Woo! Another chapter done. Don't get used to two updates in one day again, though. It's a freak accident, I swear! Okay, so no one freak out. I mean it! Aaand. Once again, we are inspired by my own experience. I did not make up graduation. That really happened. Except, we also had our Salutatorian basically come out to our entire graduation class during his speech. Yes I had an interesting graduation. That was awkward. : )
Chapter 13:
Prom weekend was amazing. We spent so much time at the beach and on the boardwalk. Nate and Caitlyn spent a lot of time alone, though, which was good for them. As much as it sucked to be spending less time with them, I knew we all needed it. We needed to be independent of each other occasionally. And that independence may have been a bad thing, too.
See, Prom weekend wasn't all rainbows and sunshine. Prom had been Thursday Night followed by Friday off. By very late Saturday Night - one in the morning- Shane and I were both severely frustrated. For whatever reason, our hormones were spiraling out of control. We were barely hanging on to our self control. Finally, that control snapped. Not the way you're thinking, I assure you.
"Let's get married." I said 15 minutes after a pretty hot and heavy make-out. I was immensely turned on and frustrated.
"We are getting married. I proposed to you already, remember?" Shane teased.
I shook my head, not really thinking clearly. "No, I mean, right now. We're ten minutes from Atlantic City. There has to be a chapel there."
He gave me a weary look. "Mitchie, don't play like that." He said sitting up.
"I'm not." I said instantly. I climbed up onto his lap so I was straddling him. "I'm serious." I looked him dead in the eyes to show how serious -though neurotic- I was.
"You really want to go get married? Right now?" He asked trying to breath straight.
I nodded enthusiastically. "Uh huh. Shane, I'm sick of running from the future. I just… I want to embrace it. I had this theory of 'get through prom and then think about the wedding'. Guess what? Prom's over and I want to get married." Granted, I was pulling most of this out of nowhere, but it was convincing him, sadly.
"If you really want to get married right now go get Stas and Jason. We need witnesses." I think he was hoping that Jason or Anastasia, more likely Anastasia, would talk me out of it.
I threw on my abandoned shirt and ran down stairs. "Stas! Jason!" I yelled as I ran.
"What?" They came running out of their room half dressed. "What's wrong?"
"Get dressed." I said simply.
"Why?" Anastasia demanded, not looking very happy that she was being interrupted.
"Because Shane and I are going to AC to get married, and you have to come." I ran back up stairs where Shane was still laying in bed. I'd left a confused Anastasia and Jason behind me. "Get up. I'm serious. Let's go." I chided him as I began pulling on a denim skirt and a white tank top. "Is this wedding-y enough?" She teased.
"Y-yeah." He stuttered. He pulled on a black dress shirt to appease me.
"Ooh. Top hat." I threw the object at him. I was really excited and not thinking clearly at all.
"Mitch, baby, are you sure about this?" Shane asked looking down at me.
I thought he was thinking I was going to change my mind, so I attempted to reassure him. "Absolutely. And no one is going to change my mind. I love you and I am sick of waiting."
He smiled tightly, though I couldn't really tell at that point. Ironically, one would think I was drunk or high on something at the moment, but I wasn't. I was completely sober and drug-free. I had this incredible rush of excitement running through me from the thought of marrying Shane.
When we descended the stairs, Anastasia and Jason were waiting for us. "Oh god, you were serious." Anastasia said straight faced and a little worried. "We should call Caitlyn and Nate."
"No! Let them be. They deserve the alone time and they'll only try to change my mind." I saw Anastasia make a face.
"Ooh, do I get to wear a top hat, too?" Jason asked. I nodded. He ran into Nate's room and grabbed the top hat. "Score!"
"Come on, come on!" I urged them. We piled into Anastasia car, since Nate had Shane's.
"Mitch, are you sure about this?" She asked me. I nodded enthusiastically. "Are you sure? Mitchie, you can't undo this-"
"Stas, stop. Please." I demanded softly from the back seat. Shane and her had been exchanging odd looks mot of the ride, but I didn't pay them too much attention.
Shane looked less than thrilled when we got to the little chapel. I was immensely excited, though. Anastasia made a few more attempts to change my mind, but I kept ignoring her. Finally, she left and Jason came in.
"Hey." He said softly. I was waiting a little room while they finished up the ceremonies ahead of ours. We were the only ones not drunk at the moment. I think.
"Hey." I said back equally soft, but smiling. "Jase, don't try to change my mind."
"I'm not." He assured me. "You two can get married when ever you want. I mean, you can always have a real wedding later on. With your parents and Caitlyn and Nate and Sierra and everybody."
Suddenly, doubt was entering my mind. "Yeah."
"I mean, the vow doesn't say how he has to get married, just that he does." I nodded. "Besides, one of us should be able to have fun. Nate already did. Shane should, too." Now I had guilt. They were all going through the same thing. Was I really only getting married so I could stop having to stop?
A knock came to the door. "Your up in 10." The nasally receptionist said through it. I answered back a shaky thank you and started pacing.
"Jason…" I said shakily. "I think I'm making a mistake."
He seemed genuinely surprised. "Really? Why? I thought you loved Shane?"
"I do. I do." I said quickly. "But you're right. I'm being selfish. Oh my god, this is going to kill Shane if I don't go through with this, though. He's going to think I don't want to marry him."
"Why don't I go get Shane, and you and him can talk this out?" Jason suggested. Before I could reply and tell him no, he was already out of the room.
A moment later, Shane came in hesitantly. "Mitch?"
"Shane, I'm sorry." I cried.
He laughed, wrapping his arms around me. "Mitchie, it's fine. I was hoping you'd change your mind."
I stiffened. "You were?"
"Shh. Calm down. I knew you'd end up regretting this and that we'd be getting married for the wrong reasons. How about when we get home, we start seriously planning the wedding? If you still want to get married in the very near future, we will. But not spur of the moment like this."
"I'm sorry." I whimpered, burying my face in his shoulder.
"Come on, let's get back to the house." He pulled back, taking my hand and leading me out of the little room.
"So?" Anastasia asked cautiously.
I shook my head no. "Sorry to disappoint." I said teasingly.
She let out a huge sigh of relief. "You rock, hun." She kissed Jason's cheek. "I did not think you could convince her."
Jason shrugged. "I didn't convince her." He said smiling ever so slightly. "I was agreeing with her."
"Who knew Jason knew reverse psychology?" I asked laughing as we left the little chapel.
"What did I know?" He asked. We laughed at his expense and filed back into the car.
"Not to be the Nate of the night, but hopefully there were no cameras lurking." Anastasia said as she pulled out of her parking spot.
"Nah, we could sue the chapel then. I signed a privacy contract. I was hoping Mitchie would change her mind and forewarned the receptionist." Shane explained.
"But paparazzi isn't the chapel." Anastasia reasoned.
"They assured me that no one ever lurks there because most celebrities get married out in Vegas, not Jersey."
"Oh my god, I didn't even think about paparazzi." I groaned leaning against Shane.
"Shh. It's okay." He assured me. I could only hope he was right.
When we got back the house, Caitlyn and Nate were pacing in the living room looking worried. "Where were you?" Caitlyn demanded when we came in.
"Out." I said simply, giving the others looks.
"At 2:30 in the morning?" She asked.
I shrugged. "Where were you all night?" I threw back.
"On a date."
"Well, we were bored and went to AC." I replied. I couldn't believe I was lying to Caitlyn, but I knew Nate would freak out.
"Why would you go to AC? None of us can gamble…" Nate stated.
"Caitlyn, I need to talk to you." I pulled her into the kitchen.
Quietly, I told her the truth. "Shane and I went to get married because I'm an idiot and I'm so sorry."
"What?" She cried. "You were gonna get married with out me?" She asked quietly.
"At first. But that guilt was one of the reason we didn't. I'm sorry."
She shrugged. "I forgive you." She replied hugging me. "Don't tell Nate." She instructed.
"Got it." I agreed.
We headed back out into the living room. "I'm exhausted." I said dragging Shane up the stairs behind me.
"Remember you still can't have sex!" Anastasia called up to us, laughing.
"I'm sorry." I said as I leaned against the door. Shane was sitting on our bed, looking exhausted. "I don't know what came over me."
"It's fine. I should have fought you harder in the first place. But, just… hearing you say you wanted to get married… I was so happy, I couldn't bring myself to tell you no. I was hoping Stas would convince you once we got there, that didn't happen though. I didn't believe Jason when he said he would talk to you." He admitted.
I stood in front of him, looking down at him as he looked up at me. His hands were resting on the back of my thighs while my hands were in his hair.
"You think 'I'm getting married in August' would be a good enough excuse to push back the dates?" I asked.
He smiled. "Maybe. You serious?" He asked indifferently.
I nodded. "Yeah. That would give me a few weeks to plan. I'm serious Shane, I think tonight I realized… I don't want to wait much longer. Caitlyn was right, I need to stop half-living my life. I need to… just let go and take the chance that this is all going to blow up in our faces."
"It won't." He promised me. "I won't let it."
"I know." I said softly, smiling at him.
"You sure you gonna be able to plan a wedding that fast?"
I shrugged. "Why not? What's there to it? A church, a hall, a caterer, invitations."
"And flowers, and dresses, and wedding parties, and seating arrangements." He added.
I sat down on his lap. "Easy." I dismissed it. "Dress? That's not hard. I found this beautiful dress when we were Prom dress shopping a few weeks ago. It was so pretty. It wasn't white, but like an off-white. Like it was supposed to look aged. And the lace was gorgeous. I couldn't really look at it too closely, though, cause I was trying to find a prom dress."
"Which was beautiful by the way."
I giggled. "Thank you. Anyway, the girls don't have to have making dresses if they don't want them. And what do you mean wedding parties? That's a given. Caitlyn, Anastasia, Nicky and Sierra. And Nate, Jason, Kevin, and… I don't know, you can pick a fourth guy."
"Oh really, wise one. Enlighten me." He paused. "Who is going to be your maid of honor?"
"Duh- Crap." I said slumping against him. "You stole my fun. How can I choose between Sierra and Cait?"
He shrugged. "Don't know, babe."
"How are you going to pick between Nate and Jason?" I asked.
He smiled. "Kevin." My eyes brightened. "No. You can't use my sister." I frowned again. "Don't worry about that part right now. Just… I don't know."
"I love you." I said softly, burying my face in his shoulder.
He kissed the top of my head. "Love you, too."
The next three weeks were once again a blur. Time seems to move faster the older you get. I didn't have to take any finals this year, and I was getting excited for graduation. Shane and I were going to be announcing our tentative wedding plans to everyone at my graduation party. I still hadn't decided between Caitlyn and Sierra, though. It was too hard.
"Can you believe we're graduating tonight?" Caitlyn asked plopping onto the bed next to me.
"Nope. God, Cait, it's over. High School's over. After tonight, it'll all be over."
"What do you mean? We still have college, and you have a wedding to think about in the next couple of years, and then of course, if we're lucky, mine and Nate's and Jason and Stas'. And just think, after that… then we have our lives as adults to look forward, too."
I hadn't actually told Caitlyn about my August wedding yet. Actually, only Mom and Mrs. Grey knew. "You're right, Cait." I smiled, hugging her.
"Come on, let's get ready." She said pushing me off the bed.
Three hours later, we were lined up in a parking lot a block away from the football field in my town. We were marching down to the field and then would take our seats. Anastasia and the guys were up in the stands while Mom, Dad, and Mrs. & Mr. Gellar were in the bleachers on the field, specially placed for the parents. One thing I loved about my school was that we graduated on our football field. It was just… tradition.
Okay, so I loved tradition until it started pouring on us. But we were all too stubborn to move graduation inside. So, we ended up waiting until the storm passed and then lined back up, soaking wet and cold. We all must have looked horrible, but we didn't care.
I waved to Shane and the others as we marched down in front of the stadium seats. I was in one of the last rows since my last name began with a T. We sat through boring speeches being given, except for Sierra's Salutatorian speech. We paid attention to that one. Finally, we were given our diplomas. I cheered as friends of mine went up. "Caitlyn Marie Gellar." Our vice principal announced. I screamed extra loud for her.
I stood nervously in line, waiting. I saw Caitlyn in her seat giving me a thumbs up. I smiled back. I was next. "Michaela Theresa Torres." I stepped up on stage and received my diploma.
I sat back down and took a deep breath. I couldn't believe I had just graduated. In the sky, we saw a rainbow shining brightly, despite the darkening sky as the sun set. It was like a omen. No matter how bad things get, if you hold out, it'll be even better.
We definitely had a graduation to remember.
I really have to scan the pictures of the rainbow from that night. The only difference from my graduation and hers? We had to walk 4 blocks up to the high school during the storm -in heels while it thundered and lightninged- and then wake a grand total of 6 blocks back to the field and down a semi-steep hill -again wet pavement and heels-.