He's My Brother's Best Friend and My Enemy, This Can't Be Good!

Seeing Jayden and Parker in their caps and gowns was the weirdest thing I ever experienced. Suddenly they had aged over night. No longer some stupid eighteen year old kids but eighteen year old men who were ready to take on the world.

Our parents were holding an informal photoshoot. I was surprised that no one’s vision was permanently impaired yet. Both mothers weren’t missing any moments for photo opportunities. They practically followed the boys into the bathroom when they changed into their proper attire. The “photoshoot” had then moved to our backyard, where the boys posed for multiple pictures with multiple people.

“I can’t believe you’re actually leaving me,” I said.

“You’re going to be the lone Emmerce,” Jayden teased.

No matter how much my brother annoyed me I was going to miss him. In retrospect I should have hung out with my brother more this year. If I had hung out with Jayden though I wouldn’t have ended up with Parker. As much as I love my brother I was happy to be with Parker.

After another round of sibling pictures, the boys were instructed to pose together. Now, that was a picture worth taking. The boys had pictures together from every graduation ceremony, it only seemed fit to get one last shot. The next time they graduate it’ll be from different schools in different states.

We took a couple group shots before we were broken into couples again. Our moms wanting to document our relationships, I suppose. I stood next to Parker, his arm wrapped around my waist, mine on his back. We both smiled at the camera, but that didn’t stop us from bantering with each other.

“I can’t believe you’re actually graduating Daniels,” I teased.

“You know I’m smart Emmerce,” Parker bit back.

“Maybe a little. I mean you did end up with the smartest girl,” I boosted.

Parker turned away from the camera, bringing our lips together. Even though my eyes were closed, I saw the flash of a camera. After our slightly heated moment we piled into the cars and headed off to the Mass High field, one last time.



The graduation ceremony was beautiful. Mass High had done a good job decorating this year. It wasn’t too long of a ceremony which was good. Everyone was itching to go celebrate anyways. Of course there were a few antics going on on the field. Jason had managed to smuggle in beach balls that the other seniors, mainly the football boys, were blowing up and tossing around. The administration wasn’t too happy but everyone else was.

Everyone was currently migrating on to the field to congratulate the graduates and annoy them with another round of photo ops. Max ended up taking Parker’s extra ticket so him, Miranda, and I all sat together. We were also the first ones on to the field, knowing the shortcuts that the parents didn’t. We immediately found Jayden and Parker.

“I’m so proud of you guys!” I shouted, hugging both of them.

“What about us?” Jared questioned.

Everyone else was closely behind him. Miranda quickly ran to congratulate Ashley and Sam. I stayed with the boys, waiting for everyone’s family to make their way to the field.

“So, what’s the plan tonight?” Jason asked.

Leave it to Jason to only care about where they were partying tonight. It’s not like they just accomplished a major life achievement or anything.

“Our house first. That way we can eat and pretend to be civil for a while,” Jayden said.

“And then the party really starts,” Jason said.

Jason had invited the entire graduating senior class to his house at ten tonight. There was no way he was leaving high school without going out with a bang. Half the school was going to end up being there.

Before we left our parents took another round of pictures. The best being one of all the boys together. It felt like an era was ending seeing them all standing together in their graduation gowns. Max jumped in the picture at one point too. He was an original member of their clique after all. Somehow I ended up in one of the pictures, standing in the middle of all the boys. I was finally one of them.



“Can I have your guys’ attention?” My mother shouted.

Our living room suddenly got ridiculously quiet. The boys chatter ending as they directed their attention to my mother. She was beaming, obviously proud of getting their attention after I told her it wasn’t going to work.

“As you all know Jayden and Parker have been together for a long time. As a reminder of all the great years they shared, Josylne has put together a slide show of memories.”

That was my cue to start the show. I hit the play button on my laptop, praying that it would connect to the television. I let out a breath when it started playing, music and pictures in sync. The room watched intently. As pictures kept coming laughter ensued and chatter started as memories were being remembered.

The last slide was a picture of them that was taken tonight. The music slowly faded out and applause filled the room. Parker’s mom quickly took control of the room, before the boys got distracted once more.

“We just want to say we are so proud of you boys, all of you for that matter. You will go on to do great things. Now, go on and get to your next party,” Parkers mom said.

The room cleared out as everyone was heading over to Jason’s house. I tried to stay behind to help clean up the house but Parker wasn’t allowing it. He wanted to spend the night with me. We ended up carpooling to Jason’s with Max and Ava.



“Here’s too the class of 2014!” Jason shouted, in between shots of alcohol.

In typical Manchaster party fashion, the house was stocked with a variety of alcohol. The music was loud, but not loud enough for a noise complaint and people were everywhere.

Most of the attendees were graduating seniors, celebrating their achievements by downing large amounts of alcohol. By the looks of it they were training for college parties. The party had only been going on for an hour but there were already people puking in the bathroom and couples in the midst of heated moments behind doors.

Ava and I were currently hanging out in the backyard, having lost sight of our boyfriends half and hour ago. Both of them had went to get something to drink, leaving us in the backyard. Neither one of us wanted to venture back in the house to find them. 

“So who becomes the party house next year?” Ava asked.

“Jason has a younger brother who’s a freshman next year, so it’ll probably still be the Manchaster house. Though the seniors might pick a new spot.”

There were three Manchaster boys, Jason was the one in the middle. His older brother started the Manchaster party boy rep and Jason had followed in his footsteps. Jason’s brother graduated and he started high school the next year, passing the torch to Jason. It only made sense for Asher to follow.



“Do ya’ll really think you’re going to last next year?” Jason slurred. He was currently questioning Jared and Ashley’s relationship.

“Jas you’re not in Texas yet, quit it with the southern drawl already,” Ashley giggled.

The party had began to slow down, as people went home to try to meet their curfews. At around 2 the house was empty leaving the eleven us, sprawled out on the floor in Jason’s garage-the only place that hadn’t been touched by the party guests. As the alcohol, exhaustion and reality began to set in so did a wide variety of conversations.

“I can’t believe we’re done with high school,” Jared said. He took another sip from his cup, which had been continuously filled throughout the duration of the night.

“None of you are going to remember graduating,” I chuckled. They all had too much to drink, even Parker and Max were at a questioning alcohol limit.

“You’d be drinking too if your entire life was changing too,” Sam mumbled.

It was the time of night when everyone was getting emotional over their future. Listening to them all talk about their new lives was terrifying. I wasn’t far behind them and unlike them I had no idea what I was going to do. I decided I needed my own drink to shush my thoughts.



I woke up to the sun beating down on my face. Opening my eyes I remembered that we had all crashed at Jason’s. After another round of drinks last night everyone decided they were in no condition to drive. The sudden brightness of the sun sent a shooting pain through my head. It was then I remembered that I ended up having a couple drinks last night. I only had two and my head was splitting, I had the worst alcohol tolerance.

Everyone appeared to be sleeping so I tried to fall back to sleep. I nuzzled into Parker’s neck again. His grip on me tightened, indicating that I had woken him.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I whispered.

“S’okay,” he breathed.

He brought out lips together briefly, before pulling away. The kiss tasted like alcohol a clear indictor that both of us had a little too much last night. I grimaced as he began sitting up, pulling me up with him.

“I have such a headache,” I whined.

Parker chuckled, placing a kiss to my temples. “You’re such a lightweight babe.”

“If I remember correctly you only had one more drink than I did,” I whispered.

“I’m not the one who’s complaining about a headache, now am I.”

I whined once again as Parker tugged me up from the floor. He ushered me out of the garage, toward the bathroom that held over the counter medication. After he had the two pills in his hand he pushed me toward the kitchen, pouring me a glass of water and forcing me to down the pills. I took this time to look at the clock, it read six o’clock meaning we had only been asleep for a max of two hours. I groaned. Parker ushered us both into the backyard. We sat on the grass watching the sun finish rising. The medication quickly kicked in as my headache subsided, allowing me to enjoy this moment with Parker.

“How are you feeling?” Parker asked.

“Better. I’m never drinking again though,” I said, causing Parker to chuckle. This time it was my turn to kiss him, my face turning to disgust as the smell of alcohol was eminent on his breath. “You spell like a bar.”

“Your breath ain’t too peachy either princess,” Parker teased.

I pushed him playfully, trying to distract him from the growing redness of my face. He instinctively cuddled closer to me, as the sun rise began to end. We sat in comfortable silence for a while. It felt like the perfect ending to the day we had and a perfect beginning to this one.

These next couple months were going to be all about embracing each day and making it perfect. In a couple weeks I’d be in LA with Parker and in a few months he’d be there for good. Everything was going to change. I was going to have to figure out my future sooner than later. I tried to push those thoughts to the back of my head, wanting to cherish this moment.

“2,945 miles is a long ways away,” I mumbled, defeated by my inner thoughts.

“Josylne, I waited eight years to get you to be mine. I’m not worried about being 2,945 miles away from you.”

“Promise?”

“It’s you and me forever babe,” Parker said, sealing the promise with a kiss.