'Johnny you're going to have to decide what you want to do, and face up to Paulette,' Louis said parroting the words Sharon had given to him.

'What I want to do is get as far away from Paulette as I can,' Johnny snarled, and Davey gave him a disapproving look.

'I'm not saying I will,' he quickly added turning to Louis. 'It's okay for you, you've got the girl you want, no one's making you do anything.'

Goose frowned. 'When are you even gonna marry Sharon?' he asked, his face twisting in confusion.

Louis shrugged. 'In a year or two, Sharon and her mom will sort it out. I've just gotta turn up.' Mrs Cooper had reacted with horror to the engagement but when she was reassured that Sharon wasn't pregnant, she'd grudgingly accepted it. Louis could tell she wasn't thrilled and figured it was best to go along with her wishes so she wouldn't cause trouble.

'And you don't get a say in the matter?' Davey asked.

'I'm not bothered about the wedding day,' Louis admitted. He'd do whatever made Sharon happy, girls cared more about that sorta stuff.

'The wedding's the easy bit,' Johnny said scowling. 'It's the rest of my life I'm more worried about.'

'You have to let Paulette know where she stands,' Louis said.

'I know, I won't run away from this but....' He let out a deep breath, his shoulders slumping. 'How can we get married? We have nowhere to live.'

'You'll work it out,' Davey assured him, and Johnny nodded seemingly resigned to his fate.

                                                                   ~~~~

'Hello Jonathan,' Mrs Cooper said giving him a hard look as she let him in.

'Hi Johnny,' Paulette said with her usual excited anticipation.

'Hey,' he said without enthusiasm.

'I'll leave you two to it,' Mrs Cooper said. 'I take it you have come round to resolve this Jonathan.' Johnny could see where Sharon got the attitude from.

'I guess it's about time we talked,' he said to Paulette sitting down.

She smiled tightly. 'Yes there's not much time, I went to see a doctor and I'm due around February.'

Johnny swallowed hard. 'That's barely six months away, so what do you want to do?' 

'Well, I want us to get married. I want to keep our baby, I don't want it to be adopted.'

He sighed as she confirmed what he'd expected. 'And if I don't want that?' He saw her face fall.

'You'd rather your child was raised by strangers?' she asked in a small voice.

He ran his hand through his hair, rubbing his temple. 'No not really but marriage...we're too young, I don't think we're ready for it.'

'Louis and Sharon are,' she pointed out, and he couldn't miss the resentment in her voice.

'Yeah they're ready to get married in a year or two, and they've been together much longer.' The two situations did not compare, no one was forcing them into it.

'I know it's not ideal but it's where we are,' she said quietly.

'So how'd we go about arranging a marriage?' he asked with a deep sigh. 'I'm telling you now I want no fuss. No engagement party, no big family wedding.' Paulette nodded, if she was hurt by his demands she didn't let on.

'We'll have to do it quickly anyway,' she said touching her stomach. 'I'm starting to show so I guess we get a few witnesses and go to city hall. I'll ask Sharon's mom, she seems to know about this stuff.'

'Right and where will we live, I don't make that much money,' he said knowing Paulette liked the finer things in life.

Paulette shook her head. 'It's okay, we'll sort something out. What do your parents think?' 

Johnny groaned. 'I haven't told them yet. Look you sort out the wedding and I'll deal with things on my end.'

'Sure Johnny,' she readily agreed, no doubt relieved he had finally accepted the situation.

                                                                                ~~~

The girls all went dress shopping with Paulette for the wedding. She wanted something new to wear but not a traditional wedding dress. It would have been out of her price range anyway.

'So has your mom come round?' Stephanie asked as they looked through the rails.

'No, I called her the other day and told her we were getting married but she didn't say much,' Paulette said hiding her hurt. Her mother had been almost monosyllabic on hearing the news, Paulette couldn't tell if she was pleased or even more disappointed.

'Will she go to the wedding do you think?' Rhonda asked.

'I told her the time and place, it's up to her now.' She kept her voice light but if her mother didn't make an appearance she would never forgive her.

'What about this one?' Rhonda asked pulling out a white shift dress that was formal but not too fancy.

'It's white Rhonda,' Sharon said pointedly.

'Ah right,' Rhonda said realising what she meant.

'So will your wedding dress be white Sharon?' Paulette asked slyly, she suspected Sharon wasn't half as virtuous as she made out.

Sharon pulled a face obviously knowing what Paulette was implying. 'No I think I suit ivory better, white near my face makes me look washed out.' She then turned away to ask a sales assistant for advice, explaining the sort of outfit Paulette had in mind.

'Something pastel could work,' the assistant suggested moving them to another section.

'The thing is I don't want to look pregnant,' Paulette confided looking at all the dresses that were fitted around the waist.

'Right so we need something more free-flowing,' the assistant said, and Paulette was certain she saw a momentary look of disapproval flash across her face. 

'Yeah better that people think I'm just fat,' she said trying to joke as she looked through more dresses. Sharon turned to look at some more formal wedding gowns which caught the sales assistant's attention.

'Oh, do you need some help?' she asked eagerly, her eyes on the ring on Sharon's left hand.

'No I'm just some getting ideas,' Sharon said but the assistant started pointing out dresses to her.

'It's never too soon to start planning. When are you getting married?' she asked.

Paulette couldn't miss her change in attitude towards Sharon, she was positively fawning all over her. 'Look at that,' she said to Steph unable to hide her annoyance.

'She's just after a sale,' Steph pointed out quietly.

'And what am I?' Paulette huffed.

'Steph means a big sale,' Rhonda whispered. 'Stop being so paranoid.'

'I guess,' Paulette said not wanting to sour the day. 'I should be enjoying this, I'm marrying Johnny!' Stephanie and Rhonda smiled at her weakly not quite able to match her enthusiasm.

'Yeah and your wedding will be the last time we're all together,' Rhonda said somberly and Sharon turned back to them again.

'What do you mean?' Sharon asked with a frown.

'Well, I'm going to away to college, we're all doing different things. I bet we won't get together as a group again until it's your wedding!' They contemplated each other and realised she was probably right.

'So what'll happen with you and Goose?' Paulette asked. She'd been so bogged down in her own problems she'd not considered what her friends were going through.

'I'm going to tell him we should split up. I mean we've pretty much already agreed that anyway.'

'Why don't you try a long-distance relationship first?' Sharon suggested, and Rhonda shook her head.

'To be honest Sharon, I think we're run our course anyway. I'm moving on and Goose is just Goose. I don't see him ever growing up, he's not even looking for a job yet.'

'I guess you know what's best,' Paulette said but she felt a bit sad. It dawned on her that all of their lives were changing and their friendships might not go the distance.

                                                                            ~~~~

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