Too Good To Be True?

Chapter 26

"Alrighty people, where to first?" Beth asked as they walked through the big glass doors of the mall, setting their hands on their hips.

Beth had recently come out as nonbinary and while they had been quite nervous about it, everyone in the group had accepted them with open arms.

I shrugged, glancing around at the storefronts, purely along for the ride.

Amy slipped her engagement ring off her finger and twirled it around, the little diamonds sparkling in the fluorescent light. Ash had just proposed a few days ago. Many happy tears were shed and celebratory drinks were had.

"Can we go to the jewelry store?" she asked. "I love Ashy but he really did not estimate the size of my finger very well. I don't want this thing to fall off, if I lost it I don't know what I'd do!"

We all exchanged glances and shrugged, deciding that was as good a place to start as any.

As soon as we turned the corner and the display cases came into view, my three friends instantly became giddy.

"Look at all the sparkles!" Meg crooned, staring down at an elaborate sapphire necklace in the window.

"Look at that one," Beth said, pointing at a ring with a huge yellow topaz. "I think that thing would break my finger!"

I chuckled as well, following them inside. I kept a bit of a distance from the chatty group, mindlessly glancing in the cases but not really paying attention to what I was seeing.

I was stopped in front of the colorful birthstone case when Meg called out to me, beckoning me to her side.

"Angel, come take a look at these. I need your opinion on a wedding band."

I smiled at her, glad to see her so happy. "Cam isn't buying one for you?"

She shook her head. "He said since he picked out the engagement ring he wanted me to pick out the band." She held out her left hand above the glass, comparing her simple silver and diamond ring to the bands glimmering up at her.

Obviously, Cam had been in high school when he proposed, so he didn't exactly have a ton of money to spend on a ring, but even though the stone was small and the band was thin, the ring still somehow fit her personality perfectly.

I pointed out a few bands and the salesperson took them out for her try. Amy came over once she'd gotten her ring taken care of and started chatting with Meg about wedding plans, so I started to extract myself from the conversation but was stopped by Beth coming up by my side.

"I wasn't that bad during the wedding phase, was I?" they asked, teasingly flicking their eyes towards the two girls.

I chuckled and shook my head. "I guess I'm not really sure, I wasn't around for very much of it, was I?" There was a twinge of sadness whenever I thought about missing Beth and Joe's wedding, but the make-up ceremony at their house had been a lot of fun.

Beth's eyes crinkled at the corners as they smiled softly at me and I couldn't quite read their expression. "You don't seem that enthused about all these jewels. Everything alright, hun?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm all good. David just buys me a lot of jewelry so I don't really need any more." I gestured to the emerald set I was wearing, the same one that I'd started collecting on my first trip to the UK, the first time I'd met the love of my life. Today the set was matching my dark green sweater and was accompanied by a myriad of other accessories that David had gifted me over the years.

Beth nodded, looking down into the case they were standing in front of. "I see." They pointed at something and asked, "What do you think of that? Kind of an interesting shape, no?"

I stepped up to the glass and realized it was one of the many engagement ring cases, my heart twisting slightly at the sight. I wouldn't admit it, but this was another reason I was trying to keep my thoughts distanced from this place. I knew that a proposal was still probably a ways off, if there was even one coming, and I didn't want to start any more silly fantasies that might affect my relationship.

I glanced at the ring Beth had pointed out and shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose. I don't know, they all kind of look the same to me."

"What? Surely not. Here, look closer."

I was apprehensive but they smiled, gently tugging on my arm to pull me closer.

"See? Some have silver bands, some are gold or even rose gold. There's different clarities and cuts. There's pear, round, oval, princess, cush-"

"Princess?" I asked, surprised when I heard my pet name come out of their mouth.

They grinned and nodded, drawing a circle around a group of rings with their finger. "Yeah, princess cut. Isn't it gorgeous?"

I leaned in closer, inspecting the square jewels that refracted rainbows in every direction no matter where you were looking at them from. "Huh... they are kinda pretty, I guess..." I mumbled, mostly to myself.

"Which one is your favorite?" Beth asked. "Mine is this gold one here with the three stones."

I shook my head lightly, my attempts at keeping myself grounded slowly failing as I continued gazing at the precious gems. "Oh, I don't think I have a favorite..." I murmured, the words barely trickling past my lips as my gaze caught on a ring near the back of the case.

Beth must've noticed because I could see them smiling at me through the corner of my eye. "You like that one?" they asked, beckoning a worker over and asking him to take it out of the case.

When he held it out to me, it sparkled even more brightly, every tiny movement of his hand scattering rainbows everywhere. "Would you like to try it on?" he asked, grinning that salesperson grin, but there was also sincerity in his expression.

I glanced at Beth and they nodded encouragingly. I held out my left hand and allowed him to slip it on my finger, my breath catching at the feeling of cool metal on this finger that I had never allowed myself to bejewel before. It was a little big on me since I have tiny, delicate hands, but seeing it there brought unexpected tears to my eyes. I quickly slipped it off and handed it back to him before my friends could notice my emotions and murmured a thank you, turning away from the glittering glass boxes and heading for the door.

My friends followed after me, Amy and Meg having just finished with their rings, but I tried to assure them that they didn't have to follow me if they weren't ready yet.

Amy waved it off. "Nah, I'm all done, they said it'll take a couple hours to change the size. Plenty of time to explore the rest of the shops."

Meg was looking at me quizzically, able to sense that something was off in my demeanor, but I forced a smile and kept walking.

"Sounds good to me," I said. "Meg, you are totally going to love British fashion, this one store is just to die for."

I couldn't tell if she bought my act or not, but she let it go and allowed herself to smile as well. "I can't wait."