“Well we have bride to be, one guy on the verge of another nervous breakdown, and one girl who is having mood swings that are bouncing off the walls. What a night what a night.” Brian shook his head grabbing the coffee and walking to the kitchen table. Lance raised an eye at Brian skeptically.
“You’re still a rookie. I’ve seen way crazier follow-ups.” Lance took a bite of his bagel. “There was this one chick a couple years back. Man that’s just proof that bitches be crazy. But you gotta love them.” Brian chuckled kissing Lance before sitting down. They had stayed behind while everyone else went out. Howie had to take care of the cows and Joey wanted to work on brushing the horses a little with Justin. Chris had gone out with Jc when he had to go take Becca to school. Jordyn was on a long run, and Nick was off somewhere doing whatever. Brian and Lance are alone in the house for most of the day.
“Well maybe we can go out on the town tonight after we eat?” Brian said. “I’d like to see some of what Nevada has to offer.” Lance grinned.
“Sure. There’s not that much to do during the daylight and it’s still the morning hours, but maybe a couple drinks later tonight and maybe just maybe a show; Chippendales at midnight maybe? Then afterwards breaking the guestroom bed?” Now it was Brian’s turn to grin. He leaned in and kissed Lance long and hard.
*
During all this Becca was sitting at her desk in her first period class taking her final for English. It was a fairly easy assignment. Write an essay on how certain stories are similar in their message of women’s roles in society. Although it was rather ironic for her considering the small ring with the tiny diamond on it when many feminists would think her crazy for wanting to be married at such a young age. She already had received one or two funny looks from some of her fellow classmates. But she didn’t care. She had already talked with Jordyn the day before and even she thought that even though she was only seventeen that it would be an okay move for her. Jordyn was 18 and already out of high school, the lucky bitch. Thankfully she was enough of a mouse that she didn’t have anyone stopping her in the halls asking her about the ring. She placed her pencil down finally at long last finishing her three-page essay and stared at the clock waiting for the bell to ring placing some of her hair behind her ear. The only difference in her hair was that she had gone a much lighter shade of blonde. Not quite as light as Gwen Stefani or Lady Gaga but still it was light. It was still cut in the hime style as she had come to the hospital with.
She tapped her pencil eraser on the desk a bit out of boredom, wondering what she and Jc would be doing after school that day. It had been nearly a year ago that they had been together. They had started dating when she was 16, about a month after Jordyn came. Finally at long last the bell rang for her to go to third period for her next final. Class periods had been extended and therefore some classes she got to skip some days. She picked up her bag and was about to head for the door when…
“Rebecca! Could you come here for a bit? I just want to speak to you.” Mrs. Fox called from her desk. Becca froze. It was rare that she was called on in class. The teachers had been informed prior to her coming here that she had social problems and so they let her alone for the most part. But this was unusual. She really wanted to avoid trouble as much as possible and she didn’t want to be late. Shakily Becca went over to the desk. Mrs. Fox smiled reassuringly. Her perfectly white teeth glittered obnoxiously. Her red lipstick and red hair and red suit and red freaking everything only magnified it.
“Don’t worry sweetheart. You’re not in any trouble. It’s just that I want to talk to you for a bit. Don’t worry I’ll write you a note and I already called Mr. Hunter. And told him you’d be late. He’s going to give you an extra hour to work on your final. I wanted to talk to you about the little trinket you have on your finger.” She nodded to the ring. Her hazel eyes looking were at her through a mountainous glob of mascara and eyeliner. She was no older than thirty but with all the makeup this woman wore she looked easily around forty. Mustering up all her courage and will power Becca took a breath and spoke.
“My boyfriend proposed and I said yes.” Becca bit her lip for a bit. She was getting nervous. You could here the tension in her whispers. “A lot of people are getting married at young ages.”
“And even more wait till they’re older.” Mrs. Fox said. “Honey, are you certain this is the right idea? I mean you’re a teenage bride and you’re husband is an adult and you’re only seventeen. Don’t you think you should wait? Maybe find someone, I don’t know, more age appropriate to date? You’re a shy girl but maybe if you got up the courage to speak a little you’d easily have at least ten guys looking at you. I know that nice Ross boy is looking at you.” Before Mrs. Fox could continue Becca stood up grabbing her bag.
“You know nothing about me ma’am.” Becca’s voice was now a considerable amount clearer from the anger she was feeling. “I have been through a great ordeal and you are too blind to notice it! I love Joshua and I will spend my next year in school a married woman. I will be an adult in less than six months so by the time you see me again it won’t matter that he is four years my senior. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to get to class. I don’t need a note. I have a couple minutes before the bell rings.” And with that she marched out of the classroom leaving Mrs. Fox stunned for a brief moment before picking up her phone and dialing a few numbers.
“Ms. Gumm? Yes I’d like to get the number of Rebecca McFarland’s guardians. Her aunt and uncle yes. Really? Well in that case I’d like to speak to one of them. I just want a conference with one of the people associated with her. I spoke with her family about the whole thing and they don’t care. Well in that case let me speak with this Jordyn Wood girl. Let’s see…okay got it. I’m going to call her tonight. I want a conference with her in a couple of days. All right I’ll talk to you later. Bye-bye.” And she hung up waiting till the end of the day to call Jordyn up.
*
“So Justin, are you feeling any better?” Howie asked as he, Justin, and Joey trudged into the house after feeding and taking care of the animals. Lance and Brian had left a note saying something along the lines of ‘gone to spend a day in sin’ on the kitchen table. Justin shrugged.
“I don’t know Howie. I guess I was just confused. I mean all I wanted was to see my family again, to talk to my dad and mom for a bit and have a normal day. I wanted to talk to my old friends and catch up on all that had happened but when I got back I find that everyone was better off without me.” He sighed. Joey patted him on the back.
“It’s okay man. Kevin’s sending you another round of prescription and besides you should be fine. Don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine and we’ll be with you every step of the way. Besides Becca will worry about you and might postpone the wedding. You know how she freaks out over these things.” Justin laughed a little and even Howie had to crack a smile. Then the door opened and Jordyn and Nick walked into the room. Nick pretended to ignore her, but he had to look out of the corner of his eye at the sport-bra-and-basketball-short Jordyn walking around all sweaty and flushed. She takes out her headphones looking a bit stumped and grabbing some water. Nick stares out of the corner of his eye at her stomach, the flatness and light tan intoxicating.
“You guys have a good day today?” Howie asked. Nick and Jordyn nodded.
“My run was great; three miles there and back, with a nice nap in the park in between. I got a call from one of Beck’s teachers.” Jordyn takes out her cell scanning through it randomly. “Something about a conference tomorrow? I don’t know. She sounded like a bitch.” Nick shrugged.
“Well you have fun with that. Library was boring and made me sleepy.” Nick quickly stands up and darts up the stairs and down the hall. Jordyn watches as he goes, slightly sad for a moment then going back to looking beat.
“We’ll learn the truth tomorrow I guess.” Justin said. “Hey when is AJ coming out of the hospital? I haven’t heard from him in a while.”
“You’d have to ask the docs. I think Lance and Chris we’re working with him.” Joey said going over to the fridge to grab a soda. “But when I heard from him about a week ago he said that he’d probably be out by the end of the month if the final check up is good.”
“The others will be glad to hear about that.” Jordyn mumbled into the couch, digging in the cushions for the remote for the TV.
