as it is || harry styles au

fifty-three

i v o r y

     "Wait, holy fuck, were you wearing this last night? When did this happen?" Lena grabbed hold of my hand, nearly knocking over my glass of water.

I smiled at her reaction. "It's...a promise ring of sorts. No need to call the papers."

Lena took another couple of seconds examining the ring up close. In those seconds, I watched realization flood into her eyes.

     "You know about it?" I guessed.

     "Not really. I mean, yeah, I have. It was part why I gave you such a hard time when you first came to town."

     Very valid.

I nodded my head. "But, we've been over this. The hard time was deserved given the context."

She rolled her eyes, her classic move of saying, agree to disagree.

     "It's crazy how things change," Zuri sighed, taking a sip of her ginger ale. Somehow, we'd ended up at a bar in town because Zuri was craving their fried pickles and needed some of their ginger Ale.

     "So, does that mean he's going to ask soon?" Lena dropped her chin down on her fist.

"I'm pretty sure we're going to wait until the dust settles with all the Jake stuff."

Tristyn called early this morning to let me know her private investigator had gotten eyes on Lance Brewer back at his firm. It seemed like his work life was returning to normal after his little sabbatical after Jake was arrested.

On top of that, they set a court date set during the holiday season of this year. It was far out, and it sucked that the trial would be impeding on such a family-oriented time, but I was grateful I'd get to see justice before the new year.

     Our two baskets of fried pickles arrived and Zuri grabbed her's while Lena and I moved to grab one from our's.

Lena made a less than appropriate sound. "Holy fuck these are good."

    "How have you never had fried pickles before?" Zuri laughed. "I thought you loved pickles."

     "It's just never happened. Fried pickles and I have been like two ships in the night."

     We quietly devoured our appetizer until our shareable Caesar salad was brought out. Then, we seamlessly transitioned to the next.

     Zuri portioned out the salad on plates for us. "I could eat Caesar salad for the rest of my life."

     Agreed. "Same, but I randomly need like a three month break from it."

     "Not me!" Lena spoke around her mouthful of salad. She chewed, then swallowed. "I'm thinking for dinner at the wedding, we'll be doing fried pickles and Caesar salad only. I can't think of anything thing else that sounds better."

     "When's the wedding, by the way? I don't think I've ever asked."

     "Oh, you both are totally invited by the way. I had the guest list finalized before we met and got close, but I booted two of my first cousins on my dad's side to make room."