The Ring...

It wasn't really her style. A little too flashy. A little too much. And yet it did have its own charm. You'd never miss it that's for sure. A ring like this will get you noticed. No need for the subtle and not so subtle hand gestures some recently engaged women had to do to call attention to their small rings. No, this one stood out. If hit with a direct beam of sunshine it would probably blind an airline pilot.

She waved her hand back and forth watching the stones sparkle.

She had a friend in college who hated engagement rings. She thought they were barely a step up from a ring through a bull's nose. Just meant to control you. To show ownership over you. And diamonds were all mined by slave labor, everyone knew that. Engagement rings were the absolute worst thing ever. As she watched the light reflect from the pure, clear, stones she wondered if her friend would change her mind if presented with a ring like this one. It was easy to take a strong ethical stand if it was all hypothetical.

Three month's salary. That was the advertising campaign. You should spend three month's salary on the ring. And you should add anniversary bands to it on the milestone anniversaries. Which used to be 25 and 50 but now seemed to start at one. They were all being sold to all of the time. More, more, more.

The stones twinkled like they were in on the con.

Do you need an extra insurance policy on a ring like this one? Did you leave it at home locked in the safe when you went on vacation? Maybe only wear it on special occasions and have a plain band for everyday wear? Just so you didn't look like you were trying to lord it over people.

But then again...she waved her hand.

A ring like this was meant to be lorded. That was the point. You wanted people to notice a ring like this one.

She practiced holding her hand naturally. What a weird thing to think about. How do you naturally hold your hand? Maybe after wearing it for awhile it would feel totally normal and she would naturally hold her hand naturally. She laughed a little at the thought. Naturally hold it naturally. Well, naturally of course.

But right now she felt the need to wave her hand back and forth watching the stones catch the light. Twinkling. Sparkling.

Was it a bigger love if the ring was bigger? Or was it more like what she had thought with her girlfriends? The ones with the most precarious relationships were always the ones talking about how wonderful they were. How incredible their boyfriend or girlfriend was. She thought there was probably a formula out there that showed the inverse relationship to how good a relationship really was to how often someone said how great it was. Kind of like cool. If you really were cool you never had to tell people. If your relationship was strong you didn't have to say anything.

So what did that mean for the size of a ring?

And then she wondered how he got the actual size of the ring? Did he sneak out another ring he knew fit and matched that? Or was he just that good at guessing?

She waved her hand back and forth a few more times.

It wasn't really her style, it was a little too flashy.

The ring shifted on her finger.

It wasn't her size either, it was a little too big.

But he hadn't bought it for her.

She dropped the ring into her pocket and took one last look around the room.

She wiped a few more surfaces and then turned the AC to full before leaving the apartment.

A ring like that will get you noticed.

That's not always a good thing.