Chapter Ten - A Lapse In Judgment

I'm going to start this with a warning: there is nudity in this chapter.

It was the end of April and Rosamund and I had been broken up for a month. I had thought about giving her another chance but every time I thought about it I would get angry at her all over again. Star and Peter tried to help me feel better but it wasn’t doing much good.

All around people were making final preparations for prom. For me it was just another reminder that Rosamund and I weren’t together.  I was sitting in my bedroom after school one day when my phone rang.

“Hey Star.”

 

“Hey. Mind if I come over?”

“Sure.”  It was better than what I was doing which was sitting around feeling sorry for myself.

 

Several minutes later there was a knock on my door. “Come in.”

Star walked in and shook her head.  “Jeff, are you going to sit around the rest of our senior year mopping?”

 

I looked up at her and my first reaction was to feel offended. Didn’t she remember that just over a month ago I broke up with my girlfriend? But I soon realized that she was right. Eventually I was going to have to move on and try to get over it.

“You’re right. So is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”

 

“Yes, and no.”

“When did you get so cryptic.”

She chuckled and then looked a little nervous. “I was trying to think of some ways that we could get you out of your funk.”

 

“Did you come up with anything?” I half paid attention to her as I flipped through my history book.

“Maybe.” She stopped talking and I looked up at her.

“What? What is it?”

 

“Well. . . I don’t know, I was thinking maybe going to prom might help.”

I looked at her waiting for the punch line but it never came. “You can’t be serious?” I said blandly.

 

“Why not?”

“You think that going to prom is going to help me forget that I broke up with my girlfriend?”

 

“I thought that if you went with your friends you would have a fun time. It’s prom Jeff. It’s one of the milestones of senior year. Plus, you’d be doing me a favor.”

 

“How so?” She had me intrigued.

 

“Peter is going with that Jennifer girl he’s been interested in and I want to go with them but if I go alone I’ll feel like a third wheel. If you went with me, I wouldn’t feel like such a tagalong.”

 

I raised an eyebrow at her. “What?” She asked. “Come on! You owe me one after all those months that you ignored me.”

“I didn’t ignore you.” I said defensively.

 

“Okay, whatever. You still owe me. Come on! It will be fun!”

 

I still wasn’t convinced about how fun it would be but I did feel like I owed her. “Okay. Fine. I hope I don’t regret this.”

 

“What could you possibly regret?” She asked with a huge grin on her face.

 

 

The night of prom arrived and I was waiting in the family room for Star to show up.  She and her mom were walking over to our house so that way her mom could take pictures.  I had talked to Star earlier and she told me that her mom was already crying. My Mom wasn’t far from it. I remembered three years before when Bridge and Charlie had gone to prom and she had cried after they left. She had also taken a ton of pictures which I was hoping to avoid.

 

The front door opened and I heard Mom exclaim how beautiful Star looked.  Our parents stayed in the hallway while Star made her way into the family room.  I was left speechless. Beautiful didn’t do her justice. She looked absolutely gorgeous.   “Hey.” She said.

 

“Hey.” I couldn’t stop staring at her.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah.” I finally pulled myself together. “You look. . .gorgeous.”

 

 She smiled and blushed. “Thank you. You look very handsome. Too bad there aren’t many reasons for you to wear a tux. You look great in one.” I actually felt myself blush.

Our parents came in and immediately wanted to take pictures of us.

I tried to protest since Peter and Jennifer weren’t there yet but they wouldn’t listen.

 

Soon the front door opened and I heard Peter. “What’s happenin’? Are we ready to get down?”

 

“You all can boogie after we take some pictures of all of you together.”

“Really mom? And who says boggie anymore?” I asked her.

We all posed for several pictures and then we were off to prom.

Peter and I had agreed at the last minute to rent a limo so we all hopped in it and headed to the school. So far I was happy that Star had convinced me to go.

We got to the school and entered the gym. Instead of the normal florescent lights there were spot lights shinning down on the floor. Part of the gym floor was a dance floor and the other part had tables set up for sitting and drinking.

Soon after we arrived, a DJ started the music and we all headed to the dance floor. We all started dancing together and soon the whole dance floor was filled with people. I was definitely happy that Star had convinced me to come.

 

After several fast dances the DJ played a slow dance and Star and I looked nervously at each other.  “I guess we didn’t think about that.” Star said. We both agreed to sit down and wait for the next fast song. I honestly wouldn’t have minded slow dancing with her but she I wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

The song ended and the head of the prom committee stepped onto the stage.

“Can I have everyone’s attention please?” After several seconds everyone stopped talking.

 

“I’m here to announce the prom king and queen.” There was a big cheer from the crowd and everyone crowded onto the dance floor, including Star and me.
 

“We’ll start of course with prom king. It shouldn’t be any big surprise who it is. He’s been active in many school activities including student council. He’s one of the nicest guys in school and he is certainly one of the best looking. Ladies and gentlemen, your prom king, Jefferson Hobble!” I was honestly shocked. I never would have guessed that I would have been voted prom king. I walked toward the stage and several guys I know patted me on the back. I got up on the stage and was prompted to give a speech.

 

“Wow, I honestly wasn’t expecting this. Thank you so much! I’m feel very humbled that you chose me.” Simple and sweet seemed to be the best option. The crowd cheered and I stepped back to give the microphone back to the announcer. I saw Star and she and Peter were having a good laugh at me being prom king.

 

“So now we come to prom queen.  This shouldn’t be any big surprise either since where you see Jeff, you also see her. She has in previous years been on the cheerleading quad and recently has helped with the design of the decorations for our prom. Like Jeff, she’s one of the nicest people in school and I think anyone would agree she is one of the prettiest girls in school. Ladies and gentlemen, your prom queen, Star Randall!” I stood there watching Star as they announced her name. She looked shocked. Peter pushed her towards the stage and she gracefully walked up the stairs and was crowned. Everyone was cheering.

 

She walked up on the stage. “Well I’m definitely not as good at giving speeches as Jeff is, but I would like to say thank you for this. It was very sweet and I very much appreciate it.” Everyone in the crowd awed at her speech and she blushed as she came and stood next to me.

 

“So we all know what time it is. It’s time for the prom king and queen to dance!” The crowd cheered and Star and I looked at each other.

“Well, I guess we better give them what they want.” I offered her my arm and we walked down the steps together.  We went to the center of the dance floor and the music started. We started dancing and I started thinking about something.

 

“So you were part of the prom planning committee?”

 

“Yeah, I was.” She said matter-of-factly.

“So was part of the reason you were trying to get me to go to prom was because you knew that I was nominated for prom king?”

 

“Could be.” She said with a smile.

 

“You can’t be serious. You tricked me.”

“Well if it makes you feel better, I didn’t know anything about being prom queen.”

 

“It does make me feel better.” We continued to dance and I started to think about how fortunate I was to have a friend like Star. We had been through a lot this year and at some points it didn’t seem like we were going to make it. I felt so bad for how I had spent so much time with Rosamund this year and so little time with her.  Through everything, elementary, middle, and high school, through the summer when Scarlett was born, every single moment of my life she had been with me. As the song ended we looked at each other. I couldn’t make out the expression on her face.

 

Once the music stopped, everyone clapped and then the dance floor filled once again with dancers. Several people came up to us and offered their congratulations.  Peter and Jennifer came up and we all continued to dance. At one point I did notice Rosamund standing in a corner talking to a guy. It looked like they were having an argument. Soon after I noticed them I saw Rosamund leave and the guy started dancing with another girl.

 

We all danced until the prom was over. We then all piled into the limo and headed back to my house. Peter took Jennifer home and I walked Star home. We made it to her house and we sat on the front steps. “That was a fun night. Thanks for convincing me to go.” I thanked her.

“It was a fun night! Your face was so funny when they announced you as prom king.” She teased.

 

“Really, I bet it wasn’t as funny as yours when they announced you as prom queen.” I teased back.

She pushed me and I pretended to be injured. She smiled and rolled her eyes at me. “So what were you thinking about when the song we danced to was over.”

 

She looked straight ahead. “Why do you ask.”

 

“Because you had an expression on your face that I had never seen before. I didn’t know what to make of it.”

 

She continued to sit there looking straight ahead.  “Star, what is it? If I could read your thoughts I would but I can’t.” She turned and looked at me and she had the same expression on her face.

“That look. That’s the look you had when we stopped dancing.”

She quickly looked away and walked a little down her pathway. I got up and followed her.

 

“Come on Star, we’ve been friends forever. You can tell me anything.”

She turned around and looked at me. She had tears in her eyes. I started hugging her trying to make her feel better. We stood there for several minutes with me holding her.

She eventually looked up at me and for a second I couldn’t catch my breath.  I touched her cheek and she closed her eyes. This can’t be happening. She opened her eyes again and I started to lean my head down. We were about to kiss when the sound of her front door opening caused us to snap out of it.

 

“Hi sweetie! Did you have a good time? I thought I might have heard you two out here.” Star’s mom interrupted us.

 

“Oh, hi Mom. Yeah we had a good time.”

“Oh well, that’s good. Didn’t mean to interrupt you two I was just wondering if the noises I heard was you or someone else.”

“That’s okay Mom, I was just on my way in. Thanks for tonight Jeff.  I’ll see you later.”

Before I could object she ran inside with her mom and I was left alone standing on her lawn.

 

I stood on their lawn for several minutes trying to some to grips with what had just almost happened. Star and I had almost kissed. It didn’t seem possible. What was really throwing me for a loop was the fact that she didn’t seem to be opposed to it.  I was so confused but I couldn’t stand in her lawn all night. I walked out of their yard and down the sidewalk to our house. I could have just hopped over the fence but I didn’t think that was the best thing to do in a tux.

 

I reached our front gate and entered in the code to open it. It had started to open when I was startled by a noise to my right. “Oh, I’m sorry Jefferson. I wasn’t trying to scare you.”

 

It was Rosamund and even in the limited light, I could tell she had been crying. “What are you doing here Rosamund?” I wasn’t really in the mood to listen to her.
 

“I’m sorry. I was walking and I noticed that you were arriving home.”

 

“Why were you walking around here? It’s dark out and you live on the other side of town.”

 

“I left prom early and was walking around.”

“I noticed that you and a guy were arguing at the prom.” At the mention of that she started crying. I couldn’t just leave her standing in the dark crying outside my house so I asked her if she wanted to come in. She agreed and we walked inside the gate.

 

There was no way that I was taking her into the house with her in the state she was in so I asked her if it was okay to talk in the barn.

We went up the stairs to the top floor and into the barn apartment. She sat down on the couch and kept crying. I got her a glass of water and some tissues and sat down next to her.

 

After several minutes she took a couple sips of water and wiped her tears away. “Thank you Jefferson. I really appreciate you being so nice to me.”

 

“What happened?”

 

She sighed. “Well, a couple weeks ago the guy you saw me with asked me out to prom. I really hadn’t planned on going since I was still really upset that we broke up.” She paused for a minute and took another sip of water. “I tried several times to try to tell him that I wasn’t really interested in going to prom but he seemed really nice and he tried several things to try to convince me. He bought me flowers, sent me notes, he was making it pretty hard to say no. Plus, I helped with the planning committee so after about a week of him asking I decided to give in. After all, it seemed a shame not to go to prom.”

 

She started crying again and even though I still didn’t know the whole story, I started feeling bad for her.  I moved closer to her and held her hand. She gave me a weak smile and continued. “I was actually excited about going. He picked me up tonight and we arrived at prom and all seemed well. We danced a little and even spent some time talking. The committee chair announced the prom king and queen, congratulations by the way, and everything still seemed to be fine. It wasn’t till after the announcement and you and Star dancing together that I noticed that his attention seemed to be elsewhere. He kept looking at a girl that was across the room.  At one point he went over and started talking to her. After a little bit it seemed that they were really getting along. He just kept talking to her and I kept waiting for him to come back. It never happened though. I waited for the girl to walk away from him for a minute. When she finally did, I walked over to the corner he was standing in.”

 

I nodded. “I saw you standing over there talking to him.”

“I don’t know if I’d call it talking. I walked up to him and started asking him what was going on. Who was this girl he was talking to.” She started to cry a little again. “He told me that it was his ex-girlfriend and that they had broken up several weeks ago. He had been trying to get her to go back out with him and to go to prom with him but she wouldn’t listen to him. So he asked me to prom. He saw her at prom and realized that she wasn’t with anyone and decided to try to convince her to get back together with him. For whatever reason, she agreed to take the piece of crap back and so he left me with no prom date and no way of getting home.” She started crying harder. I stood up and pulled her up too. This was the second time this night that I found myself comforting a girl.

 

I stood there hugging her thinking about how even though what Rosamund had done had hurt me, I had continued to have feelings for her these last couple of weeks. I didn’t know which way was up. About an hour ago I was standing on Stars lawn almost kissing her and now I was in our barn apartment comforting my ex-girlfriend. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t know who that guy is but you’re right. He’s a piece of crap.” She gave a little chuckle and looked at me. “You still haven’t explained why you were walking alone at night.”

“I told you, he was my ride home.”

 

“But you could have taken a cab.”

She looked at me and started to say something but then stopped to think. “I. . .guess I was so upset I didn’t think about it.”

“Let me take you home.” I offered.

 

“Can we wait a bit. I’m still feeling a little bad and I don’t want to take the chance of my parents seeing me like this. Daddy might go a little crazy if he catches wind of what happened tonight.”

 

“Well, I’ll make sure to not come around your house too much since I’m sure he’s probably not happy with me.”

 

“Why wouldn’t he be happy with you?”

“Well, I broke up with you. I would think any dad would be upset at a boy who broke up with his daughter.”

 

“He’s not upset with you.”

 

“He’s not?”

“No. He’s knows that the reason we broke up was my fault.” I looked at her and wondered how much she told him about our breakup.

“Oh don’t worry, I didn’t mention exactly what I did. I just told him that I had said something that was hurtful to you and that we decided to breakup.”

 

“You. . .why did you do that?"

 

“Because it’s the truth Jefferson. Plus Daddy really likes you and I didn’t want him to think ill of you.”

 

I was dumfounded.  It made no sense to me why she didn’t want her dad to be upset with me. She made it sound almost as if she was protecting me.

“Why do you say it like that? Why do you care if your dad doesn’t like your ex-boyfriend?”

 

“You and I both know he’s one of your best connections in Appaloosa politics and I didn’t want to ruin your chances of him helping you in the future because I made a stupid mistake.”

 

For once in my life I was beyond confused.  I started to feel like maybe I had acted too rashly when I found out about Rosamund talking about us sleeping together.  After all, she had done everything after our breakup to make sure that I wasn’t painted in a negative light. But then again she knew how I felt about keeping certain things private. . .

 

 

*****

 

 

This isn’t working. He’s talking too much and the last thing I want is talking.  I had spent weeks planning how this night was to unfold and up until a couple of minutes ago, it was going exactly how I planned.  I had spent a couple weeks trying to find a guy who was stupid enough to take money to pretend to be my prom date.  I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Ron and his girlfriend break up. I knew he was heartbroken and it would be easy to convince him to pretend to be my prom date. Our agreement was that after we pretended to have an argument at prom, he could go back to his silly little girlfriend and see if she would take him back.

 

The second part of my plan was to hopefully run into Jefferson after prom and convince him that I was heartbroken over being dumped at prom.  It had seemed to be working until we started talking about my dad.  Somehow the train had started going off the tracks and I needed to get it back on.  He was thinking about something else and I needed his attention on me.

I started crying again and he looked back at me.

 

“I’m sorry you had such a bad night, Rosamund.  Maybe you’d feel better if I took you home.”

That was the last thing I wanted. I had to think fast.  “Honestly Jefferson, I’d feel better if I could just stay here a little longer and talk.”

 

“Are you sure?”  I began crying again and buried my face in his chest.  He had no other option but to start hugging me again. That’s better. Now things are going the way I planned.

 

 

*****

 

 

I stood there hugging her having conflicting feelings. Part of me was screaming that I needed to get her home and end this but another part of me was touched that she had protected my relationship with her father and the more I thought about that, the more I wanted to hug her and help her. She was so upset and I seemed to be the only one she trusted to talk to.

 

We continued to hug as her crying let up.  Many times I tried to get my feet to move away from her but they were stuck to the floor. My brain tried to command my arms and legs to move but it was no use. The longer I stood there hugging her, the more I wanted to stay with her, smell her, hold her.  Rosamund had always had this effect on me. Whenever she was near me, I was never in control.

She looked up at me and before I could think better of it, I kissed her.

As we kissed I let her hair down and as soon as I did, a voice inside my head begged me to stop.  But this time the voice wasn’t strong enough. 

It had finally happened; I had lost control.  Everything went by in a blur. Soon we were only in underwear and then a split second later it seemed we were wearing nothing. 

 

We somehow ended up on the bed then there was really no hope of turning back. . .

 

I woke up a couple hours later and my head was spinning. I sat up and looked over at Rosamund as she slept next to me. Dear Lord, what have I done.  I was disgusted with myself. Not only had I just done something that I swore I would never do before getting engaged, I realized that I had done something even worse; I didn’t use any protection.

 

 

Credits:

Poses:

Spladoum's The Morning After and Pillow Talk
F&L's My Weakness
Mypalsims Sad Pack
Skylar Arden's Zutara Broken
MsAdrienne - Autumn Walk
Traelia's - Smile
Skylar's - Ti Amo