Prom and the Plans...with a side of Wishful Thinking

Giggles’ date backed out at the last minute but she came up with a solution, Dave. This guy had graduated from his school a year or so before us and living on his own in a condo close to where Dizzy and Kay-Kay lived. I met him when Giggles took me to his condo where she gave him the money to rent a tux. Dave agreed to go to Prom with Giggles but she was paying for everything, even the dinner and their portion of the limo. Well, when it comes up at the last minute a girl does what she has to do.

Who was I to judge? I didn’t have a “real date” either. Chris was doing Ronnie and I a favor by taking me. I paid for the prom tickets but Chris said he would pay for his tux and dinner. I wanted to go Dutch on dinner but I didn’t press the issue when he insisted on paying for just about everything. He had no control on the prom tickets since he didn’t go to my school. Chris graduated the previous year and apparently didn’t go to his own senior prom.

Giggles and I were planning on going to Prom with guys we were head over heels love with. Due to this we had planned to drive out to Ocean City to watch the sunrise. We even prepaid a weekend at Eve Rock. Now that we were not going with Ronnie and her guy we tried to talk Huggles and Kay-Kay into coming with us instead of inviting our dates. Huggles and Kay-Kay had to work the next day so that idea went out the window. Giggles said it would all work out fine. We will take our dates with us. There were two rooms so the plan was the guys would stay in one room and the girls in the other.

It was Sunday again which meant Ronnie would call tonight. This also meant I had to tell him I was going to O.C. with Giggles, Dave and Chris…for a whole weekend. Would he flip out or would he be ok since Giggles will be there and he knows Chris is a decent guy.

When Ronnie called I was determined to be as chipper as possible. I was still upset that he turned down leave to come home. Nothing I could do about it but make the best of it. “Hi Sweetie! How are you? Is everything going ok over there?” Ronnie was happy to hear my voice, so cheerful. “I’m ok. Everything here is fine. We received off post passes this weekend. Me and some of my buddies went to Munich. It’s really beautiful up there.” Boy, he was pretty chipper himself. Maybe explaining about the weekend in O.C. wouldn’t be as bad as I had expected.

“Heather, I love the pictures you sent. My buddies took pictures of me in Munich so I can send you pictures of what I look like now. I miss you so much. I am looking at a picture of you right now. It’s one of you at Cunningham falls. I really like that bathing suit.” Oh yes, he was definitely in good mood. So I started to talk about Prom “Everyone here is all geared up and ready for Prom this weekend. Chris is going to drive his Austin Healey convertible so we will arrive in style. Giggles and the rest are renting a limo. So what I already paid our part of the limo. We will arrive in his little sports car. Who else will come in that sort of style? She also made reservations at a restaurant all the way out in Rockville. After Prom we are going to O.C. to watch the sunrise.” I sort of lost my enthusiasm thinking he wont be there with me. I sighed “I so wish you were going with us.” Heather, we already went over this.” “I know, I am not mad any more. It just made me think how much I will be missing you.”

Then it hit him, his mood changed from chipper to concern “You are going to watch the sunrise in Ocean City? With who?” “Well, Giggles and I made these plans when we though you and her boyfriend were going to Prom with us. We cannot get our money back for the hotel so we decided to have a weekend in O.C. It’s the same hotel we have booked for senior week so we can check it before hand.” “Heather? Will it be just you and Giggles going to O.C. this weekend?” Short pause. I knew I had to tell him but now I didn’t want to. “Heather? Is Chris going with you and Giggles?” “Yes, Chris will be there too. Don’t worry, Giggles booked two rooms, one for the guys and one for us girls.” This time Ronnie took a moment to pause. “I don’t think this is a good idea. Why do you need to go to O.C. after Prom? You will be there for a whole week very soon.”

Now I was starting to feel guilty. Why? This was my senior Prom and it is suppose to be memorable. The original plan was for Ronnie to go with me to O.C. but that was taken away. Everything else was planned by Giggles, I had no say in most things. I considered myself lucky that I got to even pick out my own dress. “Ronnie, Giggles is going with me and come on, it’s Chris.” After a minute or so Ronnie every so slowly said “I wish you were going with Jim.” Although he couldn’t see me I rolled my eyes. Lots of woulda shoulda coulda and wishful thinking on both ends. In a perfect world Ronnie would be going with me. But I had to put that out of my mind and not say anything about it. Why? Because there was nothing I could do about it.

He finally said “I can’t make this decision for you. I am trusting you to make the right choices and Giggles to make sure nothing happens to you. Sunrise, the beach and you…even Chris is a guy ya know.” I couldn’t help myself. I laughed! Heartily! “Sometimes you say the funniest things! Chris? Really? Now that’s funny!” Ronnie didn’t think so. “Alright, just be careful and don’t get in to trouble. Remember, I love you.” “Ronnie, I love you so much.” Then we talked about Graduation. I already knew he couldn’t come home for it so we didn’t talk much about it. Just more warnings to stay out of trouble, especially in O.C. All I could think about was the fun and running on the beach I could have had with Ronnie. Everything would have been wonderful if he could come with us.

Then I thought it would be a great idea to skip O.C. and spend that week in Germany with him instead. Again, another hopeful wish comes crashing down. I didn’t have a passport and Ronnie would be in the field all that week. Geesh! Nothing was working out the way I wanted. There was one good thing coming up. The next time Ronnie came home I will have already graduated and we could get married! We would finally be together! I could go back to Germany with him! The next time I saw him there would be no more goodbyes. Now that was definitely something to look forward to! That made for some very sweet dreams for me that night.