Clay & Hannah -The night was ours

The Bracelet

Mom and dad couldn't make the shopping trip with me and Justin on Saturday due to finishing off some paperwork that needed to be taken care off and be ready for the following Monday for their retrospective jobs, mom had given me her credit card for us to buy some new suits for graduation that was coming up soon in a month's time.

I parked my Prius at the furthest end of the parking lot since it was already busy by the time we had gotten here; Justin and I made our way into the crowded mall and went up some escalators to the top floor where this bespoke tailor suit shop was hidden away that dad had told us about.

After searching around the store for some inspirations on colour and design for the suit I'd pictured in my mind I had picked up a couple of jackets and trousers, entering a changing room I stripped off my jeans, grey t shirt and hoodies and tried on the grey suit. Not liking the colour of the formal attire I changed into the navy piece of formal garment.

As I straighten out the jacket and checked my overall appearance in the mirror, I didn't see myself in the navy suit anymore as I saw myself with a cap and gown on with Hannah stood beside me, my mind taking me back to conversation in the thrift store when we tried on the formal clothing Hannah found

'Helmet'

'Yeah' I whispered softly, turning my head towards her

'I know this is a bit ahead of time but....' She paused, choosing her next words wisely. 'Will you be my date to graduation Helmet?'

I tried to hide the smile off my face from Hannah's request, she didn't need to ask as it would always be a yes; I'd love to go to graduation with her but that was over two years away and a lot could change between us. I got a bit anxious and asked her what I needed to know

'But what if we are seeing different people by then and you have a boyfriend'

'Well...I'd ditch him for the day and go with my best friend instead'

'And who's that?'

'You, silly' she smirked, nudging my shoulder playfully

I looked much closer at the mirror and saw my own reflection again in the navy suit, reaching up with my hands I wiped away the tears that hadn't spilled yet and noticed the bracelet popped out of the sleeve of the jacket.

No matter what happens I'll always be here for you Hannah, you know that don't you'

Those exact words I could remember as clear as day when I made my promise to Hannah all those years ago, this bracelet will always be a reminder of that broken promise. The curtain on the rail swooshed along to one side as Justin was stood on the other; I turned my gaze to the new light entering the small space and noticed the worried look on his face

'Clay you ok brother' he exclaimed, running a hand through his hair. 'I've been calling your name like five times without reply'

'I'm good, just lost in my own thoughts for a moment'

'Where did you go?'

'Nowhere' I sighed gently. 'I think I've found my graduation suit, you found yours yet'

'It's at the till I'm just waiting for you now' Justin motioned behind him with a slight twitch of his neck

I nodded my head slowly before sliding the curtain on the rail closed again so I could change out of the suit and back into my more comfortable clothes. A few moments later I left the changing room and met Justin at the till with my suit in hand and placed it on the counter, the sales assistant put our formal attire into suit bags and rang up the bill, I placed the credit card into the reader and pushed into the four digit pin for the card. Collecting our suit bags off the top of the counter we left the store and wondered around the large shopping mall.....