Paulette was getting ready for the graduation ceremony in the room she shared with Dolores. She looked critically at herself in the mirror; there was no denying it, she had definitely put on weight.
'Just look at me,' she complained to Dolores. 'Look at my chest. The girls were saying I have water retention but these things are more like flotation devices!'
Dolores rolled her eyes. 'Stop bragging.'
'I'm serious, my bra's too tight.' Normally she loved flaunting her curves but this was ridiculous.
'Well no one will be able to tell in the gown you'll have on.'
'I guess I'll have to go on a diet.' She pinched her waist. Talk about bad timing, her parents were taking them out for a slap up meal after the ceremony and she was going to have to nibble on lettuce leaves!
~~~~
Stephanie stood in the line next to Michael for their official graduation picture and felt a mixture of excitement and resignation. She was excited thinking about her future with Michael, less thrilled about working for her dad. He was so busy he couldn't even make the ceremony and come tomorrow she'd be working all hours as well.
'At least your mother made it,' Michael said.
'Yeah, I know.' She had to admit that he had it worse, neither of his parents could be there. She glanced over at Rhonda's parents who were clearly bursting with pride, and she felt a little sad again.
'So what's everyone doing later?' Goose asked as they relaxed after the photograph had been taken.
'We're going for lunch with Steph's mom, and my aunt and uncle,' Michael said.
'Right,' Goose said sounding glum as Rhonda was dragged away by her parents who wanted to take even more pictures of her. 'Hey Dimucci, what are you guys doing later?'
'We're going for lunch as well,' Louis said indicating to his parents and Sharon's mom who was trying to get them to pose for a picture together.
'Why don't you join us, Bradley?' Louis's mom suggested.
'Thanks but I've got plans.' He pulled a face at Steph. 'There's no way I'd go with them. Have you seen Louis's sister, she's scary.'
Steph smiled, she knew Sharon absolutely loathed Louis's older sister, it definitely wasn't going to be an enjoyable occasion.
'Hey,' Paulette said pushing her way into the group to stand next to Stephanie, Johnny following closely behind her.
'Hi, what are you guys doing later?' Steph asked.
'I'm trying to convince Johnny to come for lunch with my parents,' Paulette said pouting up at him.
Johnny cleared his throat. 'I'm sure your folks would rather spend the day with just you and Dolores,' he said looking over at her parents. Steph didn't think he was wrong there, he'd have his work cut out with them after the way he'd treated Paulette.
'I guess so,' Paulette admitted.
'Actually Steph, can I have a word?' Johnny asked taking her elbow and pulling her to one side before she'd even had a chance to respond.
She looked at him expectantly. 'What's up, Johnny?'
'Well,' he said drawing out his words. 'I was having a word with your old man and he said he could use a spare pair of hands.' Steph held in a sigh, she'd expected something like this after Johnny had helped her dad out last summer. 'He offered to take me on but I thought I should run it by you before I accept.'
'Right.' Steph swallowed down her irritation that her dad hadn't spoken to her first, she could hardly object now. 'That's great, we do need help.'
Johnny let out a deep breath. 'Thanks, Steph.' He patted her shoulder and made his way back to Paulette who had a deep frown on her face.
'What was that about?' Michael asked when Steph rejoined him.
'My dad's offered Johnny a job.'
'And you're okay with that?'
Stephanie looked over at Johnny and Paulette. 'I think I'm more okay with it than she is!' She could tell by Paulette's stony face that she wasn't happy with the news. She shook her head wondering when Paulette would finally realise that there would never be anything between her and Johnny again, it was ancient history.
~~~~
When they got to the restaurant Sharon and Louis's mothers seemed to be on a mission to outdo each other over who could fuss the most. Sharon sat opposite Louis and rolled her eyes whilst he tried not to smile.
'No wait,' his mom Maria snapped startling everyone. 'Sharon, I want you to sit next to Louis, I want more pictures.'
'Mom you'd better not be taking photos while we're eating,' Louis's sister Frances warned. 'It's bad enough you've dragged me along.'
Sharon pulled a face, she dearly wished Frances wasn't there.
'Just one more picture,' Maria pleaded so they all changed seats, and Sharon ending up sitting between Frances and Louis.
'I can't believe you two even graduated,' Frances said looking from Louis to Sharon.
'What do you mean?' Sharon's mom Rebecca interrupted. 'Sharon was practically a straight A student.'
'Yeah but Louis is dumb!' Both of her parents glared at her, and an awkward silence developed.
Rebecca cleared her throat. 'So what are your plans, Louis?'
Louis pulled a face at his father. 'I've got a job with my dad.' His father was a foreman on the local housing project.
'Oh, that's good, best not to waste any time.' Sharon smiled, pleased that her mom approved.
'Well it would have been nice to have had a few weeks off,' Louis grumbled.
'Rebecca's right son, you've gotta get in first,' his dad said but Sharon knew that Louis wasn't happy that whilst she'd have the summer to herself he'd be at work. She guessed it wasn't going to help them sort things out.
'So Sharon what will you do all summer when Louis is hard at work?' Frances asked slyly, almost as if she'd picked up on her thoughts.
'I don't know, I'm sure I'll find something to do with my time.'
'You can help me out in the office,' Rebecca said. 'We need to start doing the groundwork for the midterm elections.'
'I guess,' Sharon murmured although she didn't relish the idea of sticking letters in envelopes for hours on end.
'We're Republicans actually,' Frances piped up, and Sharon almost choked on her drink.
'Since when?' She looked at Louis, she was sure he admired Kennedy almost as much as she did.
'I'm not anything,' he said frowning at Frances.
'Well I liked Nixon myself but Kennedy's won me over,' Louis's dad said.
'Stop being such a suck-up!' Frances snapped, and Sharon was reminded of the time she'd overheard her saying that her and her mom were a pair of Jackie Kennedy wannabes.
'We're not affiliated to either party,' Maria said as if Frances hadn't spoken, and Sharon was relieved to see their food was on its way over bringing an end to the conversation. However, Frances wasn't silent for long.
'So when do you think you two will get married?' she asked Louis loudly between mouthfuls of food.
Louis grimaced. 'Erm, I don't know...'
'Well you've been together ages, don't you want to?'
Sharon felt her cheeks flush and she looked down avoiding everyone's eyes.
'It's a bit premature to be talking like this when the ink is barely dry on their graduation certificates,' Rebecca said briskly.
'Yeah but these things take ages to plan.'
'Well that depends on how organised you are,' Rebecca said in a haughty voice that Sharon would sometimes imitate.
'So I guess I won't be buying a hat yet.' Frances smirked, and Sharon scowled back at her.
'Stop it Frances,' Maria warned, a frown marring her face.
Frances threw her folk down. 'God, why's everyone being so defensive?'
'We're not,' Sharon said trying to speak normally. 'But it's nothing to do with you.' She couldn't see Louis proposing to her any time soon, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. Certainly, she wasn't going to sit there discussing her feelings with someone who plainly didn't like her, even if she was a potential sister in law.
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Thank you for reading :) The prequel to this story 'Girl Code' is on my profile page.