My mother locked my bedroom door on prom night.<\/p>\n
That was when I stopped laughing.<\/p>\n
Downstairs,\u00a0Ethan Harper<\/strong>\u00a0was waiting for me in a navy suit, wearing the bow tie he had apparently purchased four months too early.<\/p>\n I could hear him talking to my aunt through the floorboards.<\/p>\n Mom turned toward me.<\/p>\n Her name was\u00a0Eleanor Bennett<\/strong>.<\/p>\n And her hands were shaking.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can still go to prom with Ethan.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared at her.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad we\u2019ve established that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSophie.\u201d<\/p>\n Something in her voice made me stop.<\/p>\n \u201cBut before you leave,\u201d she continued, \u201cI need you to hear something.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAbout what?\u201d<\/p>\n Her eyes moved toward the locked door.<\/p>\n Then back to me.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout Ethan.\u201d<\/p>\n My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd about me.\u201d<\/p>\n She sat on the edge of my bed.<\/p>\n Then said:<\/p>\n \u201cI owe both of you the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n We were six years old.<\/p>\n Our first-grade teacher handed everybody those tiny red boxes of raisins during snack time.<\/p>\n I was trying to hide mine beneath a napkin when the boy beside me whispered:<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s smart.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked over.<\/p>\n He was doing exactly the same thing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou hate raisins too?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re old grapes.\u201d<\/p>\n I considered that.<\/p>\n Technically\u2014<\/p>\n he had a point.<\/p>\n \u201cOld grapes are disgusting,\u201d Ethan said.<\/p>\n By lunch, we were best friends.<\/p>\n Dinosaurs made it permanent.<\/p>\n Ethan knew an absurd amount about them.<\/p>\n I liked drawing them.<\/p>\n Badly.<\/p>\n The first time I drew a Tyrannosaurus rex, Ethan stared at the page.<\/p>\n Then asked:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA T. rex.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed.<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like a potato with tiny arms.\u201d<\/p>\n I shoved him.<\/p>\n He laughed so loudly our teacher separated us.<\/p>\n Ethan had Down syndrome.<\/p>\n At six years old, that fact mattered much less to me than the fact that he cheated at dinosaur trivia by memorizing answers before asking me questions.<\/p>\n Our friendship was easy.<\/p>\n Until somebody else decided it shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n Our teacher announced she was getting married.<\/p>\n Every child immediately became a wedding expert.<\/p>\n Chocolate cake.<\/p>\n Flowers.<\/p>\n Music.<\/p>\n One kid insisted weddings required trampolines.<\/p>\n Ethan raised his hand.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wedding is having chocolate cake.\u201d<\/p>\n Our teacher smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cGood choice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd no slow songs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBoring.\u201d<\/p>\n A boy sitting across from us laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not getting married.\u201d<\/p>\n Ethan looked confused.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I am.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo who?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy laughed again.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody\u2019s going to marry you.\u201d<\/p>\n I remember Ethan\u2019s smile disappearing.<\/p>\n I hated that.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s mean.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody will love Ethan.\u201d<\/p>\n He grinned.<\/p>\n \u201cThen you marry him.\u201d<\/p>\n The entire table started giggling.<\/p>\n Later, Ethan found me after class.<\/p>\n He looked unusually serious.<\/p>\n \u201cSophie?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWould you love me?\u201d<\/p>\n I was six.<\/p>\n That felt like an extremely complicated question.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n His whole face brightened.<\/p>\n \u201cReally?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n Then I remembered something my older cousin had told me.<\/p>\n \u201cBut first we have to go to prom.\u201d<\/p>\n Ethan frowned.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s prom?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA dance.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe already have dances.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. Prom is when you\u2019re almost a grown-up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>\n Then he held out his pinkie.<\/p>\n \u201cPromise?\u201d<\/p>\n I hooked mine around his.<\/p>\n \u201cPromise.\u201d<\/p>\n I forgot about it before dinner.<\/p>\n Ethan didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Somehow\u2014<\/p>\n we stayed best friends.<\/p>\n We weren\u2019t attached every second.<\/p>\n Different classes.<\/p>\n Different interests.<\/p>\n Different friends.<\/p>\n Ethan became obsessed with baseball.<\/p>\n I became obsessed with art.<\/p>\n He tried teaching me batting averages.<\/p>\n I dragged him through museums.<\/p>\n Neither of us successfully converted the other.<\/p>\n Then, when we were twelve\u2014<\/p>\n my parents divorced.<\/p>\n That was the year everything in our house became quieter.<\/p>\n Dad moved into an apartment across Bellmere.<\/p>\n Mom cried when she thought I couldn\u2019t hear her.<\/p>\n I pretended I didn\u2019t notice.<\/p>\n And at\u00a0Willowcrest High School\u2019s feeder middle-school campus<\/strong>, I slowly stopped eating lunch.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t consciously decide to.<\/p>\n Food simply stopped feeling important.<\/p>\n Ethan noticed.<\/p>\n He never asked me to explain.<\/p>\n <\/center><\/p>\n <\/p>\n He just sat beside me.<\/p>\n Sometimes he talked.<\/p>\n Sometimes he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Once, he spent fifteen straight minutes explaining why Bellmere\u2019s baseball team desperately needed a better relief pitcher.<\/p>\n I understood almost nothing.<\/p>\n It helped anyway.<\/p>\n When I failed my first driving test at sixteen, he came to my house carrying two ice creams.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy two?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne because you tried.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the second?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause you drove badly.\u201d<\/p>\n I threw a pillow at him.<\/p>\n Another time, I wanted to quit art after a girl mocked one of my paintings.<\/p>\n The next morning, I found my terrible childhood dinosaur drawing taped inside Ethan\u2019s locker.<\/p>\n \u201cEthan!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy is this here?\u201d<\/p>\n He examined it.<\/p>\n \u201cStill looks like a potato with arms.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen remove it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause you can\u2019t quit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe dinosaurs haven\u2019t improved yet.\u201d<\/p>\n I laughed despite myself.<\/p>\n That was Ethan.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t fix things.<\/p>\n He stayed until they hurt less.<\/p>\n When my first boyfriend dumped me three weeks before junior homecoming, Ethan brought chocolate ice cream.<\/p>\n We sat on my porch for ten minutes in silence.<\/p>\n Then he said:<\/p>\n \u201cI told you he was an idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at him.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, you didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat does not count.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt should.\u201d<\/p>\n I laughed so hard I nearly choked.<\/p>\n Apparently\u2014<\/p>\n Ethan wasn\u2019t as certain.<\/p>\n One afternoon at Willowcrest High School, he found me beside my locker.<\/p>\n \u201cSophie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you remember first grade?\u201d<\/p>\n I pretended to think.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n His face fell.<\/p>\n \u201cSeriously?\u201d<\/p>\n I laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cEthan, I\u2019m kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat wasn\u2019t funny.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a little funny.\u201d<\/p>\n Then he held out his pinkie.<\/p>\n And suddenly\u2014<\/p>\n I remembered everything.<\/p>\n Raisins.<\/p>\n Dinosaurs.<\/p>\n That cruel boy.<\/p>\n One silly promise.<\/p>\n I hooked my pinkie around his.<\/p>\n \u201cProm?\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cProm.\u201d<\/p>\n Then grinned.<\/p>\n \u201cI already bought the bow tie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNovember.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared.<\/p>\n \u201cEthan, prom is in spring.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did you buy it in November?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStores run out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey were not going to run out of bow ties.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n And that was Ethan Harper officially asking me to prom.<\/p>\n I was upstairs fighting with an earring when the doorbell rang.<\/p>\n My aunt shouted:<\/p>\n \u201cSophie! Ethan\u2019s here!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTwo minutes!\u201d<\/p>\n From downstairs, Ethan yelled:<\/p>\n \u201cShe said that fifteen minutes ago!\u201d<\/p>\n Traitor.<\/p>\n I checked myself in the mirror.<\/p>\n Dress.<\/p>\n Curled hair.<\/p>\n Makeup my aunt had spent nearly an hour doing.<\/p>\n I was nervous.<\/p>\n Not about Ethan.<\/p>\n About prom.<\/p>\n About graduation.<\/p>\n About suddenly realizing childhood was almost over.<\/p>\n Then Mom opened the front door downstairs.<\/p>\n Silence followed.<\/p>\n Not ordinary silence.<\/p>\n The strange kind.<\/p>\n I stepped toward the landing.<\/p>\n Ethan stood in the entryway.<\/p>\n Navy suit.<\/p>\n White shirt.<\/p>\n Perfectly straight bow tie.<\/p>\n A small corsage in one hand.<\/p>\n He smiled.<\/p>\n Mom didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cMrs. Bennett?\u201d<\/p>\n Mom blinked.<\/p>\n \u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>\n Then:<\/p>\n \u201cEthan. Hi.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou okay?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n She absolutely wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Her eyes went from his face\u2014<\/p>\n to the corsage\u2014<\/p>\n to his bow tie.<\/p>\n Then back.<\/p>\n \u201cSophie is almost ready.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n Mom turned toward the stairs.<\/p>\n Her expression changed again.<\/p>\n \u201cCome upstairs with me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne minute.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMom, Ethan\u2019s waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n Ethan lifted the corsage proudly.<\/p>\n \u201cI have this.\u201d<\/p>\n I smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat flowers?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRosemary.\u201d<\/p>\n I paused.<\/p>\n \u201cRosemary?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe florist said it means remembering.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked very pleased.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I remember promises.\u201d<\/p>\n My smile softened.<\/p>\n Behind me\u2014<\/p>\n Mom made a tiny sound.<\/p>\n When I looked at her, her eyes were wet.<\/p>\n \u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUpstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n This time\u2014<\/p>\n she wasn\u2019t asking.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared at her.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re officially frightening me.\u201d<\/p>\n Mom faced me.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can go with Ethan tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n I folded my arms.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this is about him having Down syndrome\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I\u2019m eighteen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s my best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know that too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen what exactly is happening?\u201d<\/p>\n Mom sat.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you remember when your father left?\u201d<\/p>\n That was not the question I expected.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does Dad have to do with Ethan?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNothing directly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen why\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomething happened that year.\u201d<\/p>\n I stopped.<\/p>\n \u201cYou were twelve.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou stopped eating lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n My arms dropped.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n Mom looked straight at me.<\/p>\n \u201cEthan told me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne afternoon,\u201d she said, \u201cI was sitting in the parking lot outside school.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had just spoken to your father.\u201d<\/p>\n Her mouth tightened.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought nobody could see me crying.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut Ethan did.\u201d<\/p>\n Downstairs, faintly, I heard him laughing at something my aunt said.<\/p>\n Mom heard him too.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe came to the car.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe asked if you were broken.\u201d<\/p>\n My throat tightened.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe said you weren\u2019t eating.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou weren\u2019t laughing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou sometimes sat alone.\u201d<\/p>\n I had forgotten most of those lunches.<\/p>\n Ethan hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you tell him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat you weren\u2019t broken.\u201d<\/p>\n Mom wiped her cheek.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then Ethan said something I never forgot.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n She took my hand.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Her voice cracked.<\/p>\n \u2018Good. Because I don\u2019t know how to fix people. I only know how to stay.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t speak.<\/p>\n \u201cI was falling apart.\u201d<\/p>\n She looked ashamed.<\/p>\n \u201cYour dad had left.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou barely talked to me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Ethan was the only person who still seemed able to reach you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI asked him to promise me something.\u201d<\/p>\n My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo keep looking after you.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared.<\/p>\n \u201cYou asked Ethan to take care of me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMom\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n She wiped another tear.<\/p>\n \u201cI was scared.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe just said\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n She smiled weakly.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Okay.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Of course he had.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mom looked toward the floor.<\/p>\n \u201cFor six years, I misunderstood your friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n I frowned.<\/p>\n \u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever you defended Ethan\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChanged plans because somebody excluded him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWaited for him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHelped him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Her mouth trembled.<\/p>\n \u201cI wondered whether you were sacrificing too much.\u201d<\/p>\n I went still.<\/p>\n \u201cI kept thinking you felt responsible for him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause he has Down syndrome?\u201d<\/p>\n She closed her eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n That hurt.<\/p>\n But she kept talking.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent six years measuring what Ethan might need from you.\u201d<\/p>\n Then she looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cI never stopped to measure everything he gives you.\u201d<\/p>\n Suddenly\u2014<\/p>\n six years replayed differently.<\/p>\n Ice cream after my driving test.<\/p>\n The dinosaur drawing.<\/p>\n Lunches when I couldn\u2019t speak.<\/p>\n My porch after heartbreak.<\/p>\n Prom.<\/p>\n Ethan had never needed me to carry him through life.<\/p>\n Neither of us was carrying the other.<\/p>\n We simply kept showing up.<\/p>\n Mom smiled through tears.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t go to prom because six-year-old Sophie promised Ethan.\u201d<\/p>\n I blinked.<\/p>\n \u201cPromise me you\u2019ll go because eighteen-year-old Sophie chooses him.\u201d<\/p>\n I laughed.<\/p>\n \u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was never going because of a childhood promise.\u201d<\/p>\n She smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe promise is why Ethan purchased a bow tie in November.\u201d<\/p>\n That finally made her laugh.<\/p>\n \u201cYou took forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Mom walked straight toward him.<\/p>\n \u201cEthan?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCan I have the first dance?\u201d<\/p>\n His eyebrows shot upward.<\/p>\n \u201cMrs. Bennett\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n He looked around our living room.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026this is not prom.\u201d<\/p>\n I burst out laughing.<\/p>\n Mom turned on music anyway.<\/p>\n For thirty awkward seconds, Ethan counted steps while Eleanor repeatedly moved in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n Finally, he sighed.<\/p>\n \u201cMrs. Bennett.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSophie dances better.\u201d<\/p>\n Mom smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why she\u2019s your date.\u201d<\/p>\n Then her expression softened.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you for staying.\u201d<\/p>\n Ethan frowned.<\/p>\n Like she had thanked him for breathing.<\/p>\n Then he shrugged.<\/p>\n \u201cShe stays too.\u201d<\/p>\n Mom closed her eyes.<\/p>\n And I realized\u2014<\/p>\n that was what she had needed to understand all along.<\/p>\n Ethan held out his hand.<\/p>\n \u201cSophie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou owe me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTwelve years?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n I took his hand.<\/p>\n Five seconds later\u2014<\/p>\n he stepped directly on my shoe.<\/p>\n \u201cOw!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour dress is badly designed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re terrible at dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou agreed to this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was six!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA promise is a promise.\u201d<\/p>\n We laughed until people stared.<\/p>\n There was no dramatic applause.<\/p>\n Nobody gathered around us.<\/p>\n Nobody treated the moment like some inspirational spectacle.<\/p>\n We were simply two eighteen-year-olds from Bellmere\u2014<\/p>\n dancing badly together at Willowcrest High School prom.<\/p>\n Exactly the way it should have been.<\/p>\n My feet hurt, so Ethan carried my heels.<\/p>\n He was hot, so I carried his jacket.<\/p>\n At the car, he opened my door.<\/p>\n I climbed in.<\/p>\n Then leaned across the seat and opened his.<\/p>\n Mom watched us through the rearview mirror.<\/p>\n For years\u2014<\/p>\n Eleanor Bennett had looked at our friendship and assumed one of us must be taking care of the other.<\/p>\n One person helping.<\/p>\n One person needing help.<\/p>\n One person giving.<\/p>\n One receiving.<\/p>\n But that night\u2014<\/p>\n she finally understood.<\/p>\n Nobody was rescuing anybody.<\/p>\n Nobody was fulfilling an obligation.<\/p>\n Nobody was keeping a promise out of pity.<\/p>\n Ethan Harper and Sophie Bennett had simply discovered something at six years old that many adults spend decades making unnecessarily complicated.<\/p>\n When somebody matters to you\u2014<\/p>\n you stay.<\/p>\n And sometimes\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MY BEST FRIEND WITH DOWN SYNDROME WAITED 12 YEARS TO KEEP OUR CHILDHOOD PROMISE TO GO TO PROM TOGETHER. BUT…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1187,"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions\/1187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kitchensecrets.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ETHAN AND I BECAME BEST FRIENDS BECAUSE WE BOTH HATED RAISINS<\/h2>\n
ONE BOY TOLD ETHAN NOBODY WOULD EVER MARRY HIM<\/h2>\n
TWELVE YEARS PASSED<\/h2>\n
ETHAN WAS NEVER GOOD AT BIG SPEECHES<\/h2>\n
SO WHEN SENIOR PROM CAME AROUND, I ALREADY KNEW WHO I WANTED TO GO WITH<\/h2>\n
PROM NIGHT<\/h2>\n
ELEANOR BENNETT LOOKED LIKE SHE HAD SEEN A GHOST<\/h2>\n
SHE LOCKED THE BEDROOM DOOR<\/h2>\n
ETHAN HAD FOUND MY MOTHER CRYING IN HER CAR<\/h2>\n
THEN MOM TOLD ME ABOUT THE PROMISE I NEVER KNEW EXISTED<\/h2>\n
BUT THAT WASN\u2019T THE SECRET SHE WAS ASHAMED OF<\/h2>\n
\u201cSO WHAT\u2019S THE CONDITION?\u201d<\/h2>\n
WHEN WE WENT DOWNSTAIRS, ETHAN LOOKED ANNOYED<\/h2>\n
AT PROM, THE FIRST SLOW SONG STARTED<\/h2>\n
MOM WAS WAITING AFTERWARD<\/h2>\n