Hey all! If I can post on the days I want then in two weeks this story will be wrapped up. I promise I will be getting back to chapters where the main focus will be Wade and Zoe.
Enjoy!
"Please tell me that whatever dress you settle on for prom covers everything," Wade said, fixing his cup of coffee. He doesn't care what dress his daughter picks out, he's trying to play it cool in that department. What he doesn't want is for something to go wrong at the dance and for the whole school to see something they shouldn't if she so happens to have a wardrobe malfunction.
"I can promise you that you have nothing to worry about," Aurora said, grabbing the keys to her car. "I've already looked online with mom and have a few dress styles picked out and none of them show off anything," she assured her father. "I'll be back before dinner, if plans change, I'll call," she informed her dad, heading out to meet up with her friends.
She felt bad that she was going dress shopping without her mom, wanting to go with her friends. That is why she had looked at dresses online with her mom, not wanting to leave her out of the experience. Her mom had helped her narrow down all the different styles and colors, a big help for when she does meet up with her friends to look for a dress. Grateful for her mom's opinions on the dresses, because she doesn't want to spend hours looking for the right dress. Aurora may love shopping but dress shopping for a formal dance, that gives her anxiety.
"Don't rush home on our account," Wade told his daughter. She's 18, and they trust her. She's had her moments over the years as well. They've had to pick her up from parties, and they promised they wouldn't ask what happened. She's been very good at not drinking underage or doing drugs. Her friends, however, they were a different story. Aurora is responsible. She makes mistakes, and she learns from that moment. But she's still a good kid, as everyone has their moments. "But do let us know either way," he told Aurora, filling the tea kettle to make Zoe some tea.
"Okay," Aurora said, heading out for the day. She wouldn't describe the day of being fun, what with being in a dress shop for hours on end. But you have to make your own fun out of most situations.
"Aurora, leave already?" Zoe asked, joining her husband in the kitchen, taking the cup of tea her husband pushed her way.
"You just missed her," he nodded, hearing her car pull out of the driveway. She worked hard for her first car. Wade and Zoe pitched in a little to help her out, but she worked all sorts of odd jobs around Bluebell, while helping out at the Jammer.
"What are we going to do?" Zoe asked with a sigh, blowing on her tea. "We've had such a busy and at times chaotic house for the past 23 years, and in a few short months both our kids are going to be out of the house," she went on to explain to her confused husband.
"Take up hobbies," he shrugged, leaning across the kitchen counter, to wrap his hands around hers that were cradling the cup of tea. "Or we get a dog, or a cat, maybe both," he said. He's trying to figure out what they would do with an empty house himself. "We'll figure it out," he told her. It will take some getting used to, but soon enough it'd be normal for them.
Getting to the first dress shop of the day, and she really hoped they only had to go to the one, she met up with her friends. With a game plan in mind they headed in and broke up to look for what dress they wanted to try on first. While her friends were eager to try on dresses, Aurora took her time looking for a dress, any type or color that she had settled on when looking with her mom. She came across a few of them, but she didn't like the way they looked in person, so she kept looking. She did come across a select few that she had ruled out with her mom, that did look better in person, in colors they didn't show online. It wouldn't hurt to try them on.
After trying on a dozen or so dresses, some fun and flattering to ones that were just blah. She lit up twirling in front of the mirror seeing the way the white lace with a black mesh high bodice with a tiered tulle skirt fell around her. The dress was gorgeous, and it made her feel just as stunning in it. She didn't need the opinions of her friends, as just knew this is the dress for her. If only she had a date to go with. She broke up with her boyfriend, 5 months ago, things just not working out for them anymore. She's fine with going as a group with her friends, heard you can have more fun that way, but there's just something about having a date to go with. She had a date last year for her junior prom, and it was fun and magical. Hard to imagine this prom is going to be anything like that without having a date.
With all the girls finding their perfect dress, adding in the accessories to go with, they headed out for a late lunch. One thing turned into another which slowly led to something else entirely and before Aurora knew it she was on the phone with her parents letting them know she's staying at Kelsie's house for the night.
"I don't remember being this nervous for Will's prom," Wade sighed, looking back at the stairs to see if his daughter was done getting ready yet.
"That's because he pretty much tossed on his tux and dashed out the door before we could say anything," Zoe retorted, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "He only let us get a few pictures, before he was off," she sighed, wishing he would have let them get a few more pictures. Just as Aurora is going in a group of friends, Will had gone stag to prom, as that's how he wanted to go. He had been asked, but he politely turned them down, saying he'd be more than happy to have a few dances with them. As he wanted to have the most fun possible at prom.
"Can't say I blame him, I pretty much crashed my senior prom," Wade chuckled. He had no intention of going, decided when prom was half over that he did want to go and found a way around the teachers standing guard at the entrance to get in.
"I'd believe it," Zoe giggled. "I had a date for mine, dad didn't approve, let him know it too," she smiled sadly at the memory of her dad chewing her prom date out. He lived a few towns over, so he didn't go to school with them. Zoe had met him at a football game.
"I can see Harley doing that. But I have never met a person the great Doc Wilkes didn't like," Wade commented. "What did he do to be so hated by one of the most wonderful guys to live in Bluebell?" Wade questioned, wondering how close to murder one would need to be hated upon.
"There were a bunch of things that I didn't really notice when I was dating him, but he was a jerk. He actually broke up with me once prom was over with, because I refused to be part of the whole the cliché to have sex with him just because it was prom night," she told her husband.
"Dude's a dick," Wade grumbled. "You don't break up with the most beautiful woman to have ever come out of Bluebell," he smirked, pressing a kiss to his wife's temple.
"What did you do to be earning brownie points?" Zoe asked with a smile.
"Can't I just give my wife compliments?" He asked with a playful huff. As her answer she placed a kiss on his cheek, because yes he can. "Sweetie, you look beautiful," Wade said, on the verge of tears seeing his daughter all dressed up.
"Your dad is right, you look majestic, Aurora," Zoe smiled, moving from her husband's hold to get some pictures of her daughter. She did promise that she wouldn't go overboard like she wanted to do.
"Thank you," Aurora smiled, giving both her parents a hug. With all the bobby pins in her hair, she'd be sure to have a headache before the night is over with, but for now it's worth it. She doesn't even know how Tansy had twisted and pulled her hair into the little hairdo she is sporting.
"You may not have a date," Wade started to say walking out of the living room, to grab the plastic container. "But you deserve to have a corsage," he said, opening the small plastic container to pull out a red rose corsage with white lace.
"Dad, you didn't have to do that," Aurora said, blinking a few stray tears away at the thoughtfulness of her father.
"But we wanted to," he told his daughter, placing the corsage onto her left wrist. Zoe right there to capture the moment in pictures. "Have fun, enjoy your night, and you can tell your mother all about it tomorrow," he told his daughter.
"If you need anything, call," Zoe told Aurora. "Have fun," she said, letting her daughter go. As much as the idea to wait up for her crossed her mind, there just wasn't anyway that she could do such a thing. They hadn't waited on Will to return home.
Time never wants to slow down for you. The two months separating prom and graduation, felt like a week. In which Zoe had cried over a dozen times at how grown up her daughter has gotten. Unlike Will, having stayed close to home for college, Aurora was headed to Zoe's alma mater for school, deciding that she too wanted to become a doctor like her mother and her grandfather. It made Zoe proud that she would be able to pass the practice down to her one day, she, however, didn't like the distance that would be between them.
"There's the graduate," Zoe smiled a watery smile, giving Aurora a hug. Funny how it didn't feel all that long ago that she was bringing her daughter into the world and protecting her from the dangers and here she stands ready to take on the world and all the dangers she kept her daughter from.
"It's not a sad thing, mom," Aurora said, seeing her mom's watery eyes.
"Happy tears, Aurora, happy tears," Zoe assured her daughter. "You are on to bigger and brighter things, and I am proud of you," she stated.
"And we're ready to kick you out the door," Wade teased entering the kitchen. "Ouch," he muttered, rubbing his shoulder where his wife smacked him at. "I was kidding, if I had my way, she'd be locked in her room for eternity," he teased, pulling his baby girl into a hug. "I am so proud of you," he said, giving her temple a tender fatherly kiss. "You are going to go out there and take the world by storm," he praised.
Getting themselves composed, they headed out not wanting to be late for their daughter's big day. They met up with Will and Maggie, as they were saving them the good seats, knowing his mom would want them to watch Aurora walk across the stage, not only that but to watch as she gave her valedictorian speech. Isaac spending the night with his grandparents. As they waited for the ceremony to begin they got caught up with the on goings of their son's life.
As the speeches went on, Wade was there with the Kleenex, Will having some for his mom as well, not knowing how many she'd be going through when Aurora got up to give her speech. Listening to people talk, Will tried to remember what was said at his own graduation, but couldn't come up with a single word spoken for either his high school or his college graduation.
"Your graduating class valedictorian, Aurora Kinsella," the principal announced, to a few cheers.
"Hello, my fellow graduates, my classmates, my friends, parents, family and teachers, I have spent many nights going over what I would say when I stood up here. None of it seems good enough. We've learned we could these last four years of our lives, yet it's not enough. But I have learned from those before us, that we never stop learning. And the one thing I have learned is that we can do anything we set our mind to, whether we know how to do it or not," Aurora said, glancing around the room, catching sight of her family.
"We've spent the last four years counting down to this very day, and yet as we sit here, waiting for our names to be called, we want one more minute to be in these halls, to be with our friends, to hear the laughter filling the lunchroom as we goof off more than we should while eating," she smiled taking a deep breath. "For many of us, our friendships will end slowly over the next few months, as sad as that will be, it's life. Just like we grow out of things, we grow out of people. Those we do keep in our lives, they're the ones meant to be with us, for the others, just know that you were a part of someone's life when they needed you the most, take with you that they are a better person because of you, that you helped them when no one else could. Our lives aren't ending today, they are just beginning, and I want everyone to write the story book ending we've been told since we were babies. This isn't a goodbye, it's a hello. It's hello to new people, to new places, to new experiences. It's a big fat hello to the world, because we're coming," she smiled, making eye contact with her dad and her mom.
"Thank you to those teachers that taught us, thank you for dealing with us when none of us wanted to be here, when we were jerks to you. Thank you for pushing us and helping shape us. I swear I have seen my teachers this past year more than my own parents," she joked. "Let's show the world just what Bluebell is made of," she finished, walking back to her seat, afraid that if she looked for her parents again, that she would be the crying mess, instead of her mother.
Zoe failed to get her emotions in check when they started to call names to walk across the stage. She needed to use a few of the Kleenex that her son brought, as Wade too, found that he needed a Kleenex or two. As they waited through the alphabet, it seemed to drag on before they hit the K's. The closer it got to being Aurora's turn to walk, the more tears sprang up in Zoe's eyes.
"Aurora Jacqueline Kinsella," was announced and the little family and friends cheered as she walked across the stage, shaking hands as she went, being handed her diploma, and stopping for pictures as she moved her tassel.