"You were right. '86 is your year! To Eddie! He finally made it!" Gareth raised his milk carton in a cheers, followed by the rest of the group. A lunch room toast to Eddie. He grinned at the ridiculousness of it, but raised his own drink as well.

Graduation was this weekend. It had seemed out of reach all these years, the last days of school always dragging on and on leading up to summer break. Now that Eddie had finally, finally made the grades to graduate, the last weeks of school had flown by.

"What are you gonna do now that you're done with high school?" Mike asked.

Eddie shrugged, leaning back in his chair.

"Not sure."

"What, no college?" Dustin asked, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Eddie shot him a dangerous look, although he was sure Henderson knew there was no real bite to it.

"I think I've had more than enough school. Guess I better figure out a job and become a productive member of society."

Henderson snorted at that. Eddie grinned.

"What's Chrissy doing?" Jeff asked.

"She's got a few options for college but I'm not sure which one she's going to pick."

"They nearby?"

"Not sure."

"Well, what are you going to do? Find work near her? Do long distance?"

"I don't know."

"You two haven't talked about what's next?" Gareth chimed in.

Eddie grimaced. Truth be told, they hadn't talked about it. They'd talked about just about everything else except what comes next. His friends bombarding him with questions made that fact blatantly obvious.

"I don't know man, let's just drop it for now." His friends saw Eddie's expression and quickly changed topics.

He chewed nervously on his thumb nail. He glanced to the food line, eyes seeking Chrissy out. She stood, back to him, tray in hand, talking to one of her friends as they inched down the line. Her hair, which she wore loose around her shoulders lately, swayed with each movement. He could see her smiling as she talked.

This entire year seemed surreal to Eddie - from dating Chrissy Cunningham to attending prom to passing Ms. O'Donnel's chemistry class and graduating - what came next hadn't crossed his mind. He was too enamored with the now to think past it.

Now his friends had brought it to his attention and he could feel panic rising in his chest. Before Chrissy, Eddie hadn't worried about what would happen after school. He'd get some sort of job to help Wayne out, maybe move out on his own eventually. He figured he'd just take life as it came to him. But now? Now there was Chrissy. Chrissy, who surely had plans and goals for her future. Eddie didn't know if those plans included him. Things were fine now, sure. Great even. But what about when she went off to college and made new friends? Met new guys? Eddie wasn't the jealous or insecure type, but thinking of Chrissy possibly leaving him behind scared him.

"I need a smoke," Eddie announced abruptly, startling the group. He stood, his chair flying back with a loud scraping sound as he turned tail to the nearest exit.

"Eddie?" It sounded like Chrissy's voice. She must've made her way through the line and caught sight of him on her way to the table.

He didn't stop for her though. He strode straight down the hall to the door leading outside, pushed it open, and headed straight to the tree line. He didn't slow down til he reached the picnic table in the woods, bracing his hands against the rough wooden edge and letting his head hang down, hair falling around his face like a curtain.

He felt like an idiot, having a panic attack like this. He hadn't had anything work him up like this in a while though. Probably because he hadn't had anything he cared about enough to stress over. But Eddie cared about Chrissy. He didn't want to lose her because he didn't have his life together.

He took deep breaths, willing his mind to stop racing.

"Eddie?"

Eddie's head snapped up. He hadn't heard her walk up, but he wasn't surprised she had followed him.

He turned to see her standing at the edge of the clearing, looking at him with concern.

"Are you alright? The guys said you seemed on edge." She took a few steps to close the distance between them. Eddie hopped up to sit on the edge of the table, letting his feet hang so that only the toes of his tennis shoes touched the ground. Chrissy stepped between his legs and rested her hands lightly on his shoulders. Eddie wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him so that his face rested against her stomach.

He felt like a scared little kid.

"I've been better," he mumbled against the fabric of her shirt.

He felt her fingers move from shoulder to neck to scratch soothingly at his skin.

"What happened?"

"Guys were asking about my plans for after graduation. And yours too. And I didn't have any answers…it got me overthinking and I kinda panicked."

"Hmm," she hummed in response. "What are you overthinking about exactly?"

Eddie was slightly embarrassed to admit why. No sense hiding it. He didn't want to keep anything from Chrissy. She'd never kept anything from him.

"You probably have plans and I have none. So I don't know where that leaves us."

He felt her hands move to his jaw, pulling gently to make him look up at her.

"I do have plans. I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do when summer's over. And every scenario I picture has you in it. I don't plan on leaving you, Eddie…I love you."

Her voice quavered a little at the end and she was looking at him with such sincerity and emotion.

"You love me?" He repeated back. He had to make sure he hadn't dreamed the words.

She blushed before leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

"I do. I love you, Eddie."

His face split into a grin. "I love you too."

Chrissy's smile matched his own.

"Maybe we should've talked about this stuff sooner." She murmured. "I'm scared too. I don't know what your plans are either, but I want you with me. If you're willing to work out a way for us to be together, then that's what I want."

Eddie let out a laugh of relief, the tension in his chest easing a bit.

"If I'm willing? Chrissy, I'm having a panic attack in the woods because I'm scared to lose you and you ask if I'm willing?!"

He brought his hands from her waist and instead lightly gripped her arms, shaking her playfully. She laughed as he moved to tickle her sides.

"I'm more than willing, Chris. I want to be with you as long as you'll have me."

Chrissy didn't say anything. She sat on his lap, snuggling her face into his neck, planting kisses on his exposed skin. He brought a hand up to her cheek and tilted her face upwards to bring her lips to his.

"I love you." He murmured. It was nice to say it. He wished he'd said it sooner.

"I love you too." She kissed him one more time before getting to her feet, much to his dismay, and pulled him up with her.

"Come on. We shouldn't miss class."

Eddie huffed dramatically but knew she was right. Only a few more days and he was out of here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chrissy stood among her classmates in a sea of green caps and gowns. Her hair fell in waves from beneath her green graduation cap. The matching gown had no shape, but she didn't mind. She'd made it to graduation day.

From this day on, any plans for her life were her own and she couldn't wait. Gone were the days of keeping appearances and social status. Senior year had been the turning point for her and there was no going back.

Chrissy's mom, however, was struggling to come to terms with her daughter's new outlook on life. Chrissy had told her mother that she had accepted her offer and scholarship to Butler University in Indianapolis. She planned to live on campus during the school year and to stay with Eddie over the summers. He was already searching for an apartment.

Laura Cunningham had never been so angry. Did Chrissy really think that boy was going to follow her to the city? And even if he did, what kind of trashy living would Chrissy stoop to in order to stay with him? And unmarried at that.

Chrissy had stood her ground though, insisting her mother needed to accept that Chrissy was with Eddie for the foreseeable future. Laura had replied with such vicious insults that Chrissy had tears streaming down her face as she argued back. Laura even threatened to withhold her share of Chrissy's college funds ("let's see how far your scholarship alone gets you"). That was the moment Chrissy's father finally spoke up, surprising both women with the sternness in his voice, to tell Laura that they would not be keeping Chrissy's college fund from her for any reason. End of story.

Chrissy had never appreciated her father more.

She'd dried her tears and fled from the car to the safety of the gym where all the other seniors were lining up.

The bathroom was overflowing with senior girls checking their hair and makeup, so the school had provided a few extra mirrors propped up along the gym wall.

Chrissy checked to make sure her makeup wasn't tear-streaked. She was about to turn away, satisfied that her mascara had survived, when she saw a second reflection join her in the mirror, just over her shoulder.

Eddie's arms wrapped around her middle and he propped his chin on her shoulder. He grinned at their reflections in the mirror.

"Happy graduation day!" He beamed.

Chrissy giggled as she turned easily in his arms to face him.

"Happy graduation day!" She parroted back as she looked him over.

Eddie's cap was propped on his head, the long dark hair splaying out in stark contrast. She glanced down and noticed he appeared to have skipped dress clothes - his gown stopped a bit beyond knee length where Chrissy could see his jeans and usual white sneakers on full display. That made her smile.

Eddie was full of smiles too as he walked Chrissy to her spot towards the front of the line with the other C names. She could tell he'd finally allowed himself to be excited for the day. Maybe it had taken until the day of for him to accept he'd made it - he was graduating.

"You're not really going to flip off Principal Higgins are you?" She asked him.

"I said I was gonna and I'm a man of my word."

"Well," Chrissy sighed, absentmindedly moving his straying tassel back into place. "I'll be cheering you on. I'm proud of you."

A faint pink colored Eddie's cheeks.

"I mean it," she continued.

"Couldn't have done it without my tutor." He pulled her hand up to his mouth to kiss her palm. It was Chrissy's turn to blush.

"I'll see you after?" She asked.

Eddie nodded. "Your parents taking you out to eat after?"

Chrissy dropped her eyes for just a moment but Eddie caught it. His smile changed to concern.

"No, I don't think so. We can talk about that later though. Nothing is going to ruin this day for me, or you."

He was quiet for a beat, just studying her face in silence before finally nodding in agreement.

"You want to come out with me and Wayne?"

"Oh I don't want to intrude…"

"Chris." Eddie raised an eyebrow at her. "Wayne has been hassling me to have you over at an hour he's actually awake since we started dating. He'd love nothing more than for you to 'intrude'."

Chrissy giggled. She didn't need any more convincing than that.

"Okay, yeah! I'd love to. You better line up now, it's almost time."

Eddie stole a look at his watch.

"Ah, you're right." He dropped a quick kiss on her lips.

"See you after," he said as backed away from her. "Class of '86 baby!" He whooped as he went, managing to startle a group of girls lining up nearby.

"Class of '86." Chrissy murmured quietly to herself in agreement, chin held high as the line began to exit the gym.