If Only You Could Tell

Chapter Ten

E i g h t   Y e a r s   A g o :

It was finally here. The moment of truth. Elliot stood between her boyfriend, Kyle, and best friend, Greg as their classmates dashed past them, tossing their mortarboards into the air. Through good, bad, idiotic, fun and change, they had made it. It was time for them to step out into the real world and begin building their lives.

Elliot raised her arms, flipping everyone the bird while shouting, "Fuck you all!" She felt free now, nothing to stress about anymore until the coming fall when she would be shipped off to college. Until then, she was free.

"Ell," Kyle shouted, looking at her like she was crazy.

"What are they going to do? You know you want to do it, too. Don't pretend," She said, playfully nudging him with her elbow.

Greg grinned, shrugging at Kyle. "Why the hell not?" He jumped up with his middle fingers high in the air, shouting all sorts of fowl names at the other young adults around him that had given him nothing but hell for four years of his life. "Man, while you're being a buzzkill, can I take Ell for a ride? We'll go around the courtyard and be right back," He said with a wink.

Kyle agreed, trying to cover the grin that dared to break free. He couldn't be upset with either one of them, especially not today. Not while Elliot was so incredibly happy for a truly inexplicable reason. Kyle knew she may not have another moment like this for the longest time.

Greg knelt down facing away from Elliot. "Climb aboard, m'lady." She gladly did. Lifting the bottom of her academic dress, she wrapped her legs around Greg's waist as he took off running and screaming like a maniac.

Elliot rested her head on Greg's shoulder as he sprinted through the open courtyard that was filled with fellow graduates. For the first time, she wasn't concerned with the strange looks being sent towards her. "Wooo hooo!" She and Greg shouted, laughing and cheering as they traveled around the groups of seniors.

"Are you done?" Kyle asked, grinning, after they returned and Elliot jumped down from Greg's grip. Kyle wrapped her arm around Elliot, pulling her into a short and sloppy kiss.

"You don't seem to know us that well, sir," Elliot joked.

"Yeah, you're just jealous that I didn't carry around your fat ass," Greg said with a chuckle.

Kyle punched him jokingly and laughed. "Yes, I'm so jealous. Anyway, I have a proposition."

Elliot placed her index finger on her chin, skeptically looking at Kyle. "And what might that be?"

"I think we should go a camping for the weekend, like a last big hoorah!" He ran his fingers through his long golden locks, pushing them out of his face. "You can't tell me it won't be fun. We can drive out to the mountains, fall asleep under the stars? C'mon..."

  Elliot and Greg shared a look. "You mean in a tent?" She questioned.

"What else, Ell?" Greg asked with a soft laugh. "I'm totally up for it, I just want to know why we need to have a 'last big hoorah,'" Greg said, using his fingers to make quotation marks. "It isn't like this is the last time we're going to see each other."

  Kyle raised his shoulders, attempting to make it seem as if he was playing it off too. "We're going to college soon," he paused, picking and choosing his next words. "And other places, so I thought it would be our last hangout as just people and not college students and such." He gave Elliot a smile that seemed so sweet and shy, the same one she fell in love with.

"I suppose I'm in, but I swear to God if we get stuck in the middle of nowhere with some psycho murderer, I'm blaming you both," Elliot sighed in defeat.