Doorstep Baby

Graduation

"Congratulations, class of 2014!" the school principal shouted. We all ripped off our caps and threw them in the air.

I met up with Jason and Lauren after everyone had gone to meet their parents and friends. "We're out of high school and will be college students in the fall, can you believe it?" Lauren, ever the Queen of the Obvious, said excitedly.

"I know, right?" I said. Jason gave me a balloon that said Congrats Grad. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. I felt someone tap my shoulder, and I looked over my shoulder to see Chase and the rest of the band.

These guys played every so often at Cafe' Blue, and they'd agreed to play at the Grand Opening of Cafe' Blue on the Water. Chase played drums. Dylan played guitar, Mike played bass, and Amelia (we called her Amy), played piano. They all sang, but Amy sang lead, and people loved her voice like I love chocolate cake.  "Should we meet at the cafe'?" Amy asked me. 

"Sure," I said. They waved and left. Everyone we knew from our graduating class had decided to go to the new cafe' to hang out and have our own graduation party. I had a hard time admitting it, but under my management, the cafe' had become officially the coolest place in town, at least according to the kids. The artwork hanging in the dining area was all original, all from young local artists, and every piece was for sale. Some of the furniture was, too. After-school groups loved to meet in our back room because it was quiet yet fun, not to mention free for student groups, so they spent few dollars, but word of mouth and customer loyalty went a long way around here. And in the nearly four years I had been working for her, Rosie had become the closest thing to a mom I had ever had. I couldn't believe I had been living by myself for almost two years. And I'd been with Jason for almost that long. It had really been a hell of a busy couple of years for me.

Lauren grabbed Cole's hand, and Jason wrapped his arm around me.  "Now I get to watch my girl being bossy to someone besides me." I punched him half-heartedly on the shoulder, and he reached under my punch to goose my ribs.

"The crew is going to handle it. They all said they just want me to enjoy my night, so I'm taking orders from them for a change.  And I don't know how she managed it, but Rosie got one of her brother's friends to build a stage right there on the beach, so we get to dance on the beach and watch the sun set. We have a huge section blocked off just for the event," I said. "That part was easy...it's off-season, so it was either a bunch of partying kids or a few old farts in their speedos. I guess the city figured at least we would spend a little money."

"Sounds awesome. Don't worry, you've planned it all out...It'll go great," Jason said as we got in the car, and Lauren and Cole got in his Toyota pickup. We drove down to the cafe' to set up, knowing it would be a few hours before any of the kids showed up.

When we arrived at the beach, we could see the stage. This guy had really outdone himself--the stage was ginormous.  The band had beaten us there, and they'd already gotten the stage somewhat prepped. Jason, Lauren, and Cole jumped up and offered to help with decorating the stage and getting out the tables for the food and drinks while the band did a sound check. They played the first few bars of each of the songs they'd planned to perform. It was around four when we all decided it was time to get ready.

We changed out of our graduation dresses and suits. I slipped into my blue two-piece swimsuit and pulled my denim shorts on over my bottoms. My old AC/DC T-shirt seemed appropriate, and I slipped on my new purple flip flops. Lauren wore a checked two-piece with denim shorts, and just for fun, she and I each put on one of the cheap leis she'd gotten at the dollar store, and she gave Amy enough for the whole band. Lauren pulled off this eclectic look, somehow managing to create a "Hawaiian country singer" look, and not in a bad way.

We came out of the restroom and met up with the boys. I held Jason's hand as we walked back to the stage. "So what's the plan?" Lauren asked Chase.

"Well, we'll just put a mix of music on the sound system until a lot of the students get here. Once most of the crowd is here, we'll go on stage and play. The banner said be here at five, so I figure it should be around six when we go on stage. We'll play for about twenty or thirty minutes per set, on and off until midnight." I said.

"Are you taking requests?" Lauren asked. "I know you have some originals, but you're still doing covers, too, right?"

"Well, we have a long list of songs that you can choose from, but yeah...kind of. Just ask and if we can, we'll do it."

There were a lot of kids arriving, and the DJ was already getting cranked up. "You do remember we have 300 kids who graduated right?" she asked. "Is everybody coming?"  Lauren looked worried. 

Once a few dozen people arrived, the band started to play, and the whole time everyone was singing along and dancing. The band, the crowd, it just fell together. Dancing with Jason and Lauren made me feel alive. I danced with all the friends I'd made this year. Now I had the summer to get things prepared, and I was going to start college in the fall. My eighteenth birthday was fast approaching, and Jason was turning twenty-one in the middle of August. Everything felt like it was going to end up just right.