You strolled through the streets of Chicago with nothing but a blank look on your face. It shocked you that happiness wasn't making its way through your system. You were graduating from college this Saturday. After spending two years at a community college in California, you got accepted into Adler University in Chicago. Excitement ran through you when you found out. Adler University had one of the nation's best art therapy programs in the nation, so this was a dream come true, then it hit you. You would have to leave Mark behind.
The two of you had been dating since your first year at community college. As cheesy as it was, it was love at first sight, well at least for him it was. You thought he was just another arrogant asshole roaming the streets of LA, but eventually, you fell for him.
You hid being accepted from Mark for several weeks. You didn't know how to break it to him. The whole charade came to an end when he found your acceptance letter buried at the bottom of the trash.
Mark was the one that pushed you to take this opportunity. When you told him that you didn't want to just leave him behind, he got surprisingly stern with you.
"No, Y/N you're not putting your dreams on hold for me. I'm not going to let you do that." The whole thing was a hot topic between you too for the next couple of weeks. Eventually, you nodded your head and said you would go.
You still remember one of the last things he told you before you boarded the plane to Chicago. "Being 2,000 miles away isn't going to change the fact that I still love you and always will love you."
Over the next two years, you weren't able to see Mark in person. Whenever he was out in the Midwest visiting his mom, your schedule was packed due to school. Just as it cleared up, Mark would leave back to California.
The two of you did keep in contact through texts, phone calls, and the nightly skype calls. When you graduating came up in conversation, Mark automatically said he would be there.
"I'm not going to miss a chance to see you accomplish your dream. Besides, I haven't seen you in two fucking years."
As you thought back to that moment, a smile lit up your face. It was only a few more days and you would be reunited with the love of your life.
You made your way into one of the various parks Chicago had to offer. As much as you loved the sun and heat California had to offer, you had grown to love this place.
Your ringtone started blaring, letting you know that someone was calling you. When you saw that the caller ID read Mark, you immediately answered.
"Hey! I missed you!" You said eagerly as you sat down on a nearby bench.
"You just talked to me this morning, I don't know how you could miss me all that much.." His hearty laugh made the smile on your face even bigger.
"We haven't seen each other in person in two years, let me have this moment!"
"Whatever you say, sweetheart." The fact that he called you sweetheart made your heart swell. God, you couldn't wait to see him.
Breaking the tension, you spoke up. "I can't wait to see you this weekend Mark! Not only do I finally get to go back home with the guy I care endlessly about, but my dream's finally coming together." An unsettling silence came from the other end. Something was off...
"Mark, are you still there?" You asked, a slightly worried tone coming through your voice. Maybe he just accidently hung up the phone? It took a few minutes, but he eventually responded.
"Yeah, I'm still here..." Mark spoke, an uneasy tone appearing in his voice. "Y/N there's something I need to tell you..." Your heart dropped to your stomach when you heard that.
"What's going on?" After a few minutes of awkward silence and coughing coming from his end, Mark finally replied.
"Y/N I'm so sorry, I can't make it to your graduation this weekend." The world seemed to crash down all around you. Unbelievable, after weeks of getting your hopes up, everything was coming down.
"What.. I don't even understand.."
"You know the charity lifestream I've been wanting to do with Bob for MusicAid? The only weekend he can do it is this weekend, you know how badly I've wanted to help out... this is my one chance. Everything's already set up for this weekend.." Your heart slammed further down into your stomach. You couldn't believe it, you were getting rain checked- for a youtube live stream.
"I'm so sorry Y/N, I know how much this meant to you, and believe me this weekend meant the world to me too." You bit back the fact that if this really meant the world to him, Mark wouldn't have canceled on you.
"I've gotta go," You blurted out as you abruptly stood up from the bench.
"Y/N, please don't go. We can talk this out.." You left Mark hanging as you hung up on him before sticking the phone in your pocket.
You made no attempt at hiding the tears that began to stream down your face. Even after him not being here sunk in, it was still unbelievable. After being a relationship for almost 4 years, this is what it's come to huh? You knew this charity live stream was everything to him, but enough to cancel on you?
You made your way out of the park and back to the dorms. All you wanted right now was to hide away for the next few days. You wanted to forget the fact that Mark wasn't going to be there for one of the most important parts of your life.
As you got closer to the dorm, you felt your phone go off in your pocket. Without glancing at the screen, you knew it was Mark. He always hated it when you hung up on him, much less when you were upset with him. Disappointment slowly began to sink in as you quickened your pace to the dorm.
Maybe Mark canceling on you was a sign.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You had gotten back to your dorm 30 minutes ago with tears still coming down your face. Your phone stopped going off 10 minutes ago after you got one last text notification. It didn't take rocket science to know that Mark was the one who was blowing up your phone. He always did this when he was guilty of making you upset. You normally would respond after an hour, but this time was different. Never have you been more disappointed at someone then you are right now.
As you stared up at the ceiling, the door opened and Marie, your best friend walked. You met her the first week you were, as she had a similar situation as you, except she was graduating from their Forensic Psychology program.
"I found this adorable shirt for you to wear to Katie's graduation- hey, what's going on?" Marie shut the door behind her and rushed over towards your bedside.
"Guy's are dicks. Why can't we just go back to the times when WOMEN WERE BETTER OFF WITHOUT MEN!" You shouted as you launched up from your bed. Marie had an eyebrow raised as she gave you a skeptical look.
"I've been telling you that for years, and you're finally listening to me? What's brought this up?" She sat down in the black swivel chair that was next to your bed.
"I talked to Mark today. He told me he wouldn't be coming to graduation this weekend. Has a fucking charity live stream he's doing for Youtube Saturday." You watched Marie as she took in all the information. It was amazing to watch the rage that slowly began to take over her face as she sat there. The nice girl smile that was usually plastered on her face was quickly replaced by an intense frown, accompanied with a harsh look in her gray eyes.
"This is the Mark that you've been with for 4 years? The one that you've stayed loyal to throughout the entire time you've been in Chicago?" All you did was nod your head.
"Ooh, that little son of a- What I would give to ring his neck out right now! Graduation's in two days, and he just cancels on you NOW??? Mark does know how important to you this was for him to be here, right?!"
"Yes he knows, and he apologized several times. It's not that I'm not angry at him for canceling because I am, I'm just more disappointed than anything. You would think that after not seeing your girlfriend for two years, you would do anything to see her but apparently not!" You flopped back down onto your bed in frustration and closed your eyes.
You felt Marie reach over and grab your phone next to you. At this point, you didn't care what she was doing.
"Jesus, this guy really knows how to blow up a phone. 4 missed calls, all with voicemails. Him mentioning you in a few tweets, even a long ass text message. As much of an asshole Mark is right now, this takes dedication."
"Can you read me the message? I want to know what he said."
"Well of course!" Marie cleared her throat dramatically, which caused a small smile to grace your lips.
"If you were going to dignify me with any sort of response, you would have done it by now. It's taken me four years and a countless number of fights between us but I think I've finally pushed you past the point of forgiveness. I'm so sorry for disappointing you, I know you wanted me to be there more than anything in the world. I wanted to be there too, hell I still do. If there was anything I could do to change the situation at hand, I would. It killed me on the inside, not being able to see you at all for the past two years. It kills me more knowing that I won't be there for one of the biggest moments of your life. In case you decide to not respond to me before graduation, Congratulations, Your dream as finally been achieved. You'll never know how proud I am of you."
By the time Marie was done with reading the message, the tears came streaming down your face at an alarming rate. That message showed how much Mark was hurting at the fact that he disappointed you. You knew that it was killing him to do this, but he was still doing it. The fact that Mark knew this was killing you and wasn't making attempts to try and show up is was hurt. In a way, YouTube has always been one of his top priorities.
As you continued to cry, Marie finally spoke up. "I'll go get some cookie dough ice cream ok? That way we can't forget about how real men are assholes and watch some action movies with hunky actors." I heard Marie walk towards the door, then open it and leave.
Who needed a man for your graduation when your best friend was by your side?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Switch to Third Person POV)
Marie stomped down the hallway. She stopped when she just far enough away from the dorm room before pulling up Y/N's contacts on her phone. She scrolled through them until she found Mark and hit the call button. Sure, Marie would definitely get some ice cream and movies, but not until she chewed Mark's ass out. He'd be lucky if she didn't decide to hunt his ass down in California and kill him for hurting Y/N.
The phone had barely rung once before Mark picked up the phone. "Thank god you finally called back Y/N! Look I'm so-"
"Ohh, I'm not Y/N, but you're going to wish I was by the time I'm done with you."
"No offense, but who the hell are you?"
"I'm her best friend, and I'm sorry, last time I CHECKED, you're supposed to be there for your girlfriend when she needs you, but what do I fucking know!" Marie heard Mark let out an aggravated sigh, which just pissed her off even more.
"Listen, I don't need a guilt trip from you, ok? I've already given it to myself today."
"Must not be that much of a guilt trip if you're still doing the charity stream."
"You think I don't feel guilty?!" Mark shouted at you from the other end. "I'm caught between a rock and a hard place here! I want to be there for Y/N, I really do, but I can't disappoint all the people out there for this charity that need my help!"
"But you can disappoint the one person that you never should?" Marie let out a frustrated sigh before continuing. "Look, as much as I hate your guts right now for hurting Y/N, she needs you more than ever this weekend, so let me help you out."
Mark laughed dryly, "Ohh really? How the hell are you going to help me?"
"Before I help you, let me make this clear," Marie spoke, a threatening tone in her voice. "I'm doing this for her, AND ONLY HER. Let's call this my forgiveness to what you did. After this, though, if you so much as make Y/N sniffle, I won't be as understanding." There were a few moments of silence before Mark responded.
"Alright. How are you going to help me?" That's when a grin spread on Marie's face as she stood in the middle of the hallway.
"Well, you see..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was Graduation today, and you're mood had gotten better only slightly. Throughout the entire day, you were hoping that Mark would've changed his mind and just show up out of nowhere. That wasn't the case, though. When you arrived at the ceremony, he wasn't there. When you were handed your diploma, he wasn't there. As much as it hurt that Mark wasn't there, you found a positive side to all this.
This was your dream finally coming true. After 4 years of working your ass off, you got to where you wanted to be and you couldn't happier for that. You just wished Mark was here so you could cherish the moment together.
It was a few hours after the graduation was done and over with. You and Marie were having last minute heartfelt conversations before you all went your separate ways. As one of the girls was in the middle of telling you a story, Marie grabbed onto your arm and started pulling you away.
You managed to get out a hasty, "Sorry, gotta go!" before Marie pulled you away entirely.
"Where's the fire?" You found yourself laughing as Marie continued pulling you towards the parking lot.
"Nothing I just figured you'd want to get out of here and have our own girl time." Weird, Marie's never called you guys hanging out 'girl time' before.
Marie continued pulling you out to the parking lot, and the two of you eventually reached where all the cars were, including yours. When you approached your car, you couldn't believe your eyes. Leaning up against the hood was Mark with a small camera in hand. Before you could even open your mouth, he moved from his position to a few feet in front of you.
The entire time Mark was walking closer towards you, his eyes were focused on yours. He wasn't trying to say anything, which was surprising. When he finally stopped, Mark already had the camera turned on and recording.
"Hey guys, I know you were expecting a charity live stream from me today, but I've had to reschedule that for tomorrow. Some of you may be asking, 'why are you rescheduling, is everything ok?'. Yes, everything is fine. There's something that required my attention, and that is..." Mark turned the camera towards you. Your face instantly turned pink as you were always camera shy.
"Y/N is graduating from college today, finally. She's finally achieved her dream after countless years and I couldn't be more proud." Without warning, Mark leaned over quickly to kiss your cheek.
"Anyways, there's a few things that have changed with the charity live stream that I want to let you know before I go. First of all, I'm no longer donating to MusicAid, like I was originally going to do. In honor of Y/N graduating, and to show her how much I love her, all proceeds with now be going towards Reach Out WorldWide, her favorite charity." You couldn't stop your mouth from dropping open. Mark was kidding, right? For years Reach Out WorldWide has been your favorite charity, and now he's supporting them, all for you?
"If you don't know what they are, look them up online. It's a fantastic organization. The second thing that's changed is who will be participating in the live stream with me. Along with Bob helping me out, if she's no longer mad at me, I want Y/N to join me..." Your mouthed dropped open once again. Not only was he donating to your favorite charity of all time because of you, but he wanted you to participate!
You finally found yourself speaking up. "Mark, I-"
"Just hear me out, ok? Youtube is something I love doing more than anything in the world, everyone knows that. I figured, why not have the two love's of my life, Y/N and Youtube, together, even if it is just for 12 hours. Anyways, I should go, I have to actually spend time with her as it has been two years since she's been in front of you. Buh bye!" He shut off the camera and turned back towards you.
When you looked around to see if Marie was still here, she was nowhere to be found. Huh, Imagine that.
"What are you doing here?" You found yourself asking him.
"Wow, pay attention much?" He chuckled to himself before leaning forward slightly to kiss your forehead. You started out as stiff as a board, but eventually you found yourself relaxing.
"You don't how much I've missed being able to do this," You heard Mark whisper softly before pulling away. "I know that I may be a few hours late, but I figured we could do some celebrating on our own.." He took a few steps away from you. With his eyes focused on yours, Mark stretched his hand out towards you.
"What do you say?" You shook your head before accepting his hand. Let's just hope this celebrating doesn't disappoint.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Cue celebratory music* THIS IS THE 25th Imagine!! Ahhh, this feels amazing to have 25 of them published!!
After this is posted, I'll get back to writing a few Chapters for both The Sound of Music and That One Possible Moment, have really awesome ideas planned out and I'm super excited for them!
~Miranda~