What My Mother Forgot

Am I More Than You Bargained For Yet?

That time I learned that even the best-laid plans don't work out.

From Freshman Year to Senior Year, there was this boy, and he and I had this saga where he liked me, but I didn't like him, or vise versa.

I did not want to end up at Prom alone. So I asked him, and he said yes.

I was elated because, in general, he was the kind of person I considered reliable.

He was also a lot of fun. And...

He had a motorcycle.

Right before Prom, a friend of mine who was a Sophomore started dating one of my classmates.

He'd already agreed to go to Prom with another classmate, but my friend made him break this agreement because she was his girlfriend.

Which I thought was kind of crappy. My friend was an underclassmen, and I felt like she just wanted to go to Prom so she started dating this guy.

The guy I'd asked suddenly had a girlfriend too whom he'd met at work.

I asked him if he wanted to take his girlfriend. At this point, I'd still have time to find a new date.

He was like, "No, I agreed to take you."

I breathed a sigh of relief. He really was just a decent dude.

A month or two passed, and I got a phone call from this guy's mom.

She asked me what color my dress was, and I told her that I hadn't bought one yet. She scolded me for waiting too close to the date of Prom, her son needed to get a tie to match my dress.

I apologized and explained that neither of my parents had taken me to get one yet.

This was a rural farm town, and long before the days of Amazon Prime and expedient online ordering.

I had to wait for someone to be willing to drive me an hour or more away to get a dress.

Eventually, I did, and I called up this guy to tell him the color. We were still a month or so away from Prom.

I asked him again if he still wanted to take me.

Again he said. "Yes."

A week before Prom, a call came over the intercom to go to the Peer Counseling Office. And my stomach sank because, this guy, this was the period this guy worked.

Before I could even hit the doorway or took a seat, he blurted, "I'm taking my girlfriend to prom."

I ran back to class crying.

All of my careful planning was for nothing.