For as long as Beck Oliver could remember, the whole concept of marriage felt superficial. The archaic ceremony, the expensive outfits and the ostentatious cake. Expressing your love for someone like this felt ridiculous to him. "In Beck's opinion, it was all a load of outdated bullshit. To become someone's husband and make someone his wife. It was routed in sexism and almost every marriage he had come across in life had ended in divorce. Marriage didn't mean forever the way it used to and he didn't see how a relationship could grow or change just because of some legal jargon or a pair of elegant rings.
Beck hated a cliché and yet, the only relationship he had ever had had been precisely that. One day, his life was bland and then suddenly, at the mere age of fourteen, she was thrust into his life. It was the classic boy meets girl, high school sweethearts tale. Jade suddenly became his whole world and Beck found himself simultaneously fighting to get her out of his head and desperately clinging on to her, somehow knowing he'd never find another person who clicked with him as well as she did.
And hell, he was a romantic guy. He loved to take Jade out on dates and bring her back massage her back after a hard day. He loved having a companion throughout all the trials and tribulations life threw at them. He loved taking care of her in sickness and in health. He loved loving her - but he didn't want to marry her.
They were an unlikely pair with more differences than similarities. They could go through full days of school at each other's throats, jealousy and accusations being thrown all over the place. But if you took them away from all that, they were a unit. Lying in each other's arms, comforting and reassuring each other, they would always come back to this.
Jade knew how Beck felt about the whole marriage thing and unlike most girls - she didn't care. Her parents had divorced when she was nine and had gone through even more divorces since. It was an exhausting cycle so if she could avoid the whole marriage thing altogether then she was happy to
They laughed when they got their senior yearbooks and saw that they were nominated as the couple who were most likely to be married within a year. They were met with strange looks from their friends who honestly couldn't see what was so funny.
"I can't believe someone came up with this," Beck laughed flicking through the book.
"They're all so wrong," Jade agreed. "How is Meredith listed as most likely to win an Oscar? She doesn't even act!"
"Hey! I got most likely to become a world-famous pop star!" Tori exclaimed offended.
"Case in point," Jade smirked, prompting a scowl from her frenemy. Beck shook his head at his girlfriend and put a finger up to his lips.
"Please excuse my wife, she means all of them are wrong, except for yours," Beck smirked, winding up Jade further.
"Ew never call me that again." Jade glared at him.
"I'm so sorry Mrs. Oliver." Beck teased, watching as Jade made a gagging motion. She lunged at him but Beck anticipated it and pulled her into a playful headlock.
"Sorry about this. Jade's just really overwhelmed with planning our wedding," Beck explained to their friends, further winding Jade up as she squirmed in his arms. Their friends watched in amusement as the couple play-fought for several minutes. When they finally stopped, Beck held onto Jade tightly and no one brought the yearbook nominations back up.
And that was how their friends found out about Beck and Jade's views on marriage. As well as put Cat's hopes of being a bridesmaid back by several years. Beck and Jade were as steady as any married couple, but they were about as anti-marriage as you could get.