All This and $10 on 2

Promise of the Prom

“You gotta do what your heart tells you to do. Let me tell you somethin' right now. You're only allowed three great women in your lifetime. They come along like the great fighters, every ten years. Rocky Marciano. Sugar Ray Robinson. Joe Louis. Sometimes you get 'em all at once. Me? I had my three when I was 16. That happens. What are you gonna do? That's the way it goes, you know? Tell you right now. See this girl? Maybe this girl, she puts wind in your sails. Maybe she's your first great one.” Chaz Palminteri as Sonny in ‘A Bronx Tale’

I made the stupid mistake one night during dinner with my parents of saying that I felt as though Lauren was my “great one”. To say that my parents were a little uneasy about my having found the 'one' while I was only 18 would be the second-biggest understatement of all time. They admitted to me that they also thought that they were each other’s 'one' when they were my age, but now they were not so sure. While they remained faithful to each other, it was no secret that they were more acquaintances than lovers nowadays. To their credit, they told me that they weren’t trying to be hypocritical; they just didn't want me to fall into the same rut as they had.

My dad said, "It's not that we don't trust you, son. You know we do!"

"It's just that we're worried that you might be rushing into things with her." Mom said as she took a sip of her coffee.

The sudden turn in dinner conversation had me apprehensive, "I thought you guys liked Lauren?"

"Honey, we adore Lauren! It's just that your father and I are afraid that you might be making the same mistake that we made when we were your age."

I know that she meant well, but at the moment her comment sent me over the edge from apprehension to full-on anger, "The major difference between Lauren and I now and you two back then is that Lauren and I aren't sleeping together! We’re not going to rush off and get married to keep the neighbors from whispering behind our backs about how scandalous having a baby out of wedlock is!”

The hurt look on my mother’s face made me instantly regret my loss of control. I took several deep breaths while pinching the bridge of my nose with my eyes closed. The glasses on the table were shaking in time with the agitated bouncing of my right leg. When I had finally regained my composure, I said, rather hoarsely, “It is not raging hormones clouding my judgment either, this feels like the real thing! She's the first thing I think of when I wake up; she's the last thing I think of before I fall asleep; she makes me want to be a better person, and actually act on that wish; I've started applying myself at school for god's sake! I've raised my GPA an entire point this year! If that's not love, I don't know what is; and frankly, I'm not sure I would want to."

My father shifted the conversation back to the original topic, "We understand that son, but this will be the first time the two of you have spent the night together. Not to mention the fact that it’ll just be the two of you in the room with no one around to act as a voice of reason should the two of you get carried away. Are you sure you're ready for what could happen? Is Lauren?"

I slammed my fist on the table in frustration, "Dad... I have already had sex and I regret that decision. You know this. Whether you choose to remember is not my problem. Lauren, however, is as pure as the driven snow and I intend to keep her that way!”

As I was speaking, my parent’s expressions changed from aggravated and worried to something I couldn’t immediately identify. “Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

They looked at each other and back at me again. My mother was the first to respond, "We are just so thrilled that at 18, you're already more mature then we ever were!"

Prom was two weeks away. All of the arrangements had been made, I had my fitting for my tux finished and a room reserved in the hotel that our prom was being held in. Lauren's mother was a little more reluctant to let us spend the night together alone.