First Generation

engagement jitters || f + j

FIONA:

“Your sister beat everyone out but she found someone really great, so that’s definitely the upside,” she laughed softly, remembering the time around Maddie’s wedding and how quickly she helped put it together. “I think so too, though, we’re kind of the best,” she chuckled softly, leaning over to put her cup down before resting her head in her hand, propped up by the back of the couch. “Take out sounds good, anything Italian, though. Or Korean.”

JAMES:

“Oh yeah, Micah is fantastic. Good guy. Too early, I think, but who the hell am I to talk?” James chuckled. “Okay let’s just do both then. Actually, scratch that, that would be disgusting. Uh — Italian, tonight? We can do Korean next time.” James pulled out his phone and went to the website of his favorite Italian restaurant, ordering what he usually liked before leaning into Fiona and showing her his phone. “What do you like?” He asked, looking back and forth between her and the phone, reaching over her to grab the remote to his TV, flipping it on.

engagement jitters || f + j

FIONA:

“I know, I know,” she smiled. “Definitely think about it, and if anything I’m saying sounds like pure crap, then we’ll get married,” she nodded, appreciating the way James didn’t get hot over her having an opinion, it was something she was so thankful to have in her life, she needed that and she could see why the two of them worked for so many years. “Leave it to you to bring up statistics, you’re a real thinker you are,” she teased. “I don’t think there’s anything that could pull up apart now, it’d be pointless. I anticipate we’ll spend the rest of our lives together, that’s going to be on another level,” she laughed softly. “That’s me, Fiona Goode!”

JAMES:

“I suppose a piece of paper isn’t that big of a deal anyway. I also think I read in a book somewhere that the more people care about marriage and a wedding, the least likely they actually love each other.” James shared with her. He turned his body toward her, leaning his cheek again the back of the couch. “I’d argue we’d probably be the jealousy of our entire friend group but of course, leave it to Maddy to get married before any of her older siblings even do.” James had always been a bit bitter of his sister marriage. “Okay, anyway, let’s drop off of the marriage train for now. We’ll get back to that whenever we get to that. D’you wanna order take out or something?”

engagement jitters || f + j

FIONA:

Smiling at his comment, her smile eventually faded with the subject became a bit more serious. Giving a gentle ‘thanks’ when she was given her mug, she focused on him, listening closely. “No no no, nothing happened!” She shook her head, “I just know myself and if we get married and it doesn’t work, I might end up murdering you,” she joked, “but we can conduct a whole life together and if you feel like you want to try something else, I’ll be sad, sure, but I would understand and I know I couldn’t throw away so many years if I wasn’t angry with you and the idea of divorce…I can’t handle it. But if you decide this is what you really want, then I’m in full speed.”

JAMES:

“I was just making sure, you know? You can always bring up your problems to me when they come.” He smiled, reassuringly. He listened to her her again, patiently, laughed as she joked, shaking his head. “Let me think about it. I don’t want to say yes or no in a haste and then change my mind later when I’ve actually had the time to dwell on it properly.” James took a sip of his tea slowly. “That’s a good point to bring up though. Because you read all of these statistics on marriage and relationships and you try to tell yourself, ‘that won’t be me’” he put up airquotes, “But I mean . . . Statistics are there for a reason. Yeah. Good thinking.” He put a finger on his chin, thinking to himself on whether he had anything else to add, but he didn’t. “Still friends though, whatever happens. Fiona-Goode forever. Supreme.” He chuckled.

engagement jitters || f + j

FIONA:

Fiona smiled when he came back into the room, it was something his presence was able to do effortlessly. Resting her head on the back of the couch when she turned to face him as he sat beside her. “I do love it..’ she agreed, letting him take her hand, she looked back up at him, “but do we have to get married?” she inquired, “I mean, we spent years together, kept a close bond, something so rare, I don’t want a marriage to mess that up..” she confessed, wanting desperately to hear his side.

JAMES:

“It was really nice. I’m not saying that just to be cute, I promise.” James listened to her question and wasn’t at all offensive, nor did he think anything of it. She had raised up a valid point. “Well. . .” he bit down on his lip as he thought, letting go of her hand to lean forward and grab their mugs, handing hers to her and then leaning back with his in both of his hands. “I don’t want to give an opinion right now, I think I’d have to think about that one. I wouldn’t want to not do something out of fear, you know, but if it isn’t a fear thing. . . Since this is the first time you’re bringing this up, did something happen?”

engagement jitters || f + j

FIONA:

Fiona and James had been proceeding forward with their relationship seamlessly. For the past how many years, one of the things she was most proud of was her friendship with James and how marriage could possibly come between them. It wasn’t that she wasn’t open to the idea of marriage, but they spent so much of their life together, if James decided he wanted something else, she didn’t want to ever go through a divorce. To her, a divorce meant the end of something so delicate, so special, they were together all these years without being married, what changed. “That ring was beautiful, but it was so expensive, are you sure you’re okay with getting it? I know I said it a lot in the store, but you really don’t have to, Goode..”

JAMES:

James often got into things very quickly. Something that he always repeated to himself as a life motto and to others when they questioned his actions was, ‘If I know what I want, what’s there to wait for? Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.’ Not that James even felt he was rushing into anything with Fiona. They had known each other for a long time. They liked similar things, had similar ideals; he knew they worked together as a pair really well and he really liked her. Life was too short to wait to ‘see if it would work’ because they had done life together for so long, it wasn’t a question anymore. After a long day out, they finally came back to his apartment. He brought two mugs of tea to the living room, putting them on the coffee table before scooting it closer to them so it was more accessible, and finally taking a seat next to her. “Of course I am, you like it.” He took her left hand and studied it, imagining how it looked with the ring there. “It looked really nice like it was made for your hand. What’s a little more money, anyway? It comes and goes.”