Chapter 6: Everything Changes

While their father is out pursuing his musical career, the kids go hang out at the water park on Saturday.

Brian had asked Shasta to go steady with him at the prom, and they've been inseparable ever since.

She's older than he is by a couple of years, and she'll be graduating soon, leaving him behind. After her long search for the right guy, after facing the humiliating taunts of all the assholes in her school, she finally found him, the sweetest boy you possibly imagine, and so cute that just looking at him makes her go all weak. The thought of giving him up, letting him go just because she's older and will be an adult soon is more than Shasta can bear. What she wants, more than anything, is to hold him close and make him her own forever.

Heath has reached the pinnacle of his career and is now performing in the biggest stadiums.

"Farrell tests very high," the school had told Heath. After some initial confusion where Heath insisted his son was not on drugs, it was explained to him that his youngest was a genius. While it's a label to make any parent proud, for the school it's just another problem, a kid that doesn't fit easily into the 'normal' box, one with special needs the school is not equipped to accommodate. Like many of ilk, Farrell is an outsider, playing by himself rather than joining the others children in the playground, preferring to spend his building things from whatever materials are at hand over engaging in the silly games of his schoolmates.

The school unfortunately has no other options to offer the young genius. He's far ahead of his classmates in schoolwork, but the teachers hope that continued exposure to children his own age might somehow improve his social skills, despite the fact that they avoid all socialization with him as much as he avoids them, so they'd prefer not to advance him to the next grade. 

Farrell himself is only vaguely aware of the meeting his father has with his teachers on his behalf, that his school looks on him as a problem to be dealt with. Those kind of day-to-day concerns barely penetrate his consciousness; he's too focused on his own projects to see much of what happens around him.

Elliot becomes a teen. His best friend since childhood, Rochelle Sheffield comes home with after school, intent on wooing him.

"Shell, you're going steady with Connor Thorne," Elliot points out.

"Well, his family is really rich," she answers, "He's definitely good husband material, but his face," she sighs, exasperated, "He's going to make really creepy looking babies, and I can't have that. But you, on the other hand, are just gorgeous, and you're already the school's star athlete as freshman. And I've known you since we were kids, I know what  I'm getting with you."

Shelley was always all business, she doesn't play games. "You have to break it off with Connor first," Elliot says, falling into her negotiation mode, "I'm not going to be the other guy."

"Done," Shelley agrees, "So it's official? We're a couple?"

"Do I have to sign anything?" Elliot laughs.

"No, silly. Well, not until the pre-nup, but that won't be for a few years."

"You're much different than I imagined," Bianca muses, "I mean, up on stage, you have this sexy swagger that just screams lady killer, you know. But really, you're so sweet and shy." He's so shy with her that Bianca sort of wonders how he managed to father two children.

"I'm a little out of practice," Heath admits, "I used to be that guy. Really," he laughs, "But life kind of changed everything on me."

"Well, I like you even better now that I'm getting to know you."

Heath drags her up onto the karaoke stage, where his sudden awkwardness with women is no longer an issue.

"I'm sorry," Bianca groans after falling off key for the third time, "I'm not a singer."

"No kissing until after you take me on a proper date," Shelley rebuffs Elliot's attempt at a first kiss.

"Are you sure about this Shasta?" Brian asks for the fourth time since she dragged him up to her father's bedroom. 

"I'm sure, Brian," Shasta assures him, "I want us to be together."

She expected, well she's not really sure what she expected, but in her imagination it was all soft-focus romance with flower petals falling from the sky. In reality, it was awkward, clumsy and more than a little painful. And then, just as they were more or less dressed, Farrell walks in on them.

"Why are you up here?" he asks, "Why aren't you wearing pants, Brian?" Luckily for the embarrassed teens, Farrell doesn't wait for answers, instead moving on to tell them that Elliot sent him to find Shasta to tell her the mac-n-cheese he made like an hour ago will only get grosser the longer it sits out  getting cold.

"I think it's past curfew," Heath comments when he comes home late from his date, bringing Bianca along with him. "I don't want any angry calls from your father, Rochelle."

Rochelle rolls her eyes as soon is Heath isn't looking at her. "As if," she sighs, "But, I do have to take off, Elliot. See you at school tomorrow."

"Everything okay here, Shasta?" Heath asks.

Shasta doesn't look up from the sink, intent on scrubbing every vestige of cheese from the dishes. "Fine," she mumbles, "I'm going to bed."

With all the kids asleep, Heath and Bianca have the living room to themselves.

"I'm surprised you still want to be with me after my lousy karaoke performance," she says as snuggles up under his arm.

"Don't obsess so much about that," he laughs, "I could say the same about my guitar playing."

"Well, you are a little sloppy on the guitar," she laughs, "I could give you some lessons."

"I'll just stick to what I'm good at."

"Are you as good a kisser as you are a singer?" she asks, turning her head towards him. "Mmm, you are," she sighs after they've shared a long deep kiss.

"It's late," Bianca says after they've made out for what seems like hours on the couch, "I should get home..." Her voice is tentative, almost a question, like she wants to be invited to stay.

"You could stay, if you want," Heath offers.

When he comes out of the bathroom, Bianca is already asleep in his bed.

Shasta thinks she's supposed to feel different, more womanly maybe, more grown up. Or that she should be remembering his touch, or feeling some kind of glow, or something. But it's just normal. No, not even normal, because when she thinks about seeing Brian at school today, she gets this awful knot in her stomach, and awkward cringing at the thought of meeting his eyes. Is he going to tell anyone? she wonders, will he feel differently about her?

"Hey," Bianca purrs at him when they wake up to a quiet house, the kids all off at school.

It's been so long, too long, since he's been with a woman. He'd become used to his solitary life, attached to hi self-image as the grieving lover. But now, waking up with a gorgeous half-naked woman in his bed, he's done with al that and ready to move on.

Marvin asked Heat to drop by his place before his shift at the bistro. After a few minutes of catching up on each other's lives, Marvin bites his lip and gets down to it. "So, I was talking to Farrell earlier, and he said something bout finding Shasta and her boyfriend up in your bedroom.. Without pants. He doesn't know, you know, anything, and maybe they weren't doing anything, but, I thought I should pass this on to you."

"Have you talked to Shasta?"

Marvin blushes. He was always close to Shasta, but, "I wouldn't know what to say," he murmurs.

Neither does Heath, but it's his job as a parent to figure it out.

Shasta brings Brian out to see Heath's show that evening. He doesn't like to think of her, his little girl, growing up so fast, but denying it won't stop it, and he knows he needs to talk to her before she gets herself in trouble.

Heath went over at least dozen conversations openers in his head on the drive home, all of them awkward and unhelpful. When he finally has her alone in her room, all his attempts at planning fly out the window as he blurts out a direct question, "Are you having sex with Brian?"

Her face twists up as the tears start flowing. "I'm sorry!" she cries, falling onto her bed to sob into her pillow.

"Shasta, sweetheart," Heath says gently, sitting beside and cradling her against his chest, "I'm not angry at you, okay? I just want to know that you're all right."

"I just love him so much it hurts," she sobs, "I don't want to lose him. I thought...I thought if we. But nothing has changed, has it? I'm still going to graduate two years before he does. What if he forgets about me? What if he starts seeing someone else?"

"I know this is going to sound trite, but it's the truth. If he forgets about you, then it isn't love. And, it might be you that moves on first. You'll be grown up, and you might not want to wait for some kid in high school."

A fresh burst of tears falls onto Heath's chest, "I'll never love anyone but him."

"I thought that way about my first girlfriend, too," Heath says, "When she dropped me for another guy, I thought my world was over. Trust me on this, Shasta, you get older and everything changes. My mother told me that, when I was your age, and I didn't believe her then, just like you probably don't believe me now. So, what I'll say is that, you looked pretty happy with Brian earlier tonight. And if you  two are really in love, really meant to be, then it will work out. Just enjoy it while you have it, and don't worry about the future."

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Special special thanks to Zhippidy for the pose in the last shot. For the most part I'm not using poses in my legacy, as I really prefer legacy play to be about stuff that actually happens in the game, but this pose was just too good not to use in this situation.