Serendipity ↬ COMPLETE

Epilogue

•Four Years Later•

"Life is the most exciting opportunity we have. But we have one shot. You graduate from college once, and that's it. You're going out of that nest. And you have to find that courage that's deep, deep, deep in there. Every step of the way." -Andrew Shue

Today was the day.

Holy crap.

I was graduating today!

I was getting my diploma and then I had a job waiting for me in Orlando. I was so excited.

I was going to be an elementary school teacher. I was going to get to work with kids every day for my entire career.

I was in my bedroom, eyeing my outfit that Rowan and Kendra helped me buy. It was a simple white dress with spaghetti straps and a form fitting bodice. The end of my dress was in halfway above my knee.

My hair was curled and they applied a light amount of make up to my cheeks. My neck adorned a gold necklace with a bow charm and my wrist adorned a matching gold bow bracelet. My feet wore a pair of navy blue closed toe wedges to match with my black graduation gown.

It was definitely different from my usual attire. I missed my boots already.

Rowan and Kendra looked at me, pleased with their work.

Rowan was dressed in a cream color strapless cocktail dress that fit every curve of her body. She had her hair pulled up and she wore a little bit of blush and eyeshadow. Her neck adorned a silver heart pendant necklace-given to her by Riley- and she wore a pair of black closed toed stilettos. Gorgeous like always.

Kendra was wearing a grey strapless skater dress and a maroon leather jacket. She didn't wear any jewelry, and her hair hung down her face in light waves. She was wearing a pair of black closed toed heels, like Rowan.

"Everyone is waiting for us. Are you ready?" Rowan asked, holding my gown and cap.

I decorated my cap with the Rowan and Kendra's help. We used fabric paint and we wrote "We could take on the world or just do nothing." Yeah, we stole the lyrics from Model, but hey, it works. The guys didn't know yet and I wanted to wait until after graduation to show them, so Kendra was holding the gown over my cap.

I took a deep breath and took one last look at myself.

"You look great, Lani! Let's go," Kendra scolded playfully.

We laughed at left my room.

Rowan and Kendra walked in front of me and then stopped at the end of the hallway. Before I could ask why, Rowan cleared her throat. "Introducing our UCF graduate: Leilani Marie Tomlin!" she laughed as the two of them stepped aside and everyone in the room started clapping. I blushed, but laughed.

"Honey, you look so beautiful!" my mother gushed as she gave me a careful hug.

"Thanks, Mom," I smiled.

"Leilani, honey," my dad said.

I looked over at him and gaped when I saw who was standing next to my dad.

"Hey, there, girly," she said.

"Alexis!" I squealed. I ran over to my best friend and hugged her tightly. "I didn't think you were gonna make it!" I squealed.

She laughed. "I was not gonna to miss my best friend graduate from college," she laughed.

I laughed with her and released her from my hug. I looked beside her and saw my little niece four, Alexis's daughter, Megan.