Forever and Always

Chapter 46

"A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success."

Graduation Day - 2 Years Later

(Part 1 of 2)

Yep, graduation. The day we toss our caps up in the air, showing how smart we are by throwing pointy and sharp objects above our heads. Funny, isn't it.

It's been almost three years since Y/n and I met. We've been dating for about two and a half of those years. It's crazy.

Y/n was offered a scholarship to the Parsons School of Design. She accepted. Apparently, they are a really good school for art majors and that type of stuff.

I applied for MIT and Columbia University. There were a few other minor colleges I applied for as well, but those two were the ones I was hoping to get a reply from. MIT would be a great school to go to, as would Columbia. There was no guarantee I would get into either but you never know, I might get lucky.

MIT: 3 hours and 26 minutes away from Y/n's school.

Columbia: 20 minutes.

I was leaning more towards Columbia since it would only be a twenty minute drive between Y/n's school and mine. If I went there, we could rent an apartment and live off campus.

But if I went to MIT, it would be a 3 and a half hour drive. No living together. No constant visits. No waking up to Y/n's beautiful and adorable bed head in the morning. No guarantee we could pull off the long distance thing.

Damn it, Peter. Quit thinking like that.

I stared at the ceiling, my hand tucked underneath my head and my other pulling Y/n, who was laying on my chest, closer to me while stroking my thumb across her bare arm.

I had been up since 5:00 am. I woke up due to another nightmare, same as last time. Thankfully I didn't wake up Y/n. I couldn't sleep so I ended up just thinking about graduation and college. It was now 8:05 am.

I felt Y/n stir in her sleep underneath my arm. She made a sleepy noise and buried her face farther into my shirt.

"Goodmorning." I spoke, kissing the top of her head.

"Mhmm." She hummed.

I smiled and went back to staring at the ceiling. After a few seconds Y/n spoke again.

"How long have you been up?" She asked.

"Since five." I responded.

"Dream?"

I nodded.

"You could've woke me up, Pete."

"You looked so peaceful and I'm fine. My mind was racing about stuff anyway. I wouldn't have been able to go back to sleep either way." I informed.

"What's on your mind?" She asked.

"Just college and graduation stuff."

"Like what?"

"What if I don't get into Columbia? What if I get stuck at some crappy college across the country from you and we break up because we never see each other anymore and thenyoufindsomeotherguyandmarryhimandcompletelyforgetaboutme." I spoke, my voice getting progressively faster and higher in pitch as I neared the final words.

"I won't meet another guy. I won't forget you. And we will not break up. I love you." She leaned up and kissed my jaw.

"Even if we'll be hours apart and never get to see each other?"

"Yes, Pete."

I looked down at her and sofly pressed my lips to hers.

"I love you too." I spoke as I pulled away.

She smiled and ran her hand through the messy mop of curls on top of my head.

"We should get ready. Graduation is in a few hours and MJ and Ned are coming over soon." She stated.

I nodded and pressed another kiss to her lips as she got up and walked out of the room. I got up shortly after and made my way into the bathroom after Y/n was done. I took a shower and brushed my teeth before throwing on a pair of sweatpants and a black t-shirt and heading into the kitchen for breakfast.

We both ate breakfast before MJ and Ned just walked into the apartment. I'm not sure why I even gave them a key. We all got ready for graduation together after catching up on some stuff.

I pulled on a white button up shirt with a black tie, black jeans, and a pair of black and white Nikes. I slid my phone into my pocket and walked out of the room to meet up with Y/n. She was wearing an outfit pretty similar to mine. A white dress shirt/tank top thing with black jeans and a pair of black and white Converse.

"Damn, Parker. You copying me now?" She teased.

"I was going to ask you the same." I laughed.

"Okay, all of you, go outside. We're taking pictures." May ordered, pushing MJ, Ned, Y/n, and I out the door of the apartment.

Since the outside of our apartment building isn't the best for taking pictures, we went up to the roof which Y/n and I may or may not have turned into the perfect date spot. There were now newer lounge chairs, a picnic table, those same string lights around the gazebo structure, flowers, and it wasn't covered in dust and dried up leaves anymore.

The four of us stood in the center of the gazebo structure. MJ and Y/n stood in between Ned and I. I draped my arm around Y/n's shoulders and she wrapped hers around my waist. MJ kinda just stood there as Ned wrapped his arm around her shoulders and Y/n wrapped her other arm around MJ's waist.

"Smile!" May cheered.

We smiled. MJ did her signature 'I don't want my picture taken, this is the biggest smile you're gonna get' face. May took the picture, along with several other ones with different poses. A few of all of us, a few of each of us separately, a few of MJ and Y/n, a few of Ned and I, MJ and I, Ned and Y/n, Ned and MJ. You get the point. We got May to come into a few of the photos as well.

My favorite, however, was a photo of just Y/n and I. We were facing each other. My arms were wrapped around her shoulders and hers were wrapped around my waist. We both had huge smiles on our faces as I had my head resting on top of hers which was resting on my collarbone.

We finished up taking pictures and getting ready before heading out of the building and piling into mine car and May's, starting our journey to the school.