She's Golden

Phase Thirty-Three: Role Reversal

"It was Dominic's idea," she said quietly.  "He said if I was going to game, I should game in style.  Personally, I think it's too big for my living room, but Dominic can be very persuasive, and by persuavive, I mean annoying persistent."

"I'll trade ya!  You can have our small clunker and we'll take your big screen goddess.  The three of us will give it a very good home."

"I'm sure you would."  George appreciated his attempts at humor, but her anxiety persisted.  There was something about having him here in her home that felt intensely personal - intimate.  And while she'd already given herself permission to be with him, she didn't know if she'd given permission to ramp things up so quickly.  "After all, it's a well-known fact that guys love big screen TVs."

"Ummhmm."  As Julian lingered over a familiar cluster of photo frames by the window, her heart nearly stopped.  "Aww, is this your grad pic?  You look so studious."

"Uh, y-yeah, that it is."  Oh God, this is too much...  "What gave it away, the funny hat or the tassle?"

"The gown, actually," he snickered.  "You aren't wearing a colored robe, so this is your high school graduation, right?"

"Ah..."  George really hoped he wouldn't ask her that.  "Well, actually, no - it is."

"It isn't?"  He looked at her puzzled.  "Is it for something else, like a certificate program or something like that?  I know some universities do that."

George nervously scratched her head, silently cursing her lycanthropic genes.  "No, nothing like that either."  Well, here it goes...  "It's um...it's my eighth grade graduation picture, actually."

"What was that?  You were murmuring, so I didn't catch what you said."

Damn you and your perceptive human hearing!  "I said, that's my eighth grade graduation picture, actually."

"Ah, I see - WHAT?!" His bulging eyes made her die a little inside.  "That's your eighth grade graduation picture?"

She nodded slightly.  "Umhm."

Of course, he wasn't convinced.  "Eighth grade - grade eight.  As in Elementary school graduation."

"That would be it, yes."  Oh God, just shoot me now...

"As in, this photograph was taken fourteen years ago, when you were fourteen?"

"Fifteen years, since my birthday is in October."  Allow me to just crawl into a den and die. "But who's counting, right?"

"You haven't changed from this picture at all!"  He gave her the once over before staring at the pic again.  "You look virtually the same as you did in elementary school!  I'm staring at the same person!"

"That's not true," she countered. "I mean, when I graduated from high school, I was five-foot-three, and now I'm five-foot-four.  That's got to count for something, right?"  His direct stare told her that it didn't count for a damn thing. "What can I say?  I guess I just have really good genes - and a lot of luck.  But I am twenty-eight years old.  I can produce a birth certificate if you like."

"N-No, you don't have to do that."  His tension lessened, but didn't completely go away.  George kept herself on-guard, hoping for the best but ready for the worst.  "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that...well, it's like you haven't aged at all."

"Maybe not physically, but trust me, I have."  Just as she couldn't hide her nervousness earlier, this time, she couldn't hide her sorrow.  "Life is most definitely not a straight line."