Pain

Chapter 15

How did life ever get so stressful? I was on the edge of it- well at least that's how I felt. In a couple of weeks was graduation. Graduation. Could you believe it? I certainly couldn't. My birthday had passed and I officially was eighteen years old. Jake had gifted me an iPhone. The day wasn't romantic or expensively special. All Jake and I did was lay on our beds, hugging each other. The day couldn't have had been anymore perfect.

Few days after it, everyone started receiving their acceptation letters. I got accepted to a college in California and Jake got accepted to a college in Washington. Funny wasn't it how fate decided to turn the tables?

I had applied to only California so I could be with Jake, but he however only got accepted in Washington. How I wished I could be with him. Jake was really heart broken at first but he said we could make it work and we would find a way because at the day of the graduation, we wanted a promise to each other in the name of marriage.

I really didn't want to go to California. I wanted to be in Washington, where Jake was. He was my future. But what Jake didn't know was that I applied to Washington at the last moment possible. It's actually a surprise for Jake. That way we could be together.

It was a long shot and I'm yet to get the results but I have high hopes. I planned on telling him the night of the wedding. He would be so happy that words wouldn't begin to express it.

I had sacrificed applying to Washington in the first place to be with Jake and he applied to Washington to be with me. This actually reminded me of a story I once heard. It was called 'The Gift of Magi.'

It was about a woman who sold her long hair to a wig maker to buy a watch chain for her husband's watch and a man who sold his watch to buy his wife a hair comb. I applied to California to be with Jake and he applied to Washington to be with me. But Fate had other plans.

The only thing yet to happen is telling our parents and that's all I fear. "It'll be OK," Jake assured me, squeezing my hand. I held onto it, afraid that it might be the last time.

Jake cleared his throat and all attention was on us. Jake's dad and my parents looked at us, their eyes holding half concern and half suspicion. Jake didn't want his mom to be here though. He felt she had lost the right.

"Why did you ask all of us to be here Jake?" Mr. Middleton asked first, breaking the silence.

"Well, I... Umm," Jake cleared his throat again and continued, "we wanted to tell you all somethi-"

"We're getting married," I blurted out.

"What!?" All three of their voice synchronised with each other.

My mother approached me and I hid behind Jake, using him as a shield. "What is this Ashley!?" Her words echoed through the hall, sending shivers down my spine. "You just turned eighteen. Why are you rushing into this?" She gasped placing a hand over her mouth. "Are you pregnant?" I immediately blushed, as Jake's body stiffened, most probably suppressing a laughter.

"Pregnant?" This time my father spoke up. He got up from his chair and marched towards us. "You got my daughter pregnant!?" Oh oh.

"Can you relax?!" Everyone stopped their death glares and stood frozen. It took me a moment to figure out where the voice had come from. When all eyes stared at me, I knew it was me who had said it.

I cleared my throat and stepped forward. "Mother," I said looking at her, "no. I am not pregnant." She let out a sigh of relief. "Jake and I love each other and we don't want to give fate a chance to keep us apart. I want to be with him. School is ending and I'm becoming an adult. I want Jake to be a part of my life and he feels the same way. So..." I looked at Jake, mentally pleading him to take over.

He nodded and stood beside me. "We want to get married on the graduation day. A simple ceremony is what we both want. We will have our reception along with the school dance- our prom. We have thought this through. Mr. and Mrs. Middleton can be chaperones if you'd like. After the wedding, we'll be going to our prom and from then on, our life will start. Together."

My mother sat in a chair. The whole room was so silent that a even a pin drop could be heard. "Okay," she finally said. "It seems like you already thought this through and it really didn't seem like you were asking for our approval. It seemed more of an information. So, you do what you want." To be hearing those words, I thought I would be happy, yet somewhere it felt so wrong.

"Arianna," my father said to my mother, "how can we possibly allow this?"

"It's what she wants. She has chosen this," she said. Looking at me, she continued, "if anything was to go wrong, she would be the one to blame." My heart started wrenching. "If her life messes up, this was her decision that was made. At that time, I will tell her that this was what she wanted and this is what she'll get." She left the room and my father followed suit.

Jake immediately hugged me and whispered in my ears, "I'll never let that happen. I promise." I hugged him tight because at that moment, I believed Jake.

I believed he would never let anything go wrong. I believed he would prove my mother's words wrong. I believed he would be with me through it all. I was a stupid girl for believing, for all I believed in... were fantasies.

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