Free A Week at the Beach by Virginia Jewel

waitress seemed much happier with the new direction of our fake love story.
                “It is beautiful.  It has a round cut diamond in the center, surrounded by a circle of diamonds.  The band is platinum with diamonds along the sides.  It has a very vintage look to it.  Words cannot describe it, really.”  With a mischievous smile, I said to Nick, “Don’t you have a picture of it on your phone, babe?”
                Nick stared back at me for a second then patted himself down, pretending to look for his phone.  “I must have left my phone back at the beach house.”
                “That’s too bad,” the waitress said in a disappointed voice.  “That ring sounds amazing.  Well, you two seem like you’ll be very happy together.”
                “Thank you,” I said politely, suddenly feeling bad for lying to her.
                “Your food will be out shortly.”  She smiled at us again then left our table.
                “So is that really what you’d want your ring to look like?” Nick asked when the waitress was far enough away that she couldn’t hear us.
                I shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe.  I guess it’s kind of up to him to decide.”
                “You don’t want to have a say in what your ring looks like?” He seemed to be surprised.
                “No.  I want him to pick out what he thinks would look good on me.  He’s paying for it, why shouldn’t he get what he wants?”
                “What if he picks out something that you hate?” Nick asked with a smile.
                “If he doesn’t know me well enough to know what I’d like then maybe we shouldn’t be getting married.”
                “You make a valid point.” 
                “Okay, I’ve got one Caesar salad and one bacon cheeseburger.”  The waitress put our food down in front of us.  “I put the dressing on the side for you sweetie.  I know how you bride-to-be types are.  It’s a shame though, isn’t it?  You spend months starving yourself to fit into a wedding dress and he eats whatever he wants and still manages to look fantastic.”  She smiled warmly at me.
                “Thanks for keeping an eye on me.”
                Nick smiled at her and laughed as she walked away.  I picked up the dressing and dumped it all over my salad. 
                “What’s that they say?  A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips,” Nick said over the top of his burger.
                I glared at him as I reached across the table and stole a fry off his plate.  “Who said I was planning on fitting into some stupid dress, anyway?”
                “What?  No big family wedding for us?” he pulled his plate out of my reach, preventing me from taking another fry.
                “No way!  I have absolutely no desire to force my friends and family to suffer through a wedding on my behalf.”  I picked up my fork and dug into my salad.
                “So, you don’t really want to get married?”
                I finished chewing most of the food in my mouth and held my hand in front of my face.  “No, I want to be married. I just don’t want to have a wedding.”
                He lowered his hamburger from his mouth, “Are you serious?”
                I nodded and put another forkful of salad into my mouth.
                “Won’t your family be upset?”
                I swallowed my food and said, “Are you kidding?  My dad would be ecstatic!  He’s got three girls, one of which he already knows is going to be a bridezilla making ridiculous monetary demands for her wedding.  Nothing could make him happier than knowing that I plan to sneak off and elope without spending a dime of his money.”