Austin got better and was on the road to a full recovery. He ended up having to go to summer school because he missed too many days due to the accident. They allowed him to walk at graduation, but he couldn’t have cared less. He did it for everyone else, including me. He became withdrawn from life and things that used to make him happy. I thought when he got accepted to Ohio State to follow the boys it might lift his spirits, but it didn’t. Not even a little. The judge charged him with a DUI, suspended his license for a year and on top of a hefty fine and legal fees he was to perform an obscene amount of community service, which only added to his reclusive behavior.
Aubrey got accepted to the University of California, I couldn’t have been happier for her. She had always been interested in design and fashion. She said her dad lived out there, but they didn’t have the best relationship, she hoped this could be a new start for the both of them. She never said anything about Dylan and the fact that he wasn’t a factor in her decision-making process worried me.
When she broke up with him a few weeks before she left for California, I knew I was right.
He didn’t take the break-up well and that’s putting it lightly. He trashed his entire room at his parents house, tore every memory of her out of his life. It looked like a hurricane had passed through it.
The irony was not lost on me.
I had never seen him so upset before, it broke my heart. When he finally talked to me about it, he said she became withdrawn. She wasn’t herself the entire summer. They weren’t very intimate, she didn’t allow him to hold her anymore, and she barely acknowledged or spoke to him, even when they were alone. He said he saw it coming and it led to a huge fight. But, then they had sex and he thought everything would be okay.
She broke up with him the next day.
He told her they would make it work, that he would do anything not to lose her, but she didn’t care. Her mind was made up. I was surprised he shared so much with me. Of course, my loyalty was with Dylan, though he didn’t want me to lose my friendship with Aubrey. He knew she was important to me. I loved him a little bit more because of it.
Jacob was same ol’ Jacob. Single and ready to mingle. The ladies man he was.
I spent the summer with all of them, including Cole. He came around a lot more with the guys. As much as Lucas hated it, for the first time he respected it. Summer went by entirely too quickly and before I knew it, they were gone. School had started again and I was a senior, applying to colleges and getting ready for my future.
I turned eighteen and the boys came home for my birthday, which coincidently landed on a Saturday. They took me out to South Port to a club. I couldn’t have hated it more if I tried. I am not the girl that gets dressed up in a slutty outfit and grinds all over random strangers all night. The boys wouldn’t have let me even if I wanted to but granted, I had no desire to do so. I learned right then and there that clubs just weren’t my thing.
It was a lonely school year for me. I kept to myself, worked a lot, kept my nose stuck in a book and hung out with Lily. It was nice to have a piece of Lucas around, although Lily couldn’t have been more different than her brother. They were like night and day. She was way beyond her years of fourteen. There were times that I forgot how old she truly was, and she became one of my best friends because of it. I still talked to Aubrey, we remained close, but we didn’t talk about Dylan. She didn’t ask and I didn’t tell.
Senior prom fast approached which would lead to graduation and I had no idea what college I wanted to attend. Cole went to the University of California with Aubrey and they said they had bumped into each other a few times at parties. Cole pledged Pike and Aubrey pledged Tri-Del, so they ran in similar crowds. They both had been begging me to come visit so that I could fall in love with California and want to attend the university with them, but I always made up an excuse. The truth was…
I applied and got accepted to UCLA.
No one knew that not even my parents.
Guys asked me to go to prom left and right, but I turned each one of them down. I decided I didn’t want to go and I didn’t bother buying a ticket. Something held me back from wanting to go and enjoy this special night of my senior year. Something was missing.
When I opened my front door and saw him standing in a tuxedo with a corsage in hand.
Lucas.
My baby sister became my spy, she kept me updated on Alex. What she did and didn’t do. They had become really close in the last year and spent most of their time together. I loved it. If she was with Lily at least I knew she wasn’t with any other fucking douchebag that crept around her. It’s not like it mattered. Alex was oblivious to any attention thrown her way. The magnetic pull she had toward guys was unbelievable, and I spent most of her eighteenth birthday fighting them off at the club. Her innocence and natural beauty was a lure. They could smell that shit from a mile away.
Lily told me she wasn’t going to prom because she wasn’t feeling it, I knew it was a bunch of bullshit.
Alex talked about stupid high school shit like that since we were kids. Called them milestones and memories to last a lifetime, shit you read on fucking Hallmark cards and bumper stickers. I called her mom and asked her to buy two tickets for us, making her promise not to say anything to her about it. I took care of the rest. This year had been hard on her. I didn’t need Lily to tell me that, I already knew.
It was hard for me, too.
I hated that she was alone.
I hated that I left her alone.
Her mom was more than willing to help in any way she could. Ecstatic that Alex would have a beautiful memory from her last year of high school. I rented a tuxedo that matched this white, lacy, flowing dress that went down to her ankles. She bought it when she was sixteen telling me it was for a special occasion, I still remembered her cheeks blushing as she said it. It wasn’t prom attire by any means, but that’s who she was. A tomboy at heart. She wouldn’t have wanted to wear anything that the stores were selling as prom dresses. It wasn’t her style.
I had the entire night planned out, nothing fancy or expensive. She was all about the little things and I knew that at entirely too young of an age. The look on her face was worth a million dollars to me when she opened the door.
That’s all the reassurance I needed.
“Bo,” she said, surprised. “You look, oh my God, you look amazing. What are you doing here?”
“I randomly rent tuxedos and knock on girls doors, just to see the look on their faces.”
She laughed and I followed suit. “I’m here to take you to your prom.”
With wide, teary eyes she conveyed, “What? I don’t have anything to wear. I don’t even have tickets.” She looked down at herself. “I mean look at me. I’m a mess.”
“I am looking. You’re perfect. Put on your dress.”
She peered up at me through her lashes with a slight grin and rosy cheeks.
“You know the one.”
She raised an eyebrow, contemplating what I said.
“I have the rest taken care of.”
She smiled big and wide as she shrieked before running up the stairs. I waited in the living room, looking at all our pictures on the mantle. I was in everyone one of them, along with the boys.
The sound of someone clearing his throat made me turn around. Her dad stood there, tall and intimidating. He had never appeared like that before. I figured he was about to start the “prom conversation.” Don’t touch my daughter, have her home by a certain time, no drinking, be responsible, and so on.
“Hey, Nate,” I greeted. We were on a first name basis with all of our parents since we were kids.
“How’s school, Son?” he asked, handing me water.
“Great. Finally finding the swing of things.”
“Good. Have a seat, Lucas, I’d like to talk to you for a minute.”
“Sure,” I breathed out, sitting beside him, turning to give him my full attention.
“I’ve known you a long time, your whole life to be exact. I can’t believe how fast time goes by.”
I nodded, taking in his words, mentally gearing myself up.
“Alex hasn’t picked a college yet, do you know that?”
I nodded again, except this time I braced myself for what was to come. It wasn’t going to be what I expected, it would be much worse. Changing the course of the entire night and everything that proceeded after.
They say everything happens for a reason, that we’re destined to meet certain expectations throughout the timeline of our lives. They’re inevitable. It’s already planned out. If that were true, then this would be the beginning of the end for us.
What happened next…
Forever changed the directions of our lives.
“We keep telling her that if she doesn’t decide on something soon she’s going to end up at Wilmington. We don’t want that for her. She needs to experience new things and grow up, Lucas. It’s been a very hard year for her, first the accident, and then Austin leaving, her being by herself. If it hadn’t been for your sister, she probably would have never hung out with anyone. I don’t have to tell you why she feels close to Lily, now do I?”
I set my elbows on my knees and bowed my head. I knew. I knew it all. I knew everything.
“You know Alex as well as we do. She’s stubborn and hard headed. It doesn’t matter how many times we’ve tried to talk to her. She wouldn’t listen to us. We’ve spent the entire school year trying to get through to her, but nothing. It doesn’t matter what we say she’s going to do what she wants. Did you know she applied and has been accepted to Ohio State?”
I shook my head. I didn’t.
“I didn’t think so. It’s been hard for her mother and me to watch her this year. It would hurt any parent to watch their child suffer from something you have no control over.”
I angrily shut my eyes, bile rising up my throat, but I swallowed it back down. I wasn’t mad at him. I wasn’t mad at Alex. I was mad at myself. Nothing would change what he expected me to do. It didn’t matter. I knew what I needed to do, even though it was the furthest thing from what I wanted. He was right, though. I couldn’t ignore the fact.
That. He. Was. Right.
“Except you, Lucas, you have control of it. You’re our last resort.” His words made a mockery of me and I knew it. My throat burned with the devastation looming.
“I know you love Alex, I know you’re in love with her. You wouldn’t be sitting here if you weren’t. That’s why, I know you’ll do the right thing and let her find her own way. Not follow yours. Do you understand, Son?”
I slightly nodded, tears pooling in my eyes. I kept my eyes closed, keeping my emotions in check.
“Maybe one day, who knows where life will take you, but now is not the right time. You both have so much growing up to do. She needs to find herself and stop being your Half-Pint. I want my daughter to be independent and make her own choices, decide what’s right for her, and she can’t do that with you around, Lucas. You know that, right?”
I vaguely nodded again, not being able to form words or even coherent thoughts for that matter. My hurricane finally turned on me, gripping me with the chaos of its forceful truths. Except this time, I wouldn’t take Alex with me.
I would set her free.
“You’re like a son to me. To both Jana and I. We love you, but we need to do what’s in the best interest of our daughter, too. I hope you understand that.” His hand seared when he placed it on my shoulder, leaving a scar for the future that didn’t include her. “Maybe tonight can be the closing of one door, but the opening of another for her, Lucas. For her,” he repeated, driving the nail into the coffin.
I heard the clicking of heels on the hardwood floor and immediately stood, turning faintly to wipe my face. I had never seen her look more gorgeous. The dress fit her exactly how I imagined, loose, but still managing to make her look stunning. Her hair flowed loosely down her face and back. It looked like she just took a brush to it. Her makeup was subtle, accenting her perfect, precise features, though I could smell the cherry lip-gloss from across the room.
She was breathtaking.
“Alex,” I stammered as she smiled shyly.
Her mom took picture after picture of the last moment we'd be happy together. I made a mental note to ask for one for myself. It would be a night of new beginnings for her and endings for me.
“Come on.” He placed his hand on the hollow of my back, spreading a warm heat throughout my entire body. He guided me toward the door and to his truck.
I tried to step up on the ladder, but my heel wouldn’t allow it. His hand reached out to help me, but I ignored it. Instead, I stepped down and loudly sighed, annoyed. I opened my purse and dropped my sandals on the sidewalk, throwing the heels in the bed of his truck.
I heard him laughing and met his gaze. “What? My mom made me wear those things. I hate them. They’re stupid.”
He laughed again, nodding in agreement. I jumped in the truck, closing the door behind me. We drove in silence to the dance. Before I knew it, we were walking through the doors of the banquet hall that hosted my prom. Decorations were everywhere and they seemed to go on for miles, as did the crowd. There wasn’t a place in the room that wasn’t covered in some sort of streamer, confetti, or balloon. We took a traditional prom picture with the photographer, but I didn’t get a chance to look at it since Lucas immediately placed it inside his tuxedo jacket. He grabbed my hand and I didn’t give it any more thought as I followed him into the ballroom.
We hung out like we always had, laughing and loving each other’s company. Austin was right when he said that we balanced one another out, we had our own dynamic.
Always had and always will.
When Lucas said he had to use the restroom, I leaned against the wall admiring how everyone appeared so happy and in love. I wondered if we looked like that, from an outside perspective. I contemplated if this could be a new beginning for us…
My question was answered when I heard Van Morrison through the speakers. I looked around until I found Lucas. There he was with a smug grin on his face, waiting for me to meet him on the dance floor. I didn’t have to ask to know he requested for the DJ to play this. They would never play Brown Eyed Girl at my senior prom.
He sang it to me the entire time, spinning me in circles and holding me too close for the rhythm of the music, but the mood changed drastically between us when the soft beats of Stand By Me by Ben E. King played next. He didn’t falter. He pulled me tighter into his strong, muscular body, fitting me perfectly in the nook of his frame. He guided my arms around his neck like he wanted no space between us, and then his arms wrapped around me, proving my point.
I laid my head on his chest and he placed his chin on top of my head, softly singing the lyrics to me again. It was around the chorus of the song when something felt different. He felt different.
And then it hit me. I softly shut my eyes with a single tear falling down the side of my face.
This wasn’t a new beginning for us.
It was the end.
He was saying goodbye.