The next few days flew by quickly, and before anyone had realized, Prom night had arrived.
Brooklynn and Taylor started to get ready around eleven in the morning when they went to the salon to get Brook’s hair done. Taylor had decided on a ‘do it yourself’ Prom since she was short on cash. Once Brook’s hair was finished, they went to the store to pick up all the Prom night essentials—film for the camera, cigarettes, clear nail polish (just in case of a runner in the stockings), etc. Once all of the little odds and ends were taken care of, the girls split for their own houses to get ready. Around three-thirty, Taylor was scheduled to head over to Brook’s house to meet the boys (and the limo).
Taylor’s dress looked like it belonged to a fairytale princess. Off the shoulder sleeves and a fitted corset bodice with white satin ties. The skirt was full like a ball gown, with two layers—the under layer was white, same as the sleeves, and the top layer was a deep purple like the bodice. She took her time as she did her make-up and hair, then completed her outfit with a pair of white opera gloves and a few pieces of amethyst jewelry.
Once she was ready and satisfied with her appearance, she went downstairs to say good-bye to her parents.
“I’m leaving now,” she called, grabbing her car keys and putting them into her purse. A moment or so later, her parents emerged from the kitchen.
“You look beautiful, Taylor,” her mother complimented quietly.
“Thank you,” Taylor nodded with a small half smile.
“Have fun…” Mr. Kelso added, then quickly turned and walked away, his wife following suit.
“You look awesome!” Taylor grinned at Brooklynn when her friend answered the door.
Brook’s dress was bright red with silver sparkles, slits up to her thighs on either side, a plunging v-neckline, and a back that dipped down to her tailbone but had rhinestone crisscrosses all the way up. It was one of the sexiest dresses Taylor had ever seen.
“So do you! Ohmygod! You look so girlie…and colorful!” Brooklynn teased, letting her friend inside the house.
When the boys showed up, both girls had to contain their giggles. They had the exact same tux, tails and top hats, and both were carrying a silver topped cane. The only difference was their vests, which were matched to their girl’s dress. Sam had added his own flair by donning a long black cape as well.
“I bought you something since you didn’t want a corsage,” Sam smiled, handing Taylor a silver cardboard box.
She looked at him warily and opened it up. A crème colored cape with an amethyst button.
“So we can match, my lady,” he winked, taking it out of the box and draping it around her shoulders.
“Shall we?” Scott grinned, slipping a rose corsage on Brooklynn’s wrist, and with that, the group was off.
Once in the limo, the boys went to playing with all the buttons and gadgets as the girls talked.
“You okay, Tay?” Brooklynn questioned after a few minutes, noticing her friend’s quietness.
“Yeah…just thinkin’ about something, that’s all,” she waved it off with a smile.
“Wanna talk about it?” Brook offered.
“No, it’s nothing…just me and Sam, ya know…”
Brooklynn smiled. “You really love him, don’t ya?”
“More than you can imagine.”
When they arrived at the dance they met up with Hayden who had already been abandoned by Natalie shortly after pictures.
“Where the hell did she go?” Sam asked, dumbfounded by his cousin’s story.
“With her friends…she’s still pissed about the break-up,” Hayden shrugged. “Notta big loss,” he added with a grin.
“You’ll have more fun without her,” Brook threw an arm around his waist.
“Come on, baby…it’s our song,” Scott grabbed Brooklynn’s hand and pulled her out to the dance floor as the lights dimmed and “There You’ll Be” by Faith Hill filled the ball room.
The night went by quickly, and it seemed like the night was ending before it even got started. The DJ announced the last song, which happened to be Sam and Taylor’s song, “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel.
Sam wrapped his arms around his girlfriend’s waist and kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re so amazing, you know that…” he whispered gently as she put her arms around his neck.
She just smiled at him and listened to the music, resting her head on his chest, remembering the night that he had asked her out…
It had been after her Sweet 16 party, and Sam had come back to her house with Hayden to watch movies for a little while. Hayden fell asleep on the couch not ten minutes after they’d gotten home, leaving Sam and Taylor, basically, alone. “Say Anything” had been on, and right at the part when John Cusack holds his boom box over his head, playing the Peter Gabriel song to the woman he loves, Sam had kissed her. The rest, as they say, was history.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” he interrupted her memory.
“Things are gonna be different with us, you know that, right…I mean, we graduate next week, and we’re both gonna have to grow up…” she looked him in the eye as she spoke.
“We’ll be fine, Taylor. We love each other. Nothing’s gonna change,” he assured her gently.
“Yeah, but Sam,”
“What’s wrong? Tell me.”
She shook her head. “Nothing,” she gave him a small smile and hugged him. “We’re gonna be fine.”
“Graduation Day. This is the day that all students look forward to from the time they enter highschool, and I’m scared to death!” Brooklynn exclaimed as she and Taylor waited to be sorted into their order.
“Come on, Brook…we’re free,” Taylor smiled. “This is our beginning.”
The ceremony began and one by one, Sam, Taylor, Hayden and Brooklynn accepted their diplomas.
Later that night, they all celebrated the “victory” at numerous parties. Sam and Hayden were drinking heavily, while Brooklynn drank sporadically, and Taylor drank nothing.
“Why aren’t you enjoying yourself?” an inebriated Sam questioned his girlfriend, throwing an arm around her. “Have a smoke,” he shook a cigarette from his back and offered it to her.
“I quit smoking a few weeks ago,” she sighed, supporting his weight on her small frame.
“A drink, then,” he tried to push his beer into her hand.
“I don’t drink anymore, Sam...”
“Don’t tell me you’re goin’ straight edge on me,” he cut her off with a sloppy grin.
“Sam, I have to talk to you…let’s go upstairs, okay,” she spoke seriously as she led him up the steps before he could protest.
They went into an empty bedroom, where she dropped him onto the bed, then shut the door. She helped him into a sitting position.
“So…what’s up?” he asked merrily, the drunken grin broader than before.
“Sam, I can’t go to New Orleans with you…” she started.
“What? Why?” he furrowed his brows.
“God…I wish you weren’t drunk right now…” she sighed.
“Come on…tell me why you can’t go on vacation with me…” he slurred.
“I’m pregnant.”
The room was almost completely silent, except for the music that was pounding downstairs. He didn’t even look at her, and silent tears began to roll down her cheeks.
“When I told my father, he turned his back on me. He hasn’t spoken to me since. My mom’s upset, but she’s a little more understanding. We, my mom and me, we’re going to New York for a month to my Grandma’s. She wants to try and fix our relationship. We leave tomorrow. That’s why I can’t go with you…”
“You knew…at Prom, you knew…didn’t you,” he was sobering up by now, lapsing into a state of disbelief and anger.
“I had a pretty good idea. I was late, and a few days later I took a home test, and it was positive, and then I went to my doctor, and he confirmed it as well.”
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted to be sure.”
Sam buried his face in his hands for a moment as Taylor, still crying silently, folded her arms across her chest and looked down at him.
“I can’t be a father, Taylor. I just can’t do it…I’m only eighteen…” he stood up slowly.
“I’m eighteen, too. I mean, what would you like me to do, Sam? We never meant for it to happen, but it happened,” she looked into his eyes searching for comfort and support, and finding nothing. Her arms fell to her sides; hand on her hips, her head drooped in sorrow.
“You don’t have to have it. I mean, neither of us wants or is ready,” he suggested sternly, but she silenced him with a sharp smack across the face, her eyes full of fury.
“We’re talking about a baby, Sam. A human life that we created…don’t act like it’s some kind of stray animal that’s wandered into your house,” her tone was filled with disgust and loathing. “You are not the man I thought you were.”
“What did you expect from me? Huh? That I’d be thrilled? Excited? That I’d hug you and kiss you and tell you ‘this is great, we’re gonna be teenage parents and completely throw our future’s down the drain for the result of one irresponsible night…God I love you honey!’ Jesus Christ, Taylor. Don’t tell me you’re that frickin naïve,” he snapped angrily.
His words cut like a knife in her heart. Fresh hot tears stung her eyes, and she fled the room and the party without a backward glance.
Brooklynn took off after Taylor, finding her sitting in her car, head on the steering wheel, crying.
“Honey, what’s goin on?” Brook asked cautiously, slipping into the passenger seat.
Before Taylor could reply, Hayden was leaning in over Brooklynn. “Lemme take care of her. Scott’s with Sam, and I have a feeling he may need a little help, and you’re really the only one that can handle him.”
Brooklynn nodded in reply and got out of the car. Hayden took her place in the passenger seat and closed the door.
“So I’m assuming you told him and you didn’t get the reaction you wanted,” he sighed.
“He was so mean. He yelled at me and made me feel like a piece of garbage…he told me to get rid of it,” she clamed a bit and leaned back in her seat. “God, Hayden…what am I supposed to do now?”
Hayden was the only person that Taylor had told about the baby. When she’d found out, she was scared and upset, and as she’d done since she was just a small girl, she turned to him for help.
“Do you want the baby?”
She thought for a moment or so before answering. “Yes…I do…I mean, the timing is, inconvenient to say the least, but I could never get an abortion. I’d feel too guilty. And by the time it’s born, I’ll already be attached…”
“Then that’s all that matters. I mean, I love my cousin, I do, but he’s a real prick when he wants to be. Just go on your trip with your mom, use that month as time off, and see what happens when you get home.”
She nodded. “I just, I mean, I didn’t expect him to be happy, but I didn’t expect him to be so vicious, either…upset, yes…not angry, not mean. It really isn’t like him…”
“He’s scared. He has no control and he’s taking it out on you. Trust me, by the time you get back from New York, he’ll have realized the error of his ways.”
“I hope so. I don’t think I can do this on my own,” Taylor sighed.
“I’ll help ya…either way. You know that. Even if Sam’s still around, anytime you need anything, you can come to me,” Hayden smiled at her. “You better get home. You gotta get up early and catch your flight. Do you need me to drive?”
“No, I can drive. Thank you, though. You’re awesome, Hayden. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she smiled.
He leaned over and kissed her quickly. “You’ll be fine kid…I’ll make sure of it,” he winked, then got out of the car and watched as she drove away.
“Did you know?! Huh?! DID YOU KNOW AND NOT TELL ME?!” Sam was belligerently questioning Brooklynn and Scott as they tried to figure out what had happened.
“KNOW WHAT, SAM?” Scott finally screamed over top of his friend.
Sam blinked stupidly, caught off guard for a second. “You don’t know?” he laughed, sounding slightly insane, “SHE’S PREGNANT!” he threw his beer bottle across the room, shattering it into a hundred small shards of glass.
Brooklynn and Scott were taken aback. They sat in silence, absorbing the impact of his words.
“Yeah,” Sam nodded,” she’s pregnant. And she’s gonna have a baby…she’s actually gonna have it…” he dropped onto the bed.
“She just told you tonight?” Scott was still bewildered.
Sam nodded, raking his fingers through his hair, he head bent down, looking at the floor.
A few minutes later, Hayden joined them.
“Hayden did you know?” Sam asked his cousin coldly.
“Yes,” Hayden answered calmly.
“You knew and you didn’t tell me?!”
“Sam, it wasn’t my place to tell you. She trusted me with her secret, and I kept it just that—her secret.” Hayden, still firmly planted in the doorway, explained.
“SHE TOLD YOU BEFORE SHE TOLD ME!” Sam exploded once again.
“Sam, come on…I’ll take you home,” Brook offered, grabbing his arm. “We’ll get out of here and we’ll talk, alright?”
“Whatever,” Sam stood up, jerked his arm away from her and walked past his cousin, sending him an icy glare.
Brooklynn followed, promising Scott and Hayden that she’d call them later.
“Unbelievable…this is unbelievable,” Sam muttered the entire ride to his house.
“Sam, just, chill out, okay.”
“CHILL OUT?! I’m not even responsible enough to take care of myself, let alone another human life. Jesus Christ…it’s like, Taylor and I finally seemed to be doing okay and now we have this to deal with!”
“No…you have to deal with this. Taylor seems to have already dealt with it. She knows what she has to do, and now you have to decide what you have to do.”
“She told Hayden before she told me…”
“Hayden is her best friend…God, is that what you’re so angry about? That she told Hayden before you?”
“No…I just can’t believe she did. I mean, it’s MY child, not Hayden’s…why did she run to him?”
“Well she needed to tell someone and she was scared to tell you…”
“Why would she be scared to tell me?!” Sam exclaimed as they parked in the driveway.
Brooklynn threw him an ‘are you kidding me’ look before getting out of the car.
“Alright…I spazzed,” he consented, climbing out of the car as well. “It was a natural reaction, though.”
“Sam do you want the baby?” she sat on his porch steps.
“No. I don’t think I do,” he sat beside her. “But I’m not sure what I want anymore…”
“Come here,” she pulled him into a tight hug, which he returned gratefully. “Everything will fall into place, Sam. I promise. However this is all supposed to end up, it’ll end up,” she looked him straight in the eye with a small smile on her lips. “All that matters is that you decide what you want and go with it. You need to be happy.”
He kissed her suddenly and softly, his hand cupping her cheek as she responded.
“Sam, no,” she pulled away quickly.
“You don’t want this? You don’t want me?” he whispered, twisting a piece of her hair around his finger, lightly kissing her jaw line.
“No…we can’t…”
“Let’s go upstairs,” he invited, nibbling her ear lobe between words.
Brooklynn, half dazed, intoxicated by him, just nodded, then followed him into the house and up to his room.