For Better or For Worse

 

A She’s All That fan-fiction story by

 

Colonel Adam

 

Episode I

 

Hi, there! Zack Siler’s the name. You remember me, don’t you? Last time you saw me, I was marching up to the stage to accept my high school diploma…butt-naked! A few things have happened since then.

You’re probably wondering whether I’m still with Laney Boggs. Yes, I’m still with her. I won’t go into any more details, because I want you to read the story. All relationships go through their tough times. Laney and I broke up about a year and a half after we found each other. Four and a half months later, we got back together. We thought at that point we’d seen the worst of what our relationship could possibly go through. Man, were we wrong!

It all started back in June of 2004. I’d been out of college for a year, and Laney had just finished. We had set our wedding date for the 24th of August, two weeks after her 22nd birthday. Laney decided on my sister Mackenzie as her Maid of Honor. Let’s face it, what other girls did she know? Still, Mac was beyond delighted.

"Does this dress make me look fat?" Mac asked me as she turned around in her bridesmaid dress. I was her brother, so what did she expect me to say?

"No, your face does."

Mac wrinkled her nose and raised a fist.

"I’m kidding! The dress looks great."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive!"

While looking for a hairpin, Mac came across a picture of her ex-boyfriend, Jesse. You may remember that Mac and Jesse met at my senior prom. They dated for a long time, but they broke up even sooner than Laney and I did. And unlike us, they were bound and determined not to get back together.

"Do I have to dance with Jesse?" Mac whined.

"Well, you are Laney’s Maid of Honor, and Jesse is my Best Man, so yes, you do."

Mac sighed.

"For God’s sake, Mac! It’s just one dance! One!"

"Oh, all right!"

 

The next morning, I slept late, and had to rely on that alarm clock known as Wayne Boggs. He laid on the horn until I woke up. I walked over to my apartment window, and signaled for him to wait. After about five minutes, I jumped in the truck, and we were off.

"Sorry about that, Mr. B!"

"Zack, how many times do I have to tell you…"

I figured I was really in for it now.

"If you’re gonna be my son-in-law, you’re gonna have to start calling me ‘Wayne.’"

I breathed I sigh of relief.

 

We arrived at our destination, the home of an affluent family in Orange County. We were to install the filtration equipment for a newly-constructed pool. Wayne exchanged a less-than-civil words with the general contractor while I got the equipment out of the truck.

I fondly remembered the days when I lived in a neighborhood like this one. Unfortunately, being engaged to the pool man’s daughter didn’t sit very well with my dad. And so he cut me off financially. I lived in the dorms until I finished school. I’d managed to get a job with a local accounting firm, which paid for my room and board, and helped with the student loans, but there was one thing it didn’t cover. I learned early on that weddings aren’t cheap. So Wayne bailed me out by letting me work for him on weekends.

"What do you mean you couldn’t get the supplies?" Wayne yelled at the contractor.

"Just what I said, Wayne!"

"Henry, it says right here in the agreement that you were supposed to get these supplies for me. I paid for them in advance."

"Wrong!"

The contractor pulled a check out of his shirt pocket.

"Your check bounced, Wayne."

"Ah, dammit! I probably deposited that check I received. last week in wrong account. I’ll just deposit these checks from this week’s jobs, and I’ll get the supplies myself. Of course, this means we can’t finish the pool until next weekend."

"Don’t worry about it, Wayne! I’ll handle it."

"Thanks a lot, Henry. Hey Zack?"

"Yes, Wayne", I yelled back.

"Looks like you get the day off. We can’t do this job until next weekend."

"Aw, man!", I grumbled as we walked back to the truck.

"Don’t have a cow! I’ll still pay ya for today! Hell, I’ll even pay double-time next weekend, since you weren’t scheduled."

 

That night, I had dinner at Laney’s house. It wasn’t a ritual or anything, I just came over when I didn’t feel like cooking (which seemed to be more often these days.) When I rang the doorbell, Wayne answered.

"Laney’s trying on her wedding dress. Whatever you do, don’t go in the dining room!"

"Gotcha!"

As I headed upstairs to answer the call of nature, I overheard Laney and her brother Simon talking.

"Why did you you’re not wearing a white dress?"

"Because white’s for virgin brides, dufus!"

I couldn’t believe Simon, a college freshman, didn’t know that.

 

All present at the dinner table engaged in the usual small talk. All except Wayne, who crouched over his ThinkPad, scratching his head.

"Something wrong, Wayne?" I inquired.

"I just cannot figure out where all this money is going! I’m missing thirteen hundred dollars, and it’s not in either account. I’m trying to see if somebody overcharged or underpaid."

Wayne tapped in a few more keystrokes.

"I’ve updated the delinquent accounts, but that only accounts for two hundred dollars."

 

I put Laney’s coat on for her as we headed for the door.

"I’ll be back late tonight, dad. Don’t wait up." Laney called out.

"Do you have your key?" Wayne yelled back, not looking up from his ThinkPad.

"I’ll just borrow Zack’s, dad." Laney obviously didn’t feel like spending the next half-hour searching for her keys.

 

Back at my place, I poured Laney and myself each a glass of wine. We didn’t normally drink unless it was a special occasion, but Laney felt we both needed something to take our minds off Wayne’s financial crisis. It wasn’t working.

"I’m worried about your dad." I said softly.

"Don’t be. He’s lost track of more money than this."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I love my father dearly, but he’s not exactly the brightest lamp in the chandelier."

"No argument there!" I chuckled.

We sat in awkward silence for a few moments. Then, Laney moved her face close to mine. We kissed briefly.

"If the wine won’t put your mind at ease, I know something that will." She whispered softly. I clapped my hands to shut off the lights (very tacky), and we engaged in a deep, passionate kiss. Needless to say, it didn’t stop there…

 

We arrived late the next morning. As I was about to place my in the keyhole, Wayne opened the door, grabbed my key ring, removed his house key, and threw the ring to my feet.

"Dad, what’s going on?" Laney demanded.

"Why don’t you ask your fiancée?" Wayne growled.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I demanded. Wayne shoved a cancelled check in my face. It was a check for $120, made out to me.

"I don’t remember you giving me that check!"

"That’s because I didn’t write it. This is not my signature!"

"Dad, please…"

"Get in the house, Laney. This doesn’t concern you."

"The hell it doesn’t! Look at this! Whoever wrote this forged your signature. He could’ve forged Zack’s too!"

Wayne took a deep breath.

"You’re right, pumpkin nose. I’m jumping to conclusions."

Wayne looked me dead in the eye.

"I’m sorry, Zack. I’m gonna have to take you off my payroll until I figure out what’s going on here."

"Wayne, if there’s anything I can do…"

"I think it would be best if you just leave."

I walked away in silence.

 

I called in sick at the accounting firm the next three days. Even though I’d done nothing wrong, I still felt guilty for the whole incident. I’d lost so much over the incident: a friend, a damn-good employer, a job, my new family, self-respect, the respect of others, and most of all, I’d lost the only girl I’d ever really loved.

The first day, I didn’t bother getting out of bed. I didn’t want to run the risk of walking past a mirror, and having to look at myself. The next day, I walked around my apartment, read a book, and polished off a six-pack or two. I was in sad shape.

The third day, I could no longer bear the prison I’d built for myself, so I went for a walk on the beach. It wasn’t long before I came to ‘our spot.’ It was the spot where Laney first met the rest of the ‘cool crowd,’ and where I managed to bring her out of her shell. Strike that! She deserved more credit for it than I did. All I did was give her a reason.

I propped my head up on a nearby rock, and stared out at the ocean. The sky and the water were blue. After awhile, however, all I could see was brown, not because of the smog or because of water pollution. Nay, it was the same shade of brown I had seen so much of in the past five years, that I had hoped to see for the rest of my life. It was color of Laney’s beautiful eyes.

After a few more moments, I began to see an image of her, walking in the surf. She appeared as I had seen her that day, clad in blue overalls over a black bathing suit, horn-rimmed glasses, hair in a braid. Suddenly, the overalls morphed into a sun dress, the hair shortened to its current short-cropped style, and the glasses disappeared. It was only when she spoke that I realized I wasn’t hallucinating.

"I thought I might find you here." She said as she sat down beside me.

"Are you sure your father would approve of you seeing me like this?"

"I’m 21 years old. What he thinks is irrelevant."

"Laney, I don’t want to come between you and your father."

"Zack, your parents disowned you when they found out you wanted to marry me. Yet you stood by me. I’m willing to do the same for you. I know in my heart your parents will come around eventually, and so will my dad."

"Laney, I can’t ask you do this."

"I’m doing this whether you ask me or not. I love you, Zack, and I want you to be my husband."

"I love you too, Laney."

I sat up and threw my arms around her. We embraced for what seemed like an eternity. We went back to my apartment, and we made love.

 

I woke up later that evening to find myself alone in the bed. I panicked for a moment, then breathed a sigh of relief. Laney couldn’t have gone far, as her dress was still on my bedroom floor.

Sure enough, I found her sitting on the sofa in my bathrobe, filling out a crossword puzzle. I sat and watched her for a moment. There was something unique about the way she wrote. I don’t know what it was, but it was one of the many things I loved about her.

"Zack, nine-letter word, Russian nuclear incident." Laney asked me, not looking up.

"Chernobyl." I answered.

"Duh! Guess who’s not thinking today!"

Thinking about writing got me thinking about that bad check. There was something about the handwriting, something that I didn’t often see. If I could figure out what it was, I could prove to Wayne that I wasn’t the forger.

"Laney?"

"Yes, Zack?"

"Why is it that you turn the book sideways and write vertically?"

Laney looked up, smiled, and shook her head.

"Zack, you know as well as I do that I’m left-handed."

 

Lightening struck my brain!

 

"Let me see that for a minute!" I said, taking the book from her. I wrote my signature on the page.

"Now, copy that as best you can." I instructed her.

"Whatever you say." She said as she forged my signature. We both took a good look at her version of my John Hancock. It was a good forgery, but it didn’t quite cut the mustard.

"Laney, look at the differences between my signature and your forgery. No matter how hard you tried, a good handwriting could always tell the difference! Why? Because you’re left-handed, and I’m right-handed."

"So what?"

"So what? It’s the same difference as the your dad’s signature on that check. Whoever forged that check is obviously left-handed!"

"Zack, you’re a genius!" Laney exclaimed, throwing her arms around me.

"I couldn’t have done it without you."

We both got dressed and jumped into my truck. We arrived at the Boggs residence at about two in the morning. Laney let us in, and she went upstairs and pounded on her dad’s bedroom door. Wayne came down the stairs, and got ready to fight when he saw me.

"What the hell’s he doing here?" Wayne demanded.

"Dad, before you throw Zack out of the house, I have something to show you."

 

Wayne crouched over his ThinkPad, scrolling through his personnel records.

"I’m so stupid! Why didn’t I think of this before?" Wayne grumbled to himself.

"I probably would’ve done the same thing." I admitted. Wayne turned away from the computer and faced me.

"Can you ever forgive me, Zack?"

"I already have."

Wayne turned back to his computer.

"Unfortunately, I don’t keep records on the dominant hands of my employees."

"There’s still the possibility it wasn’t an employee. Any possibility of hackers?"

"No, it had to be an employee. I keep all of my records on my ThinkPad, and it doesn’t have a modem."

As he continued to scroll, a name jumped out at me.

"Stop for a second. Is that Richard Forsythe III?"

"Yeah, he helps with some of my jobs in Ventura County. Why, is he a lefty?"

"As left-handed as they come."

"You know this guy?" Laney asked.

"I damn well should! He’s Taylor Vaughn’s ex-stepbrother!"

Laney swallowed hard.

"Do you think Taylor set you up?"

"I doubt it. The way I figure it, he got a hold of Wayne’s computer while he wasn’t looking, and found my name in the personnel database. Probably thought this would be a swell way to pay for his drug habit."

"Drug habit?" Wayne said in surprise.

"Yeah, he’s a heroin addict. Didn’t you know?"

"I’m not authorized to conduct drug-testing."

"So, are we ready to go to the police?" I inquired.

"I think so."

 

One afternoon, I was over at the Boggs place helping Simon with his Trig homework when the doorbell rang. I got up and answered the door. It was a middle-aged man in a gray overcoat.

"Are you Wayne Boggs?" The man demanded.

"That would be me." Wayne interrupted as he approached the door.

"I’m Detective Sergeant Joe Marcus, Los Angeles Police Department. We spoke on the phone."

"Yes, I remember. Please, come in!"

Detective Marcus sat down at the kitchen table, and set a manila folder in front of Wayne.

"This is an official copy of the police report." He informed Wayne.

"Did you ever find him?" Wayne asked as he leafed through the folder.

The detective hung his head.

"We did. We found him last night in his apartment, dead from heroin overdose. The Deputy Medical Examiner figures he’d been dead for about a week when we found him."

"I don’t understand."

"Here’s the bottom line, Mr. Boggs. You’re not getting your money back. What little he has he owes in delinquent taxes. I’m sorry."

"These things happen."

 

The next day, Wayne gave us the bad news.

"Zack, Laney…it’s worse than I thought. Forsythe took us for nearly eight thousand dollars. That includes the money I was taking holding for Zack for your wedding."

"Does this mean we can’t get married?" Laney asked.

"No, pumpkin nose, it doesn’t. But business hasn’t been as good this year as it’s been before. As it is, I’m going to have to lay off half of my employees. The fact is, Dr. Pool is in danger of going belly-up. Unless you find some other funding, it’s gonna be a long time before you two can get married."

Laney slid her engagement ring off her finger. I began to fear the worst.

"Dad, the guy at the jewelry store told me he’d give me $2500 for this ring. If I sell it, is there any possibility we could have the wedding this summer?"

Wayne thought for a minute.

"Possibly…if we find a smaller church, cut the guest list in half, find a cheaper venue for the reception, and do our own catering, we could pull it off."

"Fine. Then it’s settled."

I placed my hand over the ring.

"Laney, you don’t have to do this."

"Zack, what good is an engagement ring if we don’t get married?"

I had to admit she was right.

"All right. Wayne, you can decide which invitations not to send out. Laney, you’ll work on finding a new venue for the reception. Simon, see what supplies we need for the catering. I’ll see about finding a minister."

We all put our hands together over a table.

"All right, team! Let’s do it!" Wayne said. With that, we all lifted up our hands.

 

End of Episode I

 

Stay tuned for Episode II