For Richer and Poorer

Beck/Jade

.

It was on a cold February Saturday that Beck dragged Jade to the mall. Now the malls in Los Angeles were normally perpetually crowded, packed with people who pretended to be celebrities, celebrities who pretended to be people, and freaks like the two of them. There was always some sort of signing going on, and the prices always proved to be incredibly expensive, so the two of them normally avoided the mall. But today, Beck insisted on going.

"There is literally no reason why you should be dragging me to the mall," Jade complained as she sat beside him in the front seat of his car, her eyes rolling around in her head like tiny marbles. "It's usually girlfriends that drag their boyfriends to the mall so they can carry their bags and stuff around. And let me tell you right now, this isn't normal."

"Normal's boring," Beck replied, not even taking his eyes off of the street.

"True," Jade conceded, "but honestly, unless we're scissor shopping or buying me new boots – which I doubt this snobby mall has either of – I'm going to be bored out of my mind. I hate malls. And also I hate people. And I really hate rich people malls."

"You are a rich person," Beck pointed out with some trepidation. Much to her dismay, that much was true. Her father was a business mogul and he had more than enough money to pay for like, half of Hollywood. Beck found it amusing more than anything; he refused most of the time to let her pay for anything. That was, after all, the duty of a gentleman.

"Yeah, but I don't go to rich people malls," Jade responded with another freaking eye roll. As he pulled up at the mall, her glare turned even more intense. "You're parking so far away from the mall, you idiot."

"All the other spaces were taken," he pointed out with a small grin at her.

"Like that should stop you," she said grumpily, but her face turned up the slightest bit when he reached over and took her gloved hand in his, intertwining their fingers and giving her hand a slight squeeze. Like that, the two of them walked into the mall, brushing shoulders with a bunch of harried-looking rich people as they slipped in. Jade muttered something along the lines of "What's their problem?", which was really quite ironic considering who she was, but nonetheless he just smiled.

Most of their time at the mall was spent with Jade criticizing the fashions in nearly every store window – "Who would wear that? It looks like a fashion disaster" and "That should be on What Not to Wear" – but things took a serious turn once Beck hesitated outside of a ring shop. With a scowl on her face, Jade crossed her arms. "Oh, no. Heck no."

"We're just gonna look, babe," Beck said with a grin, looping his arm around her shoulders. "Come on, it'll be fun. Maybe we can find you a ring with the remains of dead animals in it or something."

"You're not funny," Jade griped, glaring at him, but she followed him into the store anyway, which Beck considered a victory. After all, if she was completely averse to the idea of marrying him, she never would have followed him into a ring store – right?

It became obvious within minutes that Jade was completely against any sort of white diamond. This, of course, was to be expected; any color that was not in the black family did not particularly strike her fancy ever, and so of course she would hate diamonds too. She strolled past rows and rows of rings with big, small, medium – all sorts of diamonds, and she didn't seem to appreciate any one of them.

"See, Beck," Jade griped as she picked up a sparkling diamond ring with a golden band, "this is why we shouldn't have come in here. That worker guy's getting offended, I can tell, but it's hardly my fault that they've only got crappy white rings that only Vega would like. I mean, honestly."

He thought she looked gorgeous with the sparkling white ring on her finger, but he knew that for her, it wouldn't do. So, with a laugh, he tugged the ring off of her finger, placed it on the stand, kissed her lightly on the cheek, and then pulled her over to the area he knew she'd enjoy the most.

"See," Beck said proudly, smirking at his girlfriend, "black diamond rings. Well, ring, but I mean it'll have to do, right?"

Jade gasped, which was usually a good sign. Her eyes were fixed upon the single ring – a black ring with a diamond in the center, but one that was black instead of the traditional clear white. The silver edging of the diamond was faceted with normal diamonds, and the inside of it was silver as well, but her eyes hadn't moved from it. A small smile appeared on her face. "Now this is more like it." She slipped the ring onto her finger, gasping as it slid on perfectly. "It even fits. How crazy is that?"

"Not all that crazy," Beck told her with a small smile. "I got it fit for you, babe."

Jade's eyes went wide, and he knew already that she had figured it out. Before she could say anything, though, he dropped to one knee, feeling more cliché than he ever had – but for once, he didn't care. He grinned up at her. "I love you. A lot. And I know that's crazy cliché to say, but I know it more than I've ever known anything in my whole life, and – gosh. I'm tired of waiting. Maybe we're not done with college or whatever but I love you – I love you – and I want to be with you forever. So marry me?"

"You can't be serious," Jade said with a toss of her head. "We're in a freaking ring shop, Beck Oliver. This isn't even romantic at all. Did you even put any thought into this proposal? And you said we were just going to look, you liar!"

Now, most normal girls would've swooned at that proposal and immediately accepted, tears in their eyes, and passionately kissed him as romantic music played and all the people in the store swooned. Instead, they were all staring at him like she was insane and he was even more insane for wanting to marry her. He wanted to laugh because he had never wanted a normal girl. It had always been her – it had always been Jade, for all her faults and shortcomings.

So he just laughed. "Things change, Jade. Besides – telling you would've ruined the surprise, you know?"

"Whatever," Jade said, but her eyes were twinkling and she was smiling, almost. "Fine, whatever. I'll marry you, idiot. Just buy me the ring and give me a legitimate proposal. A creative one. I will accept nothing less, got it?"

"Always," he told her, and then ducked down to give her a swift kiss on the lips. He paused in front of her to whisper "love you" in a soft tone.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she said with a laugh, grabbing his hand and dragging him up to the cash register. "Now get me my ring, dude – looks like we've got a wedding to plan."

He grinned, his whole face alight. There was nothing more beautiful than her, his fiancé, the ring upon her finger, a half-smile on her face as she slid it off and handed it to him. He put it back in the box and handed it to the cashier, and then grinned at her again, because what else was there to do, honestly?

"We're getting married in Hawaii," she told him casually. "So if Vega shows up and tries to object, I can push her into a volcano."

"Jade, Tori's dating Andre," Beck told her in a placid voice with a shake of his head. Even in college, Jade still held a small grudge against the brunette.

"Doesn't mean you're any less attractive," she told him, frowning.

"Thanks for the compliment, babe."

"Anytime. And you know – it's kinda weird, but I love you too. Sometimes."

"Please," he teased her with a grin. "If you didn't love me, you wouldn't have agreed to marry me, so there's no denying it now. You might as well just scream it off of a rooftop."

Jade scoffed. "As if." As the cashier handed Beck his bag, she grabbed his hand to pull him out of the ring shop. "Wait," she said as they walked out, "that's gotta be a freaking expensive ring. Where the heck did you get the money for that?"

"You know that job I got at the Canadian Warehouse?" Beck asked her. "Well, I know I don't get paid much, but I've been saving up for a while. You know I've been planning this for ages, right? And I finally got enough money to buy it today, because I've had to put away money for my basic needs and stuff, and well… yeah."

"Wow," Jade said, seemingly at a loss for words, probably because no one had ever spent so much money on her, and then, "If you spent that much on the ring, I can't wait to see what you do for the proposal. It better be amazing. But don't totally go broke, all right? I can't be dating a homeless person, even if you kinda look like one sometimes."

Beck just laughed to himself, knowing she was totally smitten. Victory.

.

A/N: I don't know why so don't ask. I just saw that Kay commercial and I thought of Bade and I had to write this. It's just a short fluffy thing so please don't judge me ok. I blame Alyssa for encouraging me just why.

Please review if you enjoyed it or if you didn't. Means a lot to me.