Beautiful Mess [UsUk / AmeDen]

Chapter XXXVII

Graduation day

It wasn't easy to sleep through the night without excitement creeping on them and waking them up every ten minutes just to remind their tired minds that they were going to leave the university forever, that this was the last page of the story of their college life. Adrienne barely closed her eyes, there was so much to think about, while Matthew tossed and turned on the bed until he almost fell to the floor along with the pillow and the blanket from the graduation anxiety.

Alfred didn't get much sleep either, knowing that one of his best friends and his brother weren't going to be a few rooms away anymore after today - instead, they were going to get a place together and soon enough start a family of their own. It was a scary thought, and as much as he was happy for them, fear couldn't help but clench his fragile heart in his chest.

Oh lord, it was going to be a long day.

At six in the morning, Adrienne was already up on her feet to prepare what she was going to wear for the afterparty, having troubles picking out the perfect dress and matching it with a hairstyle she wanted. And shoes, of course. Shoes were important as well. Today, she was going to officially become a college graduate, she'd receive a degree in French and French Literature, meaning she could soon get employed as a French teacher at a high school, something that she had wanted to do for as long as she remembered, while Matthew would get a degree in quantum physics, since he dropped theoretical physics on his second year and went in a different direction he seemed to be more interested in. Science was something he always loved and wanted to stay true to. Whether teaching it to children, becoming a college professor or working on actual projects, he didn't know what exactly he wanted to do yet. But there was time to think about that. Perhaps he could work shoulder to shoulder with Adrienne at the same school.

As soon as she got out of bed, Matthew didn't take long either. But instead of preparing an outfit, he prepared mentally. "How do you even stay so calm?" He asked the girl, placing a hand over his chest as he felt his heart almost rapidly beating, and nothing had even begun yet. "I'm going to have a panic attack before, during, and after the damn graduation party."

"Don't worry. There are thousands of other panicking college graduates screaming in their pillows at Yale today. So I decided to be the one pretending that I'm calm when in reality I can feel my soul squeezing my heart and my stomach rotating inwardly every ten seconds." Adrienne replied with a chuckle, covering her face with both of her hands as she tiredly yawned before averting her gaze back to the closet she frantically rummaged through.

"Do you also feel like someone's repeatedly stabbing your head with a kitchen knife?" The American added on to the metaphorical descriptions of inner pain and panic that they all felt on this day.

"Pretty much so." She shrugged, almost disappearing in the endless pile of clothing deep within their shared closet. They were both people of fashion, Adrienne more than Matthew, but she had almost forgotten how much they were actually spending on pieces of cloth sewn together that just happened to look great on them. Perhaps she should have reconsidered things before owning so many dresses in different shapes, sizes and colours.

Nah, who was she kidding. It was one of her favourite things in life. And if it wasn't for French Literature luring her in with its beauty and dreaminess, she would have gone for a study in the field of design.

Matthew decided it was best for him to help her choose the correct piece of clothing to wear as a way of calming himself down as well. His anxiety levels were certainly over the roof, and with thousands of worries on his mind, this was the best option to bring himself back to earth.

Of course, with their indecisiveness, it took them the entire morning to get to the perfect outfit for her. For the American, it was easier - he put on a simple grey suit over a white shirt, and a red tie around his neck as if he was going on a business meeting, not his college graduation. Adrienne kept telling him it was too formal, but he wouldn't budge. The decision was there. On the other hand, she went for a white dress with navy blue stripes all over it, a bit too tacky for Matthew's taste. He commented it would give the other graduates a seizure, but she just laughed and casually observed how nice the clothing item fit her in the mirror.