Is that what I think it is...?

Now that she finally knew where the mirrors were hidden, Jenny and Jason grabbed some dry clothes to change into and got ready to leave for their dinner party at George's house. With a gift in hand and dressed to kill, they headed out the door. George loved themed parties and had asked them to dress up like the 1920's. Jason had picked out slacks, a vest and had topped it with a red tie. Jenny had matched him with a matching deep red layered tassel dress, with a red lipstick and a modest headdress with black and red feathers. They were the last to arrive at the party and were greeted at the door by the host himself, who was wearing a fedora and suspenders with a dress-shirt and slacks. "Jenny, Jason, you guys are finally here! You look great. Come in, come in. Everyone else is already waiting." Jenny glanced down at the delicate watch on her wrist and turned back to the overly excited George, "But we are right on time. You said to come at four. We are even five minutes early." George paid her no mind, so Jenny turned to Jason instead with a confused look on her face. Jason chuckled and placed his arm around her shoulders as they walked in. George had already reached the living room door and was shouting to the others, "Jenny and Jason have arrived. The party and interrogation can finally begin!"

With that introduction Jason and Jenny entered the living room and greeted their dressed up friends. Everyone looked amazing and had put a great deal of effort in their outfits so it seemed. Considering they had only a few hours of notice, it was impressive to see what some of them, mainly the ladies, had managed to come up with. They took their assigned seats and were handed a drink by George himself. "Now that we are complete and everyone has a drink in hand, I declare this questioning opened". Elizabeth was the first to ask, "Well, despite being happy that we get to be classmates, I do wonder how you managed to convince Jason to let you go. At least I assume the request came from you, because I am damn sure it didn't come from him." Jenny chuckled and admitted that she was the main reason they were in separate classes and explained her reasoning and quest for independence.

"Ah, I see. You figured that it is better to ask for forgiveness than for permission, that explains it. I was surprised that you guys hadn't mentioned anything about possibly being in different classes for our senior year before. If it had been known before, I was sure I would have heard something about it from Nick. I was grilling the poor boy for keeping it from me when I found out, but now I see that he was truly innocent." Everyone laughed at Elizabeth's words and Jenny turned to Nick, "Sorry I got you into trouble. I didn't think this secret would have any casualties." "Time heals all wounds. I am sure the bruises will fade." Nick responded with a hurt expression, causing Elizabeth to shoot him an unserious glare. Making everyone laugh out loud once more and holding onto their sides from the pain, including Nick and Elizabeth themselves. With this the topic had been addressed and closed just as fast. If Jenny's explanation hadn't been enough, the sparkling ring on Elizabeth's finger surely would have been.

Once the laughter died down a bit Jenny pointed at Elizabeth's hand and asked, "Liz, is that ring part of your costume or is that what I think it is...?" Elizabeth didn't say anything and just held out her hand and nodded. This was enough for the girls to squeal and get up out of their seats to get a closer look at Elizabeth's ring. The guys turned to Nick, who was sitting in his seat like nothing had happened. "You finally popped the question?!" George asked with excitement. Harry grabbed him by the shoulders from behind the lounge chair and squeezed as he said, "Nice going, man!" Jason tipped his glass to show his approval of his decision. "Well done. You locked in a good one." Nick thanked them for their praise, when the attention was shifted back to the group as a whole and everyone listened at the proposal story.

Nick and Elizabeth had gone away on their first trip alone as a couple and had planned to use this time to test their relationship. A lot of couples break up during their first long vacation together or when first moving in together. So, they decided to tackle both phases at the same time, by going on a seven week long vacation, lasting almost the entire summer, in a cabin with just the two of them. No friends, no family, nothing to distract them. If they could get through that without wanting to break up, then they were truly a good match. Another reason for this was because they wanted to move in together after graduation to prepare for the next step, little did Elizabeth know that that next step would be them getting married.

Nick had always said that he wouldn't move in with a girl unless she was his wife. He had said these words a long time ago and back then Elizabeth only had eyes for Jason, so she hadn't made that connection when they were discussing their living arrangements for University. But Nick hadn't changed his perspective on that point and had started thinking about where he wanted their relationship to go ever since they had talked about living together. Nick explained how he had asked her father for her hand in marriage before their trip, because he wanted to be able to pop the question whenever it felt right, without having to think about having to ask her parent's approval. Her mother had already expressed early on that she approved of him as her son-in-law, but her father had his reservations. So, once he had his father's blessing as well, he picked out a ring and had carried it in his pocket ever since. That was until the last week of their trip.