Sweet Valley High #83: Steven's Bride

Steven is home from SVU once again, and everyone acts like it's a huge deal even though he comes home all the time. This time, it's because Cara is about to head off for a trip to London with her mom. They all have suggestions for what she should do, but she says she'll probably be in the hotel by herself most of the time while her mom does business stuff. Steven gets her alone for a little moment and tells her how much he'll miss her. Though they have a sweet moment, he can't help noticing that she's not that excited.

When she comes back, he's way too busy with school because he wants to get into some special law school program that will help him graduate faster. Cara asks to come up and see him, and he finally gives in as long as she lets him get his work done. She actually keeps coming onto him and kissing him. When he finally takes a break, she breaks down and tells him that her mom got a promotion and that they're moving to London...in three weeks. Steven instantly flips out because Cara is leaving him just like Tricia did and begs her not to go.

Once Jessica finds out, it's only a matter of time before everyone else in town does too. Cara makes it clear that she doesn't want to leave but doesn't have a choice. While watching Love Story, Jessica comes up with an idea. She tells Steven that he should propose. He thinks it's crazy at first because it is but then decides it's a brilliant idea. He rushes over and pops the question, which leaves Cara speechless, but she eventually thinks it's the best way for them to stay together and says yes.

Though Steven tells Jessica about the proposal and Cara's answer, he tells her not to tell anyone else, especially not Elizabeth or their parents because any of them would just talk them out of it. Jessica instead keeps dropping hints all the time about Cara not really leaving. She winds up blurting out their plans. Instead of being shocked, the girls decide to throw her a bridal shower.

The bridal shower actually makes Cara more uncomfortable than she ever expected. Lila and Amy both buy her lingerie, with Lila saying the see through nightgown she bought will be perfect for the wedding night. Cara thinks about how Steven never pressured her for sex but that it's something married couples do. Other girls get her towels, glasses, and practical stuff, which makes her realize that she'll need to do things like cook and clean.

Steven gets stuck looking at apartments in the hopes of finding one for them. He can't find anything affordable near campus, which makes me think he didn't expand his search to include the shitty buildings Todd, Bruce, and Lila lived in later. The only suitable option is a tiny garden apartment that looks out on a parking lot. He isn't even sure it has enough room for his desk.

Cara gets a call from her dad, who is living in Chicago with her little brother. He wants to come to town to see her before she moves to London and has some big news. When she finds out that she mom has an idea of what the news is because they already talked, she gets it in her mind that her parents are getting back together. That means that she doesn't need to worry about marrying Steven. Her dad will move back, her parents will get married, and they can all move into a new house in Sweet Valley.

What actually happens is that her dad shows up with his new girlfriend. Just as they go to sit down to eat, he tells them all that he proposed and that he and Julia are getting married. Cara's mom is a little surprised but tells her that she had an idea what his news was when he wanted to bring Julia with him. Julia lived in London and keeps talking about how great the city is. It pisses Cara off so much that she runs to her room and decides that she'll marry Steven no matter what.

Elizabeth is chilling at home when the jewelry store calls to tell Steven that he can pick up his wedding rings. She forces the truth out of Jessica and then goes to see Steven at school. He tells her point blank that her attitude is the exact reason he didn't want to tell her. Steven also says that he doesn't need her advice. She points out that he can't go the law program and take care of a teenage wife, but he just sends her home.

In case you didn't notice, both Cara and Steven has some doubts. Steven calls to tell her that he got a job. It's not at the law firm where he applied but at a Mexican restaurant, and he thinks that he can earn some big tips. The next time he comes home, he tells his family that he didn't get into the law program. He does, however, tell them all about how he and Cara are taking a ski trip with some friends from college, which is the cover story for how they're running away to Nevada to elope.

Jessica stops in Steven's room and finds a letter from the law program that accepted him and realizes that he gave it up for Cara. She decides to put some pressure on Cara in the hopes of changing her mind. While shopping at the mall, Jessica keeps showing her crap like bath mats and shower curtains. She then tries to make her buy a bunch of cookbooks because Steven has “food allergies” and Cara will have to cook. When Cara says that they will split chores, Jessica points out that he will be way too busy between work and school.

Despite all this, they still head to Nevada. Jessica and Elizabeth talk things through and realize that it's time to involve the parental units. Ned and Alice are shocked, but call Mrs. Walker, tell her what happened, and pick her up on their way to Nevada. Luckily, Cara can't read a map, they get lost, and wind up getting there late. Though Steven says, “I do,” she tells him that she can't marry him. All the parents then rush in, and he thinks that she just wanted to make a fool of him and runs off.

Days later and things are still a cluster fuck. Steven never talked to Cara no matter how many times she tried to call him. Since no one can do anything without Elizabeth being involved, Cara calls and asks her to meet her at the Dairi Burger. She talks about how getting married wasn't the right thing for either of them and how she'll always love him.

Elizabeth finally drives up to SVU to tell him that Cara had no idea they were coming, that Cara still loves him, and that he only has one chance to say goodbye. He rushes to the airport and gets there just before she gets on the plane. They share one last moment, tell each other I love you, and Cara then gives him back the wedding rings. He then watches the plane take off and thinks about how they both have great lives ahead of them, even if they're not together. Or you know, if they get back together in the future and then he cheats on her multiple times with a man and then dumps her.

There really isn't much of a B-plot in this one, but Todd is being kind of a dick. The idea of teenagers getting married has apparently sent him over the edge. He can't stop talking about how they're too young to settle down and making a big mistake. When Liz skips Cara's goodbye party, he spends the whole night flirting with and dancing with some random girl. Liz later sees them together and acts like it's not a big deal but is a little uncomfortable.

*Elizabeth checks the time before going to SVU in the end and decides to go because she'll still make it back in time for school. So, if she woke up 10 minutes later she would have just let Cara leave without talking to Steven? Also, it's an hour to campus and an hour back, so I have no clue what time she got up.

*I'm not sure how Nevada marriage laws work, but would it really be that easy for a 16-year old to get married? They just need to get blood tests and a marriage license.

*Jessica gives Cara a copy of Barefoot in the Park at her bridal shower, and Cara thinks it would be great if they also had a VCR and television. Lila then tells her that even she isn't that rich. Really, Lila, really?

*I get that SV people have nubs where their genitals should be, but could we not have a realistic portrayal of teens having sex in high school? Cara and Steven have been together for months and still haven't slept together.

*The ghostwriters obviously forgot about this book during the whole Sue and Jeremy storyline later. In that series, Jessica gets shocked at the bridal shower when people give Sue lingerie because it means they'll sleep together after marriage (after marriage, hah!), but she literally attends a bridal shower in this book where people give Cara lingerie.

*Steven assuming that he could get a paid job in a law firm as a college freshman is laughable. He says they only hired people with a college degree and that they couldn't use him anyway because he can only work at night.

*He also signs a lease on the garden apartment, and since Cara is there, I assume she also signed the lease. I guess Ned had to step up and use his legal mind to break it.

*Jessica also arranges for Cara to sit for a family with three kids under the age of five to show her how hard being a mom/wife is. Cara goes nuts but winds up just laughing about it later.

*Cara's mom is way too cool and understanding about her ex-husband. I get that they divorced, but she still makes all his favorite foods for him. After she congratulates him on his engagement, she just goes and bastes the cornish game hens she made him for dinner.

*Jessica has a sweet moment where she shows up and presents Cara with her necklace as something old and borrowed and a blue hair ribbon as something new and blue.

*Amy tells Cara that moving won't be so tough and that she wasn't happy when they moved back to Sweet Valley originally. Cara points out that Amy was coming back to a place she knew and not a completely new country.

*Elizabeth explains to Steven how hard Todd moving to Vermont was on her. Oh, you mean when you started hanging out with some other guy before his plane took off? Or how you met and “fell in love” with yet another new guy like a month later?

*I briefly wondered if the apartment in this one was the one he wound up living in with Billie a few books from now. Except that apartment was on a higher floor. It's still random that he would move out of the dorm room he shared with some dude named Bob though, unless Bob was his first taste of man love and it went wrong...

*Don't worry about Steven and the law program though! It turns out that he still has time to accept the offer.