The Summer I Fell In Love

The end of a chapter

Everything in my life was pretty normal. Get up every day at six o'clock in the morning, pour myself a cup of coffee and have a couple of smokes- it was a standard breakfast for me, never felt the need to eat the moment I woke up. I'd go to work, serving teas and coffees in a care home, cleaning up after the most obnoxious dramatic little man I've ever met and had to co operate with, get frustrated and then come home to my bed.
There wasn't much going on in the world, aside your usual wars about religion or among other things like politics. The fact press wouldn't give the royals any privacy and they'd be all over the news and I'd hear it on the radio at work every single morning I arrive. Most headlines would be "Where is Kate Mideltone"  or "our dear King Charles has cancer". The usual stuff the tabloids could get their hands on because they can't respect anybody's privacy.
It's the day of my graduation, finally awarded a piece of paper that I can do English literature. Where I am rewarded in wearing a baggy black and red robe and a cap I can salute the directors of my university as I walk down the cathedral. I hoped to have been more excited about it than I let off. But here I am, sipping on a cup of coffee staring out into the endless fields and watching the farmers cut their fields so it doesn't get too over crowded with their crops.
My mother bought my graduation dress, its red and sleek and has tiny straps to go over my shoulders.the night dawns on me as I realise I have to do further socialising and wave goodbye to my fellow classmates and sign off my tenancy agreement.
"I'm just popping to the shop to grab some champagne and wine for your graduation party love," my mother says excitedly and pulls me into a hug and kisses my head. She has the look of being proud of me, I know she doesn't have to say it with words so I exchange a smile back and nod as she grabs her keys on the side and leaves me to my own demise.

As I watch my mother leave, her excitement for my graduation party fills the room. I can't help but feel a surge of gratitude for her unwavering support throughout the years. With a mix of nerves and anticipation, I start preparing for the celebration, reflecting on the journey that led me to this moment.
I head up to my room, my bed neatly made and my dress hanging up on my wardrobe along with my robe. The cap is laid neatly on my make up desk, along with my curlers and the rest of my make up.
I wanted to go for a simple look but my mother insisted I go glamour, curl my hair which is frustratingly long. I wouldn't ever cut it though, I have been short before and i really did not like it. I perch myself on the white chair and stare at myself in the mirror figuring out where I would want to start.
Hair first.
At least I'll get that done and out the way as make up takes me an hour to do if I'm doing it properly. The curlers are scorching hot already so I start sectioning my hair into smaller ones so I can see how much I have to curl. I always start at the front because it's easier.
Crap.
I flinch as I start to grab the strand of hair on the side of my face and burnt my head slightly, leaving a little bright red mark. I carry on though, I want to look my best for my graduation photos as I know they will be on my mothers mantel for as long as she can have them.
We also have a celebration after party after the graduation ceremony, so I'm really excited to get shit faced drunk the last time that my body could handle.
Carefully sectioning my hair whilst I am curling it , I can feel the heat radiate on my scalp. I power through.
This is it. I think to myself as I have created the master piece out of my hair, sighing in relief. Today ends the chapter of being a teenager and I'll be a real adult in the real world.
Half way through the getting ready ritual, my mother knocks gently on my door and peeps her head and small very fancy champagne n glasses and asks if I'd like one.
Of course.
She pulls the door wide open and I hear another squeal, my roomate and best friend coming in, already flawlessly dressed up and coming over to giving me a hu whilst my mum figures out how to open a champagne bottle with a corkscrew for the lid. I always panic when there is a bottle of champagne involved, the corkscrew is so strong that it's force could possibly break through my bedroom window into tiny pieces of glass. Thankfully of course, it was fine, but a lot of flinching of that thought happened. What did happen in real life though was that the champagne was so carbonated it overflew the moment it was released from the corkscrew and all over my wooden floor.
I could hear the clinks of the bottle against the little cheap champagne flutes my mother bought us out of our graduation.
Eventually, after quite a few drinks till we finished the bottle, we headed over to the cathedral in a cab .
I think sometimes in life you have no clue what you're doing and you're just there for the ride. My best friend always seems like she has it together more than I do. Stressing to be the perfectionist everybody expects you to be in life is probably what would hurt you the most.
As the cab came to a halt to the cathedral, me and my best friend Luna sat in the back whilst my excited mother grabs the cash out of her purse, she was even in a good enough mood she tipped the taxi driver an extra ten pounds.
I'm sat preserved, staring at the dauntingly yet beautiful cathedral gates that await our presence, whilst I have Luna tugging at my arm, barely containing her squeals of eagerness to get in there.
"Evelyn, we made it!" She sighs a relief sigh, calming herself down as she realised that we had to start preparing ourselves to become professional graduates who will briefly meet our heads of the university for some lousy firm hand shake and a nod and be on our way.
I think she's most definitely not excited the most about recieving her certificate, but more or less getting on with every single hot guy at the after party she would never have to see again.
We get out of the car and my mum turns to me to fix my hair and my gown, she's nervous for me so I shrug her off and give her a quick cuddle. Luna on the other hand, has dropped her gold glittery purse on the floor and a couple of five pounds notes fall swiftly on the floor, right by a pair of Italian leather boots. She scurries over in her black heels and goes to pick them up discreetly as possible, but what I presume is family right in front of the guy notices her kneeling on the ground for her money end up looking distraught and confused.
He eventually turns around and notices Luna, sheepish and embarrassed he smiles and gets down on her level and they make swift eye contact for a moment.
I can see the tall Italian man exchange a slight wink at Luna and tilts his graduation cap at her as a sign of respect, picking up her money and handing it to her in the process.
She stupidly curtsies and rushes quickly back over to me and my mother.
"How embarrassing was it?" Luna groans, hiding her face in her hands and shaking frantically for a second. I find myself grinning and mimicking her curtsy. And she gently pushes my shoulder playfully.
"Oh stop it!" She laughs nervously at me.
"You were so into him!" I exclaim , making her blush so hard that her rosy pink cheeks shine right through her makeup. Luna swiftly turns her head to see if he was still there, and her face turned into a glimpse of sadness but a sigh of relief.
"He must have gone inside to claim their seats already." I try re assuring her. She smacks her lips together and shrugs it off.
"It's fine, honestly he probably has a lot of girls after him anyway." She says, pretending not to scope around the cathedral grounds for the mystery Italian man.
Luna always had a way with men, her stunning presence and beauty was always the thing that people noticed about her. She wouldn't even have to try and she would quite literally have people fall at her feet. Little does she realise I envy her every day for it . I reply with a laugh and my mother gathers us together for a photo before heading into the cathedral. She asks a complete stranger to see if she could get one for the three of us.
We posed and she got her camera back and we headed to follow the cue that was so long to get inside the very large cathedral.