All Yours Somehow

May 2010

“Cap and gown?” John said, as he walked into my room. “That can only mean one thing!”

“I can’t believe it’s finally here,” I told him, looking at my graduation clothes on my bed. “It’s been a long time coming.”

“It certainly has,” John sighed, laying back on my bed. “Weird to think how different everything could have been. I mean, I could have been up there with you today.”

“Yeah right,” I laughed.

“Alright, so I probably wouldn’t have,” John laughed back.

I finished styling my hair and doing my make up before changing into the dress I had decided to wear for my graduation and grabbed my cap and gown for the ceremony. We walked out into the living room to find Holly and Halvo already sat waiting.

“Han! You look gorgeous!” Holly said, jumping up from the couch. “Can you believe we’re graduating today?!”

“I know! It’s a big day for us,” I smiled. “You look amazing too by the way.”

“Thanks, babe,” she smiled.

“We should get going if we don’t want to be late,” I said.

“What about your parents?” John asked.

“Oh, they’re going to meet us there,” I said. “They’re bringing Summer too, good thing we each got four tickets.”

The four of us made our way to the campus for the last time as college students, Holly and me anyway. A strange feeling took over me as we got close, as if something in me felt like it was time to start growing up. As we got out of the car and walked towards where the ceremony was going to take place, John took my hand and squeezed it.

“Mom?” I said, spotting her in the crowd and running towards her leaving John, Holly and Halvo behind.

“Hannah!” she smiled, turning around.

“Where’s Dad and Summer?”

“Oh, they’ve gone to find our seats already, but I just wanted to see my baby one more time before she becomes a woman and graduates from college,” she told me. “Now let me get some pictures of you!”

“Oh Mom,” I said, getting embarrassed.

“Hey Anna,” John smiled at my mom as he got close.

“John how are you sweetie?” she asked, pulling him in for a hug. She took dozens of photos of the four of us and got Holly to take some of me and her and also with John. “Come on, honey, let’s find our seats and chat,” she said, grabbing John’s arms. “See you on the other side, Hannah!”

“Erm, yeah thanks,” I said, as she went to walk away. John let go of her grip and stepped over to me.

“Good luck, baby,” he whispered in my ear. “I’m so proud of you and can’t wait to see you on that stage.”

He kissed my forehead and walked off with my mom.

‘Hey, I’m going to join your parents too,” Halvo told Holly, kissing her cheek and following after John and my mom.

“You’re so lucky,” Holly sighed. “John’s such a great guy and everyone loves him.”

“I know. You know everyone loves Halvo too, right?” I smiled. “Right, I think it’s about time we got these gowns on.”

Holly and I helped each other into our gowns and joined everyone else. All around us were people who were buzzing, all dressed just as we were.

“OK everyone, get into your places, we’re starting in 5!” someone yelled.

“Here goes nothing!” Holly squealed.

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“There’s my college graduate girlfriend!” John said, running up to me and picking me up and swinging me around.

“John, what are you doing?” I giggled.

“I’m just so happy seeing you up there!” he grinned putting me down. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” I smiled. “In fact, I have something to ask you, but not right now.”

“Keeping me in suspense?” he raised his eyebrows. “That’s also called teasing, Miss Frazier.”

We stayed with everyone for a while longer, mingling with my parents, Holly’s family and a lot of my other friends from college. The mood couldn’t have been better, everyone was smiling and laughing, it was a good day.

As people started leaving and the crowd got smaller, I knew now was the time to talk to John.

“Hey, wanna take a walk?” I said to him and we excused ourselves from the group we were with. We wandered through the campus, which was a strange feeling in itself as I knew I wouldn’t walk these grounds again any time soon. We found a bench a fair distance away from everyone else and took a seat.

“So what was it you wanted to ask me?” he half smiled.

“Right, well, you know how I have the lake house?” I began and he nodded. “And you know how I said I’d move in once I graduated?” I continued and again he nodded. “Well, I’ve been thinking a lot lately and I know we’ve only been back together for a few months now, but this feels good and it feels different to before,” I paused, as I looked at his smiling face. “John, I’m going to move into the lake house soon and I want you to move in with me.”

“What?” he said, suddenly looking shocked.

“I know, it’s a big jump but I’d really love it if you would,” I told him. “John, would you like to move in together?”

“Yes!” he grinned, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me closer. “Of course I would.”

“This will be good right?” I asked.

“This will be perfect,” he said, kissing my lips.

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November 2010

“John, have you seen my white shirt?” I asked, throwing clothes from my closet to our room.

“No, babe, I haven’t,” he said, rolling over in bed and pulling the sheets up over his head.

“John I need to go to work!” I said. “HELP ME!”

“I’ll help you after 10 o’clock,” he mumbled.

I let out a groan and continued searching through my clothes. In the end I settled for different top, threw it on and walked back into our bedroom.

It had been six months since me and John had moved in together. Things were going great. I had graduated and found myself a job at a local publishing company which was bringing in a pretty good wage every month. John was still touring with The Maine and I still didn’t go to many of their shows, but it was much easier for us to handle being apart when he was on the road knowing that when he came home, he was coming back to our home.

The feeling I got when I woke up every morning to see him laying next to me hadn’t disappeared so far and I hoped it never would. His messy hair, bright green eyes and crooked smile that greeted me made my heart skip a beat each day.

I walked around the room and did little things as I finished getting ready for work. I was sat at my dresser when I saw his body moving under the sheets in the reflection of the mirror.

“I love you,” he said, pulling the sheets down from his face. “Come and lay with me.”

“I can’t, I have work,” I said, apply some blusher.

“Just two minutes, please?” he asked.

I turned round to face him and smiled, “I’d love to lay there with you all day, John, but I have to go earn some money.”

“Just call in sick or something,” he moaned.

“I’m afraid it’s not that easy,” I told him. I stood up and walked over to the bed, climb on it and straddled his waist on top of the sheets.

“Oh, but it so is,” he grinned, as I felt my heart beat speed up.

“Urgh, why d’you have to be so sexy when you smile?” I shook my head.

“You know you love it!”

“You’re right, I do!” I laughed. “You’re going to be the death of me one day, O’Callaghan,” I said, bending down to kiss his lips before rolling off his lap and standing up. “I’ll see you about 5.30,” I told him as I pick up my bag and walked out of the room.

“I’ll be here, waiting!” he called after me.

As I walked out of the house to my car, I smiled to myself at how perfect my life had become in the past eight months.