Austin, Texas

"Engaged!? What, where, when, how? I want details. Let me see the ring" Paula, Sue Ellen's roommate and good friend excitedly questioned. Showing her the ring Sue Ellen began to tell the story, she was so excited, but Paula could tell that there was something Sue Ellen wasn't telling her. "That's so sweet, Clint is a great guy. But what about your mom? You have to be kidding yourself if you think she'll ever let you go along with this plan. Moreover, what about college? Or the pageants? You have to finish college, but the pageant scholarships are paying most of your tuition aren't they?" Heaving a sigh, Sue Ellen had her thoughts confirmed, there were a number of uncertainties attached to this engagement and she wasn't sure how to solve their problems and still keep everyone happy. "Uh well Paula, I'm going to be honest, I'm not exactly sure, we didn't really get that far in our conversation and you're the first person I've told. But I'm sure Clint will be happy with waiting until I complete my commitments though and as soon as we show my mama that Clint has the potential to earn a good salary I'm sure she'll come around" she tried to assure her friend that everything would be ok, but inside she wasn't completely convinced herself. "Whatever you say, but I know I wouldn't want to be there when you break it to your mother, she scares me. Take my advice, talk to Clint before you do anything, you two both need to be on the same page and present a united front or else the whole thing will crumble before your eyes. Your mother senses weakness and knows your insecurities; don't let her take advantage of you if this is what you really want". Paula hugged her friend and secretly worried about her mental health, Sue Ellen's mom was vicious and scathingly critiqued Clint's every move, she was not going to make it as easy as Sue Ellen had tried to pretend and she hoped that Sue Ellen was prepared for that.

Sue Ellen slept restlessly, her mind racing and thinking of all the worst possible outcomes. Clint could decide that she was too high maintenance with all of her questions and break up with her, the pageant committee could strip her of her title and scholarship and her mother could take matters into her own hands, engineering some more awful dates for her to attend. Awakening feeling worried and uneasy she decided that Paula was right, she and Clint needed to seriously talk about their future and decide what to do. She prepared herself for the day and decided to skip her morning class knowing that she wouldn't be able to concentrate anyway. Making her way over to Clint's apartment she mentally listed everything they had to get settled before going any further with their plans, she just hoped that they were really on the same page.

"Sue Ellen?" he was surprised to see her standing at his door, she usually had class at this time and she was a good student, "are you busy? I think we need to talk" she sounded worried and he grew concerned. "No, I was just tidying up a little but that can wait. What's worrying you?" he ushered her toward the couch and took a seat next to her. "How do you do that? Read my emotions. Am I that transparent?" she asked, her eyes wide, "oh, it's just a look, I can't describe it, but I can recognise it. Now, you're worried about something, so share the problem and we can come up with a solution together" he smiled at her reassuringly. "Let me preface by saying that I am not having doubts about our relationship, but there are so many things about our marriage that we haven't even discussed. I realised last night that we haven't talked about a lot of things or what we're going to tell everyone when they ask us about our married life" he nodded, not really surprised at her words, she had always been a worrier when it came to getting the approval of others to justify her decisions. Placing his hand on hers he spoke, "ok, what kind of things do you want to discuss? We can figure everything out if we just calmly and rationally talk through any doubts you're having. Now, tell me what's worrying you".

Taking a deep breath, she prepared to inform him of her reservations about the marriage, "ok, well the biggest one has to do with timing, when do you want to get married? Because that will affect a whole lot of other things" that's the biggest one? He wondered. Maybe things weren't so bad after all, "well I was thinking sooner rather than later, but tell me your other concerns and we can decide together". Hm, sooner, not really what she had in mind, "ok, as I was saying, when we get married will affect a lot of other things. You know that winning the pageants helps pay my tuition right? Did you also know that to compete in the pageants, contestants must be unmarried? If we get married right away I'll lose my Miss Austin title and won't be allowed to compete in Miss Texas. That means that I won't be able to pay for college, the money I make by modelling isn't enough to cover everything. Then there's the possibility of my modelling career disappearing if I were to become pregnant soon after we marry. That would put us in an even worse position financially, I'd no longer be able to rely on my looks to get through life and I wouldn't even have a college degree because we can't afford to pay tuition for both of us. In addition, where are we going to live? This apartment is nice enough for the short term, but long term it's not a proper place to start a family. But how are we supposed to afford a house if I don't have a job and you're still in college?" she spilled out almost every problematic situation she could come up with and he was taken aback by the thought she'd put into snowballing their problems. "Sweetheart, you're putting way too much stress on yourself, I said I'd rather get married sooner than later, but I didn't demand that we do it right now. I said that because I love you and can't wait to call you my wife, but you're right, it would put us in a much better position if we both finished college before settling down" his words reassured and comforted her. "As for where we'll live, if we wait until after I graduate then I'll be available to work full time, hopefully in a job with a much higher salary than what I'm making now. You're a semester behind me so I'll finish first, that will give us some time to make arrangements for a new living situation. As for starting a family, when it happens we'll deal with it, but I don't want you to worry about having to financially support us or your modelling career. You'll always be beautiful, who cares what those women say. Now, is there anything else you're worried about?" She couldn't believe how amazing he was, she had arrived this morning as a nervous wreck, but with his words he had managed to calm and reassure her, except for one thing, her mother.

"Well, there is one more thing. Now that we've decided to wait until after graduation to get married, I'd like to also wait a little while before announcing the engagement. I don't want to risk my mother doing something to sabotage our relationship before we are in a position to be independent. Especially since her methods lately involve me going on dates with other men, I really don't want to start that again. I can only imagine how pushy she'll be when she finds out about our engagement, it was bad enough when we were just dating. If the key to her future prosperity becomes completely unattainable there's no knowing what she'll do". He listened to her reasoning, not fully agreeing with her, why should they have to hide their celebration? But he knew that her mom could be very manipulative when she wanted to so he agreed, it was probably for the best.

"Is that all?" he was ready to move onto a more positive topic, "yes, that's everything I wanted to talk about. I'm glad we figured all of that out, I feel much better now" she hugged him and spoke the words into his shoulder. "Good, because I have other plans for the day", she looked up at him and realised she had interrupted his day by skipping class and just showing up, "oh, I'll be going then". She got up to leave but was immediately pulled back down and into his lap, "oh no, my plans are right here" he pointed a finger at her jokingly before kissing her, running his hand through her hair as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.