Charlie
June 13, 1992
Dear friend,
I just got home from Bill’s house. I would have written to you about last night this morning, but I had to go to Bill’s.
Last night, Craig and Sam broke up.
It was very sad to watch. In the past few days, I have heard a lot about the prom, and thanks to those twenty-four-hour film places, I have seen what everyone looked like. Sam looked beautiful. Patrick looked handsome. Mary Elizabeth, Alice, Mary Elizabeth’s boyfriend all looked great, too. The only thing is that Alice wore white stick deodorant with a strapless dress, and it showed. I don’t think that kind of thing matters, but supposedly Alice was paranoid about it all night. Craig looked handsome as well, but he wore a suit instead of a tux. That’s not why they broke up.
Actually, the prom was supposed to be very nice. The limo was really great, and the limo driver got everyone stoned, which made the very expensive food taste even better. His name was Billy. The prom’s music came from this really bad cover band called The Gypsies of the Allegheny, but the drummer was good, so everyone had a nice time dancing. Patrick and Brad didn’t even look at each other, but Sam said Patrick was really okay about it.
After the prom, my sister and her boyfriend went to the after-prom party the school organized. It was at this popular dance club downtown. She said that it was really fun with everyone all dressed up and dancing to good music played by a deejay instead of The Gypsies of the Allegheny. They even had a comedian who did impersonations. The only thing was that once you went in, you couldn’t leave and come back. I guess the parents thought that it would keep the kids out of trouble. But nobody seemed to mind. They were having too much fun, and enough people smuggled in liquor anyway.
After the party, it was about seven o’clock in the morning and everyone went to the Big Boy for pancakes or bacon.
I asked Patrick how he liked the after-prom party, and he said that it was a lot of fun. He said that Craig had rented a hotel suite for all of them, but only Craig and Sam went. Actually, Sam wanted to go to the after-prom party the school organized, too, but Craig got really angry because he already paid for the hotel suite. That’s not why they broke up.
It happened yesterday at Craig’s house after Rocky Horror. Like I said, Mary Elizabeth’s boyfriend, Peter, is good friends with Craig, and he kind of stepped into the middle of things. I guess he really likes Mary Elizabeth a lot and has grown to like Sam quite a bit because he’s the one who brought it up. Nobody even suspected.
Basically, Craig had been cheating on Sam ever since they started going out. And when I say cheat, I don’t mean he got drunk once and fooled around with one girl and felt bad about it. There were several girls. Several times. Drunk and sober. And I guess he never felt bad.
The reason Peter didn’t say anything at first was the fact that he didn’t know anybody. And he didn’t know Sam. He just thought she was this dumb high school girl because that’s what Craig always told him.
Anyway, after he got to know Sam, Peter kept telling Craig that Craig had to tell her the truth because she wasn’t just some dumb high school girl. Craig kept promising he would, but he never did it. There was always some excuse. Craig called them “reasons.”
“I don’t want to ruin the prom for her.”
“I don’t want to ruin graduation for her.”
“I don’t want to ruin the show for her.”
Then, finally, Craig said there was no point telling her anything at all. She was about to go away to college anyway. She would find a new guy. He was always “safe” about other girls. There was nothing to worry about in that way. And why not just let Sam remember the whole experience in a good way? Because he really liked Sam and didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
Peter went along with this logic even though he thought it was wrong. At least that’s what he said. But then after the show yesterday, Craig told him that he fooled around with yet another girl the afternoon of the prom. That’s when Peter told Craig that if Craig didn’t say something to Sam, he would. Well, Craig didn’t say anything, and Peter still didn’t think it was his business, but then he overheard Sam at the party. She was talking to Mary Elizabeth about how Craig might be “the one” and how she was trying to think of ways to keep it going long-distance while she was at school. Letters. Phone calls. Vacations. And breaks. That was it for Peter.
He went up to Craig and said, “You tell her something now, or I tell her everything.”
So, Craig pulled Sam into his bedroom. They were in there for a while. Then, Sam walked from the bedroom straight out the front door, silently sobbing. Craig didn’t run after her. That was probably the worst part. Not that he should have tried to get back together with her, but I think he should have run after her anyway.
All I know is that Sam was devastated. Mary Elizabeth and Alice went after her to make sure she was okay. I would have gone, too, but Patrick grabbed my arm to stay. He wanted to know what was going on, I guess, or maybe he figured Sam would be better off with female company.
I’m glad that we stayed, though, because I think our presence prevented a pretty violent fight between Craig and Peter. Because we were there, all they really did was scream at each other. That’s where I heard most of the details I’m writing to you about.
Craig would say, “Fuck you, Peter! Fuck you!”
And Peter would say, “Don’t blame me that you fucked around on her since the beginning! The afternoon of her prom!? You’re just a bastard! You hear me?! A fucking bastard!”
Things like that.
When it looked like things were going to get violent, Patrick stepped between the two and, with my help, got Peter out of the apartment. When we got outside, the girls were gone. So, Patrick and I got into Patrick’s car and drove Peter home. He was still seething, so he “vented” about Craig. That’s where I heard the rest of the details I’m writing to you about. Finally, we dropped Peter off, and he made us promise to make sure Mary Elizabeth didn’t think he was cheating on her because he wasn’t. He just didn’t want to be found “guilty by association” with that “prick.”
We promised, and he went into his apartment building.
Patrick and I weren’t sure how much Craig actually told Sam. We both hoped he gave her a “soft” version of the truth. Enough to make her stay away. But not enough to make her doubt everything about everything. Maybe it’s better to know the whole truth. I honestly don’t know.
So, we just made a pact that we wouldn’t tell her unless we found out that Craig made it sound like “nothing big,” and Sam was ready to forgive him. I hope it doesn’t come to that. I hope Craig told her enough to make her stay away.
We drove around to all the places where we thought we might find the girls, but we couldn’t find them. Patrick figured they were probably just driving around, trying to let Sam “cool off a bit.”
So, Patrick dropped me at home. He said he’d call me tomorrow when he heard anything.
I remember going to sleep last night, and I realized something. Something that I think is important. I realized that throughout the course of the evening, I wasn’t happy about Craig and Sam breaking up. Not at all.
I never once thought that it would mean Sam might start liking me. All I cared about was the fact that Sam got really hurt. And I guess I realized at that moment that I really did love her. Because there was nothing to gain, and that didn’t matter.
It was hard walking up the steps to Bill’s town house that afternoon because I didn’t receive a phone call all morning from Patrick. And I was so worried about Sam. I called on the phone, but nobody was there.