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Chapter 1: What was Brandon's high school experience like?
Hello.
Hello.
Welcome to the studio.
Are you going to tell people who I am?
Before that even, I was going to apologize for the smell of egg salad. I don't know why it smells like egg salad in here. It's not like I was eating an egg salad sandwich or anything, but.
What's those little pieces of yolk that are stuck all over your beard?
Nothing. That's total circumstantial evidence. You can't hang someone for circumstantial evidence. I did see Malcolm Gladwell exiting the studio strutting around with an egg salad sandwich poking out of his fanny pack like he owned the joint. So there's some circumstantial evidence you might want to investigate, you intrepid reporter, you. So, hello, Stevie Lane, producer.
Yes, of the episode that we're about to listen to.
Brandon.
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Chapter 2: Why did Allie ask Brandon to prom?
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Yeah, we'll just roll in there and see what's going on.
This is Brandon. He's 33 years old and wearing a suit and string tie. His wife, Megan, is in a sundress. And together, they're about to enter the new Palestine High School prom. Megan is the school's art teacher. But tonight, she's chaperoning with Brandon as her date. She introduces him to the other teachers.
This is my husband, Brandon. Hi, everybody. Hi. It's a pleasure.
At a certain point, they're interrupted by the announcement of prom king and queen.
Hey, hey, it's your students. We're going to announce the prom king, queen, and queen.
While Megan congratulates her students and makes small talk with her colleagues, Brandon wanders off and observes the kids. Some are dancing, some are lined up for the photo booth. There are kids talking to teachers and others gossiping among themselves. But then Brandon's gaze lands on another subset, those aimless kids wandering along the margins alone.
They remind Brandon of himself when he was a teenager in his own prom. Brandon thinks about his prom a lot, and the improbable path that led him to it, which began when he was just a little kid.
Through middle school and junior high, I had a lot of bullying problems. I was kind of an easy target. There were a number of things that made him one. First... I'm like still a big guy now, but I was at my biggest in high school. Heaviest.
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Chapter 3: What were Brandon's feelings during prom night?
She had a big smile. Yeah, like, when she smiled, she looked really happy.
Yeah.
And I think she kind of pulled me into the conversation by directing some of those questions at me. Like, are you going to prom? Who are you going to prom with?
Brandon had no intention of going. He hadn't a girlfriend or any prospects for a date. And he was confused about why Allie was talking to him. Brandon says they'd barely ever spoken. They were from totally different social worlds. Allie was in student government. She was popular and beautiful.
She was just really well put together, clean. And you? No, that's not a word I'd use to describe myself in high school. I mean, like, I would, like, smell my clothes before I put them on in the morning. You know what I mean? Like, I got dressed from the floor of my bedroom.
You know what I mean? Yeah. And yet, Allie kept throwing questions at him. Why wasn't he going? If he did go, who would he take? Brandon answered in monosyllables, hoping she'd turn back to her friends and leave him alone. But instead, she rose from her seat and began striding towards him.
Inside, I was, like, inflamed. Do you know what I mean? Like, my heart rate was rising.
With each question, Allie moved closer and closer until she was sitting at the desk in front of him, facing him. Then she did something that still flummoxes Brandon 15 years later.
She just kind of outright said, take me to prom. Like, go to prom, take me. Let's go together. I immediately had questions. Questions like, why? Why me? What's going on? I guess I was skeptical this was some kind of trick, you know? Why would you be asking me this other than to set me up for a punchline or something like that? But no punchline really came, so I just agreed.
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Chapter 4: How did Brandon's life change after prom?
Allie and her friends looked like the girls in those movies about prom. And those girls always had guys who gave them the time of their lives. For Brandon, a sense of duty kicked in.
It felt like a huge responsibility. It was like, this is going to be a big deal in Allie's life forever. And I have a big responsibility as her date to make sure that I live up to this position. I was really, really nervous.
Did you guys, did you and Allie slow dance? I feel like when I ask these questions, I feel like Hannibal Lecter. Like I'm asking these questions from a straitjacket in a cell. Did you slow dance?
Did you slow dance? I do remember slow dancing because I remember thinking like, it's funny that in TV shows and in movies, this is such a big deal, but it's just standing. Like you're kind of just like stepping slightly. Yeah. Like that's not hard. Like I was in like a hip hop dance crew and youth group, you know, that was hard.
Wait, you were in it. Sorry. Repeat that. You were in a hip hop dance youth group. What?
Yeah. Um, so the, the church I went to was just like, there were a lot of performances and, um, hip hop dance that happened.
Yeah.
Did you ever at any point break out any of your Christian youth group hip-hop moves on the dance floor? Did you do anything like on the floor, like where you spin on your back? Or you didn't want to ruin the rental? You wanted to get your deposit?
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
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Chapter 5: What updates has Brandon shared since the last episode?
But it's not on that list. It's on the shorter list of things that I feel went okay. Yeah, I'd like to thank her. I'm just nervous.
Which is why Brandon has reached out to me. If you get nervous, I mean, I can always jump in. Sure. I've just assumed I'm going to be coming along to chaperone. After the break, I chaperone Brandon back to high school.
every now and then someone would die risk true stories no holding back he comes up behind me and whispers right in my ear nobody knows where you are and nobody can hear you scream some of these stories will make you laugh till you're crying and then i realize i'm unconscious Some will stick with you for life. They catch my mom poisoning my sister. My brother, he died at the hands of my mother.
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Before Brandon can ask Ali the question that's been on his mind since senior year, we first need to track her down. Her last name is Schmutz. I'm just making that up. Brandon's part of a Facebook group for his high school graduating class, and Allie is a member of the group as well. Does that mean that you can have a better chance of messaging her through that group?
I mean, like, if I were going to use the group, it would be making a post for my whole graduating class to see.
Might as well go big, like say, hey, I'm just going to put this out there to everybody.
Yeah, if you're not Allie, please don't read this.
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Chapter 6: How did Brandon and Allie reconnect years later?
Okay, cool. Go ahead. Yeah.
Hi, Ali. Maybe you'll remember me. We were prom dates.
As Brandon reads me his draft, I focus my keen podcast producer's ear.
By my recollection, it was your idea for us to go to prom together.
Now, let me pause. Sorry, let me hit pause there. Yeah. Like the way that you're underlining your idea. You're not actually underlining that, though.
I did italicize it.
It was your idea for us to go to prom together. Is that what you're saying?
Yeah, it sounds accusatory out loud.
So maybe we'll de-italicize that part. Okay, keep going. Brandon tells Allie that he still thinks about their prom. He says he wants to talk to her about it. Would she be up for that? Okay, okay, let's take a look at this here. As Brandon and I pour over the message, a worry suddenly pops into my head. I wonder if there's a way to work in the fact that you're married, you know?
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Chapter 7: What insights did Brandon gain about his past?
Cool, cool. I can keep it organic.
Cool.
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I'm getting a little bit of static on your end. Yeah. Hello. Better? Yeah. On the day of the video call with Allie, Brandon and I get on early and wait.
It feels like I'm getting back into the psyche of my high school self. Like I'm... Hi. Hi, Allie.
Hi.
How are you?
Good.
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Chapter 8: What humorous moment occurred at the tailor?
No. Okay. And then eventually you were like, you and me can go to prom. Like, why don't we go to prom? That's funny.
And then Brandon asks this question, sort of.
Like at any point, did you consider having, um, having someone else as a date?
Well, I would have been totally comfortable going by myself. So I don't have any memories of thinking like, I'm going to ask Brandon. And then if that doesn't work, I'm going to ask so-and-so. They're just kind of like, I'm going to ask Brandon.
Hmm. That is surprising. I guess because I thought that it was spur of the moment, like your friends were hearing this for the first time, too.
No, no. I was very obsessed with my friends, so I'm sure that I ran it by them. So you passed the friend test.
Brandon grows quiet. It wasn't a prank. It wasn't pity. Allie planned to ask him. What's more, she wasn't going to take no for an answer.
I do remember, like, you did say no. I remember you saying no, and I'm like, oh, yeah, but give him a day. I'm going to make him go. He's going to go with me. But, yeah, you were just surprised by the fact that I asked you?
I mean, yeah, definitely.
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