Chance Meeting

Sixteen

After a couple hours of driving himself even more nuts with the younger bassist at his side, Bobby'd finally found the perfect ring. It was designed to look like a Crown–well, more like a Tiara, he thought–with a Princess-cut Amethyst as the Central Stone. A pair of Black Diamonds flanked the Amethyst, and there were gorgeous Opals wrapping all the way around the band in a half-Infinity style. It'd come with a matching wedding band, but he'd wanted something that was a bit more elaborate, yet not overly so.

        That'd been where Ash'd come in, 'cuz since he knew the young woman fairly well–prolly better in some ways since they oft talked fashion together–he'd found the perfect wedding band. Also designed to look like a Crown, each Crown tip sported a small Black Diamond of its own, and they were also in what he'd call a half-Infinity style.

        Down below the tips, there were two rows of Stones that wrapped around the band as far as the tips reached. The first was more Amethyst, and in the tiny spot where each Crown tip started, there was technically a third row due to the Stone used to keep everything even. The second full row of Stones was more Black Diamonds, which was exactly what he'd wanted when he'd started his search. Aerin hated plain jewelry, and her opinion on White Diamonds were that they were cold and tasteless due to their lack of any Color. Her favorite Stones were a combination of Amethyst, Garnet, Sapphire, and Black Obsidian, but the only Stone he could find jewelry in was Amethyst.

        "I think this is gonna be perfect," Bobby said with a grin.

        "And you're sure about doing this?" the younger bassist asked, his brow cocked. "Ya know how she feels about getting married and having kids."

        "That goes for a legal marriage–which isn't what I'm planning," he answered, his grin turning a bit mischievous.

        "So, you're not actually proposing to your girlfriend?" the saleswoman in front of them asked, sounding confused.

        "Oh, I am–we're just gonna do it a lil differently than one'd expect," the older bassist told her. "She's against legal marriage after seeing how it affected several people she was once close to, and after a nasty divorce of my own about twenty Years ago, I can't say I blame her."

        She still looked just as lost as Ash did, which made him chuckle.

        "My girlfriend's into a lotta what could be deemed alternative practices," Bobby explained. "She's already told me she'd compromise with something called a handfasting, but she wouldn't ever get married legally."

        "Ohhhh," the younger bassist breathed. "Must be another one of those Pagan things."

        "I'll explain it in the truck, but yeah," he answered, nodding. "And even still, I plan on tacking something else on so she'll realize she's the one with the Power here, not me."

        That just made Ash look confused again as he moved on to the other part of what he wanted to do, which was get his own wedding band while he was already here. He wanted it to match what he'd just picked out as Aerin's wedding set, which meant it'd to be of a similar style. Luckily for him, they'd a mens' wedding band that was all but identical to what he'd chosen as her wedding band, just without any Stones in it.

        Not only was it practically identical to the bejeweled wedding band, but it came in both black chrome and Sterling Silver. Even though the black chrome woulda matched well enough, he decided on the Sterling Silver version–even though it was supposed to be paired with a Rose Gold female version of a couple's set.

        With his purchases made a short while later, the pair of bassists headed back out to his girlfriend's truck. Bobby'd picked the younger bassist up from his office on his way to the jewelry store, so he was gonna drop him off there so he could pick up his car. That'd been his reason–aside from wanting privacy–for saying he'd explain what a handfasting was once they were back in the truck. He already kinda didn't like Ash mentioning Paganism out in the open, if only 'cuz Aerin was a bit selective on who she Revealed that part of herself to.