in the middle of your picture

May 2082 (prom) - Dallas Deppiesse is 17, Lucy Harris is 15. (Tyler and Beau Jackson are 18, April Hutchins is 18, Summer Phoenix is 17.)

*** notes: you'll probably want to have read Lucy's recent update first. Optional soundtrack, "All I Need," by Radiohead ***

She was just Lucy. She was just some funny little girl he met on the internet, even though they've gone to the same school since childhood. She dragged him out of his shell and became his first real friend. And then they became more than friends. They grew up together, they got older, and somehow he'd missed the point where she had morphed into something of a goddess.

Though maybe he's a little biased. He doesn't mean pretty, or cute. He means ethereal. He means stopped senseless, and left agog. Not to get corny, though Dallas can get pretty corny sometimes, but she leaves him breathless.

And somehow, beneath it all, still, just his Lucy.

He doesn't get it. He's not popular, he's not dark or mysterious, not athletic or especially funny. He's just some guy, with some ants and a couple of sisters, who's kind of good at fixing things and pretty darn smart. Is that really enough for her? For a goddess?

She says he's charming, and maybe that's the truth. But if you could make Lucy Harris smile like this, you'd want to do it all the time too.

It doesn't cross her mind in the least that he's a senior next year, does it? Does she even realize what that means? For weeks he's been trying to ask her, but he can't find the words. Does she ever think about what will happen to them when he leaves?

He'll go away at the very least to LCU, in Lake City, twenty minutes away. But that is the very least of his options. He's always been such a smart kid. As smart as they come.

A couple weeks ago, he received a letter in the mail. For his academic excellence, he's been awarded the Bradcliff-Weston Scholarship Award, the most prestigious in Lake County. No one has qualified for this award in almost ten years. That isn't the problem though, but that it pays for two years of study at Takemizu Academy, half-a-world away. His family isn't rich, and they could never afford an opportunity like this otherwise. This should be the best thing that ever happened to him, but instead, he feels torn.

Maybe that's why he holds her a little tighter tonight, thinking about the impossibility of what he needs to say, that he actually wants to go.

He feels awful for it. If he loved her like she deserves, he would never leave her. He would give it all up to be near her, but he wants to go. How does that make sense, that he could love her so much, but want this for himself as well? The only thing he can figure is that maybe he doesn't love her enough.

But he doesn't know how that could be possible.

And his Lucy, his first and best friend, he knows she'll be destroyed. Two years in the life of a young relationship is an eternity. A girl as beautiful and charming as she is would surely find someone else while he was away. But still he wants to become a better man, wiser, stronger, someone deserving of a goddess. He wants it for her and for himself.

He just needs more time to figure out how to say that, to find the perfect words that won't break her heart.

This prom doesn't have quite the magic for Summer that the last one had, and maybe there's something about the magic of your first prom that can't ever be matched. Maybe they've just outgrown it all. Tyler is leaving to start college in the city in a few weeks, but it isn't just the twenty-minute drive that's on Summer's mind. She can't quite find the words either. Maybe it's just the gravity of where they are, all the milestones and benchmarks, the beginnings and ends.

Though not everyone is taking this prom so seriously. Beau and April are having a great time, to be honest, because that's the whole point of senior prom is that the bad joke that is high school is finally over. And in the background, they're having a debate. April says, "I bet you won't do it," and Beau says, "That sounds like a dare!"

And a dare it is! But Beau has to make something up if he doesn't want to get smacked - by either Summer or his brother! So he takes Summer by her petal-soft arms and says, "We're headed out now. I just wanted to say you look really nice tonight." And he kisses her on the cheek.

Summer shrugs it off as friendliness and kisses him back. Tyler is a little shocked until he sees April laughing behind them. Then it makes sense. Doesn't mean he likes it, but it makes sense.

Beau is thinking, Man, she smells like lavender!

April is thinking, I meant on the lips, but whatever!

And while we're indulging in fun and games, April gets a hug out of Summer too, who does smell like lavender, by the way. We're sure you don't have to imagine very hard what Beau is thinking!

At dinner, Summer looks across at Dallas and says, "We're seniors after they graduate next week. Can you believe it? It feels like everything is changing."

They're too old for Lucy sometimes, and not always in the ways you might think. There are two years between them, and most of the time it doesn't mean much, but other times it means everything. Lucy doesn't think much of the immensity they all feel tonight. It's the girl left in her that can't grasp the scope of the future, but Dallas does. He's eighteen soon and he knows that everything is changing whether they like it or not.

But it's not on her mind, so he'll try to push it to the background too.

Lovely and carefree and much-loved as Lucy is, don't let her fool you. She really is an epic dork sometimes. Just the sight of Vicky Garth walking towards them sends her scurrying backwards, throwing her arms around her boyfriend's waist, wincing as if she knows Vicky is just plotting the perfect moment to rip her hair out!

"She's not going to beat you up," he says. "Not at prom anyway."

"That's not funny," Lucy says. "She scares me!"

But Dallas knows somewhere Vicky won't find them.

A quiet dead-end street, and the back seat of his car. And as long as nobody knows, he can keep pretending none of this is happening. For now, he doesn't have to tell his parents, or make things official, no decisions or acceptance letters or planning. For now, for all anyone knows, he's not going anywhere. Tonight, he isn't going anywhere.

So he doesn't tell her. Not yet. Dallas is in the habit of making Lucy smile - not breaking her heart. That he can make Lucy Harris smile like this means that to break her heart would be like breaking his own. So he won't do that tonight.

Because tonight is their first prom together, and it is magical. Tonight she looks ethereal, and he wants to melt into her, full-on soul and body mesh. Though that won't happen tonight either. He'll wait for that, but he will get his hands underneath that dress for a minute, and he will make her smile. His Lucy, and his best friend. He'll make her heart smile. He'll hold it in his hands and he won't break it.

But in the morning, as smart as he is, there are just some things he couldn't anticipate. Like his scholarship announcement splashed all over the pages of the Sunday morning newspaper. Or that his own mother, and how many other mothers, would be reading it that morning. Or that those other mothers would ask their daughters about it, as if they should know, because in all honesty, they should know by now. And those daughters will be destroyed.

Violet stands up and says, "Why didn't you say anything? When did you find out?" He doesn't have any answers for that. She says, "Oh honey, I'm so proud."

But Dallas isn't proud. Not at all. Though he was right about one thing. Tethered as they are, he thinks he can feel it as it's happening. Breaking Lucy's heart is like breaking his own.

***

notes on the Bradcliff-Weston award:
Just a little bit of history here, so you understand the scholarship he's getting is a pretty big deal. The last Sim from Lake County to qualify for the Bradcliff-Weston award was Adam Thompson, and that was ten years ago! They need 40 skill points and an A- or better. Dallas has 42 skill points and an A-.

Amelia Bradshaw and Keri Riley came close, but didn't qualify. (Not that either of them needed it anyway). Remember that I have slower skilling too, so 40 skill points by the end of their teenage years is a pretty big accomplishment.

And you can find this info in the database, but I figured I should mention anyway - Dallas is a knowledge Sim, and his LTW is to max 5 skills, which is why he wants to go to Takemizu, and why it would be a really good opportunity for him. Oh, the torture! ;)

*** prom pictures, and extras ***

So I wanted the flow of this story to remain largely from Dallas's POV, but it was prom for the rest of the kids too, and they all did the whole posing for prom pictures thing. The rest of them had their big prom last year, and at least in my experience, the junior prom is always more magical (anybody else go to your proms?). By the time you make it to senior prom, you're just so over high school ;)

Hence Beau and April, totally not taking this seriously! Really, I just wanted a reason for somebody to use that suit :)

OMG, I can't wait to play these two in college! They're going to have so much fun! :)

By the way, Beau kissing Summer on the cheek was an autonomous greeting - that was not my doing! I think he liked it though ;)

And since Dallas's uncle is a photographer, they all gathered at his house to get pictures taken for free :)

Summer and Tyler - looking smoking hot, and so grown up!

And of course, I took traditional prom pictures for Dallas and Lucy too.

LOL, what'cha lookin' at there, Dallas? I told you he was a boob man! :)

Grandma Tosha stopped by (she just walked by, lol!). Grandmothers aren't supposed to have favorites, but Lucy is by far her favorite grandbaby. She visits her at work all the time, and stops by on the night of her prom to take a picture. Now how does this thing work? Hurry up, because that looks like a cute picture!

And it is! Pre-heart-breaking ;)