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“It would be cool if we won like an actual prize for catching the bouquet, wouldn’t it?” Fatin asked as she and Leah walked into their hotel room in Minnesota following Shelby and Toni’s wedding, both of them holding the bouquets the newlyweds had made sure they caught. “Like, instead of some flowers that’ll die in three days, if they gave us an iPad or something.”
Leah frowned. “You have an iPad.”
“Or something,” Fatin said again as she dropped the flowers into the small wicker trash bin near the bed. “I can’t wait to get out of this dress. Leave it to Shelby and Toni to pick the most uncomfortable fucking dress ever created,” she said, unzipping her dress as she walked to the bathroom.
Leah chuckled softly as she went to sit on the bed. “I’m pretty sure that was more Shelby than Toni.”
“Good point.” Fatin left the bathroom, now wearing only her underwear, pulling a t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants out of their suitcase, pausing when she noticed Leah looking at her. “Would you rather me not get dressed?”
“I’m just thinking,” Leah said before she laughed softly. “But, honestly, I really don’t mind either way.”
Fatin put the shirt on but dropped the pants back into the suitcase. “Do I get to know what you’re thinking about or is this one of those better left unsaid kinda things?”
Leah shrugged a shoulder. “Doesn’t the catching bouquet mean we’re getting married next?”
Fatin let out a long sigh. “Please don’t overthink this. It’s just some stupid game. Honestly, I’m surprised they even did something so cliché but whatever, their wedding, they can do what they want.” She walked over to Leah, putting her hands on her thighs before leaning over to kiss her quickly. “Besides, getting married next would require getting married ever. Let’s get you out of this dress,” she said, crawling onto the bed behind Leah to unzip her dress.
“You don’t want to get married?” Leah asked.
Fatin shrugged one shoulder as she slid the dress partially off Leah’s body, kissing her shoulder. “Honestly? I don’t really see the point. I mean, it’s not like there’s gonna be an oopsie-baby situation here. At the end of the day it’s just some social construct that we’re told we want. Darling, I love you enough to get the government involved in our relationship, romantic, right? And that whole till death do us part thing, how many people actually make it to death? Unless they kill each other, that is. So, what’s the end game, even if everything goes perfectly? Getting to be the one to pull the plug?”
“I think there’s more to it than that,” Leah muttered.
Fatin shrugged again. “Not for my parents. Shit, I’m pretty sure they’re only staying married because getting divorced is too much of a hassle.” She shook her head. “We’re happy together, right? Why do we need to buy a bunch of people dinner just so they can see how happy we are? Nothing against Shelby and Toni though, you know, they like getting married, obviously. I mean, they basically did it twice. I don’t mind though, free vacation. I do wish they had gotten married anywhere other than Minnesota though.”
“To be fair, they do live here.”
“And I’ll never understand why.” Fatin laughed softly as she laid down on the bed, one arm under her head. “Why don’t you get out of that thing and come to bed?” she said, nudging Leah softly in the back with her foot.
“Yeah, okay.” Leah stood and let her dress fall before reaching around her back to unhook her bra, letting that fall away as well as she walked to the suitcase, reaching in and pulling out a shirt. She pulled the shirt on and glanced towards the zipper compartment on the lid of the suitcase then unzipped it and pulled out a small black box, sitting on the floor next to the suitcase as she opened it and shook her head.
“Whatcha got over there?” Fatin asked, raising her head a bit.
Leah shook her head again. “Nothing.”
“Oh, come on. Let me see.” Fatin got off the bed and walked over to the suitcase as Leah quickly put the box away, she pulled it back out before Leah closed the compartment. She froze when she saw the box then sat on the floor.
“Don’t,” Leah said quickly as Fatin opened it, sighing when she couldn’t take it from her fast enough and Fatin saw the ring, with a large solitaire diamond surrounded by tiny diamonds.
“Where did you get this?”
“A store,” Leah muttered before reaching over to take it from Fatin’s hand, snapping it shut before tossing it carelessly into the suitcase.
Fatin sighed softly. “Fine, when did you get it?”
“I’ve had it a while,” Leah said, scratching the back of her neck. “You know, I have savings from before everything and…” she trailed off, shrugging her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s go to bed.” She started to stand but Fatin grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down.
“Can we talk about this?”
“You don’t want to get married, we won’t get married.” Leah shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head. “That was a quick conversation, glad we had it.” She stood up and walked over to the bed, falling onto it face down.
Fatin let out a breath and moved to the bed, crawling onto it and laying so she was facing Leah, who turned her head to look at her. “Why did you bring it with you?”
“I kind of bring it everywhere, just like waiting for the right moment, I guess.” She let out a quick laugh then bit her lip. “Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t ask, huh? Now that I know what your answer would have been.”
“Why do you want to get married?”
Leah sighed softly. “I don’t know, Fatin. You know, if something happens to you, I’d like to be the one to pull the plug, since you brought that up. I want to at least be able to, like, be there. If you get sick or something, I want to be able to be there with you, I want to take care of you. And, not to sound possessive or whatever, but I’m honestly kind of sick of you getting hit on every time we go out, even when I’m sitting right fucking there, I kind of don’t mind the idea of a ring on your finger if that puts them off, even just a little bit. Also, I love you and I want to be with you, I want people to know I’m with you.” She shook her head. “Like I said, you don’t want to get married, we won’t. You know, I’m not really used to this vibe we’ve got, generally I’m the cynic.” She let out a quick breath then rolled over so her back was to Fatin.
“Can you at least not shut me out?”
“I’m not shutting you out,” Leah said, though she didn’t move. “I kinda just assumed we were on the same page, we’re not. It’s fine. It’s been a long day, I’m tired.”
Fatin didn’t speak for a moment. “Do I get to know what you would’ve said when you asked?” she finally asked softly.
“What do you mean?”
“You said you were carrying the ring around waiting for the right moment. Did you have a plan or were you just gonna wing it?”
“There were some key points I wanted to hit, but in general I guess I was gonna wing it,” Leah said, still not looking at her. She closed her eyes when she felt Fatin leave the bed then return a moment later.
“Look at me,” Fatin said softly. “Please, Leah, look at me,” she said when Leah didn’t move.
“What?” Leah asked, rolling onto her back, blinking when she saw Fatin sitting next to her, holding the ring box. “What are you doing?”
Fatin held the box towards Leah. “I want you to wing it.”
Leah shook her head but didn’t move otherwise as Fatin put the ring into her hand. “What?” she said again.
“Ask me to marry you.”
Leah sat up slowly, rubbing one hand over her face. “Why? What’s the point? We both already know what the answer is so…”
“Please?” Fatin asked.
“Alright, fine,” Leah said with a small groan. “I mean, I kind of already hit the big talking points, you know, wanting to be with you and take care of you. You’re my best friend. You were there for me when literally nobody else was, pulling me out of my own head and… and if it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be…” She cleared her throat and shook her head. “Well, I wouldn’t be here. It’s not always easy with us but it’s always worth it and I want to be with you. I don’t even know what forever means, really, but I know I want to spend it to be with you.” She shrugged her shoulders. “That’s basically it.”
“Well, that’s not all of it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There’s a question that should follow all of that.”
Leah rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay. Will you marry me?” she muttered, not looking at Fatin.
“Yes.”
Leah blinked, turning her head to look at her. “What?”
Fatin grinned. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“Alright, shut up,” Leah said, laying down with a groan. “That’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking,” Fatin told her, shaking her head.
“What happened to it being a pointless social construct?”
“I don’t know. I’m allowed to change my mind, right?”
“Yeah, but you changed it in like ten minutes.”
“So maybe the whole wedding thing is getting to me, we just watched Shelby and Toni get married and they’re annoyingly happy. You know, the more I think about it, I sort of like the idea of having a whole day that’s all about us. I mean, it’s definitely a social construct but maybe it isn’t so pointless. Plus, any excuse to get new jewelry.”
“Well, that’s romantic,” Leah murmured.
“Oh, you want romantic? Okay then, I can do romantic. I mean, I don’t have a ring or anything but we can get one once we get back to California.” She rose to her knees, so she was kneeling on the bed next to Leah before clearing her throat. “Leah Rilke, will you marry…”
“Shut up,” Leah said, cutting her off.
“What? I’m literally on my knees over here, something you didn’t do, by the way. Leah, I love you. And, yeah, I don’t fully understand the whole marriage thing, but I think with it would okay. Look at me,” she said softly, putting a hand against Leah’s cheek when she turned her head towards her. “I want to marry you.”
“Really?”
Fatin laughed softly. “Yes. I already said yes, twice, actually.”
“So we’re engaged,” Leah said slowly.
“I’m pretty sure that’s what the kids are calling it, yeah.” She tugged lightly on Leah’s shirt, pulling her closer to kiss her quickly. “Are you gonna give me that ring or what?”