Graduation Day with the Brothers Casablancas
It's graduation day!
Too bad neither of the brother Casablancas are graduating.
But still they sit, applauding politely for their friends, foes, and girlfriends alike, smiling proudly as special people climb up the stairs and into their new life.
"I can't wait to see you walk up those stairs next year and out of my life," Dick says to Beaver.
"I can't wait to see you walk up those stairs and out of my life," Beaver says to Dick.
Logan's up! The brothers Casablancas stand and applaud as Dick's best friend gets handed his diploma. As they sit, Dick comments, "You know, Logan wouldn't be anywhere if it weren't for me."
"What?"
"I'm the wind beneath his wings, the catcher to his rye, the poetry to his motion," Dick responds.
"You've never read Catcher in the Rye," Beaver tells him.
"No, but you seem to like it enough."
"It's life changing! And beautiful! And…oh, you wouldn't understand." The brothers Casablancas begin applauding again for one Wallace Fennel, mostly because he's the basketball star.
"I like his fro," Beaver says.
"Shut up, Beav," Dick says.
Now there's a stretch where they don't know many people, or if they do it's because Beaver knew them in chess club when he was twelve or Dick met them once and remembers them in a swirl of drunken colors. They applaud politely in their seats.
And now it's Mac. Beaver stands up so Dick has to, too, since today they are acting like siblings instead of strangers. "You really like her, don't you?" Dick asks his beaming brother.
"Yeah, I really do," Beaver says.
"Then why are you so happy, if she's leaving?"
Beaver turns to his brother as they sit and says, "Because I know that next year, I'll be away from this place and I'll be with her. And I'm sure by then everything will be fine."
"What's wrong now?"
Beaver smiles. "It's kid stuff, Richard," he says. "You shouldn't worry about it."
But Dick sees the look in his brother's eyes when they clap for Veronica, and for a fleeting moment he is nervous. He doesn't know it's because the last time Beaver called him Richard was when Beaver told him that Lilly Kane had died.
Dick opens his eyes the next morning and they ache, they ache so bad. He's sleeping in the living room and for a second he doesn't know where he is. He rolls over and sees his Mom sleeping on the floor next to the couch, and suddenly everything is horribly, painfully clear.
His brother will never graduate. His brother will never be with Mac. His brother will never be happy.
As he draws his legs up close to him, he realizes, though, that his brother has escaped.