When Nadia arrived back at her apartment, she was surprised to find Julie there. Julie was her best friend since high school. They've been inseparable since. But she usually didn't stop by Nadia's apartment unless something big was going on that she just needed to talk to Nadia about.
"Julie? What's going on? Did something happen?"
"Not yet," Julie said. "Oh come on, Nadia. I know about your 'plans' with Tom." She walked closer to her friend. "He's doing it tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, I think so. Wait, how did you know about ..."
"What's that?" Julie asked, cutting Nadia off.
Nadia lifted up the box she got from that magic shop. She opened it, showing Julie the white metal rings inside. "I was gonna propose to him with these."
"You were going to propose to him?"
"What? Is there something wrong with that?"
"Yeah, you doofus. You're not a guy."
"Well, I know it's unorthodox, but look at these things. They're just too cool not to use."
Julie looked at them. "They're white metal rings. So what?"
"Don't you see how they sparkle?"
Julie looked again, but didn't see it. She picked one up and put it on her finger, then looked at it again. It looked really weird. No one wore white rings.
"Julie, what did you put it on for?!" Nadia yelled suddenly, dropping the box. "Now you can't take it off!"
"What? What are you talking about?" Julie grabbed the ring and tried to pull it off, but it was stuck. She pulled even harder, but it wouldn't come off.
Nadia bent down and picked up the box she dropped, but the other ring wasn't in it. She crawled around the floor until she spotted it underneath her sofa. She reached under and tried to grab it, but accidentally lifted it up with her finger. As she pulled her arm out from underneath the sofa, the ring slid down and stopped firmly on her finger.
"No!" she yelled. "Now we're linked. I was supposed to do this with Tom!"
"Linked? Nadia, what the hell are you talking about? And why can't I take this thing off?"
"You can't take it off because it's magic! And now we're linked. Forever!"
"God, Nadia. They're just rings. I wish you'd just settle down and take it easy."
Suddenly, both rings began to emit a bluish glow ... and Nadia was no longer panicking.
