‘Hmm, he sounds–‘”
“Legit,” Bookout interjected, filling in the blank.
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“Like really legit,” Portwood confirmed. “And ever since. It’s been seven months now.”
After getting filled in on his Vietnamese-American background, including his strict upbringing, the girls prepared for their night out, but not before Wayt showered a few compliments onto Portwood. His charm seemed to be impressing both Bookout and Lowell, as he joked that he was going to be sending drinks from a table at the restaurant to the “cute one with the glasses,” referring to his lady love.
When the mother of two made mention of being the only single one in the group, Wayt quickly snapped into action.
“I’m the only one out of us that’s not married,” Portwood said, with Bookout and Lowell telling their friend that she she dodged a bullet by not getting hitched to some of her former flames.
“Speaking of that,” Wayt interjected, shocking all three girls into silence as he got down on one knee in front of her living room couch.
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“Amber Portwood,” he continued. “I love you, and you’ve been absolutely amazing to me. And I don’t see myself with anybody else but you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you. Will you marry me?”
“Yes, I will. I actually will marry you,” Portwood said, before Wayt grabbed her off the couch for a kiss.
Still shell-shocked over what they’d witnessed, Lowell and Bookout looked on in amazement, with Lowell yelling out, “What?”
“Is he messing with us? I’ve ever witnessed a proposal,” Bookout added.
While the pair were definitely happy for their friend, in a confessional, they later admitted that being there for the intimate moment was “awkward.”
“Especially since that was our first introduction,” Lowell told the cameras.
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“We literally met him, like, five minutes before,” Bookout said. “If she’s happy, I’m happy for her.”
In addition to celebrating Portwood’s birthday — and apparently engagement, too — another reason Bookout and Lowell were in town was to speak to their friend about the possibility of her ex Gary Shirley’s wife Kristina adopting his and Portwood’s 15-year-old daughter, Leah.
And while Shirley told Lowell and Bookout that Portwood knew about those talks, that didn’t seem to be the case during their girls’ night.
“She didn’t even mention an inkling that Leah wants Kristina to adopt her,” Bookout said in a confessional. “So, I don’t think we should bring it up.”
But with Shirley planning a party for Portwood, the hope was that they could all be a big, happy, blended family and celebrate together, despite the tensions at Leah’s birthday dinner earlier in the season.
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All appeared to be well, with Leah meeting new Gary and Portwood having a pleasant conversation with her daughter. When asked what Leah thought about it all, she kept it short and sweet, telling her dad she said hello to her mom and met “Gary 2.0.”
The party ended with plans for Leah and Portwood to spend more time together. Shirley and Kristina even penciled in another family dinner for the group the following evening.
“I really appreciated the fact that Maci and Cate really wanted to give me such amazing advice for me to actually have my family back,” Portwood said in a confessional. “When I saw my daughter, it’s like butterflies. I couldn’t be anymore happier, honestly.”
As for the adoption talk, it looks like that’s being tabled for now.
Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, airs Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET on MTV.
