Enormous

Enormous, chapters 4 and 5

CARLYISM: Weddings, graduations, birthdays, and even funerals are great and cathartic sometimes, but those aren't always the times that are most important. The most monumental occurrences happen at the most unexpected times when there is no camera, and you wished you had one, so that you can stay in that moment forever and always remember how it felt to be there when your other moments are shit.

In later years, Sam would not remember his high school graduation with as much importance as everyone seemed to say he would. The things he would vaguely remember would be the picture-taking with Madelyn and her mother, father, and little brother, and then when Carly and Dad arrived, adding them to the brood and taking individual pictures with them.

"It's like we're married." Madelyn had sneered to him when it was all over, as though it had been the silliest thing and not her idea at all.

He would remember Richard and Chewbacca showing up later, just as Principal Tomlin and a few other teachers were telling all the graduates where to stand. He remembered Carly's graduation, and how Carly was listening intently to directions as she always did, standing firmly with her heels to the ground, her whole body straight as if her whole equilibrium depended on hearing the most banal information. She had always been like that, attentive as though being so were the key to her survival.

Carly was functioning the same way that she always did on his graduation day, even though she did not have to do anything. She smiled the whole time, and even offered to hold Madelyn's purse so that she wouldn't have to worry about where it was while she walked. She was still smiling when Aunt Cheryl and Leah came.

It was amazing how much Cheryl Grover looked like their mom. They had the same dandelion blonde hair, tiny waists, and straight teeth. Even though Cheryl would disagree, age had been good to her. She did have wrinkles and slightly dotted skin, but with all the nice clothes she had and all of the beaded jewelry and necklaces, the lines on her body seemed like accents to whatever she wore. That day, she had a black cowl on with a long light lavender skirt. She still had nice legs. Their cousin Leah was also very attractive. She was very tall even taller than Carly, who got their mother's height. Carly and Sam grew up often wishing they could switch statures with one another. Sam's head ended at Carly's eyebrows. Leah's white smile glimmered as she leaned down a little to hug Carly. Sam waved at them and they waved back, their little noses doing identical crinkling things when they smiled. The cousins looked similar in their faces. They had the same small noses, hazel eyes, and big mouths they used to have grape-stuffing competitions with, but they were different too. Carly wore slacks and pants to special occasions most of the time. Leah always had a dress or a skirt on even at the times when they weren't going to be seen by very many people. Carly was pale. Leah tanned. Carly let her hair deepen into a honey blonde color that no one else in the family had, while Leah's hair was the same dandelion color that he, Cheryl, and his mom had. Also, Leah had boobs. It wasn't something Sam liked to think about, but he couldn't help it when he heard Chewbacca make a buzzing sound through his lips.

"Will you shut up, man?" Sam said, nudging him in the ribs as the music started. Sam's family and Madelyn's family started moving into the auditorium.

"Dude, I didn't say anything!" Chewbacca yelled at him over the music as he rubbed his side.

Sam would have said something stupid about how hot Chewbacca's mom was, but Madelyn was standing right there, holding his hand, and he didn't know if that would make her mad. Probably. They had an altercation when they first started dating at the beginning of the semester. He had asked Rachel Eden if she wanted to be Advanced Biology lab partners with him. He and Rachel had been pretty good friends since the sixth grade, not best friends, but he invited her to sit next to him at lunch when she first moved to town and didn't really know anyone. In the seventh grade, they had this unspoken rule that they would pick each other at sports at recess and gym class, so that the other person would not be picked last since neither of them were very good at sports.