Jagged Edges

I’m not a patient boy, anyone will tell you that. And there is nothing more frustrating than waiting for a college acceptance letter. And it’s not even mine. I’m just anxious. I mean, I already know that he got in, but I don’t know what his reaction will be.

Friday morning, the morning of Treason’s graduation, I get a call from his mom. “It’s here.”

“Finally!” I squeal. “When are you gonna give it to him?”

“When we get home from dinner.” She replies, referring to the celebration planned for after the ceremony. Treason insisted that I be there for both, which means I get to be there when he opens it.

I wait around my house rather impatiently all day, driving my family crazy until it’s time to get ready. I head straight to his house to take pictures with him before he has to go to the city center. His mom pretty much goes crazy, documenting every single moment, but she’s got the right. She raised him for almost eighteen years.

Soon it’s time to go to the center and luckily we’re early enough to get amazing seats. I choose to sit between Amren and their maternal grandfather who’s as sweet as sugar. Over all the ceremony is boring. The speeches aren’t that great, except for the class president’s which is positively inspiring. Then the names begin to be called. We cheer for everyone we know, which is a lot. Then we go absolutely insane for Treason. I can see his blush from here and it’s so cute.

When the last of the names is called, Treason’s handed a guitar and he sings the cheesiest goodbye to his class, courtesy of Mr. Rexroth of course. The entire auditorium goes crazy for him, and he gets to signal the class to turn their tassels.

It’s over nearly half an hour later and then it’s chaos to find him. He’s rather tall though so thankfully it doesn’t take long. He hugs his mom, who’s pretty much bawling, then his dad, whose tears are more subtle but still there nonetheless. His grandparents are next. And then he wraps his arms around me in the tightest hug to date, and kisses me breathless.

“Wow.” I sigh.

“Just had to get it out of my system.” He murmurs.

I grin and pull away, taking his hand and leading him to the car. We choose a local favorite to eat at and thankfully it’s not too crowded so the group gets seated and served relatively quickly. During dessert is when the butterflies pick up in my tummy.

I’m super nervous to see his reaction to the letter. It could make or break the entire night.

When we get to the Gray house, Ms. Laura gathers everyone into the living room and smiles excitedly at Treasons raised eyebrows. “What’s this all about ma?”

“I just wanted everyone here when you opened this.” She says, handing him the envelope.

He reads the address and his forehead crinkles in confusion. If I’m not mistaken, that’s not a look of happy surprise….

Oh no.

Treason tears into the envelope and his eyes scan the paper quickly, not really reading it.

He looks up from the letter, a look of pure confusion written across his face. “But I didn’t-?”

Ms. Laura steps forward smiling. “Honey-“

“Mom, no.” He backs away from her, looking at me.

“Sunny, she didn’t-“

I can hardly get the words out before he’s storming to his room, the letter left to fall to the floor.

I run after him, making it just in time to slip into the door before he slams it. Treason ignores me and slumps onto the bed. I give him his space, deciding to let him cool down before saying anything.

“You knew about this, didn’t you?” He asks after a while.

I swallow and nod. “Your mother and I filled it out for you.”

“You went to my mom? Behind my back?” He clarifies the feeling of betrayal clear in his voice.

“Sunny, we-“

“Don’t Gian. Don’t try to justify this. Don’t you know why I didn’t want to do this in the first place?” He asks, anger bubbling to the surface. “I wanted to be closer to you. I didn’t want to go eight fucking hours away and not be able to kiss you for months on end. Do you know how much torture that would be?”

“You don’t think I want you here?” I demand, suddenly upset myself. “I love you more than life itself and it’ll be hell not being able to be with you every day. But this is an amazing opportunity and it’ll rip me apart knowing that you threw it away, that you’re sitting here in Annapolis instead of Boston, because of me.”

“You shouldn’t blame yourself.” He says softly, crossing the room and taking me in his arms.

“But I’d be all my fault.” I whisper. “Treason, I know you don’t want our relationship to suffer but it wont. I love you more than anything. Nothing could ever change that. One day we’ll make decisions that revolve around our love but now isn’t the time for that. You need to pursue this. In four years, I’ll be a senior in college and you’ll be free to go whatever you want. That’s when our live start revolving around each other. In the meantime, we’ve got summers and holidays.”

“You really think we’ll be together in four years?”

“I know we will be.” I smile up at him.

He kisses me softly and cradles my face between his hands. “Do you really truly want me to go?” I nod, tears in the corners of my eyes. “Then I will.”

I smile and hug him tightly. “Thank you.”