Claire.

I awoke that morning early to the sound of the radio playing George Harrison and the stress of all that college had once brought to me completely gone. It was 1989, the year of Bush's first presidency, the Cold War was simmering out, and, perhaps more importantly, it was the day of my graduation from the University of Chicago. I was leaving with honours and a good plan for my future. In my eyes, I was destined to be an author, alike with the greats of Moliere and Tolstoy, but I had no idea where life would really take me once I threw my graduation cap into the air and all the pictures of the class of '89 had been taken.

After I took some time to rouse myself awake, I climbed out of my bed and went about my morning routine as I had done every day since I finished my last exam. I wrapped my pink silky dressing gown around me and headed for the kitchen area of my apartment. I still lived a comfortable life despite the circumstances, a distant attachment from my college friends who often said they were slumming it in the dingy parts of the city, living above bars and restaurants that they helped in at the weekends and in the evenings to pay off their rent. Despite how much I hated to admit it to myself, I had my dad to thank for all of it. Every month I'd become accustomed to a little cheque in the mail from daddy in Shermer, not too far away, sending me the monthly rent and letters about life at home.

They still lived in the same house they'd had all their life and he still had the same job, while my mother spent her time in the same country club, but every so often they would change around their help or someone would get fired and that was about as interesting as it got for them. Once he wrote about my brother coming home for the weekend outside of our designated holiday time together, but he left quickly after an argument over his career choice in music and I couldn't say I blamed him. Our parents have had life plans and goals for us that were set on the day we were both born, so I knew any plans I had to write were loose and available for much change, especially if I let them have a say in what I did. And I supposed that they definitely would, if the money I got had anything to do with it.

Even so, I headed for the kitchen and set the kettle on the hob to boil water for my green tea. I had tried to drink coffee once in the morning, but I found it too bitter and made me feel sluggish, while green tea seemed to make me feel lightheaded and fresh. I got out two cups, one for my tea bag and the other with a spoonful of decaf coffee, and pulled my face at the sight. I knew I had to get Alec off of the stuff as soon as possible. The box of coffee took up space in the cupboard that was already limited as it was.

While the kettle boiled, I put bread into the toaster and allowed myself to walk around the kitchen to stretch my limbs while I waited. The day was already growing hot and I felt too sweaty, so I shifted open one of the only windows in the kitchen area and allowed myself a moment to look outside at the streets below.

It was still early, but living in the city centre meant that it was already bustling. The university wasn't too far away, and I could already see families heading to restaurants for early breakfasts before the ceremony started, which made me panic for the arrival of my parents later on in the day. They had promised they would drive down on the day and wouldn't make us sit around in the apartment for too long, but I knew all of their promises were to be taken with a grain of salt. Last time they visited, because they wanted to see the place they were paying for, they had scrutinised the way I lived, saying I was too cluttered and unorganised. Unfortunately for me, I don't have the luxury of maid service here in the city of Chicago.

The kettle began to scream so I quickly turned the heat off so as not to wake anyone with the noise. I poured the water into the cups and stirred the coffee in with all the things Alec liked with it in the morning; one cream and no sugar, so it still gave him a jolt but not too much. Then I set to diluting my water with the tea, and finally sorted out our slices of toast. Mine with jam, his with peanut butter.

When I carried the drinks and food on a tray back into our bedroom, Alec was still asleep on the bed, spooning with the covers as if they were my body, his back exposed to the sunlight streaming through the gap in the curtains. I set the tray down on the bedside table and went to open them, christening the room with the new day and causing a groan from the dozing body on the bed. I smiled at the sound, and turned around to face him, but he hadn't moved an inch.

Deciding to leave his breakfast where it was on the table, I went back over to the bed and got back in on my side over the covers, sitting cross legged next to him. I ran my fingers through his hair, the sunlight was turning its natural blonde tone golden and it looked beautiful. Sometimes I longed for my red to be that colour naturally, but I was never blessed with genes like that.

Eventually his eyes opened as I continued playing with his hair, and he looked up at me through red, groggy eyes.

"Remind me again why we went out for drinks last night?" he said, his voice coming out course and dry.

"Because my brother arrived early and wanted us to show him the city. Remember? Or did you forget that after your 4th vodka shot?"

"I'm never drinking again. I mean it this time." He sat up, finally, the covers falling off his body to expose his bare chest.

"Yeah, I believe you-this time." I got up from the bed and went to collect our food while Alec readjusted himself to get comfortable.

"Oh, Claire, you cut me so deep with your sarcasm. It's too early for that, thank you." I handed him his coffee, and he smiled up at me as he took it from my hand, pausing momentarily to take one of my hands in his own and press his lips against it. "You're so wonderful to me, you know that?"

"I think you're still drunk," I said, taking my hand away and going to sit down at the dressing table. I picked up my hair brush and began to run it through my hair, attempting to flatten it slightly ready to put my graduation cap over the top of it. The remnants of last night's hair spray was making it a difficult task, however, so I settled with leaving it as it was, falling at an awkward point just past my collarbones. I focused my attention to watch Alec in the mirror instead, sipping his coffee while it was still hot and watching me in turn.

"You're gonna have to pull it together for later," I began again, turning around to face him, "My parents will be there and…"

"Babe, it'll be fine. You're worrying too much. I'm sure your brother is in a much worse state than I am."

"Yeah, well, Christopher is 26 now, he can look after himself."

"You're right. And I'm 22, so I can look after myself, too," Alec said, taking another sip. I couldn't help but snort in response. "Hey, it's true!"

"What, you think you're gonna get yourself up every morning on time and be ready for school without my help?"

"I could if I wanted to. Luckily I have you, so I don't need to." He smiled, in the smart ass way he always did, and I felt a lot more relaxed than I had when I first woke up.

It was true that Alec probably could care for himself if he wanted. He could probably also afford a bigger apartment if he wanted to. His parents were wealthy like mine, but they lived out of state and were extremely detached. He had been an only child growing up and they had left him in the care of many different nannies over the years, while my parents were always around a little too much for my brother and me. It was by luck that I had found someone like him, who understood what money meant and the luxuries of it as well, but I guess I was just a lucky person. I had loved Alec for three years now, and it had been a wonderful time.

"Claire?" he said, placing his drink down beside him on his side table. I looked back over at him, and he moved the bed sheets to invite me back in. "I know what'll relax you… If you just take off that tiny dressing gown…"

I scoffed, and stood up from my chair, walking towards the bathroom instead. Alec laughed as I went, and I turned back to face him before I walked in. "I'm taking a shower and getting dressed, and you should too, or we'll be late."

He rolled his eyes and fell back into bed again, covering himself back up with the covers. I sighed and undid the ribbon of my dressing gown, slipping it from my body and throwing it at him on the bed, quickly walking over to the shower cubicle so as to leave him with the mental images.

By 4pm, I had finally accepted my diploma and I had officially graduated from college. It was a strange and rewarding feeling at the same time, and I wasn't sure if it felt good or not. As I looked up at the building that I owed the past 4 years of my education to, I almost felt quite sad to be leaving. I'd still have the apartment in the city for whenever I was here, but in a few days I'd be back in Shermer, and it would probably be like I had never left, because nothing every changed in that town.

When I found my parents, brother and Alec in the crowd, we all exchanged hugs and my mother cried into my arms for a few minutes.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you, darling!" she said, and I smiled and said thank you, because to be the object of someones proudness was quite an odd feeling.

It was confusing. I remembered being the centre of attention when I was younger. In high school I had even been one of those popular girls, but college was so different. In the first year I broke away from my old life, broken up with my high school boyfriend and finally felt I had moved on. In college, no one knew your name, unless you knew theirs in turn. Nobody was on a pedestal or more special than any other, but today was different. Alec somehow sensed I was feeling a bit odd, because he quickly wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my cheek, causing me to smile. My mother gushed, and asked for us all to take a picture on her brand new camera she had bought just for the occasion. We all took turns to pose and smile, and when it was done we gathered round again.

"Your mother and I would like to take you to dinner tonight. You and Alec," my dad said, smiling at both of us.

"Thanks for the invite, dad," Chris said, feigning a look of hurt. Really, I knew he couldn't care less.

"Christopher, don't start now. I want to take your sister and her boyfriend for dinner. You can come next time."

Chris rolled his eyes, but when my dad had looked away he smiled at me, confirming his little act. Knowing my brother, he'd be out bar hopping again later tonight, celebrating with the other graduates as if he hadn't graduated some few years ago. He never seemed to age mentally.

While my father roped Alec into a conversation about whatever it was men liked to talk about, my mother began to fix my hair now that I had taken my cap off. She smiled at me when she was done, and I smiled back, not knowing what to say to her because I never really had. Mom had always had a better relationship with Chris, but in recent years she'd tried to make an effort with getting to know me more. I always felt like she was just grooming me for my wedding day, so she could take total control and live through me as if she was reliving her day all over again.

"I saw your friend earlier in the crowd watching," she said.

"Which friend?"

"Oh, that one you used to go to high school with. The smart boy who used to wear the awkward jeans. My, he has grown up, hasn't he? I barely recognised him!" I knew instantly that she was talking about Brian Johnson, and I quickly kissed her cheek before racing off into the crowds to go find him, knowing that he was probably looking for me and wouldn't leave until we'd found each other.

As I left I could hear Alec ask my dad where I was running too, slightly confused and probably worried, but I didn't have time to explain. Alec had never understood my friendship with Brian.

Even I had never understood it completely myself. We had met randomly at a detention, and spent the day together with a group of people we had nothing in common with. Somehow, though, we all grew to become friends over time. It took about a year for us all to accept it and put whatever cosmopolitan troubles we had on our mind behind us, but once we did we all became close. The summer before I started University was the best of my life because of it. Slowly Brian became one of my best friends, someone I could rely on and trust with all of my secrets, knowing that he would keep them as I kept his in return. I never had to worry about our relationship, because he was the one guy I spent so much time with that never made a pass or tried anything funny. Even Andy, our other friend, had tried something when he had been drinking one night. But that was before he and Allison finally admitted they were absolutely crazy for each other and moved in together, and now there was no one else for him.

Brian had come to Chicago with me, while the others stayed close to Shermer. It was just luck we both picked the same area, but I was always grateful for that, for many reasons. He was at medical school on a scholarship, studying to be a surgeon, while I wrote for English. We were completely different, but it always worked. And on his medical course, Brian had met a man called Alec who he introduced me to one night in his dorm room. He hadn't been picked by my parents and forced upon me, nor was he a rebellious relationship like my last one; he was just what I needed. Brian had honestly set me for life, so he always meant a lot to me, even on a day like today.

Finally, I found him in the crowd. He had grown a lot during our last year of high school and had grown even more since, making him easily spotted in a large group of people. However, I was still fairly short and slender, almost as small as I had been in high school thanks to a vigorous diet, so he never saw me coming as I ran at him and engulfed him into a hug. After a few moments he must have recognised my hair or something, because he wrapped his arms around me too and hugged me back just as tightly. When we separated, we were both grinning.

"Claire, I'm so happy for you!" he said, his straight teeth shown off by his wide smile.

"Aw, thanks Brian, I'm so happy you came today. I didn't think you would!"

"What, miss my best friend's graduation? I would never!"

"I just figured you'd have a ton of work to do instead for the summer. Alec does, but he leaves everything 'till the last minute so it kind of figured he'd have nothing else to do."

"No way, this is important to me. I even got a few good photos, look," he said, and produced a few polaroid frames of me on stage. A few were blurry, but most were recognisable. I thought I looked like a doofus, smiling too big and slightly red in the face, but at least nobody else would see these pictures apart from whoever Brian showed them to, which I hoped would be not too many people.

"Those are great, thank you," I said, pulling him in for another hug.

"I have a surprise for you, as a graduation present," he said, and I let go of him to look at him sternly.

"Brian, you know I don't like you spending money on me, you really didn't have to!"

"Oh, don't worry, Brian went cheap and forced us to pay instead," a voice said from behind me, causing me to jump and turn around immediately. I was met with Andy and Allison, both smiling and dressed very smartly for the occasion; Andy in a suit, and Allison in a black number that made her look mature beyond her years, despite her being a few months younger than me. My mouth dropped open out of sheer shock of the moment, the fact that they had gathered here for me. I thought I wasn't going to see them until I got home, but here they were, for one person's graduation. I threw my arms around both of them, bringing them into a hug to try and express how happy I was to see them, and Allison groaned as I held her tightly.

"I knew she'd hate the present, what a lousy idea, Brian!" Allison said, but she was still smiling, and so was I as I let go of them both.

"I can't believe you're both here! This is amazing!" I said. By now I had been smiling so much that I felt my cheeks beginning to ache.

"You thought we'd miss your graduation? Just because we didn't go to college, doesn't mean we'd miss out on all of its perks!" Andy said, wrapping his arm around Allison's waist and squeezing her gently.

"Yeah, where's the party at? Frat house?" said Allison, and Andy rolled his eyes, covering her mouth with one of his hands, but the smile remained on his face.

"I can't believe the Breakfast Club's all here again. Remember that? How dorky were we?" I said, looking around at all of them. Brian and Andy exchanged a look.

"Yeah, well, minus one member," Andy said.

"You mean Vernon? I'm so sad he missed it today, it would've been great to see his shining face in the crowd," I shot back, trying to avoid the elephant in the room that I could already tell was developing.

"I asked John to come, Claire… He said he couldn't get the time off work," Brian said, looking apologetic as if something like that would really upset me.

"I can vouch for him, our boss has been giving him overtime because he's always willing to take it. But he…er… wanted you to know he's happy for you," Andy added.

I nodded and pressed my lips together, giving them all a tight smile. It put a dampener on the mood to talk about John Bender, but I knew it was necessary and bound to happen every time we all met up. He made excuses to cancel on us every time, usually work related. He was always doing something or someone that meant he couldn't go out for dinner with us, or to the bar, or even just for a walk. I knew deep down it was because of me, and I didn't blame him. I didn't want to see him just as much as he didn't want to see me. We had dated each other for just over a year and loved each other more than I felt I could love a person, but it wasn't good enough and we'd ended on more than just a sour note. The last thing he had ever said to me was how much he hated me, and the last thing I had said in return was along those lines as well. We were both fiery people, and that wasn't always a good mix.

That didn't stop either of us from being friends with the same people, though, and I knew that he saw them all. Brian not as much, because he was in Chicago for school with me, but he worked at the same company as Andy and they regulated the same bar, the Romany. I had been there often myself, but never seen him. It wasn't like I looked out for him, but sometimes I longed for closure. I wanted to tell him that I had found someone else and I had moved on, that I could forgive him and he could forgive me and maybe we could be friends. But we had never been friends in the first place, and I doubted we'd be any good at that.

Despite it all, the years in between, sometimes I found myself still missing John Bender.

Dinner was a sombre occasion, as it always was when joined by my parents. We sat couple to couple, me facing my mother while Alec faced my dad. Tonight they had dressed well, more so than they usually did. My mom had a string of pearls and matching earrings that I knew were real, and my dad was in a polished suit that made him look refined and business-like. Nobody could relax themselves completely in a suit like that. They looked like a complete antitheses compared to Alec and me. I had thrown on one of his old blazers over trousers and a shirt, and he was wearing something similar in an effortless way that made us look like we were still confused at whether we were now adults or teenagers still.

When the waiter, a nice Italian male, had come to take our order, my dad had bought a bottle of house red and we were halfway through the glasses when the conversation began flowing.

"So, picture this, Claire is 16, this short shaggy hair and little pink slip on under a coat, and she's attempting to sneak back into the house through the kitchen window! The maid thought she was an introducer, we were all gathered to catch her, but when we turned on the lights she just gave us this deer in headlights look, like we had caught her showering!" My mother insisted on telling embarrassing stories, and I felt my face grow hotter as they went on. Under the table, Alec squeezed my leg as a reassurance.

"I'd gone to one of Stubby's parties, you'd let me go but locked me out. So I went in through the crack in the window. Back then I was small enough to fit through it," I added, taking another sip of my wine.

"You'd still be that small if you cut down on the carbs and wine, darling," my mother said, and my face fell slightly at the remark.

Immediately Alec changed the subject:

"See, I wish I had stories like that to tell. I never went to a party like that when I was a kid. I didn't! We didn't have them in my neighbourhood, and my nanny would never have let me out. I used to read a lot back then. I was definitely a virgin then too." He kept it lighthearted and I was thankful for that, because it made my dad laugh in reply.

"I was just as bad at her age, wasn't I, Howard? Of course, it was a different time then," my mom said, now on her second glass from the bottle.

"Your mother was quite a wild card when I met her. I think the year was 1966, and it definitely was a different time back then!" As my dad began another story, I found myself zoning out. It isn't until after we'd eaten and another bottle of wine was being passed around that I felt myself truly paying attention again. I noticed that Alec had moved his hand away from my leg and was fidgeting more than usual, and my mother was smiling like she knew a secret.

"How was your food, Claire?" Alec asked me.

"Really good, I'm so full now, though. I haven't eaten like that in weeks."

"Are the cheques we're sending you not enough, honey? If you need more, you just need to ask. I suppose it doesn't matter now that you're joining us back home soon, but you don't need to go hungry," said my dad, looking more serious now than he had all night. I quickly shook my head.

"No, no, Alec and I are fine. We get by."

"You're more than fine, sweetie," my mother said, "I've never met such a perfect match. You two are just…" she paused as her eyes began to water, and my dad took hold of her hand on the table. It was the most affectionate I had seen them for a long while, and it was throwing me off.

"Everyone… You're all acting weird tonight. What's going on? Is this because of my graduation?" I asked, trying to sound as casual as I could but not fully able to hide the questioning inquisition of my tone. Alec shifted in the chair next to me and turned to me.

"This is as good as any time…" he muttered, then looked up at me.

"Claire, I love you, you know that. I've loved you since your friend introduced us and you told me I was crazy for studying medicine for 5 plus years. I loved you when we went out on all of our dates and got to know each other, and I loved all of the time we spent together from that moment on. I've never been more thankful for doing something in my life than coming to Chicago, because it meant that I got to meet you. I want… I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Across the table, my mothers eyes were streaming with tears and even my dad looked like he was getting tearful. I looked back at Alec, trying to hide my confusion, but deep down I had no idea what was truly going on until he got up from his chair and got down on one knee right before me. From his pocket he pulled out a box, and he opened it to show me a beautiful ring. An engagement ring.

"I promise I will love you for the rest of my life, and I never want to love someone else. Claire, what I'm really trying to say, and God am I nervous to say it, but… Will you marry me?"

I heard my mother's sob before I heard anything else, and the whole room sounded like it was muted as if everyone was waiting with baited breath for my reply. I looked from my parents, back to Alec, and pictured what he would look like in a suit on our wedding day.

"Yes," I said, and he pulled me into his arms.