One Single Step - Chapter 3: Prom Preparations.
Disclaimer - I do not own the characters that are property of Disney, I do however own all the others.
Notes - There is a little bit of sex talk in this chapter, but nothing to major.
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"Fult, Man, what do you know about bow ties?" Dean asked as he stood in front of their bathroom mirror, messing with the tie of his rented tux. It was the day of the prom, the final week of school had passed so quickly, and now, it felt like it was really the end. Mainly because it was really the end. Prom was tonight, graduation was tomorrow, and his flight back to Chicago with his family was on Monday.
"Only that I love my girlfriend for not making me wear one" Fulton smiled. Beck had told him that he didn't have to wear a tux if he didn't want to. At first he had insisted that he should, and then she had insisted that he didn't have to, and then, by the end of it all, they had settled on a very stylish dinner suit, which Fulton looked very sexy in. (Rebecca's words, of course)
"Think the girls are all off getting their makeup and hair done or something?" Dean asked as he fiddled with his bow tie again. He hated wearing suits, but according to his mother, there were three times in his life that he would have to wear a suit, Prom, Weddings, and court dates.
"I know Beck had a 2 o'clock appointment for her hair. Connie, Julie and her are all doing each others makeup. Your mom is helping Jo" Fulton replied, slicking back his hair. He usually could not be bothered to slick back his hair everyday, but it made him look a lot less white trash, so he did it on special occasions.
"What do you think girls talk about when they are in their little groups?" Dean asked him, giving up on the tie (he would swallow his pride and ask Adam to do it for him. Cake Eater knew all sorts of shit about ties and shoes and fashion. Hey, maybe he was gay. At least then Dean would not have to worry about him and his sister. But then it would also break Joanna's heart if Adam turned out to be gay, so maybe it was not such a good thing. But for a split second he had a distinct image of Banksie being the sixth member of the queer eye for the straight guy crew. "Adam – Sport") Pushing strange thoughts of Gay Banksie out of his head (because, they were disturbing) he moved onto the next thing that had to be worked on.
"I don't know" he replied sincerely. Dean was glad that Fulton was continuing the conversation he had started, because now the strange, gay Banksie was talking about exfoliating astringents and tjuzing. "I mean, I know that Beck and Jules talk about us heaps"
Thank god for hetero conversation. "They do?"
"About as much as we talk about them" Fulton replied, putting down his comb and inspecting the handiwork. The master piece that was his hair. He looked good, if he did say so himself.
Dean whistled through his teeth "They talk about us shit loads then"
"But what do you think they say?" Fulton mused. Dean often said that Fulton was the only man in the world who understood women, but there would always be a lot of things that he found a mystery. Like what they spoke about when there were no men around, and why on earth they went to the bathroom in groups. (I mean really, did they need each other there for something, or was it all just another opportunity to gossip like hounds.)
" 'Oh that Dean Portman, he is so fantastic, I am so lucky, honoured and privileged to have him in my life. Now come on Beck, lets had a pillow fight in our underwear!' " Dean smiled. Fulton shook his head, somehow thinking that that was not what the girls discussed. In fact, the girls had probably never had a conversation like that in their lives. (especially the underwear part, although it did give him a nice mental picture.)
"Nah, they probably just talk about the future and stuff" Fulton shrugged, picking up his suit jacket and slipping it on.
"Yes, the future with their wonderful, fantastic boyfriends who are so supportive, they would let her move to a big city without him" Dean replied.
"What is that suppose to mean?" Fulton asked, surprised. He was obviously referring to the fact that Fulton was going to let Beck go to New York without him. Dean shrugged. "You wouldn't let Julie move away to college?"
"Not to New York. By herself" Dean clarified. "Think about it Fult man, the state has the worlds highest crime rate, she could be mugged, or raped, or murdered…it is not like Minnesota."
"So you think that I am insane fore letting her go?" he asked and then paused. This sounded wrong. "What am I thinking, I am not letting her do anything. She is a grown up, she can make her own decisions."
"A grown up, all of 17 years of age" Dean mused. Fulton felt like slapping him. It was not often that he felt the need to get violent with his friend, who was like a brother to him, but now he wanted nothing more then to slap him. He was being stupid. Extremely stupid.
"Dean, butt out." Fulton told him, and Dean smiled. "Get your mind back onto tying that tie and doing what you do best, thinking about Jules"
"What can I say, I am good at it because I practice so often" Dean grinned jokingly, but had to admit that it was true, he did think of her a lot. Julie was on his mind so much that he sometimes forgot what he was doing. He was so glad that he had a girl like Julie in his life, (especially after everything that he had to go through to get her in the first place. That was a lot of hard work, but it all paid off in the long run) and he hoped that she would be in his life for a lot longer. They had spoken about the future, but only in terms of what was to happen the next year, never anything further then that. Dean had applied to colleges, but if he was not accepted, he was going to go and work for his dad, who owned two restraunts and a night club in the trendy part of Chicago. He was going to be the bar manager of the club. Although that was not necessarily what he wanted to do, not yet anyway.
But he had applied to a few colleges, and although he scores were not as good as others, and he was yet to hear back from any of them, he still held hope. Julie was yet to hear from any of her schools either, and she had gotten the second highest marks out of all of the ducks. (Ken got highest, but everyone expected him to. There was something about Ken Wu, he could succeed in anything that he tried. Skating, Hockey, school work.)
"Hello, Dean, talking to you!" Fulton interrupted his thoughts by waving his hand in front of his friends eyes. Dean turned to his friend, who had then left the room, and was now sitting on his bed, tying his shoes.
"Sorry, what?" Dean asked.
"I said, that if I didn't hear back from any of the other colleges, do you think your dad will let me work at the club as well?" He asked.
Dean smiled at his friend. He had taken the rejection from the college very well, (they had only had to bitch about it for a half an hour to make Fulton feel better, and then they had torched the rejection letter of a way of exorcising bad spirits. Exorcising, and the fact that they got to burn things, so it was all cool.) He really was taking it well, considering how much had had wanted to get in and how hard he had worked for it. Fulton had surprised him with his ambition, determination and test scores, and really, there was one thing he was now sure of. Fulton Reed was bigger then some night club in Chicago.
"He would" Dean began, trying to tie the tie quickly, to see if that would make any difference, but then he realized that there was no use, he would have to ask Adam. "But I wouldn't let him"
Fulton went to protest, but Dean held up a silencing hand. "You are better then some club, Fult. You should be out there designing the clubs. Whereas me, I have always been in line to someday run the three Portman Venues. Maybe even expand…and when I do expand the empire, I am going to need you to design it"
Fulton smiled, this was Dean's way of telling him that he had faith in him. "Thanks man, that means a lot to me"
"How long till we have to pick up the girls?" Dean asked as he disappeared into the bathroom again. Fulton looked at the clock in the corner of the room and smiled, they didn't have that long to wait now.
"About 20 minutes" he replied. "And then we will probably have to wait around for them. I seem to remember hearing Connie saying something about the girls making a fashionably late entrance. So if we make a fashionably late entrance to their room, then we wont have to wait so long for them"
"Oh, if only it worked that way" Fulton sighed. "They would be pissed with us for showing up late and we would be in the doghouse for the rest of the night. Do you really want to have to put up with a complaining Julie tonight?"
"No, I guess not" Dean replied, he looked good, except for his tie, which was still undone. Honestly, it was only Fulton's advice on girls that he would follow, because although Beck was his first serious girlfriend, he seemed to know a lot of things. It was like some one had given him the instruction manual. "So you are saying that we should get there early?"
"No, not early, because that would piss them off more and they would run around like chickens with their heads cut off because they are not ready yet, but not late or they will bitch that we were not there on time." Fulton replied. "So I guess that we should get going"
Fulton picked up the flower that he had gotten for Beck, and Dean picked up his gift to Julie, and they made their way out the door. "Fult, do you really think that they gossip heaps about us…"
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"And then Guy was all like 'Why cant I wear a blue tie?' and I was just like 'well, because I am wearing a purple dress, so it will totally clash' and he was like…."
Rebecca drowned out the sound of Connie's voice. She had been explaining the new instalment of the Connie and Guy saga in excruciating detail. Not that Beck didn't like Connie, it was quite the opposite actually, Connie was a nice girl, she just got a little obsessive when it came to Guy. She was definitely the dominant force in the relationship. Poor Guy, Beck hated to admit it, but he seemed a bit whipped.
"Just ignore her" Julie whispered, and Beck smiled. Julie and Connie had been friends much longer, and even she ignored her when she got into these sorts of moods.
"…Can you believe it?" Connie exclaimed.
"No" both Rebecca and Julie replied, smiling knowing at each other. They had no idea what it was that they were not believing.
"So, anyway…" Connie began again, and Beck and Jules turned back to their preparations, they were just about to get into their dresses. Connie was already in hers and beginning to start her make up. "With all the preparations ready and all, Guy just had to go and pick up the room key"
Jules and Rebecca paused, suddenly realizing that they had just missed an important part of the story. Julie looked at Beck, and then to Connie. "Room Key?"
"Sure, to the room that he rented" Connie replied, sounding as if she had told her friends that Guy had picked up Milk for his mother on the way home or something. "Were you two even listening?"
"Sure we were listening" Beck lied quickly, hoping Connie would believe her. "Just obviously not as closely as first thought"
"Guy and I are spending the night at the Hilton, after the prom" Connie shrugged casually. "It is no big deal"
"No big deal, Connie. You do know what happens at hotels after the prom" Julie asked, concerned.
"Yeah, we are going to have sex" Connie replied nonchalantly. Once again Julie was amazed at how casual her friend was being about this. "You really were not listening to my story, were you? I told you that I always knew it would happen like this. Both of us knew, since we were younger"
"Ok. If I tell you I wasn't listening, will you explain to me what on earth is going on?" Beck asked her friend. Connie sighed and dropped her eye brow pencil, turning to the other two girls.
"It means that I have been dating Guy Germain since I was 9 years old. That is almost 9 years, and we always said that if we could not find a romantic time to do it, we would do it on Prom night" Connie replied.
"You have been dating Guy since you were nine, and you have not slept with him?" Julie asked, amazed. She had always thought that Guy and Connie had been sexually active for years now. That was what most people thought.
"He has wanted to" Connie admitted, turning back to her mirror to continue with her make up. "And I have wanted to, I will admit that, but things just never went our way, or we broke up, or we were to busy, so we just said that we would just do it Prom night."
"He didn't pressure you, did he?" Julie asked. Beck just sat back in shock. She was a virgin, but she could not imagine dating some one for almost a decade and not sleeping with them. Hell, she had only been with Fulton for a few months and she was already feeling the itch.
"Hello, earth to Julie, what part of 'I want this to' don't you get?" Connie asked. "I mean, I don't want to be the only virgin duck left at the end of all this"
"You wont be" Julie replied proudly. "I am still a virgin"
"You are?" Connie asked, amazed, she had thought for sure that Dean would have fixed that problem.
"And so it Fulton" Rebecca admitted softly. Damn, why had she said that. She was not sure how many people knew that fact, but she also knew that it was not something that Fulton would appreciate having spread around the place. I mean, he was a bash brother and all, and there were certain things that were 'assumed' about the bash brothers, one of them being that they were popular with women, in every sense of the word. Fulton had a reputation, but it was all bullshit. "But you cant tell him that I told you."
"And besides, even if you didn't sleep with Guy tonight, that would still make the two of you virgins in the morning" Julie replied. Connie shook her head.
"Guy isn't a virgin" she replied softly, and both the other girls jaws dropped. When had Connie and Guy been split up long enough for him to have a sexual relationship with someone else, never, so did that mean that Guy had cheated on her? "Remember just before we came to Eden Hall, we had that really big fight and I said it was over forever? That was because he had slept with some other girl over the summer."
"I didn't know that, why didn't you tell me that?" Jules asked Connie. Connie just shrugged and went back to her make up.
"Losing your virginity on prom night is very cliché, don't you think?" Beck spoke up suddenly, both the other girls looked at her. Connie was thoughtful, yet Julie was shaking her head in agreement.
"I would never lose my virginity on Prom night, I wouldn't want to" Julie sighed. "Think about it, Prom is suppose to be an event that you remember for the rest of your life, I wouldn't want to have to think about that night as the night that ended in pain"
"Bullshit" Connie replied. "You are telling me that tonight, after the after party, if Dean started kissing you, or nibbling your earlobe, or whatever it is he does to make you purr, you would not follow him to the nearest bedroom. Beck, same question, if Fult started…"
Beck didn't have to think of the answer, if Fulton was so begin something with her, then she would have no problems with continuing it till they were both satisfied. The problem, however, is that Fulton had never given her any indication that he wanted to progress their relationship, and she had never said anything to him about it. "Fult wouldn't, he is a perfect gentlemen, and we haven't even discussed having sex"
"You haven't?" Julie asked. That was something that amazed her. Beck and Fult would sit and have long, intense conversations, it was amazing that they had never once spoken about having sex. They seemed so in tune with every other part of their relationship, so it seemed odd that they had not yet spoken about the sexual aspect. "But will you"
"What talk about it?" Beck asked her friend. Julie rolled her eyes at the musician.
"No" Julie replied, smiling at her. She had no idea how to explain this, it was not something that the girls really spoke about, not openly like this, no matter what others thought. "Do 'it' before you leave for Julliard?"
"Will you and Dean do it before the end of the year?" Beck countered. Julie sighed.
Julie herself had strong beliefs in not having pre marital sex. It would be a choice for her, she had decided, and she wanted to say a virgin till marriage. But she would admit that since dating Dean, the idea of having sex with him had come up. But to her, it was unfortunately that she had considered sex with Dean for all the wrong reasons. Boys like Dean Portman are in high demand. Athletic, good looking, strong, caring, from a good family and able to look after himself. She had seen the way some of the other girls looked at him, and she had even seen the look in Dean's eyes when he looked back. Not that he would ever cheat on her, that was not the point. The point was…well, those girls had so much more to offer him, sexually, that was. Julie was afraid that Dean would become frustrated and leave her. "I don't know"
"Well, that is the same answer for me" Beck paused and repeated. "I don't know"
Connie looked at her, smiling in her friendly, supportive way. "You sound as though you want to"
Beck was thoughtfully for a few seconds before replying. "Well, yeah, I do want to. I love Fulton, and he loves me, and well, we are going to be apart. I want to have the opportunity to tell him how much he means to me"
"And you think that having sex with him is the best way?" Julie asked.
"Jules, not all of us are going to be virgins until we are married." Beck replied, going back to preparing for the prom. She understood her friends beliefs, and had to say that she didn't agree with Julie. She also didn't believe that Julie would stick by her word as much as she thought she would. "No matter how much you stand there and say it, you will not be a virgin on your wedding day."
"Yeah Jules, times are changing" Connie replied. "Just because our mothers, or our grandmothers were all virgins when they married, it doesn't mean that you will be. One of these days, you will give in to the desire…"
"And with a boyfriend like Dean Portman, I wouldn't blame you" Beck replied. "I mean, don't get that wrong, I love Fult, but Dean has certain, qualities"
Julie sighed. "First off, who said that I wont be able to keep my virginity till my wedding night, and secondly, don't talk about my boyfriend that way."
"Sorry"
"Jules, you are pretty hypocritical" Connie began, and Julie looked at her, shocked. "You said that the prom is one of the most important events and you wouldn't want to look back on it and only remember the pain of having sex for the first time. I would say that your wedding if far more important, would you like to look back on that in years to come and only remember the pain of losing your virginity?"
"Ok, that is logical" Julie admitted, but she also knew that she had her own reasons. "But still, when it comes down to it, I have my beliefs"
"And we are not telling you to change them" Connie replied softly. "We are merely stating that one day, Dean will do something, or say something, or act a certain way, and you will drag him off to the bedroom"
"And if that day comes, I will come to you and tell you both that you both that you were right, but not until then will I do so" Julie replied, zipping up the back of Beck's gown. Suddenly, all conversation was lost when they saw how Beck looked. "Oh Beck, you look classic"
"I looked at so many dresses, I am glad that this was the one that I finally chose." Beck smiled, smoothing out the black and white fabric on the long strapless gown.
"Jules and I could never wear anything like that." Connie sighed sadly. "Our shoulders are to masculine"
"Mine are" Julie replied, looking at her reflection in the long mirror in the corner and poking her shoulder, which she had to admit was wider then the other two girls, but then again, her position in the team required a lot of upper body strength, which had lead to quite a lot of upper body conditioning. Connie on the other hand, still had some what feminine shoulders. "Connie could get away with it, but only just"
Beck turned and helped Julie into her gown, and then Connie helped them both with their makeup. "Who did you vote for prom queen?"
"What, you don't know?" Connie asked, grinning up at Julie, who was in the corner laughing. "All the ducks voted for you and Fulton"
"Oh shit, why" Beck yelled. She would have slammed her forehead on the table if Connie had not been doing her make up at the time. She didn't want to be prom queen, and she knew that Fulton would much rather poke out his own eyes with a rusty skate and then let the ducks play hockey with them then be crowned prom king.
Connie, who was laughing at the reaction of her friend, asked her. "Who did you vote for?"
"Mendoza and Audrey" she replied. With any luck, there would be others out there who had not voted for her and Fult, she sure as hell didn't want to have to go up there and accept some shitty award. Some crappy plastic crown. Dance to some cheesy romantic song while every one sat around either seething that they did not win, or saying annoying things like "Oh, they are so cute"
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Jules opened it, saw who it was, eeped, and slammed it shut. "Our dates are early"
Connie, who was ready, stood and made her way to the door, after smiling to her friends, she opened the door, and left the room, where she meet Guy in the hallway.
There was another knock on the door, and Dean yelled. "Julie and Beck. Your dates are here"
The two girls gave each other one last look over, making sure that everything was perfect, and then, they opened the door. The two boys in the hallway had a simultaneous dropping of jaws.
"You look…" Fulton began, staring at Beck. There was no words that he could use to describe how fantastic she looked. Fulton had always thought that Rebecca was one of the sexiest girls in the world, but right now, she was hitting an 11 on the 'damn, you fine' o meter. "You look, you look…"
"Thanks Fult, 'you look' as well" she laughed as she stepped into the hall and took his hand. She was glad that she had reduced him to monosyllables. It was the reaction that she had been aiming for. Behind them, Dean was practically drooling over Julie.
"Shall we go?" Julie asked, smiling It felt nice to make your boyfriend speechless. Dean nodded dumbly and held out his arm for her. Julie smiled and threaded her arm through it, allowing herself to be lead off down the hall.
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Review please.
Disclaimer - I do not own the characters that are property of Disney, I do however own all the others.
Notes - There is a little bit of sex talk in this chapter, but nothing to major.
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"Fult, Man, what do you know about bow ties?" Dean asked as he stood in front of their bathroom mirror, messing with the tie of his rented tux. It was the day of the prom, the final week of school had passed so quickly, and now, it felt like it was really the end. Mainly because it was really the end. Prom was tonight, graduation was tomorrow, and his flight back to Chicago with his family was on Monday.
"Only that I love my girlfriend for not making me wear one" Fulton smiled. Beck had told him that he didn't have to wear a tux if he didn't want to. At first he had insisted that he should, and then she had insisted that he didn't have to, and then, by the end of it all, they had settled on a very stylish dinner suit, which Fulton looked very sexy in. (Rebecca's words, of course)
"Think the girls are all off getting their makeup and hair done or something?" Dean asked as he fiddled with his bow tie again. He hated wearing suits, but according to his mother, there were three times in his life that he would have to wear a suit, Prom, Weddings, and court dates.
"I know Beck had a 2 o'clock appointment for her hair. Connie, Julie and her are all doing each others makeup. Your mom is helping Jo" Fulton replied, slicking back his hair. He usually could not be bothered to slick back his hair everyday, but it made him look a lot less white trash, so he did it on special occasions.
"What do you think girls talk about when they are in their little groups?" Dean asked him, giving up on the tie (he would swallow his pride and ask Adam to do it for him. Cake Eater knew all sorts of shit about ties and shoes and fashion. Hey, maybe he was gay. At least then Dean would not have to worry about him and his sister. But then it would also break Joanna's heart if Adam turned out to be gay, so maybe it was not such a good thing. But for a split second he had a distinct image of Banksie being the sixth member of the queer eye for the straight guy crew. "Adam – Sport") Pushing strange thoughts of Gay Banksie out of his head (because, they were disturbing) he moved onto the next thing that had to be worked on.
"I don't know" he replied sincerely. Dean was glad that Fulton was continuing the conversation he had started, because now the strange, gay Banksie was talking about exfoliating astringents and tjuzing. "I mean, I know that Beck and Jules talk about us heaps"
Thank god for hetero conversation. "They do?"
"About as much as we talk about them" Fulton replied, putting down his comb and inspecting the handiwork. The master piece that was his hair. He looked good, if he did say so himself.
Dean whistled through his teeth "They talk about us shit loads then"
"But what do you think they say?" Fulton mused. Dean often said that Fulton was the only man in the world who understood women, but there would always be a lot of things that he found a mystery. Like what they spoke about when there were no men around, and why on earth they went to the bathroom in groups. (I mean really, did they need each other there for something, or was it all just another opportunity to gossip like hounds.)
" 'Oh that Dean Portman, he is so fantastic, I am so lucky, honoured and privileged to have him in my life. Now come on Beck, lets had a pillow fight in our underwear!' " Dean smiled. Fulton shook his head, somehow thinking that that was not what the girls discussed. In fact, the girls had probably never had a conversation like that in their lives. (especially the underwear part, although it did give him a nice mental picture.)
"Nah, they probably just talk about the future and stuff" Fulton shrugged, picking up his suit jacket and slipping it on.
"Yes, the future with their wonderful, fantastic boyfriends who are so supportive, they would let her move to a big city without him" Dean replied.
"What is that suppose to mean?" Fulton asked, surprised. He was obviously referring to the fact that Fulton was going to let Beck go to New York without him. Dean shrugged. "You wouldn't let Julie move away to college?"
"Not to New York. By herself" Dean clarified. "Think about it Fult man, the state has the worlds highest crime rate, she could be mugged, or raped, or murdered…it is not like Minnesota."
"So you think that I am insane fore letting her go?" he asked and then paused. This sounded wrong. "What am I thinking, I am not letting her do anything. She is a grown up, she can make her own decisions."
"A grown up, all of 17 years of age" Dean mused. Fulton felt like slapping him. It was not often that he felt the need to get violent with his friend, who was like a brother to him, but now he wanted nothing more then to slap him. He was being stupid. Extremely stupid.
"Dean, butt out." Fulton told him, and Dean smiled. "Get your mind back onto tying that tie and doing what you do best, thinking about Jules"
"What can I say, I am good at it because I practice so often" Dean grinned jokingly, but had to admit that it was true, he did think of her a lot. Julie was on his mind so much that he sometimes forgot what he was doing. He was so glad that he had a girl like Julie in his life, (especially after everything that he had to go through to get her in the first place. That was a lot of hard work, but it all paid off in the long run) and he hoped that she would be in his life for a lot longer. They had spoken about the future, but only in terms of what was to happen the next year, never anything further then that. Dean had applied to colleges, but if he was not accepted, he was going to go and work for his dad, who owned two restraunts and a night club in the trendy part of Chicago. He was going to be the bar manager of the club. Although that was not necessarily what he wanted to do, not yet anyway.
But he had applied to a few colleges, and although he scores were not as good as others, and he was yet to hear back from any of them, he still held hope. Julie was yet to hear from any of her schools either, and she had gotten the second highest marks out of all of the ducks. (Ken got highest, but everyone expected him to. There was something about Ken Wu, he could succeed in anything that he tried. Skating, Hockey, school work.)
"Hello, Dean, talking to you!" Fulton interrupted his thoughts by waving his hand in front of his friends eyes. Dean turned to his friend, who had then left the room, and was now sitting on his bed, tying his shoes.
"Sorry, what?" Dean asked.
"I said, that if I didn't hear back from any of the other colleges, do you think your dad will let me work at the club as well?" He asked.
Dean smiled at his friend. He had taken the rejection from the college very well, (they had only had to bitch about it for a half an hour to make Fulton feel better, and then they had torched the rejection letter of a way of exorcising bad spirits. Exorcising, and the fact that they got to burn things, so it was all cool.) He really was taking it well, considering how much had had wanted to get in and how hard he had worked for it. Fulton had surprised him with his ambition, determination and test scores, and really, there was one thing he was now sure of. Fulton Reed was bigger then some night club in Chicago.
"He would" Dean began, trying to tie the tie quickly, to see if that would make any difference, but then he realized that there was no use, he would have to ask Adam. "But I wouldn't let him"
Fulton went to protest, but Dean held up a silencing hand. "You are better then some club, Fult. You should be out there designing the clubs. Whereas me, I have always been in line to someday run the three Portman Venues. Maybe even expand…and when I do expand the empire, I am going to need you to design it"
Fulton smiled, this was Dean's way of telling him that he had faith in him. "Thanks man, that means a lot to me"
"How long till we have to pick up the girls?" Dean asked as he disappeared into the bathroom again. Fulton looked at the clock in the corner of the room and smiled, they didn't have that long to wait now.
"About 20 minutes" he replied. "And then we will probably have to wait around for them. I seem to remember hearing Connie saying something about the girls making a fashionably late entrance. So if we make a fashionably late entrance to their room, then we wont have to wait so long for them"
"Oh, if only it worked that way" Fulton sighed. "They would be pissed with us for showing up late and we would be in the doghouse for the rest of the night. Do you really want to have to put up with a complaining Julie tonight?"
"No, I guess not" Dean replied, he looked good, except for his tie, which was still undone. Honestly, it was only Fulton's advice on girls that he would follow, because although Beck was his first serious girlfriend, he seemed to know a lot of things. It was like some one had given him the instruction manual. "So you are saying that we should get there early?"
"No, not early, because that would piss them off more and they would run around like chickens with their heads cut off because they are not ready yet, but not late or they will bitch that we were not there on time." Fulton replied. "So I guess that we should get going"
Fulton picked up the flower that he had gotten for Beck, and Dean picked up his gift to Julie, and they made their way out the door. "Fult, do you really think that they gossip heaps about us…"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"And then Guy was all like 'Why cant I wear a blue tie?' and I was just like 'well, because I am wearing a purple dress, so it will totally clash' and he was like…."
Rebecca drowned out the sound of Connie's voice. She had been explaining the new instalment of the Connie and Guy saga in excruciating detail. Not that Beck didn't like Connie, it was quite the opposite actually, Connie was a nice girl, she just got a little obsessive when it came to Guy. She was definitely the dominant force in the relationship. Poor Guy, Beck hated to admit it, but he seemed a bit whipped.
"Just ignore her" Julie whispered, and Beck smiled. Julie and Connie had been friends much longer, and even she ignored her when she got into these sorts of moods.
"…Can you believe it?" Connie exclaimed.
"No" both Rebecca and Julie replied, smiling knowing at each other. They had no idea what it was that they were not believing.
"So, anyway…" Connie began again, and Beck and Jules turned back to their preparations, they were just about to get into their dresses. Connie was already in hers and beginning to start her make up. "With all the preparations ready and all, Guy just had to go and pick up the room key"
Jules and Rebecca paused, suddenly realizing that they had just missed an important part of the story. Julie looked at Beck, and then to Connie. "Room Key?"
"Sure, to the room that he rented" Connie replied, sounding as if she had told her friends that Guy had picked up Milk for his mother on the way home or something. "Were you two even listening?"
"Sure we were listening" Beck lied quickly, hoping Connie would believe her. "Just obviously not as closely as first thought"
"Guy and I are spending the night at the Hilton, after the prom" Connie shrugged casually. "It is no big deal"
"No big deal, Connie. You do know what happens at hotels after the prom" Julie asked, concerned.
"Yeah, we are going to have sex" Connie replied nonchalantly. Once again Julie was amazed at how casual her friend was being about this. "You really were not listening to my story, were you? I told you that I always knew it would happen like this. Both of us knew, since we were younger"
"Ok. If I tell you I wasn't listening, will you explain to me what on earth is going on?" Beck asked her friend. Connie sighed and dropped her eye brow pencil, turning to the other two girls.
"It means that I have been dating Guy Germain since I was 9 years old. That is almost 9 years, and we always said that if we could not find a romantic time to do it, we would do it on Prom night" Connie replied.
"You have been dating Guy since you were nine, and you have not slept with him?" Julie asked, amazed. She had always thought that Guy and Connie had been sexually active for years now. That was what most people thought.
"He has wanted to" Connie admitted, turning back to her mirror to continue with her make up. "And I have wanted to, I will admit that, but things just never went our way, or we broke up, or we were to busy, so we just said that we would just do it Prom night."
"He didn't pressure you, did he?" Julie asked. Beck just sat back in shock. She was a virgin, but she could not imagine dating some one for almost a decade and not sleeping with them. Hell, she had only been with Fulton for a few months and she was already feeling the itch.
"Hello, earth to Julie, what part of 'I want this to' don't you get?" Connie asked. "I mean, I don't want to be the only virgin duck left at the end of all this"
"You wont be" Julie replied proudly. "I am still a virgin"
"You are?" Connie asked, amazed, she had thought for sure that Dean would have fixed that problem.
"And so it Fulton" Rebecca admitted softly. Damn, why had she said that. She was not sure how many people knew that fact, but she also knew that it was not something that Fulton would appreciate having spread around the place. I mean, he was a bash brother and all, and there were certain things that were 'assumed' about the bash brothers, one of them being that they were popular with women, in every sense of the word. Fulton had a reputation, but it was all bullshit. "But you cant tell him that I told you."
"And besides, even if you didn't sleep with Guy tonight, that would still make the two of you virgins in the morning" Julie replied. Connie shook her head.
"Guy isn't a virgin" she replied softly, and both the other girls jaws dropped. When had Connie and Guy been split up long enough for him to have a sexual relationship with someone else, never, so did that mean that Guy had cheated on her? "Remember just before we came to Eden Hall, we had that really big fight and I said it was over forever? That was because he had slept with some other girl over the summer."
"I didn't know that, why didn't you tell me that?" Jules asked Connie. Connie just shrugged and went back to her make up.
"Losing your virginity on prom night is very cliché, don't you think?" Beck spoke up suddenly, both the other girls looked at her. Connie was thoughtful, yet Julie was shaking her head in agreement.
"I would never lose my virginity on Prom night, I wouldn't want to" Julie sighed. "Think about it, Prom is suppose to be an event that you remember for the rest of your life, I wouldn't want to have to think about that night as the night that ended in pain"
"Bullshit" Connie replied. "You are telling me that tonight, after the after party, if Dean started kissing you, or nibbling your earlobe, or whatever it is he does to make you purr, you would not follow him to the nearest bedroom. Beck, same question, if Fult started…"
Beck didn't have to think of the answer, if Fulton was so begin something with her, then she would have no problems with continuing it till they were both satisfied. The problem, however, is that Fulton had never given her any indication that he wanted to progress their relationship, and she had never said anything to him about it. "Fult wouldn't, he is a perfect gentlemen, and we haven't even discussed having sex"
"You haven't?" Julie asked. That was something that amazed her. Beck and Fult would sit and have long, intense conversations, it was amazing that they had never once spoken about having sex. They seemed so in tune with every other part of their relationship, so it seemed odd that they had not yet spoken about the sexual aspect. "But will you"
"What talk about it?" Beck asked her friend. Julie rolled her eyes at the musician.
"No" Julie replied, smiling at her. She had no idea how to explain this, it was not something that the girls really spoke about, not openly like this, no matter what others thought. "Do 'it' before you leave for Julliard?"
"Will you and Dean do it before the end of the year?" Beck countered. Julie sighed.
Julie herself had strong beliefs in not having pre marital sex. It would be a choice for her, she had decided, and she wanted to say a virgin till marriage. But she would admit that since dating Dean, the idea of having sex with him had come up. But to her, it was unfortunately that she had considered sex with Dean for all the wrong reasons. Boys like Dean Portman are in high demand. Athletic, good looking, strong, caring, from a good family and able to look after himself. She had seen the way some of the other girls looked at him, and she had even seen the look in Dean's eyes when he looked back. Not that he would ever cheat on her, that was not the point. The point was…well, those girls had so much more to offer him, sexually, that was. Julie was afraid that Dean would become frustrated and leave her. "I don't know"
"Well, that is the same answer for me" Beck paused and repeated. "I don't know"
Connie looked at her, smiling in her friendly, supportive way. "You sound as though you want to"
Beck was thoughtfully for a few seconds before replying. "Well, yeah, I do want to. I love Fulton, and he loves me, and well, we are going to be apart. I want to have the opportunity to tell him how much he means to me"
"And you think that having sex with him is the best way?" Julie asked.
"Jules, not all of us are going to be virgins until we are married." Beck replied, going back to preparing for the prom. She understood her friends beliefs, and had to say that she didn't agree with Julie. She also didn't believe that Julie would stick by her word as much as she thought she would. "No matter how much you stand there and say it, you will not be a virgin on your wedding day."
"Yeah Jules, times are changing" Connie replied. "Just because our mothers, or our grandmothers were all virgins when they married, it doesn't mean that you will be. One of these days, you will give in to the desire…"
"And with a boyfriend like Dean Portman, I wouldn't blame you" Beck replied. "I mean, don't get that wrong, I love Fult, but Dean has certain, qualities"
Julie sighed. "First off, who said that I wont be able to keep my virginity till my wedding night, and secondly, don't talk about my boyfriend that way."
"Sorry"
"Jules, you are pretty hypocritical" Connie began, and Julie looked at her, shocked. "You said that the prom is one of the most important events and you wouldn't want to look back on it and only remember the pain of having sex for the first time. I would say that your wedding if far more important, would you like to look back on that in years to come and only remember the pain of losing your virginity?"
"Ok, that is logical" Julie admitted, but she also knew that she had her own reasons. "But still, when it comes down to it, I have my beliefs"
"And we are not telling you to change them" Connie replied softly. "We are merely stating that one day, Dean will do something, or say something, or act a certain way, and you will drag him off to the bedroom"
"And if that day comes, I will come to you and tell you both that you both that you were right, but not until then will I do so" Julie replied, zipping up the back of Beck's gown. Suddenly, all conversation was lost when they saw how Beck looked. "Oh Beck, you look classic"
"I looked at so many dresses, I am glad that this was the one that I finally chose." Beck smiled, smoothing out the black and white fabric on the long strapless gown.
"Jules and I could never wear anything like that." Connie sighed sadly. "Our shoulders are to masculine"
"Mine are" Julie replied, looking at her reflection in the long mirror in the corner and poking her shoulder, which she had to admit was wider then the other two girls, but then again, her position in the team required a lot of upper body strength, which had lead to quite a lot of upper body conditioning. Connie on the other hand, still had some what feminine shoulders. "Connie could get away with it, but only just"
Beck turned and helped Julie into her gown, and then Connie helped them both with their makeup. "Who did you vote for prom queen?"
"What, you don't know?" Connie asked, grinning up at Julie, who was in the corner laughing. "All the ducks voted for you and Fulton"
"Oh shit, why" Beck yelled. She would have slammed her forehead on the table if Connie had not been doing her make up at the time. She didn't want to be prom queen, and she knew that Fulton would much rather poke out his own eyes with a rusty skate and then let the ducks play hockey with them then be crowned prom king.
Connie, who was laughing at the reaction of her friend, asked her. "Who did you vote for?"
"Mendoza and Audrey" she replied. With any luck, there would be others out there who had not voted for her and Fult, she sure as hell didn't want to have to go up there and accept some shitty award. Some crappy plastic crown. Dance to some cheesy romantic song while every one sat around either seething that they did not win, or saying annoying things like "Oh, they are so cute"
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Jules opened it, saw who it was, eeped, and slammed it shut. "Our dates are early"
Connie, who was ready, stood and made her way to the door, after smiling to her friends, she opened the door, and left the room, where she meet Guy in the hallway.
There was another knock on the door, and Dean yelled. "Julie and Beck. Your dates are here"
The two girls gave each other one last look over, making sure that everything was perfect, and then, they opened the door. The two boys in the hallway had a simultaneous dropping of jaws.
"You look…" Fulton began, staring at Beck. There was no words that he could use to describe how fantastic she looked. Fulton had always thought that Rebecca was one of the sexiest girls in the world, but right now, she was hitting an 11 on the 'damn, you fine' o meter. "You look, you look…"
"Thanks Fult, 'you look' as well" she laughed as she stepped into the hall and took his hand. She was glad that she had reduced him to monosyllables. It was the reaction that she had been aiming for. Behind them, Dean was practically drooling over Julie.
"Shall we go?" Julie asked, smiling It felt nice to make your boyfriend speechless. Dean nodded dumbly and held out his arm for her. Julie smiled and threaded her arm through it, allowing herself to be lead off down the hall.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Review please.
