Freddie pushed past a few groups of people, stopping at a small stand in front of the doors.
"Ticket." The lady stated dryly, holding out her hand without even looking up. Freddie cleared his throat.
"Uh, hi." She peered up at him, her glasses resting on her nose. "I actually don't have a ticket."
"No ticket, no seat." She told him, already turning away. "Next."
He took a step closer to the stand, shooting an apologetic smile at the man behind him. "Mygirlfriend is graduating, and she didn't exactly want me to know-" The lady gave him a strange look, and he quickly corrected himself. "She's not really into this sort of thing, and I go to MIT and she didn't want to make me come all the way down here I guess. But I'm here, and I was hoping to surprise her…" He trailed off at her uninterested expression.
"Don't you guys give free tickets to the graduates?" He offered, hopefully.
"Yes, they each get two."
"Great, so she would have given me one of those. Samantha Puckett?"
With an exaggerated sigh, the woman turned to the list in front of her, flipping through the pages. "Her tickets have been accounted for already."
"You mean she… she used them?" He asked in disbelief. Who could she have invited?
Rolling her eyes pointedly, she drawled, "That is what that means, Mr. MIT."
He checked his anger, instead putting on a fake smile. "Okay, I'll just buy my own ticket. How much are they?" Freddie asked, pulling out his wallet.
"All tickets are sold out, in case you couldn't read the sign." She tapped an acrylic nail at a sign attached to the stand, shooting him another glare. "Now, I think you're all out of options, so if you will kindly step aside, I can seat the rest of the-"
"Are you here for Sam Puckett?"
Freddie flipped around, coming face to face with a man, probably in his sixties, with a full gray beard and clad in a loose-fitting plaid shirt and baggy khakis.
"Uh… yes I am." He affirmed, warily. "Do you know her?"
He nodded, shooting him a smile. "She is – well, was I guess now, huh? – one of my students. I'm Gary, the Marine Carp teacher here."
"Oh!" Freddie smiled, shaking the man's hand. "Sam told me a lot about you – your class was by far her favorite."
"Quite a handful, isn't she?" Gary laughed, "But a natural worker – she flew by in my class. By far the best student – though you can't tell anyone I said that. I'm not technically supposed to have favorites." He winked at Freddie, "But Sam is special. I hope you can get her to take that carpentry job, she seemed on the fence about it-"
"Wait, what job?" He asked,
"Oh, did she not say anything about it? Figures. One of my buddies has a job opening, about a mile and a half down the road. She'd be perfect for it."
"Really? That's incredible!" Freddie beamed, excitedly.
"Well, only if she takes it. But, you're her boyfriend, right? You might be able to get through to her better than I can."
"Oh, I don't know about that. But I can try."
"Well, either way, I'm glad you're here to see her. She told me no one was coming."
"Yeah, this was supposed to be a surprise. But it won't be all that great if I can't get in to see it…" He trailed off, dejectedly.
To Freddie's surprise, Gary let out a hearty laugh. "You do know who you're talking to, dontcha? I've been working at this dump for nearly thirty years. I practically run the place. Just go on in."
"Wait, really?" He stared at Gary, a slight grin on his face, "You can get me in?"
"Of course I can. Anything for Puckett."
"Thank you so much, Gary." Freddie told him, sincerely, and Gary just waved him off.
With a wry grin toward the lady behind the stand, and one final wave to Gary, he passed through the doors that led to the ceremony. Altogether, he had to admit the place seemed rather un-spirited. It looked like a regular gym, the only decoration being a lopsided banner congratulating the class of 2014. The people, for the most part, seemed bored as well, fanning themselves with their ticket stubs and avoiding eye contact.
Freddie found his seat just as a man in a suit began his ascent up to the stage. Introducing himself as the dean of admissions, he welcomed everyone to the ceremony, giving a speech about the grandeur of this milestone. Those surrounding Freddie were either picking at the cracked plastic on their seat or asleep.
Sitting up taller, Freddie tried to search for Sam in the sea of caps and gowns, but was unable to find her. This wasn't that big of a surprise, however, considering there were at least 500 people in the exact same outfit.
Finally, the dean finished his speech and began calling the names of graduates. By the letter N, Freddie began to get worried, seeing as the crowd had condensed quite a bit, and he still couldn't find her.
Suddenly, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned towards it to find a blur of blue and gold, and a glimpse of blonde hair sneaking from the back door to the line of graduates. Freddie's face broke out to a grin.
"Samantha Puckett."
Jumping up, Freddie cupped his hands around his mouth. "Sam!" He cheered, and Sam's head whipped toward him from the stage, scanning the crowd. When her eyes landed on him, they widened, and her jaw dropped, causing her to almost drop her diploma. She hurried back off the stage, and Freddie couldn't control the grin on his face.
When the ceremony was finally over, he rushed outside to meet her. However, she found him first.
"Ow!" He let out, turning around to find his girlfriend, her face bright red in anger.
"How dare-" she swatted him with her diploma, "-you just show up here-" with her cap now as well, "-without even telling me-" finishing with both of her hands shoving him, "-you nub!" She stood there in front of him, out of breath, and all he could do was beam.
"Blue looks good on you."
She let out an angered yelp before launching herself in his arms and kissing him full on the mouth.
"I'm so proud of you, babydoll." He mumbled in between kisses, and he could feel the involuntary shiver creep down her spine.
"I hate you." She claimed as she kissed down his jaw.
"Well if this is the way you greet the people you hate, I don't think I mind being hated."
"You are such a nub." Sam informed him, finally separating from his neck and standing still in front of him, her hands on his shoulders. "Now will you tell me what in the hell you are doing here when you told me you had to stay at school for an extra week?"
"Is that a question?" He asked teasingly. When all it did was made her glare more prominent, he tried a different approach.
"It's your graduation, why wouldn't I be here?"
"Because I didn't tell you about it!" She shouted wildly, and he couldn't help but laugh again. He knew he better start stifling it, because she was getting angrier by the second, and soon the reaction wouldn't be so funny anymore.
"You think just because you regretted to inform me about it meant I wasn't going to be here? I already knew you weren't going to tell me. But I also knew it had to be coming up, so I started checking in on the website every now and then. It's a wonder how they manage to keep that website updated, when they can't even spring for programs."
"It's a cheap school." Sam stated, and he nodded, taking her hand in his and beginning to lead her in the direction of his car.
"Yeah, well, it's still your graduation. They could have at least printed your name on something besides your diploma – which by the way, we're totally framing that."
"Ugh." She groaned loudly, and he shrugged.
"If you don't let me put it up in your place, then it's going in my dorm at school. Your choice."
She decided to ignore him. "How did you even get in? The tickets were sold out."
"Yeah, and apparently someone took the tickets you were supposed to get, too." He shot her a pointed look. "I met your Carpentry teacher, Gary? He got me in. Who took your tickets? Obviously they aren't here for you, considering you haven't had anyone else running up to you." He paused, and then added as an afterthought, "Right?"
Sam shook her head. "Don't get your panties in a bunch. I didn't invite anyone else. I just gave my tickets to this other girl who needed them."
Freddie nodded, smirking slightly, "Oh, so I was talking to Gary, and he told me something interesting..." he chimed, and Sam narrowed her eyes, tugging his arm a little as they walked.
"What did he say?"
"Well, besides that you were his favorite," Sam smiled to herself, "He said he offered you a job."
At that, she stopped walking, turning slowly to face him. "Uh… yeah, he did."
He took her arms in his hands, shaking her slightly, grinning. "And you didn't think that was important to tell me? That's amazing, Sam!"
She shrugged, digging her shoe into the ground. "It's not that big of a-"
"Stop shrugging everything off, this is really exciting! Are you going to take it?"
Shrugging again, she looked up at him, "Do you think I should?"
"Well, is that what you want to do?" He asked, looking at her intently.
"It's what I just spent two years of my life on…"
"That's not what I asked." He insisted, pulling her to the side to let some people pass. "Is it what you want to do?"
Sam was silent for a moment, looking down at the ground. Then suddenly, she looked straight at him, nodding.
"Yeah, it is."
Freddie grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and starting to walk again. "Then take it. It's an amazing opportunity, it's close by, and I know you'll love it."
After a moment, she smiled, just barely. "Okay. I will."
"Good."
"Yeah, yeah." She poked his side lightly, tossed her hat and diploma in his free hand, and took off running toward his car, dangling the keys.
It took him a minute for his mind to catch up, but when it did, he let out a half groan-half laugh. "Sam! You are not driving my Volvo!"