The Prayers in Rossford

[CharmedFan28]

It looks like Nell and Dena might have to sort their personal issues out before they can make things better with each other. Poor Nell.

Agreed. I hope Bill comes back but I don't have high hopes.

 

[ChrisGibson]

All you need is faith the size of a mustard seed.

 

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER
SIX

DANCING CONTINUED


“And then,” Will Klasko repeated, sitting down in the open doorway of the balcony in his room, “she said you all should have sex?”
“Yes,” Milo said.
“Um,” Will reflected.
“Well, what should I do?”
“I don’t know. Me and Layla never made it that far, and given my current single status and the way I handled the last relationship, I’m probably not the best person to ask about that.”
“Then you and Layla… aren’t getting back together.”
“I think Aidan Michaelson would be a little upset if we did, seeing as he’s her boyfriend and everything.”
“Ah, but you don’t even know how real it is.”
Will held up a hand before saying: “Thank you very much. But giving me false hope isn’t really a favor. And it is false hope. I know Layla well enough to know she never pretends, so what she and Aidan have can’t be fake.”
“It’s a shame all the same,” Milo said.
“Yeah,” Will said noncommittally. And then making a stirring motion with his hand, he said, “Back to you.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Maybe you should ask Brendan?”
“What?”
“Out of all of us, he’s the only one who’s actually had sex.”
“Yeah, with my girlfriend. Ick! No thank you.”
“Actually I was thinking with Kenny,” Will said. “They actually have a sexual relationship.”
“Yes,” Milo allowed. “But Brendan and Dena slept together. A bunch off times. That grosses me out. There’s no way I’m gonna talk to Bren about …”
“Anything.”
“That’s not true,” Milo said. “I talk to Bren.”
“You get on well enough,” Will shrugged.
“Well, does he have to be my best friend?”
“No,” Will said. “Just, in this instance it might help. He’s really smart about stuff like this.”
Milo gave Will a look.
“When he’s not cheating on two people at the same time he’s really smart about stuff like this.”
“Well, forget it. I need you to be smart about this. Or maybe Layla.”
“No,” Will said. “I can’t imagine Layla, who is still a virgin as far as I know, is going to want to coach her best friend’s boyfriend about sex.”
“She might.”
“Can you imagine her doing it without a smart mouth?”
Milo sat still for a second, and then said, “Good point.”
“Well… Why don’t you want to sleep with Dena?”
Milo looked at Will.
“I mean, maybe a good place to start is with your own feelings,” Will explained. “Like, why you think it might not be a good idea.”
“Because… Well, she brought it up when she was going on about her mother and her prom dress.”
Will raised an eyebrow.
“She said she doesn’t want to be her mother. She swore up and down that the prom dress makes her look boring, like her mother, and then she told me we should have sex.”
“That’s…. odd.”
“Women are odd,” Milo said. “I just wonder if her wanting us to sleep together is just her way of… I dunno….”
“Making her life more interesting.”
“Yes,” Milo said. “And…. I don’t know if you know this, but I’m still a… I don’t want my first time to be wasted. Besides, I think maybe she wants to sleep with me because the only person she’s been with is Brendan, who is gay, and the only person her mother was ever with was her father—who is currently gay. And—”
“And she wants to break the pattern?”
Milo shrugged. “Something like that. Maybe she wants to go around the block.”
“It’s not like her mom’s unusual,” Will said. “I mean… the only person my mother was ever with was my father.”
“Do you know that?”
Will blinked and said, “Actually… No, I don’t.”
“And anyway, that’s just it, Dena doesn’t want to be usual.”
“But I choose to believe it.”
“Believe what?” Milo said.
“I choose to believe the only person my mother was ever with was my father.”
Just then there was a knock on the door. They both jumped up, and then the door opened to reveal Brendan Miller who said:
“Hey, gang, what’s going on?”
“NOTHING!” Milo and Will shouted.
Brendan only blinked at them.


“It’s uh…” Claire began. “Well, it’s….”
“It’s prommy,” Radha noted.
“Girl this shit is ugly,” Layla said, flouncing down on her bed, and touching a sleeve of the pink gown.
“Well, that would be prommy,” Radha said. “Which explains why I never went to mine.”
“And now you’re going to ours,” Dena noted.
“Look, guys, I don’t know what to do about this.”
“What I don’t understand,” Layla said, “is why you brought it over here.”
“I thought you could….” Dena shrugged. “Give it some counsel.”
“The only counsel I have is get the receipt, take that ugly shit back, and let’s get something cute.”
“You know it’s really not that bad,” Claire said. “I wore something like that to my prom. Most girls do.”
“Claire!” Dena said, “I am not most girls.”
“I’ll give you that,” Claire allowed.
“But how do I not hurt my mother’s feelings?”
“By leaving the house in that dress and changing into something else,” Layla said. “But then the question after that is… Is it really that important? Does your prom dress really matter that much?”
Dena thought a moment, and decided: “Yes. Yes, Layla, it does.”
“All right then,” Layla stood up. “Time to go to the mall.”
“Time to get money,” Dena said. “The only way I’d have money is if I took this back, and taking this back will hurt mom’s feelings.”
“Just tell her you hate it,” Radha said.
“I don’t… I don’t hate it,” Dena said. “Hate’s a strong word.”
“You don’t want it,” Layla said. “And that’s what matters.”
“What matters is I don’t know if Mom can take much more rejection.”
“You’re not rejecting her,” Claire said.
“No,” Radha agreed. “When a married man courts you and then runs away in the middle of the night, that’s rejection. Not taking a funky dress back to the store.”
“All the same,” Dena said, and shook her head.
“I can flip you the money,” Layla told her.
“I don’t know when I can pay you back.”
“I’ll just get some more from Fenn when he and Todd get back.”
“How long are they going to be gone?” Claire said. “I miss them. I mean, I miss my brother too.”
“I don’t know,” Layla said.
“You sure you can afford it?” said Dena.
“Do you plan on spending a lot?” Layla looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
“I plan on looking good,” Dena said.
“Translate that as a yes,” Radha said.
Layla shrugged. “Between Fenn and my father’s credit card, we can handle it.”

“Mom!” Layla shouted, as they were donning their jackets and heading out the door, “We’re going to the mall. To shop for prom.”
“Layla!” a voice called. But it was Simon Davis who slid out of the parlor, not Adele.
“Yes?” she said cautiously.
“Can I talk to you a moment?”
Dena looked at Layla who said, “I’ve been called into the teacher’s office.”
“Ah, yes,” Simon said, steering Layla into the kitchen. “But I might be the one in trouble.”
In the kitchen, Simon said, “I’ve been seeing your mother a while now. And… I think it’s time for something to happen. And… I think I should ask your permission.”
“You want to start sleeping with my mother?”
“Ugh!”
Layla looked at him.
“Not that it’s ugh,” Simon said. “It’s ugh that you would say it because… Actually, it wouldn’t be ugh at all.”
Layla put her hand up. “That’s enough.”
“I just meant…” Simon Davis said. “How does your mind work?”
Layla shrugged. “Apparently like you just heard. But I guess I was wrong.”
“Yes,” Simon said sharply. “Yes. You are quite wrong. I would never… ask that. Not to you.”
Simon reached into his pocket and pulled out a little black box. Before he could even open it, Layla shrieked.
“Layla!” Simon made to put a hand over her mouth.
“Oh… my… Are you serious?” Layla began.
“You haven’t even seen it?”
“I don’t have to. I saw the box. I assume the rock is big. I mean, you wouldn’t get her anything chintzy.”
“Then you’re okay with it?”
“Yes. And even if I wasn’t, I’d be gone in the fall. And the house is too big for just her. Yeah. Or are you all moving? I love this house. Don’t move.”
“Layla, I haven’t even asked her. But,” Simon said, after a while, “You do think it’s a good idea?”
“Yes, I think it’s a great idea.”
Then Layla said, “Simon?”
“Yes?”
“Does that mean you are sleeping with my mother?”
“Layla!”
“Alright, alright!” Layla put her hands in the air and walked out of the kitchen, toward her friends, murmuring, “I mean… we’re all grown ups, right? We can handle some truth.”

 

[CharmedFan28]

It will be interesting if Milo and Dena actually have sex anytime soon. It seems like she wants to do it for the wrong reasons. Great to see more prom preparation, I hope the girls find dresses they like without hurting people's feelings. So Simon is going to propose to Adele? That is great! Great writing and I look forward to more soon!

 

[ChrisGibson]

They do seem dangerously close to not being able to get dresses without fucking up their mothers's days, don't they? Dena has been talking about sex with Milo for a while now, and though her reasons don't seem to be "good", I do wonder if there ever is a "good" or "bad" reason for sex.

 

[CharmedFan28]

They do seem dangerously close to not being able to get dresses without fucking up their mothers's days, don't they? Dena has been talking about sex with Milo for a while now, and though her reasons don't seem to be "good", I do wonder if there ever is a "good" or "bad" reason for sex.

Really I mean good reasons as in will she regret it later.

 

[ChrisGibson]

Well, all of that remains to be seen. Personally, I don't think she'll regret it, and I'm a little envious myself.

 

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER
SIX

DANCING CONTINUED

“Look, everyone’s going on about prom, and I’m sick of it,” Will said.
“No date?” Bren said.
“Sheridan, get out of my chair,” Will said, removing his brother who pouted, and said, “You don’t own that chair.”
Will ignored him, and sat down indicating seats for Brendan and Milo.
“Well, Milo’s the only one who’s going to be taking a date to prom, anyway,” Brendan said.
“And I’ve got my own problems.”
“Which are?” Brendan said.
Will looked at Milo. Milo looked at Will, and Brendan said, “Com’on, guys. Are you keeping something from me?”
“Nothing…” said Will.
Brendan looked at him.
Milo said, “Nothing big, he means.”
Brendan frowned at him, and then said, “Well, fine then.”
“And you do have a date,” Milo said.
“Who?” Brendan looked at him.
“You’ve got Kenny.”
“Kenny is in college. And… Kenny is a guy.”
“You could bring him.”
“I don’t think they’d even like that at Rossford High. And we don’t go to Rossford High. We go to Saint Barbara’s where boys do not bring their boyfriends, so I’ll be stag.”
“Well now, actually… I was just thinking….” Milo said. “If you and Will went together, that would be something.”
“That’s right!” Will snapped his fingers.
“And then I thought, well then you might as well just bring Kenny.”
Will, who had been cheered for a brief second at the prospect of a date, even if it was Brendan, was instantly upset, but said, as a friend, “That is true. You might as well just bring Kenny.”
“I guess. If he wants it.”
“I bet he will,” Will said, encouragingly.

The sky was indigo set with gold along the horizon when they were leaving Will’s, and as they came down the steps of the hill, leading to Bryant Street, Milo said, “Bren.”
“Yeah?” Brendan screwed his face against the light.
“You got a date. I got a date.”
“I know. I have a date!”
“Will doesn’t have a date.”
Brendan looked at Milo.
“We’re his friends,” said Milo. “We gotta get Will a girl.”


“She hates the dress,” Nell declared, scrubbing the counter harder and harder and wringing out the cloth into the sink. “She… is utterly… disappointed,” she said, scouring. “And she hates it. And she hates me.”
“No she doesn’t,” Adele said. “You don’t know how lucky you are. How lucky we are. This is the age a girl cuts up, and the most trouble you’ve had is Dena doesn’t like her dress.”
“And your troubles with Layla?”
“None,” Adele said. “Cause I have the sense not to buy her clothes and I hold my tongue about what I don’t like. Besides, the last year and half has been hard enough.”
“Finally a divorced woman.”
“Yes,” Adele lifted her bare finger. “And Hoot actually tried to get the ring back.”
“I heard there is this shop where you can sell your wedding ring,” Nell said. “This woman sold hers and with the money went on a trip and met a man she got engaged to. And then they came back and bought a ring from that same place. Someone else’s lost dream to swap for hers.”
“That’s a sweet little story,” Adele said.
“Maybe I should just get up and meet a man. That’s my problem, you know? I need to get up and… just meet someone.”
“You’re still smarting over Bill.”
“I’m not,” she began. Then she looked at the worried dishcloth in her hand and said, “Hell.”
Adele put her hand up. “Hey, it’s okay.”
“No it’s not,” Nell said. “How could it have ever been okay?”
She turned on the hot water and rinsed her hands in the sink. “How could I have ever thought it was okay? How could I have let myself care about him?”
“Love him.”
“Care about him,” Nell insisted, and then said, “Well, whatever. Love him. It doesn’t matter. He’s back with whatever her name is and more power to him.”
“You didn’t intend it,” Adele said. “And he didn’t intend it either. You were lonely because for fifteen years you haven’t had a man to love and for the same amount of time he’s had a woman he can’t. And… who the hell knows who’s the less lonely now? Give yourself a break. Especially about this whole Dena hating you. Where the hell did that come from?”
“Not hate,” Nell said, “so much as despise.”
Adele raised an eyebrow.
“She must. I wanted to be like my mother. Her life was so exciting. She’d done so much. She still does so much. I wanted to be her. And then, after Kevin was gone, after I was living here, and I had the house I felt like I had let her down. By being this boring daughter. This daughter who couldn’t even make something as drab as a marriage work.
“I felt too tired to try to make it work again. Or make much of anything work. And now… I can’t imagine –I can’t believe that Dena would ever want to be like me, would look at me and say anything else but, please don’t let me turn out like this sad old woman.”
Adele wanted to say something like, “I’m sure that’s not true.” For the majority of Dena and Layla’s lives, Kevin had been gone and Nell had been alone, not making so much as an effort to change her life. Adele never thought about this. But the moment Hoot left was the moment Adele made every effort to build a new life for herself, and now she couldn’t help comparing herself to Nell. She would never have given the time of day to a married man. She would never have kept company with Bill Affren. She found it amazing that Nell had been gullible enough to do both, and knowing Dena, her own goddaughter, who had a drive and a fire unlike either of her parents, Adele was not entirely sure the girl didn’t feel exactly the same.


“That’s a crazy idea,”
“I don’t know why,” Milo said.
“Because it is,” said Layla. “This is not the 1700’s. Or the Third World. You can’t just find someone a girl.”
“Look, Layla, we’re not trying to make an arranged marriage,” Brendan said.
“We’re just trying to find a date for Will.”
“Did you find a date for yourself?”
“I’m taking Kenny?”
“Are you serious?”
Brendan bawked at her.
“Why shouldn’t I be serious?” he demanded, folding his arms across his chest.
Layla put her hands up in the air and said, “Fine. Forget I said anything. But, I don’t know what you want me to do about Will and his date.”
“Help us find a girl,” Milo said.
“You think I know some girls you don’t?”
“I think you’d have more influence,” Brendan said.
“And besides,” Milo added. “We thought you’d have an interest in it since… You know?”
Layla looked at him.
“Well, he would have had someone if… you had’ve stayed with him.”
Layla looked at Milo and said, “So when I learned that Will was likely to leave me as soon as he went off to college, I should have stayed with his ass just so he could have a date to prom?”
“That’s not exactly what I meant.”
“But you did mean that it was sort of my fault he was single, so I might want to help him find someone. Right?”
“When you put it that way…” Milo began.
“Actually,” Brendan said, “I think that’s exactly what we meant. It was stupid of us.”
“Yes it was,” Layla said. “Considering the things I could lay at your door, Mr. Miller.”
Brendan colored and frowned, more in embarrassment than anger.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” Layla realized.
She sat still for a moment, then sighed.
“We’re all friends, right? Well, I guess I can help you all. I’ll see what I can do. Still, I don’t see why he can’t get his own girl.”
“You never had to do it, though, Layla,” Brendan said. “Will came to you. And then Aidan came to you. They just fell into your lap.”
Layla reflected on this.
“I am one sexy bitch,” she said. Then she shrugged.
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to find someone to fall into Will’s lap.”

“You know what.. Bren?” Layla said when Milo was gone.
“I knew I liked you when you were the little quiet kid who would just hang by himself. Back at day care. I said, I’m going to go up and be that boy’s friend.”
Brendan nodded appreciatively.
“You haven’t changed.”
“I think I’ve changed a little,” Brendan said in his quiet way.
“Well, yes. But only a little.”
Brendan smiled. “You were… so… I remember you just sort of threw yourself on me and decided we would be friends. You introduced me to Dena. I half way think you threw us together.”
“I don’t remember you complaining.”
Brendan chuckled.
“I was a bossy little bitch.”
“Yes,” Brendan said. “Yes you were.
“But we never complained. You always had this…. You always knew what you wanted and you jumped right for it. You didn’t think twice. You just… you always just say things and sometimes they’re brutal, Layla. But they’re usually true.”
“And you always feel things and keep them inside and make me pry them out of you.”
“Is this leading somewhere?” Brendan said.
“What’s going on?”
And then Brendan swiveled around and just said, “Milo and Will are keeping something from me and I think it’s about Milo and Dena having sex.”
“Is she fucking him, too? Damn!”
“No, Layla,” Brendan said, embarrassed. “She’s not. But… a while ago she talked about it. She talked about how she thought it was time because… she needed to get me out of her system or something.”
“What, she still likes you?”
“No, Lay, but we were…”
“Sleeping together.”
“Yes.”
“I’m a big girl, Bren.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not always a big boy and I have a hard time saying certain things. And I don’t like stuff being kept from me. Because I want to know why it’s being kept from me.”
“You don’t even know,” Layla said. “And if that were happening, you know more about sex than any of us.”
Brendan tilted his head and frowned at her.
“I just mean…” Layla began. “Well, you know what I mean.”
“I guess,” Bren said.
“So, you and Milo are scheming behind Will’s back to get him a date for prom. And Will and Milo are—”
“Talking about something and leaving me out. I think Milo resents me.”
“That’s nuts. Milo doesn’t resent anyone. Why would he resent you?”
“Uh, because I used to screw his girlfriend.”
“Well, shit, Bren, when you put it like that…”
“Would you check for me?”
“Bren!”
“Layla, we’re best friends. You just said it. Couldn’t you check for me?”
“Shit, shit shit!” Layla reached for a rolled up sock and threw it at Brendan.
“All right, already, Bren,” she said. “But for us all being best friends, we sure do sneak around each other’s backs a lot.”

 

[CharmedFan28]

A great conversation between Brendan and Layla. I think the boys hearts were in the right place looking for a date for Will for prom but it came out wrong. Great writing and I really enjoyed this section! I look forward to more!

 

[ChrisGibson]

I'm always glad you enjoy, and love sharing my friends with you. The boys' heart are usually in the right place, it's just the execution of the plan that might be lacking. However, now they've enlisted Layla, so maybe she can do something for Will?

 

[CharmedFan28]

I'm always glad you enjoy, and love sharing my friends with you. The boys' heart are usually in the right place, it's just the execution of the plan that might be lacking. However, now they've enlisted Layla, so maybe she can do something for Will?

Hopefully she can.

 

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER
SIX

DANCING CONTINUED

“Baby, you know any girls?”
Aidan looked at Layla.
“I just asked you,” Layla said, “if you know any girls.”
“What for?”
Layla said, “This is going to sound embarrassing. I feel embarrassed even bringing it up.”
“Okay,” Aidan said. He waited, folding his arms over his chest, and apparently didn’t care how embarrassed Layla was.
“I am looking for a date for someone. For prom. I’ve sort of been pushed into it.”
“Um hum,” Aidan shook his head. “No one ever pushed Layla Lawden into anything.”
“Well this time someone did. Besides, I want to help.”
“Okay,” said Aidan. “You’re looking for a date for someone? For one of your friends?”
“Yes. Sort of.”
“Brendan.”
“Okay, firstly, Brendan’s gay, and he’s bringing his own date. And secondly Brendan isn’t ‘kind of a friend’. Seriously, Aidan, if you’re going to roll with me you gotta know the folks in my life.”
“Well, then who?”
“Does it matter?”
“Is it Will!”
“Don’t say it like that.”
“It’s Will?”
“Aidan!”
“Shit, Layla! Are you serious?”
“Well, what the fuck’s the problem?” Layla snapped. “Who the hell died and made you the Inquisition? I’m helping my ex find a date, and really, I’m helping Bren and Milo find him a date, and he doesn’t even know about it.”
“Why can’t he find his own date, Layla?”
“Probably for the same reason you can’t just let shit go and say yes you know a girl or no you don’t. And I don’t know why I even asked you, because all you know is those bonehead football players.”
“Ey’ wait a minute—”
“Wait a minute yourself. And those cheerleading hoes who couldn’t chant their way out of a paper bag, so I don’t even know why I asked you.”
“Are you through?”
“Almost,” Layla said. “I was going to add that you better not so much as think about telling anyone what we’re doing. Or you’ll be looking for a date too.”
“And now you’re through?”
“Yes, Aiden, now I’m through.”
Aiden made a noise and moved across the kitchen, clicking his tongue.
“I just don’t know why you should be busy looking for a date for your ex. I don’t know why he can’t find his own.”
Layla decided to say nothing at all, since she couldn’t say anything nice.
“But,” Aiden said, “since this is how we’ve decided to go…”
“Yes?”
“It just happens I might know someone.’
Layla turned around.
“Yeah. I thought that would get you.”
“Well, who, Aiden?”
Aiden lifted a finger.
“My sister.”


“Bleck!” Brendan made a face as he tasted the coffee and put it back on the bureau. “No more Coconut Crème. I remember it tasting better last time.”
Kenny pulled himself out of the bed and reached over Brendan.
“Tastes all right to me.”
“It tastes all right. That’s the point,” Brendan said. “But it doesn’t taste good. The Vanilla taste good. I should have used vanilla.
“I bet,” Kenny said, “we could add something to this, and then it would taste better.”
Brendan lay on his back with his face frowned up a little, and said, “You’ve got a point.”
“Or could the point be that we talk about coffee flavoring too much?”
“Kenny,” Brendan said, seriously.
“Hum?”
“The French Vanilla is really good.”
Kenny turned his back on Brendan.
“The best thing you ever did was get a single dorm,” Brendan told him, still sitting up and looking at the closed door.
“Well, I didn’t really see any other way for you to stay the weekend. And it’s totally out of the question for me to stay with you. Since last Thanksgiving.”
“Don’t remind me. I still blush every time I see my mom.”
“So your face is constantly red?”
“Pretty much.”
Kenny turned around and said, “You blush too much. Blushing’s like apologizing, and you think you have far too much to apologize for.”
“I think my mom walking in on us—”
“I’m talking about everything,” Kenny said. “Quit being so fucking sorry.”
“Okay,” Brendan nodded. “I’ll remember that.”
“Bren?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you know…? Have you thought…?” Kenny twisted his finger in his ear, “about school next year. Where you’re going?”
“Well, shit it’s May, of course I’ve thought about it. Thought and enrolled.”
Kenny looked at him.
“Here, stupid!” Brendan said. “I’m coming here.”
Kenny looked visibly relieved.
“I was going to say… unless you didn’t want me to. But I can tell you want me to. Why the fuck didn’t you say so?”
“Cause I wanted it to be your choice, Bren. I didn’t want to pressure you into anything.”
“Look, I have a friend who lost his girlfriend because he said she wouldn’t be a factor in where he went to school.”
“Will and Layla, I know. But I’m not Layla. Shit, no one’s Layla. And I wouldn’t have held it against you.”
“But I would have held it against myself,” Brendan told Kenny. “See, I love you. I’m utterly and completely serious about loving you, and that means that keeping us together is the most important thing to me.”
Kenny opened his mouth, but Brendan put up a hand,
“And I know,” Brendan continued, “that people will say that I am too young, we’re too young for it to matter. But I never knew that people got wiser as they got older. Unless they were already a little wise. And I never knew that love got better. Unless they already knew how to love. And we have fucked up sometimes. I know I have. And I can’t do everything, but Kenny… I can love you. I do love you. I’m really good at it. And I’m gonna keep it up.”
Kenny was so touched he turned his head away and muttered, “Shit, Bren.”
Brendan grinned at him.
“You are coming to prom, right?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, I want you to.”
“Won’t that be weird?”
“Not for me,” Brendan said. “I mean, didn’t you just say I need to stop apologizing?”
Kenny turned on his side again, reaching under the cover to put his hand on Bren’s thigh.
“You sure about that, Bren?”
“I just said I was.”
“It’s just… you’re Bren. You’re no wave maker.”
“I have made more waves than I wished in the last year and a half, Kenny. And they’ve all come from me trying to not make waves. I look at my parents, everyone’s parents. Heck, everyone we go to school with. Have you thought how much trouble we go through to avoid trouble?”
Kenny removed his hand, hugging the pillow as he looked up at Brendan.
“It’s like…” Brendan reflected, “we might as well just say… fuck it, right? And take the trouble. I bet life is so much better that way.”


There was a knock on Adele’s door and then she heard it open, so she assumed it was Nell, and she was right.
“What’s up?” Adele greeted her old friend.
“I just got back from the grocery store,” Nell said, putting the canvas bag on Adele’s kitchen table. “Here, have some eggs. And a head of lettuce. By the way, did you know Iceberg has no nutritional value?”
“No, I did not,” said her friend. “But at least now I won’t feel bad for not making salads. I always felt like I was a failure of a wife for not making salads. I wonder if Vanessa makes them.”
“Do you talk to… your half sister?”
“Hell, no. I can’t believe Layla pulled that shit.”
“I can,” Nell said while Adele discovered, “Yeah… I can too.”
“I really didn’t even need to go,” Nell said. “And that was when I realized something.” Nell waited for Adele to nod, and then she told her, “I keep thinking I’ll bump carts with someone, the way you did with Simon, and meet a new man.”
“I think they did that back in the Seventies.”
“Well, I wish it worked now.”
“Besides, you might just end up with another married man.”
Nell frowned at her, and Adele said, “Why don’t you put your face up on a dating site?”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you know how well it worked for you.”
“But now I have Simon.”
“Not because of the dating site.”
“Okay, listen,” Adele said. “Here is my theory. You have to put yourself out there. You put yourself out for the universe, and the universe responds. Simon showed up because I put myself out. And if you put yourself out there, then someone will show up for you too.”
“The love of my life?”
“Maybe,” Adele shrugged. “If not that, then the lay of your life, which is something you could use.”

“God, no! Mom, change that.”
“But I am forty-three,”
On the other side of Nell from Dena, Adele bit into a carrot and shook her head.
“Okay, the one thing you have to understand about this shit is honesty is a no no.”
Nell looked at her friend.
“Look at this…” Adele clicked over. She read:

“‘I like long walks by the beach, moonlit dinners and classical music. I’m looking for a woman to experience the finer things in life with.’ Now that’s bullshit.”
“How do you know?”
“Mom,” Dena said, “if every guy on here who said he liked long walks by the beach was telling the truth, all we’d have to do is drive up to Lake Michigan and wrangle a few with a net.”
“The girl’s got a point. And then the body size thing.”
“I put a few extra pounds.”
“Firstly,” Adele said, “you don’t have a few extra pounds.”
“I do.”
“Nell, on this site, whatever you are, you should make lower. Slim means, sort of slim. Swimmer’s build is anorexic.”
“Average means pudgy,” Dena said and Adele nodded.
“And a few extra pounds,” Adele told her, “means fat as hell. So take that shit off.”
“And the age mom, don’t forget the age.”
Nell gave her daughter a longsuffering gaze.
“Ordinarily that forty is the new thirty is bullshit,” Adele said. “But in the case of a dating profile, it’s pretty true.”
“Like, look at her!” Dena pointed to one photo.
“There is no way,” Adele said clinically, “that this bitch is thirty-five.”
“They’ll say the same thing about me.”
“No they won’t, Mom,” Dena reached over and typed. “Which is why you get to be thirty!”
While Nell’s mouth hung open, Dena continued typing and said, “Which means you do not have a beautiful teenage daughter whose graduation you are eagerly awaiting. Now,” she said, deleting that sentence, “you do not have a daughter at all.”

 

[CharmedFan28]

That was a sweet talk between Kenny and Brendan, I am glad they are going to the same college. I am also glad that Layla is still helping Will and that her boyfriend eventually came around to helping too. Hopefully Nell's online dating goes well. Great writing and I look forward to more!

 

[ChrisGibson]

And thank you for being a faithful reader. It is kind of nice to see everyone just having these conversations with each other about how the want their lives to be, and Nell's dating life is about to get mighty, mighty interesting.

 

[ChrisGibson]

FRIDAY NIGHT PORTION


“Oh my… Oh my….” Nell waved frantically, and Adele crossed the kitchen toward her.
“Shit,” said Adele. “You have mail.”
“Well… What do I do?”
“You check it.”
Nell flapped her hands over the computer screen and Adele, leaning across her, opened it.
“Adele!”
“You were getting on my nerves.”
Nell looked in her mailbox.
“Um…”
“He’s cute,” Adele said.
“Who’s cute?” Dena came into the kitchen followed by Layla.
“I’m cute,” Layla said “But that’s probably not your point.”
“This guy right here. Who wrote your mother.”
“Mom, you got business!” Dena ran over to the laptop.
“I’m not a business, Dena,” Nell said.
“You are to him,” her daughter said. “Wow, he’s…”
“Cute,” Adele said.
“Actually, I was going to say young.”
“Well, your mother’s young,” Adele said.
“Oh, my God,” Nell read the message by the man’s face.
“He sent his e-mail address, and he wants to know if he could call and… what should I say? Do you think he’s safe?”
“He’s the weatherman on News 22. You know. The young one,” Layla said.
“Are you sure?” Nell looked up at her.
“Um hum. Grandma calls him the Weatherbaby.”
“Go for it, Mom,” Dena said. “This is a great way to get back on the horse.”
“I don’t… want to ride a horse.”
Adele was about to say it was high time she rode something, when she remembered her daughter was in the room.
“Should I call or…?”
“Write him back,” Layla jumped in, “and tell him he can call here. Leave your number. He should call.”
“But then he’d have my number.”
“Well, if you call his cell, he’ll still have your number,” Layla told her.
“Good point.”
Nell made a little scream and clutched her head.
“What the hell was that?” Adele said.
“That,” Dena said, “was my mom getting excited for the first time in a long time.”
“But his age days twenty-seven.”
“Does he like long walks by the beach?” Adele asked.
“Doesn’t say that.”
Dena said: “What about candlelit dinners and carriage rides?”
“None of that foolishness either.”
“Then go for it, Mom.”
“He’s so young, though.”
“So are you,” Layla said, looking over Nell’s profile. “Apparently, you’re thirty.”

There was a tap on her door and Dena called, “Come in.”
Nell slid into the room.
“You look… ecstatic, Mom.”
“I feel ecstatic. I haven’t heard from him yet. I mean, I just wrote back. But to think… I’m going to have a love life. Or at least a life! I mean, Dena, I really need a life,” Nell sat down on her daughter’s bed.
“Do you still have the receipt for that dress?”
“The prom dress?”
“Um hum.”
“Yeah, Mom.”
“Well, I was thinking, why don’t we just take that back and get something a little… livelier?”
Dena thought for a moment and then said, “Well, okay. That’s a good idea.”


“Well, then you could have two dresses!”
“That’s a terrible idea,” Claire said. “Here, what we’ll do is just take that dress back and return the money to Layla, and then you and your mom can go back and buy it.”
“Why couldn’t I just tell her I had the dress?” Dena wondered. “Why couldn’t I have just said that?”
“Cause you’re a kickass daughter,” Claire said.
“Well,” Dena said walking around the dorm suite, “It’s a good thing you came up with this.”
“Well, that’s because we’re kickass friends.”

“He’s Layla’s ex-boyfriend.”
“I know who he is,” Annalise said to her brother. “I just don’t want him.”
She looked at Layla, “And I can’t believe you did, either.”
“Look,” Aidan said before Layla could open her mouth, “we’re not asking you to spend the rest of your life with the guy. And I don’t know what’s so wrong with him, anyway.”
“Well,” Annalise gestured to Layla, “something must have been wrong with him. Right?”
Layla shrugged and said, “The girl’s got a point.”
“It’s just one night, Annie!”
“No.”
“I’ll pay you.”
“What?” Layla said, frowning at him.
Annalise looked at her brother, strangely, “Are you serious?”
“Aidan—” Layla began, but Aidan put up a hand, “Yeah,” he said. “I’m serious.”
Annalise cleared her throat and said, “In that case, I’ll think about it.”
She picked up the peanut butter, the crackers, and the knife, and walked out of the kitchen.
“Why did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Buy Will a date?”
“We don’t know that I did, yet. Annie’s a hard sell.”
Layla smiled and shook her head.
“I like you,” he said, simply. “I’m in love with you. It makes me do crazy things.”
“Like pay for my ex-boyfriend to get a date?”
“Apparently,” said Aidan. “You’ve just seen it.”
“You know…” Layla began. “A more suspicious girl would think you were trying to get into my pants.”
“Would it work?”
Layla looked at him, then smacked him on the side of the head.
“Ouch,” Aidan said.
“Um,” Layla gave him something between a frown and a smile.
“That,” Aidan told her, “is not an answer to my question.”
“Well, the quickest way to get into my pants is to ask.”
Aidan opened his mouth.
“But not tonight,” said Layla. “Because I gotta take Dena Reardon’s prom dress back to the store.”
“What for?”
“Well because tomorrow her mother’s taking her prom dress back, and she’s gotta get a new one.”
Aidan looked at her.
“I know. It’s confusing, but it’ll all make sense in the end.”
“Since I’ve started seeing you that’s an ongoing theme.”
“How do you like it so far?”
Aidan smiled to himself, looked at Layla, and discovered he liked it a lot.

 

[CharmedFan28]

You were right about Nell's dating life, I hope it all goes well with this younger guy. I am glad Dena is getting another prom dress without hurting her Mum's feelings too much. I am starting to like Aidan, at first I didn't want to like him because I wanted Layla to get back with Will but he is growing on me. Great writing and I look forward to more!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Well, i imagine is Layla likes him, Aidan must be good. It is hard to see a relationship end, though, and Will was a good starter boyfriend for Layla and vice versa. It's good to see Nell out there having some adventures (a married man, a young boyfriend, the works!) and the girls making themselves happy without hurting their mothers. So glad you had a good time. More tomorrow night, and soon a new short story.

 

[ChrisGibson]

PROM: CONCLUSION

Annalise Michaelson made herself stumble into Will Klasko, just to see what was up.
“I’m sorry!” Will said.
She did not intend to spill all of his and her books. That was overkill.
“No,” Annalise said. “I’m sorry. That was… just me being stupid.”
“Ah, hold on,” said Will. “I wanna get all of our books right. Uh… I believe I have your Shakespeare book. Um, Shakespeare. I should have paid more attention to Hamlet.”
“Hamlet’s overrated,” Annalise stated, tucking the book into her bookbag and pushing her hair back. “And so is Shakespeare. Greek tragedy is where it’s at.”
“Really?” Will said, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes,” Annalise said, detecting something. “Antigone over Juliet, Gertrude and all of Shakespeare’s pitiful bitches any day.
“Oh,” she said. “And this must be your physics book. It couldn’t possibly be mine.”
“Great,” Will nodded, taking it from her and dumping it into his book bag as students passed by. “Then I guess we’re all sorted out.”
“And I get home in time for General Hospital.”
“Well, General Hospital does have the golden spot.”
“What?” Annalise cocked her head.
“The Golden Spot,” Will said. “See, the worst spot is two o’clock, because One Life to Live is on ABC, As the World Turns is on CBS and the only soap left on NBC is Days, and so the whole soap watching world has to divide between those three. But at three, the only soap on, and the last one, when everyone’s coming home, so most folks could watch it easily, is GH. That makes it the golden spot.”
Annalise looked at him with an admiration that no explanation of a mathematical concept could have given her.
“I grew up with soaps,” Will said. “One might say… I’m a soap specialist.”
“What’s your favorite?” Annalise looked at him sharply.
“Truthfully…. One Life to Live.”
“Ouch! I’m an As the World Turns girl. I’ll like you anyway. Will Klasko, right?”
“Yeah… And you’re Annalise, right? I didn’t know you knew me.”
“Ditto on this end,” Annalise said. “I’ll see you soon, Will.”
And then, instead of leaving, she went in the opposite direction toward her brother’s locker where Aidan, Mark and their friends were herded.
“Aidan!”
He turned from them.
“Come here,” his sister said.
He shrugged and approached her as his friends hooted and snickered and Annalise casually flipped them a bird.
“Okay, I never really paid attention to him. But Will’s hot, I want him, and we can go out. Make it happen.”
Aidan grinned out of the side of his mouth.
“You’re making me a much richer man.”
“How?”
Aidan looked at his sister, uncomprehending, or comprehending all too well.
“Annie, you still want me to pay you?”
She looked at him, expressionless.
Aidan pulled out his wallet and started putting bills in his sister’s hand.
“How else are we gonna have money for afterprom? Or anything else before?”
“You’re a mercenary bitch,” he said closing his wallet.
“Um hum,” Annalise told him, stuffing the money into her breast pocket. “And you’re a cheap bastard.”
Then she kissed him, readjusted her bag and turned to go, adding, “But I love you.”


This day was the perfect day. Not that her life with Dena was a bad one. Nell had seen the movies. She’d watched Absolutely Fabulous, and she’d seen the stories about rebellious daughters and horrible mothers. They got on well, but they didn’t get on like best friends. Nell never felt like the great mother she had a feeling she was supposed to be.
“It’s all the movies,” Nell decided. And the books.
But all the same, this was the kind of mother she wanted to be, the one beloved and admired by Dena, who exchanged confidences with her, whom she went to lunches with.
“You hear anything from the weather guy?” Dena had asked her.
“Actually, yes,” Nell said. “Just a little e-mail. I haven’t read it yet.”
“Read it, Mom.”
“I will,” Nell had said primly, a small smile on her face.
She had waited until Dena was in bed, and there was no danger of her coming down to the kitchen to interrupt this, and then she had opened up the e-mail, staring at the boy, young man… he looked like a boy, with his of gold-brown thatch hair and his bright smile.
“I am too old,” she muttered, but then said, “Oh, hell.”

Hi, I’m Charlie. I called tonight. If you would like to call me,
here is my number below. I would love to meet up for drinks.
I’m free this weekend. How about you?

Charlie

“We can’t just keep sending back e-mails,” Nell muttered to herself. “He already called me. It’s too late to call.. Isn’t it? But how do I know?
She looked at his picture, and then she looked to the phone on the wall by the fridge.
The other side of the kitchen had never seemed so far away.


“Hello… I don’t know if I’m calling too late. I… Well, is this Charlie?”
“Nell?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, Nell, it’s good to hear from you.”
“I didn’t… I didn’t call too late?”
“No, not at all. I was really glad to get your number. I would really love to get to know you.”
“Thanks,” Nell said. And then she said, “I would like to know you too. I’m not good at this.”
“Oh, I know. This whole dating thing. Isn’t it horrible you have to go online?”
Nell was about to say, “In my day we met at the grocery store,” but at once she realized how old that made her sound, as well as the fact that it wasn’t true.
“I just get very shy,” she said.
“Oh, me too,” Charlie said in a very shy voice. “I don’t usually do this sort of thing. What are you up to tomorrow night?”
“I… uh… It’s Friday, right?”
“Yes. I get off work—”
“You are the weatherman, aren’t you?”
Adele saying Weatherbaby came into her head.
Charlie laughed for a very long, very nervous time and said, “Yes. I didn’t know how it would sound if I said, “I’m Charlie Palmer…”
“That’s the way you say it on the news.”
“Yes,” Charlie said. “Well, I’m free after six. We could… meet for drinks?”
“Yes.”
“Where would you…? There’s this place downtown.”
“I don’t know anything about bars.”
“Well,” Charlie made a sharp noise. “Bars are sort of seedy. How about The Pub?”
“I know it. Across from the church.”
“Yeah.”
“Well… I guess I’ll see you tonight—I mean tomorrow night!” Nell heard the distinct rise in her voice.
“Yeah,” Charlie said. He cleared his throat. “Yes!”

 

[CharmedFan28]

Great Prom conclusion! I like Annalise and I hope her and Will have a good time at the prom. I am glad Nell actually got up the nerve to call Charlie and I also hope they have a good time at drinks. Excellent writing and I look forward to the next portion!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Thanks, and just imagine, there's more to come. This is just the preparation. But everyone seems pretty happy, at least for the moment.