Love Will Keep You Up All Night

The following week was relaxing and stressful at the same time. It was relaxing because I didn’t have to get up early in the mornings for school and I also had the house to myself, I still had to work though, but this was my last full week. The week was stressful because I was graduating on Saturday and I had rehearsals on Friday, my family was coming for my graduation, and I still had my party to put the finishing touches on. I couldn’t help but be excited though because one: I was done with school. Two: I was getting to see all of my family at once. And three: I was going to spend the summer on my own and away from my family.

Friday finally came and I was excited and nervous all at once. A little bit before I had to leave there was a knock at my door, I thought it was Katie because she was giving me a ride to school. When I opened the door I was surprised to see Sidney standing there instead of Katie.

“Sid! What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming until Tuesday afternoon.” I said giving him a hug.

“You’re graduating tomorrow. Do you think I was really going to miss that?” He said kissing me

“You are too sweet.” I turned and looked at the clock. “I have to go. Make yourself at home and I should be home around one.”

“I’ll take you over and pick you up. How does that sound?”

“Okay, thanks.” My phone began to ring. “Hello?” I said answering it after finding out that it as my grandmother.

“Hello Taylor,” Grandma said. “Are you at school yet?”

“No, I’m about to leave.”

“Okay well we are on route three.”

“Um, okay. I’m leaving like now and I won’t be home until one.” I looked over at Sidney and got an idea. “Grandma can you hold on a sec?” When she answered I covered the phone and turned to Sidney. “Would you mind staying here after you drop me off? My aunt and grandparents are on their way and mom won’t be home until four.”

“Not at all.” He said

I uncovered my phone and started talking to grandma again. “Grandma, Sidney will be here when you guys get here.”

“He doesn’t have to be there, we all have a key.”

“Don’t worry about it, he wants to see all of you guys again.” I said that with a smile in his direction and to my surprise he wasn’t upset that I said that. He actually seemed thrilled to be seeing my family again. I raised an eyebrow at him and he just laughed. “Okay grandma I have to go. I’ll see you guys when I get home.”

“Okay sweetie, love you.”

“Love you too.”

I hung up my phone, grabbed my robe, and slipped my shoes on all in one motion. I was running a little late, but I wasn’t worried about it because there was no way that the entire senior class would be there on time. When Sidney dropped me off he kissed me on the cheek as I got out. I saw all my friends standing around outside and they all rolled their eyes at me. I laughed because I knew that they loved Sidney and they knew that I was happy with him. They were also worried about this summer though because they didn’t know if the two of us were ready to live together, and to tell the truth I was a little scared too. I knew that there was only so much of each other that we would be able to take. I waved to Sid as he drove away and walked over to my friends.

Rehearsals were long and emotional, we were only practicing and I found myself crying. Tomorrow was going to be the last day that I was going to see most of these people, my friends. Within the circle of friends that I have had for the past four years, we all promised to visit each other and keep it touch. That was going to be easy because we were all staying in Virginia and all within an hour or so of each other.

Sidney was waiting outside for me like he said he would be. When I opened the door he saw my puffy eyes.

“What’s wrong, Taylor?” He asked concerned

“I don’t want to graduate.” I said, more tears falling down my face.

“Aw, babe it will be okay. You do want to graduate, you just don’t want to lose your friends. You’ll keep in touch with them, because you guys are all so close and the friends that you make in high school are most likely to be your friends for a really long time.” He grabbed my hand. “Plus, you’ll make new friends in college.”

“I know, but I’ve been around all of them for four years. You never realized how long you’ve been in school or known people. Four years is a long time.” I sniffed.

“Come on let’s go back to your house. Your grandparents really want to see you.”

“Okay. So you’re coming tomorrow right?”

“Yes, but I’ll be in the auditorium with your grandparents.”

“No you won’t.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the one ticket that someone was giving away. “I managed to get you a ticket and I would really like for you to be in there with me.” I whispered.

“Aw, babe thank you. You know I want to be there for you.” He kissed my cheek.

When we got home, my house was full. Grandma, grandpa, and Gigi all told me how proud they were and that just made me cry more. I wasn’t ready to become an adult yet. When mom and dad got home from work, we all went out to dinner. Sidney tagged along and I was happy about that. He really got along with my family which was nice. We told my grandparents about us moving in for the summer and of course my grandmother and aunt did not like that. So I pulled the ‘I’m eighteen, I can do what I like’ bit.

We didn’t hang out too late because I wanted to make sure I got enough sleep for tomorrow. I told Sidney to show up at my house around twelve, that way we could take some pictures and go over together. That night I got very little sleep because I was a bundle of emotions that just wouldn't shut off long enough for me to sleep.