I could feel my bed shift as I woke up.
I looked over to see Everett still in his school uniform.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him all groggily
I looked at the clock and it was only 12 pm, meaning that he should still be in school.
"I came to check on you, Holland said you went to the doctor straight after the Theology exam. I didn't know if you were sick or something." Everett spoke as he laid on side of me
Oh shit, guess I forgot to tell him.
I shook my head, "I'm not sick, I just went to the gynecologist. I got the pill. I thought I told you when we were on facetime last night, but I probably forgot from all of the studying.
"Oh, you're okay though, right?" He asked me
"Yeah, I'm fine." I answered
Ev kissed my cheek, "What time is the fam supposed to be coming home?"
"My Dad is, actually I have no idea, but he's supposed to pick up the twins and Holland. My mom is at the boutique and I have to go pick up my graduation dress at two from her." I answered
"What I'm asking is, do we have enough time for us to chill in your bed?" Ev asked me
I nodded, "We can always make time for that, but I have a question - how'd you get in?"
"I know your gate code and Holland gave me her extra key." He explained
I sat up and reached into my nightstand to grab the Carolina Pather's key.
"Hand me your keys." Told him
He reached into his pocket and handed me his keychain. His keys were on a Nike lanyard and I slipped the key onto the key ring.
"That's probably better than Holland's pink sparkly keys, also we change our locks every five years." I told him
"I'll still be here to receive my new key when you do. Thanks for the key, I'll get you one to my house too. I'm going to get my basketball shorts out of my car and then I'll be back." He said to me as he got up
"I'll find a movie." I decided
A few minutes later, Ev walked back into my room with his clothes in his hand.
"How do you feel about 'Pulp Fiction'?" I asked him
"I love it." Ev answered as he walked into my bathroom
I got the movie up and waited for Ev.
He came out wearing a loose tank-top and basketball shorts and got under the covers.
I pressed play, put the remote on my nightstand.
"Mhm." Ev let out as his head rested on my boobs and his arm was around my stomach
Why does he make me feel like this?
He knew that he sent chills all over my body, the safe part of me told me to put a t-shirt on, but the wild part of me told me to just keep the sports bra on.
I could feel his fingers making circles on my bare skin.
"What does that mean?" I smirked as I reached into his shirt to scratch his back
"I'm loving your chills." Ev joked around
I scoffed, "I could say the same thing about you."
"I know, you drive me crazy." Ev smirked
We stayed like that, watching the movie for at least forty five minutes.
Then he sat up a bit and moved his hand to my thigh.
It was so hard to focus on a movie when I could feel his hand going further and further up my thigh.
My breathing was getting heavier and I decided to not to be reserved or scared anymore. He had good intentions with me and I knew this relationship wasn't temporary.
Ev looked up at me, "Do you want me to keep going?"
"Yes." I answered
Ev kissed my neck and I could feel his hand tugging at my shorts.
I would have never thought that Ev would be in my room fingering me while Pulp Fiction played in the background. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't one of the best things that have happened to me. I ended up returning the favor to him.
Ev kissed my neck as I breathed heavily.
Then my phone started to ring.
My first thought was to turn it off until I saw that it was my mom.
"It's my mom." I breathed
"It's not FaceTime is it?" Ev asked still by my neck
I shook my head, "I'm trying to sound normal."
"Hey, mom." I answered as Ev silently kissed my neck
"Hey, are you still coming by? I really need to see it on so we can make adjustments before Sunday." She asked me
I glanced at the clock on my phone and it was 2:05.
Shit.
"Yeah, I am. I'll see you in a bit." I said trying to end the conversation
"Okay, bye." She ended
I threw my phone down.
"Are you coming with me to the boutique?" I asked him
"Yeah, I'm finding you really irresistible right now." He answered
I bit my lip.
Likewise.
"I need to brush my teeth." I commented
"And you might wanna cover up your neck." Ev added
I looked at him, "You're joking, I hate you."
"You weren't hating me the past few hours, babe." He smirked
"Now, you know I love you. Get rid of the boner before my mom gets suspicious." I told him as I climbed out of my bed
Note to self- wash the sheets for sure.
It took us a bit to get cleaned up and to cover the hickey, Evie so graciously left on my neck.
When we got to my mom's boutique, there were about five customers in there - two who happened to be regulars and friends of my mom.
So naturally, my mom made me introduce Ev to them.
"Ev, are you staying for dinner? You're more than welcome to." My mom asked him as she handed me the dress to try on
"Sure." He answered
"I'm gonna go try this on." I interrupted
I walked into the dressing room as my mom and Everett continued to talk.
As I put on the dress, my phone buzzed with a text from Ev.
Now he really had me, well almost.
God knows what would have happened if my mom didn't call me or if Ev did have a condom.
I walked out in the white backless lace dress that was pretty form fitting.
"It looks great." My mom approved as I did a twirl
"The gown will cover the back." She pointed out
I nodded in agreement, "What about shoes?"
"Just some wedges." She answered plainly
"That reminds me I pulled out some pieces for you to take on your trip, I'll go get them.
Perks of your mom owning a boutique, cute clothes all the time.
"Do you like it?" I asked Everett
"I love it." He answered
"I just wish we didn't have to wear white." I complained
"You look like an angel." Ev added
Look.
Because now every time I saw him, I didn't want to be an innocent, goody two shoe angel. I was practically ready to have sex with him right here - oh my gosh mind stop.
Ev smirked as he came behind me to rest his hands on my shoulders, "Whatcha thinking about? You have that look on your face."
"Don't ask a question you already know the answer to." I spoke lowly
-
Our last day of high school was spent having a Bojangles catered lunch, inflatables, ice cream, and music.
There was also senior awards. I found out that I got most popular, most likely to become famous, and my favorite cutest couple.
I think that award came as a shock to both Ev and me especially since we hadn't been public that long, but then I remembered that I always posted him on my SnapChat before it got leaked.
Nevertheless, I just hoped we could win the same one at all of the future high school reunions.
There was also the senior walk.
It was funny because at the beginning of senior year I walked in with some pretty shitty people, but now I was walking out with people who I knew I'd probably have in my life for forever.
Then Graduation was on Sunday at nine in the morning.
Being Miss. St. Agnes, I had to give a speech to talk about our senior class and the lessons learned even though I thought that was the valedictorian's job.
I was practically shitting myself as the principal introduced me.
"Here is, Miss St. Agnes for the last time, Grier Johnson." She said as the crowd clapped
I walked up on the stage and to the podium.
Fuck, my index cards were out of order.
I looked into the audience with probably a look of fear on my face.
And then I locked eyes with him.
"Just talk." Everett mouthed
I took a deep breath and dropped the five index cards to the ground.
"Well, that's basically my high school life for you." I started as the crowd laughed
"To be quite honest, I'm not really sure what my purpose is in that speech, all I know is that I'm supposed to talk for five minutes while they organize our diplomas. I know everyone is ready to go after hearing three speeches before this. To be even more honest, all I had written on those cards was a bunch of fabricated stuff that wasn't true. I know we've all heard high school speeches that talk about the school being one and being a big family, but we all know it isn't true."
"Everyone has their cliques and friend groups, it's basically inevitable. We all have had this stereotype or label given to us by our peers and sometimes even our teachers when we walked into these halls. I was 'Miss Popular', I have always been given that title. It became my nickname among teachers, faculty members, and students. I know everyone is thinking, 'how in the world is that a bad thing?'. I felt the need to keep up with that by hanging around people that I really didn't mesh well with, since they were also 'popular', I had to act like I didn't like certain things because it wasn't 'cool', I talked a certain way, probably even walked a certain way. It was always that way until this school year."
"Oh, Mr. Pala and your class." I grinned as I eyed him in the audience
"My parents knew I'd always loved music and singing, but you'd never catch me in a choir class because my 'friends' weren't in it. So my senior year, my mom changed my schedule and put me into a music class. The two people in that class saw right through my facade I'd built up over the years. I can never thank you both enough for that."
"Senior year taught me the most and I grew the most as a person. I lost some people, I gained some best friends, I made some music, made a music video, and this guy and I took a chance with each other by becoming friends and somehow he became my second confidant to my sister, my best friend, and my boyfriend." I spoke as I made eye contact with Ev for the last person
Then I couldn't stop smiling.
"My moral of this story is to not feel constrained to bubble as we head off to college or other endeavors. Take a chance, be free, live your life the way you please. I'd like to thank my parents for paying for me to get a great education, so on behalf of my seniors class, I'll announce the class gift. Over these nine months in school, our senior class raised money to go towards scholarships. I'd like to thank everyone who donated, students, parents, faculty, staff, anonymous donors, everyone. I'm pleased to announce that we raised enough money to go towards forty scholarships, that's $600,000." I announced as the crowd erupted into cheers
The principal hugged me again as I took a picture with her and the check.
I got my diploma, sang the alma mater one last time, turned the tassel, threw my hat into the air, and I didn't look back after that.
Of course, my mom made me have a mini photoshoot after graduation.
Everett and I were supposed to both have family over after graduation for dinner, which sucked because I really wanted to see him.
Especially since I couldn't stop dreaming and thinking about what happened on Thursday.
Dinner with my family went amazing.
Most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins came out along with my grandparents.
We ate food, took pictures, and some family members swam in our pool.
"Can I become Cinderella except dash away with prince charming to get ice cream at about ten?" I asked my parents
Cinderella, then I started thinking about the Mac Miller song.
"Sure I think we can entertain them why you're gone. Is he gonna pick you up?" My Dad asked me
I nodded.
"I won't mention that part, because then they'll want him to come in." My Dad added
"Thanks, I'm gonna go change out of this dress." I informed them before I headed upstairs
I glanced at my unpacked suitcase even though we were leaving Tuesday.
Another thing to add to my to-do list.
I took off my makeup and the dress.
Then I went into my bathroom to take a quick shower. I changed into a loose white t-shirt, the pink shorts that Ev got me for my birthday, and finally I put on my not so white vans.
I told my family bye before I got into the passenger's seat of Everett's Jeep.
"So are we wanting Baskin Robbins, Sonic, or something that's on my body." He spoke as I put my seatbelt on
"Everett Griffin." I scolded with a smirk
He started to back out as he grabbed my hand, "Is that your answer?"
"I'm not giving you head in your car, but I'll take Baskin Robbins." I answered as I held his hand
"Perfect, I like your shorts." He pointed out
"Yeah, my boyfriend got them for me." I teased
We got our ice cream just as they were closing, Everett took the top off of his car and we sat in the parking lot just talking and eating ice cream.
When we finished, Ev drove the quiet lake by the country club.
"Let's lay in the trunk." He suggested
When I walked around to the trunk, I discovered that Everett already put a comforter down with blankets and snacks.
"Aww, Evie." I beamed
"I love you." I added
He helped me into the trunk, "I love you."