It was finally graduation day.
Ariadne was finally going to get to graduate from the college. No more essays or projects or lectures or notes. She had already sent in job applications to four architectural firms. Two of them had already offered her jobs, but she wasn't sure if she wanted either of them yet. She wanted to wait and see if the other two would accept her application. Also, though, she was hoping, hoping, that one of her old colleagues might contact her.
It had been a year since the inception. One year since she had gotten off the plane in Los Angeles and walked away from the world of dream sharing. There had been a no contact rule for three months, but she still hadn't heard from anyone. She wasn't really surprised though. She was just the architect, she was still in college, and she didn't know much about their world. The other four had known about it for years. Heck, Saito knew way more about it than she did.
She had no idea where any of them were. Well, she knew Cobb was in California with his kids, Phillipa and James. She guessed Yusuf had gone back to Mombasa, Eames was probably gambling away the money they had gotten from Inception, Saito was still the head of his giant company, probably scheming to take over the world, and Fischer she knew had broken up his father's empire. She had no idea where Arthur was, he probably kept moving around.
"Ariadne, hurry up! We have to go meet Emma at the school!" Marissa shoved her head through Ariadne's doorway, an impatient expression gracing her face. Marissa Reynolds was her roommate. Amy had originally been our third roommate, but she had to drop out to take care of her mom, who had developed AIDS. So now it was just the two of them.
"Ariadne, come on!" Marissa whined, coming into Ariadne's room and dragging her out of it. "You look fine, we need to get to the school!"
"The ceremony is in three hours, Marissa, calm down!" Ariadne yelped as Marissa jerked her wrist forward.
"No, it's in one hour!" Her red headed roommate shrugged into her coat.
"Um, Marissa, it's at four, not two." Ariadne informed her friend. Marissa turned around, halfway through buttoning her coat.
"It is?" she asked. Ariadne laughed.
"Yeah, it is. Did you read the email? Or listen to Professor Miles?" Ariadne rolled her eyes at the confused girl.
"Oh, but we still have to leave now." Marissa said, sitting on the arm of one of their chairs. "So go get your coat."
"Why do we have to leave now?'' The brunette asked, walking away to grab her scarf and red sweater. When she got to her room she quickly grabbed her bishop totem, flicking it over first to check reality. She still had to check each and every day that she was still in real life. Even when she hadn't seen or heard anything from anyone in the dream world, having her gold bishop calmed her down more than anything else. She shoved it in her pocket than collected the other stuff she needed.
"Because I told Emma we would meet her there at one thirty, because I thought it was at two. So right now, she's there with her husband waiting for us." She said, standing up when Ariadne came back with her coat and bag. "Let's go."
The two girls walked out of their apartment, locking the door behind them, and started down the staircase.
"Ugh, why do we have to live on the top floor?" Marissa complained when they hit the bottom floor.
"Because they have the biggest rooms on the fourth floor." Ariadne explained patiently, walking over to Marissa's silver Nissan. Slipping into the passenger seat, she shut the door and waited for Marissa to get in. Her roommate jogged over, throwing her bag at Ariadne as she sat down in front of the wheel.
"Why, dear roommate is your bag in my lap?" Ariadne asked, staring first at the bag, then at her friend. Marissa shrugged.
"I had to put it somewhere, and that was the easiest place to put it." Marissa stuck her key in the ignition, turned it, and backed up out of her space.
"You could have put it in the back," Ariadne said, grabbing the offending bag and tossing it onto the seat behind her. Marissa didn't answer, concentrating on the road. Ariadne sighed and leaned her head back, nervously playing with her white scarf.
"You ok?" Marissa glanced at her quickly before stopping at a stoplight. She looked back over. "You pointed it out, we have three hours. Anyway, Professor Miles loves you, you passed with flying colors, and you already have two job offers, and I bet the other two will want you two, so relax."
"I know, I'm just tired. And I'm still a little nervous." Ariadne closed her eyes.
"After that amazing speech I gave you you're still nervous?" Ariadne felt the car start moving again.
"I know, I should be ashamed." Ariadne said sarcastically. Opening her eyes, she turned her head and watched the streets of Paris pass by. She leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the window. The sun was already high in the sky, but it was a pretty windy day, making it chilly.
"We are here!" Marissa announced, pulling into a parking space in the school parking lot. She leaped out and grabbed her bag from the back. Ariadne pulled her head off the window and got out too, slamming the door behind her. She pulled her sweater closer around her thin frame and followed her friend, running to catch up. The wind pulled at her clothes and hair. Marissa ran up to the door to the hall the graduation was going to take place in, and pulled it open. The small woman followed her inside and let the door close behind her.
"Ok, where will we find Emma?" Ariadne asked, looking around at the already crowded room.
"There is two and a half hours until graduation and there's already this many people here? No wonder the parking lot was so full. But seriously, why are they all here?" Marissa looked around the hall, trying to spot Emma and her family.
"It's probably all the families, I bet they're being shown around." Ariadne reasoned. "Wait, is that John?"
John was Emma's husband. Emma had married him two years ago, when she was twenty five and he was twenty six. Now they were both twenty seven and twenty eight. They didn't look very alike at all. Emma had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, a small, petite figure and a serious personality. John however, was tall, with blond hair and green eyes and had a silly, class-clown like attitude.
"Oh look, they brought Kayla." Marissa said, starting to walk over to the family. "Emma! John!" she called, grabbing Ariadne and starting to drag her over.
"I can walk on my own, you know." She said, pulling her arm free and following.
"Marissa, Ariadne! You guys are here!" Emma made her way over, followed by John and Kayla.
"Yeah, we're here. Marissa thought the ceremony was at two though." Ariadne said, stopping in front of Emma.
"Nope, it's at four." Emma said. She turned to her family. "You going to say hello?" she asked. Kayla looked up from her phone.
"Oh, hi Ariadne, hi Marissa." She said. She shoved her phone in her jeans pocket and hugged Ariadne. Ariadne smiled and hugged her back. Kayla let go and hugged Marissa too. Kayla wasn't Emma's and John's daughter. She was technically Emma's older sister's daughter, but when she died seven years ago, Emma offered to take her in. She might as well be their daughter though. Both Emma and John thought of her as one, and Kayla called them Mom and Dad. Emma also had a brother a year younger than her, but I had never seen him or met him. Apparently, Kayla and him were pretty close, but then he had to leave for work, and they hadn't seen him since.
Kayla might not have been their biological daughter, but she looked like she was. She was like a mix of the two. She was fourteen, with hazel eyes, light brown/ dirty blond hair. She was tall like her father, but she could be just as serious and focused as her mom could be, although she was a little more relaxed than Emma. Both Marissa and I knew her pretty well; we met her when we first became friends with Emma.
"How's school?" Ariadne asks her. She shrugs.
"It's ok, I don't like history or English, they're boring. I like math, it's actually kind of fun. I love, love, love science though. Most people seem to hate it though. I'm learning Spanish, but I don't see why, I mean, I already learned French and English. I don't think I need to learn Spanish, but whatever. High School isn't that bad I guess." She told us, sitting down in one of the chairs set up for the visitors. Emma turned to us.
"She's doing fine; she's passing with straight A's." Emma said proudly. "But they don't have an art class. I'm not thrilled with that. I think she'd be great at architectural design. But she doesn't get the chance. Oh well." She turned to look at Kayla when she started poking her. "Yes, Kayla?"
"Can I go get coffee? Please? There's a café, like, a block from here. Please?" Kayla begged. Emma rolled her eyes.
"Sure, if John agrees lets you." She told the girl. Kayla turned to John.
"Dad, please can I go? Please?" John stared at her and she stared right back. After a minute, he answered.
"You really are addicted to coffee now. Sure, but you have to come right back. You can drink it there if you want, but only go get coffee, don't go anywhere else. There and back, got it?" he said. Kayla nodded quickly, then hugged her adopted father.
"Thank you! I'll be back later!" She called over her shoulder, rushing out the door. John smiled after her.
"She really is obsessed with coffee. She discovered it halfway through the school year, and she's been hooked ever since." He said, shaking his head. He smiled at the two girls in front of him. "Hey guys, I'm pretty sure I never greeted you."
"Hey John. You excited now that Emma can work at your firm?" Marissa asked him. He smiled and put his arm around his wife.
"Why yes, yes I am." He said. Emma smiled and put her head on his shoulder. She looked up at him.
"What time is it?" she asked. Ariadne glanced up at the clock on the wall.
"About two, we have two hours until graduation." Ariadne stated. She glanced around. "Should we go find Professor Miles?" Ariadne asked the two other students. Marissa nodded.
"Might as well, considering we have no idea what's going on." Marissa stated. The other three nodded and they went off in search of Professor Miles.