farewell (18+)

22. Savage Things

I thought my heart was going to explode. It actually skipped a beat when I saw Max come out of the limo. My jaw dropped, both from surprise and infatuation. He looked like a whole other person, but still like my Max, weird as it seems. He looked impeccable, dazzling. His blond hair was pulled back in a small bun, neat and behaved, shaved on the sides. I looked at my friends in disbelief, who just smiled at me.

"Go get him!" Rodrigo said.

I pulled up my dress and trotted to Max, almost tripping on the heavy skirt, but he got me. We were hugging tightly, and he lifted me up from the floor. I fought back tears of joy as I breathed in his cologne. My body reacted to his immediately, coming alive with the promise of intimacy.

He put me back down and touched my face. "My God! I've missed you so much, Anna..."

"Me too. I can't believe you're here."

He kissed me repeatedly until I held him in place and deepened the kiss. My breath faltered, heart skipped a beat. Could this much happiness kill you?

"Let's go!" Wil said as he passed us.

"We're gonna be late!" Rodrigo added.

We filed into the car, getting comfortable on the lush backseats. Rod gave directions to the driver and off we went.

"I have to give it to you, Rodrigo. You know how to ride in style," Wil said.

"So you liked the surprise?"

"Are you kidding me?" I said. "This is amazing!"

"Well, I can't take all the credit." He looked at Max, who high-fived him.

"Is this why it took you so long to come to visit?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was saving money to make you a nice surprise." Max gave me a meaningful smile. "Enough to stay until the holidays."

My eyes widened, a hand came to my chest. "Oh, my God! Seriously?"

"Nice," Wil said.

I hugged Max with all the strength I could muster, and then it dawned on me. "Wait. Does that mean...?" I let him go slowly. "You're gonna miss your own graduation?"

He gave me a bittersweet smile. "Yeah, but it's fine, love. All I want is to be here with you."

"Guys, I can't stress enough how happy I am right now." Rodrigo threw his arms over Wil's shoulders and mine.

We popped some bubbly and made a toast to the amazing night ahead of us. We spent the ride to the venue catching up and celebrating just us four before we had to share this moment with the rest of the world.

The ballroom looked like a dream. Massive chandeliers hung from the ornate ceiling. Tall archways filed the walls, leading to either the gardens or the balconies. At the far corner, a well-dressed band played Rock and Pop classics, setting the dance floor on fire.

We found our table and had dinner with Wil's and Rod's parents. I awkwardly introduced Max to them as my friend. We needed to come up with a word for what we were doing. I couldn't tell my friends' families and teachers that we were fuck-buddies. I couldn't tell that to anyone, actually.

They asked about my grandparents, and I lamely explained to them that they couldn't be there. Other than that, we had a good conversation. Wil and Rodrigo kept Max entertained since their folks didn't speak English. We had some colleagues come to the table now and then and chat briefly. Many of them asked if Max and I were dating. Every time that happened, I downed whatever was in my glass and uttered the most neutral "no" I could, which meant it was anything but neutral.