Secrets, Lies, and Summer Skies

Epilogue

Jenny pulled at my robe and wrinkled her nose. "Not what I'd have picked out for you, but I guess it works in an unflattering, blah way."

"Yeah, I don't think the clothes you choose for me are suitable for anything outside of a brothel," I laughed.

"Um, excuse you, is this not the cutest dress you've ever seen?" Jenny asked with a sweeping gesture toward her outfit.

"It is," I agreed, taking in the sweet white and blue dress. "Familiar, too. Did you raid my closet again?"

"No, I stole it last year before you left."

"If I remember, you called what you were doing liberating, not stealing."

Jenny flashed a wicked, playful grin. "You're right, and it's so happy to be out here on me. Liberated. Not rotting in your closet where it doesn't get to have any fun."

I didn't want to know what kind of fun Jenny had been having in my clothes. To be honest, I hadn't missed the dress while I'd been at college, and I could always buy another. I wasn't about to make a fuss about her taking it. Besides, it looked good on her. Jenny was all about revealing outfits and dark colors. It was nice to see her in something different, and I appreciated that she'd made the effort to be presentable for my graduation.

"Maybe you should wear it again when you graduate," I suggested.

"Bold of you to assume I'm attending enough classes for that."

I snorted with laughter. "Sorry, for a moment I mistook you for a functional human being."

"A mistake I hope you'll never make again." Jenny took my hands and smiled at me with a sisterly warmth I always missed when we were apart. "But, hey, I'm proud of you and all that junk. I can't wait for you to get a job so you can start taking me out to dinner."

"Damn, I really thought you were going to say something supportive and sweet."

"Me? Sweet? Gross," Jenny laughed. "But I totally support you. No matter what. Like, I support you going and finding Grayson as soon as possible. How you haven't gone crazy from not banging him every weekend, I have no idea."

"Oh my God, you're still talking." It was my turn to laugh. "If I go find him, will you please not talk about my sex life for like, one day?"

"No promises. But I'll try. I'll fail, but points for effort, am I right?"

It was the best I was going to get out of Jenny, especially given she'd been obsessed with the idea of me being with Grayson even before we'd begun our relationship. I didn't know why. Maybe my friend had seen something there that I hadn't after my leaving party. That, or she was just so thirsty for tea and drama that she wouldn't rest until I was in a sordid sexual affair so she could live vicariously through me. Whatever the reason, I had to thank her for pushing me to Grayson in the first place. Every time I'd doubted that we could continue, Jenny had given me the nudge I needed to hold on. To try again. To cling to the hope that we'd become something other than fuckbuddies in the long term.

With that in mind, I gave her one final hug and a smile, before I left her side in search of Grayson.

I knew that he was present. Jenny had said so herself and he'd told me that he wouldn't miss it when I'd called him the night before, but that didn't make him easy to spot in the crowd. There were dozens of relatives milling around the sports field where we'd gathered for the ceremony, all of them in formal clothing, hugging their kids or siblings with loud declarations of congratulations. They wandered into my path, adjusting my course and bumping into me, muttering apologies before they returned to their happy conversations.