This Is What Happens When Love Meets Destruction

"Lauren, this is so lame." I whined as I struggled to tell which strap of the dress went where.

"Vinnie, it's just Homecoming." Lauren replied from the next dressing room over. "What's so lame about Homecoming? And don't say that being up for Homecoming Queen is lame; I think it's pretty rad. Just think: if you win, you get your picture in the paper, and get to take a picture with the cute boy who happens to be crowned Homecoming King."

"I don't know." I muttered. "It's just - fuck!" I growled as my patience got the best of me. Unhappy with the lack of cooperation from the straps, I threw the dress aside and then turned my attention to the strapless gown Lauren had picked out for me.

"Excuse me, miss?" Came the hesitant voice of the helpful young woman who was currently assisting me and Lauren. "Is everything okay in there?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just that that dress had too many straps for me to know what to do with." I admitted.

"Oh, okay. If you hang it over the door I can take it off your hands for you."

I quickly picked up the dress and hung it back on its hanger, before I carefully slid it over the top of the curtain that acted as the dressing room door. Within a matter of seconds, the hanger was taken from my hand, so I could get back to trying on the other dress.

"Do you have anybody in mind for your date, Vinnie?" Lauren asked after a few seconds.

"I don't know." I replied. "Well, there's this boy, but ... " I trailed off, biting my lip as I thought about Jack.

"But what?" Lauren prodded.

I unzipped the back of the dress and then slid into it. "I don't know." I sighed. "He's nice, he's fun to be around, and I know that he likes me."

"Do you like him back?" My best friend questioned.

"I ... yeah, I think I do." I admitted.

" ... But?"

"But, it's complicated." I said slowly, zipping up the dress as far as I could reach.

"Sweetie, who is it?" Lauren asked.

"I," I hesitated for two reasons: one) because my mom and dad were just a few feet away, listening to our entire conversation and two) because I knew that this wasn't the type of confession I wanted to admit to through the walls of a dressing room. "I'll tell you later."

"You swear?"

I sighed softly as I opened the curtain and stepped out, letting the young woman zip my dress up the rest of the way for me. I quietly thanked her before I turned my attention back to Lauren. "Yes, I swear." I said. "Now come out and let me see your dress." I demanded as I readjusted the dress a little bit, and fixed my boobs so that everything fit better.

Lauren did as I said, and stepped out, doing a little twirl so that I could see both the front and back of the dress. I nodded my head in approval. "I like that one on you." I said.

"And that one is perfect for you." She insisted as she pointed to me with one of her perfectly manicured fingers. "You look gorgeous in it."

"It's kind of spendy though." I whispered. "Maybe I can find something else in here that's not as much."

"Whatever," Lauren sighed as she linked her arm with mine, and led me around to the little waiting area of the fitting rooms were my mom and dad were seated. "This is the dress Vinnie has to have." Lauren said, motioning toward me.

My mom eyed me for a few seconds, looking the dress over, and then commanded for me to turn around so she could see the whole thing. After I did as I was told, she nodded her head. "It's very nice." She admitted. "You look beautiful, babe. What do you think, Henry?" She asked, looking to my dad.

My dad frowned slightly. "It looks like they ran out of fabric for the front." He said. "That's too much skin to be showing off to all those horny high school boys."

"Dad!"

"It's true." He said defensively.

"Don't worry, Henry." Lauren spoke up, "Vinnie's date will make sure that none of the other guys look at her like that." She assured him.

"What? You have a date and you didn't tell us?" My dad questioned. "Who is this boy?"

"Well, no date yet, but we're working on it." Lauren explained.

My dad's frown deepened, and he turned to look at my mom. "Is it too late to get Jamie a guest pass so he can keep an eye on Vinnie for us?" He mumbled.

"Dad, I don't need Jamie to go and supervise me." I muttered.

"Henry, Vinnie doesn't need a chaperone." My mom agreed. "She looks beautiful and you know it. Tell her that she looks beautiful."

"I'm not saying that you don't look beautiful, sweetheart, because you do." My dad sighed. "But all those boys are going to be preoccupied by something else if you get that dress."

My mom rolled her eyes, knowing that my persuading my dad was a lost cause. "How much is it, sweetie?"

"It's a lot." I mumbled.

"Well, it doesn't matter." She replied. "You only get a chance to be crowned Homecoming queen once." She said. "You might as well look good while you're at it."

"Thank you, mom." I whispered softly before I went back into the fitting room to change back into my other clothes.

Within a matter of minutes, Lauren and I both paid for our dresses, and then split up with my parents who had some other shopping to do, and went to get some lunch. After we had ordered our food, we picked a table and carefully laid our dresses over the empty chairs, not wanting to get them wrinkled or crumpled.

"So," Lauren said, fiddling with the receipt that had our order number on it, "care to explain more about this boy that you think you like?"

"Well," I paused slightly, taking a sip of my drink, and then licked my lips. "It's a long story."

"Vinnie, they're baking us a fucking pizza." Lauren sighed. "We have time."

"It's Jack." I mumbled.

At my words, Lauren's eyes lit up and she sat forward slightly. "I knew that there was something happening between you and Jack." She grinned. "You guys pretty much gave it away last night, looking all cozy and what not."

"Well ... there's nothing going on between us, but ... "

"There will be soon." Lauren winked, sitting back in her chair. "You guys look good together."

"Lauren ... there's ... something that I need to tell you." I said slowly.

"Uh oh," she said, the smile gradually fading from her face, "what's wrong, babe?"

"You remember ... at the beginning of the school year when I was being a fucking pussy about everything?" I asked.

Lauren nodded her head.

"And you said that it was because I was upset that Alex was dating Amy?"

Again, Lauren nodded her head.

"Well ... Alex and I ... I've liked Alex for the longest time." I blurted out. From there on in, I poured out the entire story to my best friend, not leaving anything out. When I was done, Lauren sat there, staring at me with slightly wide eyes, not knowing what to say.

"Oh ... Vinnie," she whispered, "I ... why didn't you tell me before?"

I shrugged my shoulders, giving her a sad look. "I was embarrassed, and humiliated by the fact that Alex wasn't even willing to try out a relationship with me. I mean ... he gave up on us before he even considered giving us a chance. It kind of felt like ... I wasn't important enough for him to take the chance."

"Vinnie ... in a way I can see Alex's side." Lauren admitted. "But still," she said, shaking her head, "Alex really passed up something big."

"I'm getting over him." I said truthfully. "In a way, Jack is a lot like Alex; the only difference is that Jack's not going anywhere."

"You and Jack look good together." Lauren said, once more repeating her earlier statement.

"Yeah?" I grinned. "You think so?"

"Mhmm." Lauren replied, nodding her head with a smile. "You guys need to go to Homecoming together."

"Last night Rian and Zack put us on the spot, saying basically the same thing." I admitted. "But ... we were both so caught off guard that we couldn't really gather our wits fast enough to answer."

"I'm going to tell Jack that he has to ask you to be his date." Lauren insisted. "Whenever I see him next, I don't care where we're at, I'm going to tell him."

"Lauren," I blushed, "don't do that."

"Why not? Don't you want to go to the dance with him?"

"Well, yes." I said. "But ... what if we get pretty friendly, and one thing leads to another?"

"Babe, that will be a good thing." Lauren pointed out. "You need to get laid on the night of Homecoming. Especially when you'll be crowned Homecoming queen." She added with a small wink.

"But, Lauren," I sighed, "I don't know if its too early for me to get involved with someone else. I mean ... a part of me still likes Alex. I'm over him for the most part, but every once in a while I get that feeling whenever I'm around him."

"Vinnie, you and Alex are close. I think that no matter what, you'll always get that way around Alex, but only because of how close you two are. He's one of your best friends."

Sighing softly, I sat back and thought to myself. "So ... you think that I should go with Jack to the dance?"

A mischievous smile pulled across Lauren's lips. "Yes, as a matter of fact I do think so." She replied.

Laughing quietly at the shy smile on my face, Lauren got up and grabbed our order.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Victoria, sweetheart, can you pack these groceries inside for me first before you bring your things in?" My mom asked. "I'm afraid that that ice cream cake is already starting to melt."

"Alright." I replied, and then got out of the car, carefully picking up the ice cream cake that my mom had bought for her co-workers birthday.

I carried the cake inside, and put it in the freezer before I made my way back to the front door. Just as I made it within a couple of feet of the front door, though, I heard some familiar voices coming from the living room, so I decided to pop in and see what they were doing. When I entered, I saw Jack and Alex, hovering over something on the floor, while Jamie and Casey sat on the couch, cutting some things out of construction paper.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked quizzically.

"We're making your campaign posters." Jack grinned before he held up the poster he and Alex had just finished.

"You guys," I blushed, "you don't have to make me posters."

"Well, it's too late now." Alex said. "We've already made a shit load of them for you."

"But - "

"Jack Barakat," Lauren's teasing voice cut through any further protests of mine. "You, good sir, are taking Vinnie to the Homecoming dance."

"You are?" My brothers asked in unison.

"I am?" Jack asked.

"Damn it, Barakat," Lauren insisted, "ask her to be your date."

"I - "

"You're not leaving this house until you ask her."

At her words, Jack's cheeks flushed a dark shade of red and he muttered a few incoherent words under his breath before he cleared his throat. "Fine." He whispered. "Vinnie ... will you go with me to the Homecoming dance?" He asked shyly.

Feeling everyone's eyes on me, I felt my own cheeks start to flush, and I nodded my head. "Yes, I'll go with you."

Behind me, Lauren giggled happily before she grabbed my hand, "well, since that's settled, we got some more things we need to bring in." She explained, and then pulled me out of the living room, and back outside.

"See, that wasn't so hard." She teased.

"Lauren, you didn't have to put him on the spot like that." I muttered.

"Come on, look me in the eyes and tell me that you're not glad that I did what I did."

"Shut up." I grumbled, causing Lauren to laugh once again.

Lauren finished gathering the rest of the groceries and then disappeared inside, leaving me to grab our dresses. Before long, the front door opened and Jack came out, making his way toward me.

"You don't have to go with me to the dance if you don't want to." He said quietly.

"I do want to, though." I said.

"Yeah?"

I smiled softly and nodded my head. "Yes."

"Well ... okay." He grinned. "Cool."

I laughed quietly and shut the door before I slowly slid my hand into his, intertwining our fingers together. "You wanna see my dress?" I asked.

"Are you gonna model for me?" He teased.

"Hmm ... I'll show you my dress, and leave the rest up to your imagination." I grinned.

"Fair enough." Jack laughed before he let me lead him inside, and upstairs to my room.

Once in my room, I released Jack's hand, and then carefully set Lauren's dress across my desk before I unzipped the bag that my dress had come in, and held it up for Jack to see. Jack eyed it for a little while, and then looked me up and down as if he were trying picture it on me. He looked back to the dress once more and then nodded his head.

"It's nice." He commented.

"My papa says it shows too much of my boobies." I sighed, putting the dress back in the bag.

"Oh?"

"Well, not in those exact words," I replied, placing the dress in my closet, "but that's what he implied."

"And is he right?" Jack questioned.

"Well," I turned around, giving Jack a soft smirk, "its a little revealing."

"Sounds like it’s a little more revealing than your dad would like." Jack pointed out.

"Are you taking his side?" I teased, making my way to where Jack had taken a seat on my bed.

"If you wanna show some skin," he grinned, "by all means." He laughed softly.

Shyly, I bit my lip and then took his hands in mine, squeezing them tightly. "Thank you for making me posters." I said quietly.

"You're welcome." Jack whispered softly.

Slowly, and carefully, Jack pulled me down onto his lap and then wrapped his arms protectively around my waist.

"Would your dad get mad if we locked ourselves in your room, and kissed and cuddled for a little while?" He asked.

I laughed quietly and then shrugged my shoulders. "There's only one way to find out." I whispered before I pressed my lips to his.