You're Mine

19: Some Light Reading

Rose's Perspective

Before I knew it, they were calling my name and my heels sounded lightly as I stepped on the stage to accept my diploma. I looked out at the people before me, so many that I didn't know and so many that I had gotten to know so well. I shook hands with the principal and he handed me a piece of paper that signified the ending of my old life as I knew it.

For a moment, I thought of my mother. She was so proud of me and so excited for all that would come in my future. I was grateful that she was alive to see this and grateful that I got to do this part of high school with her in my corner after all we had been through. I stepped off the stage and returned to my seat as the rest of the ceremony dragged on.

I recalled just before the ceremony when Zander introduced my mom to Clayton and Angel. She was astonished by how kind they were and she mentioned to me that everyone who spoke about them had nothing but great things to say each time. I hoped she would be accepting of the transitions that were quickly approaching. I had mentioned to her in the few days prior that Zander would be taking a job working a job for his parents' 'company' after graduation and he would be working locally. I think she was picking up that I wanted to be a little more present with my future family than she was with us growing up and that I wasn't intending to travel for work, which would rule out the job she always imagined me doing inside of her business. My mother knew I didn't hold anything against her for the career she built in my childhood, but we had talked more than once about my feelings for Zander and how excited I was to have a family with him one day. She even admitted that she could tell my feelings for him were different than anything she ever experienced with my father. She admired how Zander protected my heart and my emotional wellbeing and it saddened me that she had never experienced that before.

Finally the ceremony ended and Zander and I found each other easily in the crowd. He snapped a picture of my mother and I together and my mother took several photos of us together. When we had finished, we walked over to the Thompsons and they asked me to join in their family photo as well and I felt a new level of awareness of my relationship with Zander in that moment. Years later we would look back at these moments and remember sharing them together. Thinking of spending the rest of my life as a part of this family was emotional for me. I never had family that loved each other like the Thompson family did and it was so beautiful to see.

After conversation amongst our families had died down, I turned to my mother and explained my plans for the upcoming weeks. I told her that Clay and Angel had surprised Zander and his siblings with a camping trip that would last a week or so and they really wanted to have me there with them. My mother seemed excited for me and we returned to her house so I could pack my clothes. Zander followed us in his truck and trailed closely behind me as I walked back to my room to gather my things.

"Does it feel real yet?" Zander asked me calmly.

"Graduation?" I asked with a confused expression.

"All of it," he said smiling.

"Graduation feels good to finally have checked off my list, but I can't say I've fully wrapped my head around how the rest of this evening will go," I admitted honestly. "I am ready for it to be real though," I added.

"I haven't stopped thinking about it since you asked me," Zander said as he dropped down onto my bed and laid on his back with his legs dangling over the side.

"Does it feel real for you?" I asked him with a smile as I sat down next to him. He wrapped an arm around me and looked at me before responding.

"Yes, but I'm in the opposite position as you," he laughed. "It felt unreal to me at first that you are human. So for me, it's a little different," he explained.