Life Without Warning

Prologue

"Beep beep beep beep beep."

"Ughhhh." I groaned as I rolled over to turn off my alarm clock which read 8:00 am. "Another stupid day of stup-" and then it hit me. Today was the day that I, Weston Reid would graduate with my Masters degree in Film and Photography along with a Literature degree from Stanford University. This basically means that I can be a professional studio photographer, a director, an author, or a movie filmer of any sort.

I shot out of bed and picked up my phone. I quickly composed a text to my best friend, Hunter Marsh, saying:

Me: WAKE UP WAKE UP. REMEMBER WHAT TODAY IS?!

I set my phone down and made a quick checklist in mind.

First: let me hop out the mother-- no stop, be serious. First, take a shower and get dressed. Next, gather my cap and gown and speech and phone and wallet. Next, meet Hunter in the Café for breakfast and rehearse our speeches. Got it? Got it.

I quickly scurried around the room in search of my towel, being careful not to wake my roommate, Ethan White.

"I swear I put it right here on the chair." I mumbled as I looked for my towel. Oh here it is. I slung it across my shoulder and grabbed my grey Calvin Klein boxer briefs. I walked into our dorm bathroom and locked the door. I turned on the shower to warm. I stripped from my clothes and hopped in. After about five minutes I hopped back out of the shower. I ran my hand through my hair in attempt to get some water out of the hair. I dried my body a put my boxers on. I wrapped my towel around my waist and walked out of the bathroom. As I walked out, I saw a groggy and tired Ethan rolling out of bed.

"Hey man! Hurry up, the ceremony starts at 11:30." I said to him as I got dressed in my beige khakis pants, white button down shirt with a grey tie and my grey chukkas (look it up if you don't know what they are😅.) I pulled my belt around my waist and tucked in my shirt. I adjusted my collar and ran my hands brought my chocolate-colored hair and kind of styled it into a modern day, short haired "quiff". I stared at my reflection. A 24 year old brown hair, green eyed, 6'1 guy stared back at me. I've been called attractive in the past
but I just see myself as a normal guy.

"Uggghhhhhh. As much as I'm excited for this day, I honestly don't want to get out of bed." he mumbled as he got up and stretched.

"Oh well, just get up and get ready. Do you wanna come to the Cafe with me after you get ready? Me and Hunter are practicing our speeches." I asked Ethan as I sprayed a small amount of cologne on my neck and wrist. Apparently, I had sprayed too much because that sentence was followed with a loud and short sneeze.

"Sure." he replied. "Just give me like fifteen minutes to get ready."

"Okay." I said as I rolled up my sleeves to my mid-arm.

I got this.

I gathered up my cap and gown along with my speech, my wallet and my phone and sat in the desk chair and scrolled through my phone while I waited for Ethan.

About 15 minutes later, me and Ethan were walking down the hall, making our way to the Café.

"God, I've always dreamed of this day but I never thought I would be this nervous." I said as I pushed the elevator button.

"Ah, come on man, we got this. All we have to do is walk up on the stage, receive our diploma and say a few words." Ethan replies.

"That's not what I'm nervous about. After this, that's it. We're done. We're out in the world. Nobody to guide us or show us the ropes. We have to protect ourselves, provide for ourselves, and do everything for ourselves." I said as we stood in the elevator.