The week passed by slowly and this was partly because of the upcoming formal. Both Debbie and I went the Saturday before to get our hair trimmed into new styles and we bought new accessories to go with my pink dress and her green dress. She wouldn't let me see it, just told me that it was dark green with gold on it. So I could only imagine what it looked like.
I wrote Jesse another letter about the formal, complaining about my predicament hoping that he wouldn't see it as too selfish. Here I am dreading an upcoming dance and he's over there training to kill people. I debated telling him, but gave in because I desperately needed someone to tell who would give me an answer that I actually wanted. I had told mom about what Adam had said and she told me that I must have heard it wrong because he would never do such a thing. Debbie was too wrapped up in Dave and the formal this week that she barely listened to me and Gina just shrugged like it was nothing really bad and that I should just accept it. So I told Jesse and I felt good pouring out all of my feelings about it.
The day of the formal was a hectic one. I didn't have to work that day and it was a good thing because mom and the ladies needed help with the last minute decorations and Debbie and I got sucked into helping. It took us over two hours to put the balloons up and to hang the ribbons and put the flowers on the tables. Then mom had to stop and get the ingredients for the punch because she was in charge of the punch table. What was Papa doing you may wonder? Well he was at home, where all the men were, watching the football game on television.
We got home at lunch time and scrambled into the bathroom to get washed. Debbie beat me and took forever in the bath. So while I waited I laid out my dress, my pearl earrings that I had just gotten for my 16th birthday and my gold necklace to match the dress. Then I needed my nylons and my shoes, plus my new lace bow that clipped into my hair and I was all set. I stood back and looked at my ensemble. It was amazing what I had managed to put together in just a week.
Debbie got out of the bathroom an hour later. Her hair was fixed in tight curls and she wore a white bathrobe and fuzzy white slippers. "Bathroom's all yours." She said peeking her head in the door as she passed.
"Thanks." I grumbled as I went into the bathroom. It was hot from the hair dryer and curlers and moist from the hot bath that Debbie took. I filled up the tub with water and as I stuck my toe in I groaned. I was just warm enough to get quickly clean. She had used pretty much all of the hot water and Mom was going to freak when she couldn't get herself ready for the dance. The water, like I predicted, went ice cold 15 minutes later and I shivered as I let the water run out. I wrapped a towel around my body and dried my hair with another towel. I dried it with the dryer and put the hot curlers in my hair, just a few of them to give my hair a slight curl, and then went into my room to get dressed.
Mom knocked on my door half an hour later as I was sitting at my vanity touching up my makeup and brushing my curls. She looked at me and smiled brightly.
"I knew it would be perfect!" She squealed. "You look so beautiful honey!" She hugged me tightly and I couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh thanks mom." I blushed. "I couldn't have done it without you." I said sincerely. She smiled brighter, if that was even possible.
"Do you need help with anything?" She asked looking around the room. The sun was just starting to set and it gave my room an orange glow.
"No I don't think so. I'm ready to go." I said and putting the finishing touches to my eyes and looking myself over in the mirror. I had a black eye liner around my eyes, framing the sharp edges and I had a little bit of mascara and some pink lip stick.
"Well we'll be leaving in half an hour." She said as she left the room. "Oh!" She said popping back into the room. "There's a letter downstairs on the table." She smiled slightly. I shot out of my chair knocking it over.
"When did it come?" I gasped picking up the chair. Mom was shocked, yet amused by my outburst.
"While you were in the bath, dear. Are you alright?"Her eyes were wide, but her mouth had a smile playing at the corners. I rushed past her quickly.
"I'm fantastic!" I called up the stairs as I raced down them. I skipped into the kitchen and saw the small white envelope on the table between the salt and pepper shakers. I snatched it quickly and headed back to the stairs, passing Papa along the way. He was sitting on the couch reading the paper.
"You look nice Susanna." He called after me.
"Thanks." I said without even looking at him. I heard him chuckle as I raced up the stairs, but I was too excited about my letter. As I passed Debbie's door she knew what I had and she laughed too.
"Remember we're leaving in half an hour!" She teased and I closed the door smiling to myself. I sat at the edge of my bed, like a lady and tore open the envelope. I loved getting letters in the mail.
Dearest Susanna,
I was somewhat shocked at this. He normally just wrote Susanna. I laughed at myself for over-reacting to the simple word with such a casual meaning.
I am regretfully sorry that I can not be there to help you with this Adam person. I promise that I will be there next time. And when I come home I will put an end to this…harassment. I know you will have a good time and I really wish that I was going to be there with you. Reading your last letter I could almost hear your voice. It was more like you, or what I know from that day that we spent together. Not that the first letter wasn't nice to receive either, but this one just sounded more…relaxed, or real than the other.
I really want to be there with you. You have no idea. Paul is constantly reading his letters from his girlfriend back home and it makes me long to see you again. I just want to see your smile again, just one last time and I would be fine going off to war.
I am glad that you told your mother about me, but I am also unsure. I feel anxious about it. What if I am not up to their expectations of a beau for you? Not that I am your beau, but…I wish to be. None the less I am looking forward to meeting your mother and father and the Notorious Debbie. I love hearing stories about her. It makes me laugh to hear the way you talk of her.
I am very thankful that you let me into your life, even if it is through these letters. I don't know how I would coop with all this training if I didn't have something to look forward to almost everyday.
I blushed at this, yet I knew he was teasing. For that is how many letters I had written to him and he had wrote me 3. But then again I was the one with all the time here, so it was understandable that I write more letters than him. I continued reading.
Don't misunderstand me I love hearing from you. Like I said it gives me something to look forward to, and it makes all the guys jealous when I get a letter every day and they get one once a week. So thank you for everything. I hope you enjoy your dance, and don't get to attached to any of the young gentlemen, for I will be returning in less than a month and will be ready to fight for your heart.
Forever Yours,
Jesse.
I gaped at the letter. This was a lot more personal than the other two letters he had given me. He was very open and told me his feelings. I sank back on the bed and exhaled nervously. He was falling for me just as hard as I was falling for him. This could be seriously dangerous. I was already having dreams about what it would be like to marry him and have his children. I shook myself when I got that way because I barely knew him. Debbie chose this moment to walk in, with out walking…Notorious Debbie!
"Ready to…What are you doing? You're going to wreak your hair!" She scolded playfully and I slowly sat up. Her green dress was amazing. It was floor length and a dark green like she had said. It fit her tiny, bony frame perfectly. It was a dress that lay straight down, perfect for girls with no curves, which was Debbie. There was a gold sash around the middle that tied the dress together, or made it look that way. One shoulder was covered by dark green fabric that fell down to her elbow and the other shoulder was bare. She had green eye shadow on and some black eyeliner and her hair was in tight curls with a gold butterfly clip. She looked amazing, older than the 14 year old that she was.
I sighed again, not able to speak; still overcome by joy of finding out Jesse's true feelings for me. She smiled at me from the doorway, "That good, huh?" She teased as she sat on the bed beside me. I nodded and bit my lower lip happily.
"He is…I just…" I tried to explain but I couldn't.
"Wow, he has you speechless. That's amazing. I didn't think anyone would be able to get you to stop talking." She smiled smugly at her jab and I pinched her.
"That was mean." I laughed at the insult, because I knew she never meant it. "Besides you're the one who talks the most. I'm the quiet one, remember?"
"Yes, but you know what they say?"She said and I shook my head, not knowing what she was talking about. "You gotta watch out for the quiet ones." She winked at me playfully and I looked at her shocked. I laughed because the alternative meaning to this amused me.
"So is that why you are dating David?" I winked at her and she blushed for the first time in a long time. She looked nervously at the door and then back at me.
"Hush! I don't want mom and Papa knowing." She whispered furiously, but smiled at me brightly.
"Oh come on Debbie. Their bound to find out your secret eventually!" I whispered back.
"Yes I will tell them, just not yet. He's so much older than me." I looked at her shocked. Dave was only a year or two older. He was my age and was in a lot of my classes and out of the 4 of them he was the only one that was truly nice to people. He simply hung out with them for the image, or so I thought.
"He's not that much older than you Debbie." I said getting up to fix my hair.
"How much older is Jesse?" She asked curiously, playing with the hem of her skirt. I looked at her ready to give her an answer and then I blanked. If he had joined the army he had to be over 16, which made him older, which wasn't a good thing, especially to mom and Papa. Second he didn't look young but I hadn't really thought about it until now. I put him between 18 and 21. She stared at me waiting for an answer and I felt my cheeks heat up.
"I have no idea." I blushed and she shrieked.
"Well, well…Aren't you the bold and daring one!" She said playing with my hair, as she stood behind me. Mom popped her head in the door and smiled.
"What's all the yelling about?" She smiled brightly. I blushed a deeper red and then Debbie froze.
"Oh you know mom…" I said.
"We're just gossiping about the formal. Apparently Gina's boyfriend Andy is going to propose." Debbie gushed. I stared at her point blank in the mirror with horror. She made up a rumor and I was going to be the one to pay for it.
"DEBBIE!!!!" I exclaimed. She looked at me in the mirror and shrugged.
"Well…won't that be nice. A bit young though." Mom said thoughtfully. "Anyways, let's get going. I want to be there before the dinner starts." She smiled again and disappeared.
"Why would you say something that isn't true?" I whispered, getting up to get my hand bag.
"I needed to say something to get her off our backs."
"You couldn't have made up something else about another person we know? It had to be Gina, my best friend." I rolled my eyes. "Now she's going to be so mad at me, because she'll think I started this."
"No she won't, because I didn't get the idea from you." Debbie winked at me and I gaped at her.
"Well who did you get it from?" I placed my hands on my hips and she smiled brightly.
"Dave told me that he saw Andy at the jewelers looking at rings. It isn't every day that a boy goes into the Jewelers to buy a ring Sis." She said nonchalantly.
"So it's not a rumor then?" I asked her, about to burst at the seams.
"Well…I don't know if he bought the ring, but he was defiantly looking at them!" She smiled broadly and I shrieked.
"We can't tell Gina." I said, more to myself than her. Debbie nodded beside me.
"Good luck keeping it a secret." She said over her shoulder, as she was leaving my room. "If it was hard for me it will be death for you!" She laughed as she left the doorway and I shook my head. Notorious Debbie! Always the one to cause trouble!