"You did it." His voice is calm, mostly like everything else about Jake. Clare turns around and smiles up at him. The gown is heavy and under the sun, she feels like she might melt from it. She feels like it's all ending, though she knows it's just the beginning.

"Something like that," Clare tells him, a grin tugging at her lips.

Jake scratches the back of his neck and looks like he has something to say, Clare's witnessed this too many times and has every bit of Jake Martin memorized. "Clare," She waits and he looks at her again before taking her hands gently into his own and she tries really hard to ignore the way her whole body sparks. "That speech was beautiful. Which I knew it would be. I've only heard you pacing the whole house for weeks and rehearsing it."

"Thank yo-"

"No, wait. Please."

Clare tilts her head, confused by Jake. But she allows a nod and bites lightly at the inside of her cheek and Jake laces their fingers together and Clare remembers that they're in the middle of everything that happens at graduations. She needs to find Adam who is probably looking for her but Jake seems to realize the same thing and pulls her to the steps and through the double doors before they're far away from all of everything and it's only him, only her, and only a set of steps.

She's never really seen him like this before. All worked up but somehow in the calmest of ways. After the whole Jenna thing, after the whole reconnecting and becoming friends with Eli again at the Frostival, she and Jake had continued their what-are-we relationship. They tried to be bro-and-sis for Glen and Helen but it hadn't worked. But they had managed a calm and awesome friendship.

Sure, through it all, she still had feelings for him but she kept them packed away. Tucked neatly and hidden. Sometimes, she'd pull things up and allow herself to feel them but it was dangerous and she'd rather have their friendship than not have him at all. She knew that.

"I promised myself that I would wait until you graduated. And you have, all officially. You have the paper, you tossed the cap into the air. And I can't go another minute playing this game, Clare."

Wait, what?

She raised her eyebrows at him, her stomach turning uneasily because the pieces weren't fitting together.

"I can't pretend to just be your friend. I can't do it anymore. I shouldn't even be doing this on your day but I can't. It sucks and every time you even smile at another guy I feel like some kind of other person because I'm not that guy. I'm not the jealous guy but you're a lot to lose, Clare. And I thought maybe it would all go away but it hasn't and I can't pretend that I'm not... that I," Jake let go of her hands and took a step back, shrugging. The words failed to come out but she slowly began to understand. Maybe hope, even.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I've tried everything. I tried ignoring them. I tried dating other people. I tried not hanging out with you and I'm. I can't fall out of love with you. And look at you. You're beautiful and brilliant. You're like a dream except you're real. And I get that you don't feel the same way. After everything that has happened with prom and then the cabin and how we both handled... I shouldn't have walked away. And when you said you didn't want to be with me anymore, I. I guess I thought I knew it would happen. What we were up against, with our parents and I couldn't promise you forever, Clare."

"And you can now?" Clare felt angry for some reason, but she kept it under wraps, needing to understand what was happening here.

"No. Nobody can promise you that, Clare."

It was quiet for a moment or two, she could hear laughter outside and she felt sick for a moment before she reached across the space between them and pushed him back. "Then why are you dragging all of this up for? We had a nice thing going! What are you ruining it for?" She asked, pushing him again and again.

He caught himself, steadying his feet before gently grabbing either side of Clare's sides and pulling her in. "Let me finish. I can't promise it but I've always wanted to. I can't promise that it won't be messy, that people won't be against it. I can't promise you that it'll be easy. We'll fight, it's what people do but it doesn't always mean the end. I can't promise that I won't piss you off or that you won't make me want to roll my eyes but I love you."

She couldn't believe her ears, nor could she believe that he was holding her and her arms had slid around his shoulders as he talked and Clare wanted to just kiss him because she missed him but what did all of that mean?

"I'm moving out. I'll get my own place. My dad knows about all of this and if you agree to give me another chance, we'll work with your mom. We've both given up way too easily each time something stepped in our way. Who cares that they're married, we gave them their happiness. And now I want to be happy, with you."

Jake was talking a lot. A lot and she was trying her best to process all of it. "I love you, too. But Jake, come on. Our pare-"

"So?"

"So there's no way. They're... my mom. Jake." She moved to pull away but Jake held onto her even tighter. "Jake."

"Don't you think that maybe it's our turn? We've both graduated. We're adults now. I'm getting my own place and sure, your mom might be unhappy about it. Might not like it at first. But if we love each other, we'll figure out the rest later."

"You're crazy."

He smiled and shrugged, moving in and lightly kissing her. It was slow and sweet, they took their time with the kiss and when they pulled back, Clare nodded a few times. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay." She told him, smiling big at him.

Notes: There are probably a lot of mistakes but I don't have time because I have to go get ready for work. But yay! Cake. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. :D