“Just like I’m grateful my parents pissed off theirs and lived off-reservation.” She smiled to herself then he said that last part and Mai was pretty sure her heart stopped. Yes, they’d been kidding about their wedding for a bit, it was sort of a running thing, but that was a little different wasn’t it? She shifted in his arms, moving so she could see his eyes. “And if they do?”
Ash hadn't expected to be called on that last bit, had thought he'd sounded teasing enough for her to think he was. Because he had been when it had left his mouth. Now? Well, weren't arranged marriages the same thing as jumping into married life with a stranger? And a lot of those worked out. At least, his mother had tried to convince him so but maybe that was because she knew she'd made a bad choice with his father. Maybe her intended would have been a better match. "I guess we get married then," he said lightly, trying to sound non-committal because it should be.
Mai watched him for a moment, trying to see through him. She’d got the teasing tone, she got the one he was using now, but it sucked that part of her thought about it, saw it, and didn’t hate it. Would it be all that bad? Maybe. She wasn’t really mature enough to know one way or another, but she liked the idea of marrying him more than anyone else. Settling back down on her back, head propped on his shoulder she went back to holding his hand. “Maybe. I’d want the right dress and I don’t think I have anything that would work.”
Ash felt relief and disappointment that she went into girl mode about dresses. It was a bittersweet thing to come to terms with addictions. Though he had to admit that this was the fastest and most intense addiction he'd ever formed. And it had happened before they'd been intimate together. He could see marrying her as being some kind of wish fulfillment even though it was far too soon. "Then it'll have to wait until Vera Wang joins us," he said though his tone was not mocking.
Mai laughed, rolling her head enough to see him. “Are you going to pay for that dress? Because I know I can’t.” She smiled though as she settled back down. “Marrying you though, we’d get our wedding all over a magazine if we wanted to have a proper one.”
Ash finally felt okay when she laughed and echoed her a bit more softly. "Oh no. I figure Vera will need something to do once she's trapped here and will give you a dress out of the goodness of her heart. Or sheer boredom. Either way. And Kai will photograph you and when we finally leave, the magazines will pay top dollar. Shooting you both into instant stardom. So you should kind of just want me for my marriageability." Which also came out in a teasing tone but he had to shove back misgivings again that he didn't like at all.
“Oh right. If she’s here she’ll make me something out of curtains or whatever.” Mai smiled and shook her head. “I want to marry you because you’re you. If I was just after fake stardom it’d be scandal all the way, not marriage.”
Ash went quiet a minute because the fact she'd used the present tense hadn't escaped him. He wasn't sure how he felt though there were mostly very positive things in the mix. He chose not to highlight it but rather respond. "She's still Vera so even curtains would be amazing," he said, and leaned up to kiss her again. "I don't think you'd end up with fake stardom. Even if there was a scandal. There's too much about you to shine."
“Well of course they would be,” Mai said about the curtain dress, rolling with it because she hadn’t even realized what she’d said. “Yeah, but that’s not the way to do it. Not the way I want to do it. If I wanted to be well known for sleeping around or get jobs off it I could change my name to Bianca and call it good.” She was mostly speculating about the other model, but there were enough rumors that Mai was sure some of it had to be fact.