folklore; conrad fisher

36: cap and gown

Conrad sent Belly another text around 7 in the morning, and miraculously, he got a reply.

he's awake, we're fine

thank you, again, for connecting us with the neurologist

Conrad let out a long-held sigh of relief, "He's awake."

I jolted myself towards him, rubbing my eyes and looking at the phone screen. I could feel the tears welling up once more, but these ones were of complete joy. My best friend, Steven, survived this. I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

We hugged as a celebration of his recovery, and after a whole night awake, we allowed ourselves to sleep. We got under my covers and immediately knocked out, waking up much later into the afternoon.

When I finally woke up, his arm was still wrapped around me. He was asleep beside me, his face peaceful, now that his eyebrows weren't furrowed and his lips weren't downturned into a frown. His skin looked more worn now than it was when we were younger, but I could still spot the faint freckles underneath his eyes. I used to kiss them all when I was 17.

It was a weird thought, that there was a period of time where we were like that. It seemed so removed now. But here he was in my bed, fast asleep, and all I could think was: we'd been here before.

Conrad woke up not long after, releasing his arm from underneath me to stretch. I was still laying down then, he looked at me and smiled.

He began dressing himself, "I should get going, thanks for letting me stay. I'll see you at your graduation."

"No, thank you, Conrad," I said, getting up, "You really helped me out yesterday."

"You too."

He pressed his lips into his normal, thinned smile. He patted my shoulder and threw his button down over his shoulder before leaving the room. I heard him say goodbye to Angelika, followed by the sound of the door closing.

I opened my phone, mortified to see a myriad of missed calls from my mother. With everything that had gone on with Steven the previous night, I'd completely forgotten that my family was due to arrive today for my graduation. I was supposed to pick them up from the airport that morning.

I immediately got up, taking my pajamas off and tossing them across the room. I called my mom, holding my phone with my shoulder, trying to squish it up to my ear as I shoved on a pair of jeans.

"Good morning, sunshine." She said, sarcastically.

"Sorry mom, last night was so crazy."

"Are you hungover?"

"No!" I exclaimed, moving my phone to my hand now that my jeans were on. I rustled through my drawers to find a top to put on, settling on a plain white t-shirt. I tucked it into my jeans, and put a leather belt on.

"Well, you better have a good excuse for leaving us stranded at the airport. We waited for an hour before we had to give in and call an Uber!"

"I'll drive over to your hotel right now and explain everything, I promise."

I heard her sigh, "Alright, we'll see you later."

My hair was an absolute mess, but I needed to leave as soon as possible. I threw it into a bun, trying to hide how awful it was by tying a scarf around my head as a headband. I added some jewelry to make myself look semi-put together, and then I slipped on my leather boots. It wasn't half bad for an outfit that took 30 seconds to put on.

I left the house with a short 'bye' to Angelika, who was curled up on the couch. The door slammed behind me as I sped-walked to my car, turning on the engine and rapidly backing up, eliciting an angry honk from a car behind me.