While Jecka and Nicole would think that marriage sucks, they'd probably end up getting court married for the benefits. They've been together for awhile. And they do tolerate/care/love(?) each other enough after all the years of dealing with each other's bs.
So, they end up going to the courthouse on a random Wednesday, sign the papers, and everything is official. Great!
Now, Nicole can be under Jecka's health insurance and this also gives Jecka a sigh of relief that she can stay by Nicole's side in the hospital if she were to ever try to off herself again. Unfortunately, simply telling gross and sleazy men that they're married doesn't really keep them away. They don't see a ring, so in their minds, that means Jecka and Nicole aren't taken.
Okay, easy fix.
All Nicole needs to do is buy two rings from some shitty Claire's store on 5th Avenue or whatever to get these guys off their backs. But Jecka protests against it. Not because she's against the idea of wearing fake rings to ward off sleazy men, but because it's at fucking Claire's of all places. She reminds Nicole to have some decorum. They end up going to some random jeweler in the mall to get rings that could appear legit. Nicole just asks for a simple accent ring, while Jecka gets something that's more noticeable but not too gaudy.
They get the rings, and only wear them when they're out in public. When they're home, the ring comes off. Men will still try to pursue either one of them when they're just minding their own business, but it wards off a good chunk of them. As long as they see that ring, these men will assume that either Jecka or Nicole are taken by men. Because, hey! Who gives a fuck about what a woman's opinion?
Either way, it works for the most part. But over time, one of them starts to forget to take their fake wedding ring when they're back home. That little $30-50 accessory starts to mean just a bit more--even if neither party wants to admit it.
After some time, Jecka accidentally loses her's, and she's thinking, damn she has to deal with a higher percentage of men coming onto her again. It's actually perfect timing though, because Nicole had an actual diamond one ready to gift to Jecka.
Nicole says it's no big deal, and that it doesn't mean too much. But hey? The diamond ring will at least tell most other men trying to come onto her that they aren't shit if her "husband" can get her a nice looking ring that makes her look like a millionaire's wife.
Jecka thinks that Nicole stole it at the mall and decided to give it to her. Except she doesn't really give a shit if Nicole did. Because wow, next to getting the counselor away from her (so that Jecka could smoke by herself) in high school, this was probably the second nicest thing anyone has ever done for her.
Thing is, Nicole won't admit to Jecka that she went out of her way to save up enough money (from various odd jobs) to get that ring for her. Maybe she'll tell her. Maybe she won't.
