I was standing in the room they had told us to, waiting patiently as they ordered us around and set this person here, that person there. My white gown, announcing that I was in the top ten students to graduate from Veterinary School was fluttering gently as I paced. The nerves were radiating down my limbs with acute clarity because I knew that this was the moment I had been waiting for my entire life. I had dreamed about today since I was a little girl so right now, I was almost in shock.
After this ceremony, I would be a doctor of veterinary medicine.
I smiled to myself, twiddling my fingers and picking at my nails absentmindedly as I tried to relieve the nerves twitching all over my body. I felt like I was electric, like I was going to burst at any instant into thousands of butterflies. All I needed now was to hear from Kellin. He was bringing the boys to sit out in the crowd and cheer for me. I hoped they wouldn’t annoy my mom and dad too much.
But I wouldn’t let them miss this for the world. Hell they were even bringing their tour buddy Sam with them. He had been filming them and putting these videos up on Youtube called “Real Funny Guys”. They did stupid stuff all the time on those videos and when I couldn’t be there, it made me feel like I wasn’t missing out on so much. I appreciated that Sam did that for me even though it wasn’t all for me. He partially just wanted to fill up bored time or have fun with what he could. I think he liked harassing the boys which was entertaining for me. The best part was I knew this graduation ceremony was sure to end up on a new episode of Real Funny Guys.
I chuckled to myself and played with the tassel on my cap, twirling the square object in my hands. I wish they had showed up earlier so that I could have seen them before I had to come back here. I just wanted to hug Kellin before I went through the graduation because it was such a big deal.
I sighed.
“Hey Hannah,” called my friend Katy from near the door. I raised a brow.
“What’s up?” I replied, walking towards her and listening to the clack clack clack of my heels. I felt so awkward in them since I hardly ever wore things like this. She smiled.
“You have a visitor,” she said, her smile broadening. She was grinning like she knew something that I didn’t, that mischievous look that people get when they know. I raised a brow.
“And who would that be?” I questioned, silently hoping it was him.
“I think you’ve already guessed,” she said, opening the door. Just outside, there was a man with dark locks and blue eyes that made my heart stop.
He was in a suit, black jacket tailored to fit him like a glove. The white shirt was a stark contrast to the handsome features the coat brought out in his pale skin and cerulean eyes. The ebony tie looped around his neck attractively while his leisurely stance caused his body to fall into the shape of ease. His eyes captured me in a trance that was unlike what anyone else on the planet could do to me. I was frozen in that moment, trapped within his extraordinary stare. The sloping smirk was beautiful, a handsome accessory to the attire that adorned his body. I literally thought my heart had stopped for a moment.
“Don’t have a heart attack,” he teased gently. I blushed and tried to find where my brain connected to the rest of my body. By the time I realized I was in his arms, I was in utter bliss.
He was warm to the touch, his chest a haven away from my nerves and my anxiousness at the oncoming ceremony. It was all I wanted to have him there before I walked out that door to move on with the next chapter of my life. It was a true relief to see him.
“Soooo Kelllin,” came a familiar voice that sounded dreadfully like Cartman from Southpark. I giggled, hiding my face in Kellin’s jacket.
“Dammit Sam,” Kellin lamented, though there was a laugh in those words.
“I had to come Kellin, you know I had to,” he said, and as I looked up, there was a camera present. I knew there had to have been. Any time Kellin wanted to beat Sam was when he had that damn camera.
“Heya Sam,” I called, waving a hand at the infamous camera.
He zoomed in, circling the two of us as he laughed maniacally as though what he was doing seriously had pissed someone off. I knew this would be in the next segment of Real Funny Guys. The way he was ogling at us, showing our embrace off to his world…it was suspicious behavior and definitely going to be showcased in the next Youtube sensation.
“Soooo Hannnahhh,” Sam started in his strange, high pitched camera voice, “How about doing something insane for graduation?” I rolled my eyes.
“Like what?” I replied curiously. Kellin glared.
“Don’t even think about it Sam,” Kellin growled gently. I laughed aloud and couldn’t help being curious.
“What do you have in mind?”
Sam stood there and rubbed his chin for a moment, contemplating loudly in his Cartman voice while I waited for his response.
“You should go to graduation wearing just your cap and gown,” he announced, zooming in for my reaction. I raised a brow and looked to Kellin who was staring at Sam with a half open mouth and an expression that could turn deadly at any moment. I just laughed and stepped out of Kellin’s arms, extending my hand so that we could solidify our gentleman‘s agreement.
Sam was hysterical.
“We shake on it,” I stated confidently, “And if I do it, you have to streak through the next city we go on tour to.”
Kellin groaned.
“No way come on Hannah,” he chuckled, “I don’t want to see his ass naked!” I laughed aloud.
“Come on Sam, shake on it,” I said, staring at him intently. The blonde gave me an uncertain look, camera still aimed at my face while he contemplated my terms. I smiled slyly. “Come on, you know you want to.”
The blonde chuckled and grasped my hand in his.
“Deal.”
I smiled to myself and looked at Kellin who had grown an expression of near horror though a grin tugged at the corners of his lips. I stood up on my tip toes and kissed the end of his nose.
“Don’t worry,” I whispered, “I’m going to make the most of this little agreement.”
***
The music was starting, my gown fluttering around my now naked body. I kept my heels on though and tried to zip the front as best I could so that I could hide my nudity. It was no doubt that the boys would immediately know I was naked though but perhaps the others would only think I was wearing a strapless, short dress. I would just have to be extra careful when I sat down so that no unmentionables were exposed to the world. I laughed softly to myself.
The things I do for fun and for love.
I followed my classmates out of the building, heels clacking on the tiled floor. I held my head high and stepped carefully as we made our way outside. The platform was in the distance and the dean of our college stood up there with our diplomas. They were our decree of being official doctors, our lives written on sheets of fine paper. I was excited, nervous, but eager to be done with all the crap I had to wade through for this moment.
And well I think Sam’s little deal made things even more interesting than I thought they could be. I stifled the chortle that tried to make its way up my throat, resisting my urge to laugh at the ridiculousness of my situation. Katy was ahead of me, her brown boots signature for her. We were walking between the aisles of people now, heads turning our direction as the music grew louder. The iconic graduation march tickled my eardrums, making me even more giddy than I already was. My gown fluttered around me and caused me to grip it tightly while I tried to walk with dignity. It was so hard not to smile at this.
When I found Kellin in the crowd, he was standing with Jesse, Jack, Justin, Gabe, Sam and both of my parents as well as six of my aunts, two of my uncles and a few cousins. They were easy to spot; my mom, two aunts and two cousins had the same astonishingly bright red hair that I did. They were like a beacon among a sea of black but as soon as I found them, I found him. His oceanic orbs were visible even from this distance and when he looked at me, I knew he knew I was naked underneath this gown. There was hunger and envy in his eyes, but also pride and delight at my achievement. My parents were beaming, family all wearing the same smiles.
Sam and the boys were cackling uncontrollably, camera in the blonde’s hand.
I winked and pointed a hand gun at them, pretending to shoot it and then blowing on my index finger for effect. They guffawed even louder to the point that my parents had turned back to them to shush their raucous behavior. I just rolled my eyes, cheering them on and lifting my fists into the air as we reached the platform. The chairs that were up front were the graduates so we all started to take our seats. The dean took the podium after a moment and we all smiled.
“We are gathered here today to celebrate the succession of students who made it to the point where we can now officially begin to call them doctors. They are hard workers, vigilant in their journey to discover their calling…” he began, but I quickly tuned him out.
Yes this was a momentous occasion, but I was still not as focused as I could be.
I wanted to get my diploma and go with my family, my friends and more importantly…Kellin. This was my time to shine and I didn’t want to do it among people I knew only skin deep. I wanted to go out and celebrate with them.
Katy turned to me.
“Seems like high school all over again right?” she whispered. I chuckled to myself and nodded.
“Definitely,” I replied.
The graduation dragged on with speeches from my dean, teachers, the students that were valedictorian and valedictorian and the like. There were special guests and people I didn’t even know that spoke. The president of the university, the dean of the veterinary wing again, a veterinarian and finally, the dean took the podium again. He smiled.
“This is the time students,” he announced, “Only a few more minutes of listening to us and this will be over…but for now, let’s get your diplomas out there before you all fall asleep.”
My heart hammered in my chest.
My aisle stood and began to lead the way to the platform where we stood and held our cue card. Our job was to hand it to the announcer, let him say our name and then we were to step out, shake hands with the dean, take our diploma and walk off stage. That was the plan.
When I stood, handed my cue card to the announcer and stepped up, there was an uproar in the crowd.
I don’t know how many signs they brought, how many bullhorns and party poppers full of confetti but they were all going off at once as I took the stage and my name was stated. I thought I was going to have a heart attack from the amount of blood rushing from my body to my face. My entire body felt light and airy, like I was going to float off into space at some point or another. They were making as much noise as they possibly could and just as I took my picture with the dean and my diploma, they went silent.
“THAT’S MY GIRLFRIEND!”
The statement made my heart burst with joy and angst all in the same moment. I knew that voice anywhere and the blush flooding my cheeks was undeniable. I turned my eyes out to the crowd and found haven in his gaze.
He smiled and mouthed, I love you.
I love you too, I replied, stepping towards the stairs and moving back to my empty chair.
The ceremony closed quicker than I expected, but I couldn’t stop looking at the diploma. So much had happened for me to receive this piece of paper that declared me a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. I was officially Dr. Robertson, Equine Specialist. It wasn’t just the graduation though…Kellin and I had been together for three years now with no complications, no worries other than my stresses with school. This scrap of finely written on parchment was not just what it seemed to be…not just my accomplishments in school but in life. It was a sign that through everything that happened, we had survived. We were happier than ever…and it seemed that life could not get any better.
“Congratulations class of 2017, you are now Doctors.”
I stood, throwing my hat up high into the air and screeching as loudly as I could as I released all those pent up feelings of utter elation. My body was filled with the sensation, my heart brimming with it. I captured the square hat and then turned, making a mad dash away from my seat and to the people I loved most in this world.
My feet carried me to them swiftly and soon enough, I was within Kellin’s warmth. Contentment filtered through me, eyes fluttering closed as he whispered a congratulations in my ear. I sighed and looked to him.
“Thank you,” I replied heartily just as my mother walked up.
I turned to her and went through the procession of hugs that ensued. There were so many people to embrace, so many congrats to listen to and so many thank yous to reply with. I was so happy, so lost in the bliss that I was sharing with my family, my friends that I had forgotten I was naked beneath my graduation gown.
That was until the camera was shoved in my face.
“Soooooo Hannnaaahhhh how does it feel to be a new vet?” came Sam’s Cartman voice. I flipped off the camera.
“Feels fucking amazing,” I replied, “And by the way, I will make the best of our deal. If you don’t go through with it, I know how to castrate you.” The blonde went pale. Yeah I wasn’t one to fuck with anymore!
Kellin’s arms wrapped around me from behind.
“So what did you do with your dress?” he whispered in my ear. I tugged on his tie and grinned.
“Left it back in the classroom,” I replied gently. He raised a brow.
“Well let’s go get it, we have partying to do.”
***
It was late afternoon, long after the sun had gone down. My graduation had been at eight o’clock and as soon as it was over, we had set to celebrating. First it was lunch with my family at the Outback Steakhouse which was an event the boys had decided to tag along for. They embarrassed my parents at the restaurant, Sam filming the entire ordeal. I just laughed, carrying on with my boisterous band of friends that I loved with my whole heart. I wouldn’t trade them for the world.
Kellin looped his arm around me from where I sat near the window at my apartment.
“You alright?” he whispered softly, pulling me into his arms.
“I’m brilliant,” I said softly, kissing his nose, “How about some prank calls with Beatus before we send the kids home?” He smiled and shook his head.
“Beatus, really?” he questioned. I nodded, smiling broadly.
“Yes Beatus,” I whispered, kissing his cheek. He grinned and shrugged before picking me up and carrying me towards the kitchen.
“Alright then,” he said, “As you wish.” He set me down in a chair and turned to Justin. “Dude let me borrow your phone.”
“What? Why?” Justin replied suspiciously, not willing to hand over the electronic device. I giggled and whipped out my cellular.
“Take mine babe,” I said, “I’m the one that suggested it.” He grinned.
It was then that we started calling random restaurants or rather Kellin’s alter ego Beatus did. He grasped locks of hair from his flowing ebony tresses and pulled them over his lip in a fake mustache. It helped him ‘get into character’ as he said and soon we were pranking all sorts of places. He would call in with a complaint, saying that something was wrong with the product in a poorly executed Mexican accent. He would tell them something like ‘I bought a gordita today and when I bit into it, I found some kind of tooth, I think it’s a shark tooth’. The manager would sound expertly worried, tell him to come down with the specimen and they would replace his order for free.
When we had finished closing the deal with the person on the other side of the receiver, we would laugh aloud when he hung up. It was the most ridiculous thing but somehow it was just too funny.
He dialed another place, the last one and waited for an answer.
“Yes hello?” he called, setting the phone on speaker.
“How may I help you?” the person on the receiving end called.
“Yes, I am calling to ask um I had some questions about the burrito I ordered today because I bit into it and there was some kind of hard thing in it I don’t know what it is,” he began and I was already holding back my fits of giggles.
“I’m sorry sir, what is it you think you found?” she asked with utter concern.
“Yes I found some round, hard shaped thing and it it broke a tooth so I wanted to know if I could uh get another burrito with the…the pollo, with the chicken,” he stammered, trying to hold back his laughter. I raised a brow.
The fuck was he talking about?
“Well sir if you could identify the object or maybe just bring it down, we’ll be more than happy to reimburse you for your meal,” the woman said.
“But um…well you know, I’m kind of broke at the moment and I think this thing might be a ring so uh…what do you think, should I propose to the girl I love?” he asked. The woman was taken aback.
And so was I.
He was looking me full in the eye, smiling like a Cheshire cat while the boys snickered and shot me long ways looks of knowing. I was still in the dark because I hadn’t caught on to what he was saying. It didn’t make any sense, this didn’t flow with the context of the other pranks. What was he up to?
“Um well, I don’t know sir, perhaps…well if you love her I guess go for it,” she stammered confusedly. Kellin smiled, still holding the fake mustache.
“Okay…okay then well if I can keep the ring, I will propose so I guess thank you so much, yes gracias,” he said concisely, the grin becoming more and more defined on his lips. My heart was beating wildly out of control as I stared at him. His eyes were crinkled, mischief radiating from him with a sense of something he might call romance hidden beneath. I was blushing, no longer giggling in joy of our ridiculous pranks.
He hung up the phone and gazed at me.
“So what do you say?” he whispered. I swallowed.
“To what?” I replied with uncertainty. He smiled genuinely and shuffled for something in his pocket. My heart seemed like it was going to grow wings and fly from my chest at any moment. Was he asking what I thought he was?
“Well it’s been three years…a little more than that if you consider before our catastrophe which I do…so four and a half years in total and I was wondering if you, my dearest love, would do me the honor of becoming Dr. Quinn instead of Dr. Robertson?”
The boys gathered around, Sam’s camera rolling.
I was star struck, petrified and enamored all the same at the idea of becoming his wife. It was something I wanted all along, an idea I yearned for since the day I had known we were pregnant and even after when I had lost him so suddenly. I had hoped that someday it would happen, but never believed it and now I was staring with a dumbfounded expression into his awaiting gaze.
“Well Hannahhhh what’s the verdict?” Sam asked in his Cartman voice. I looked to the camera for a split second and then returned my eyes to Kellin.
“What do you say?” he whispered. I smiled.
“Yes.”
There was much cheering, hugging, kissing and drinking after that. The kissing was just me and Kellin, though I did get kissed on the cheek and later on Jack kissed Kellin on the lips in drunken stupor. The hugs came in waves as the night progressed, the length in time which these lasted became longer as the drinks continued to be poured. I didn’t partake in the alcohol though, or at least not past the two shots they pumped into me. Kellin didn’t drink either…we wanted to be sober when we were left alone after the kids left. They jumped off the walls while Sam filmed and the rest of them got punch drunk. Luckily their hotel room was just down the street so they could walk there when I wanted to kick them out or when they were ready to leave. It was long into the night when they finally were gone and we were left to our thoughts. The ring on my finger was odd, something I hadn’t ever expected to wear. It was something I coveted but not something I had believed in.
I stood and looked into those blue orbs, enjoying the sensation of his arms around me. He swayed with me back and forth and I moved with him. He chuckled.
“What?” I asked.
“Just didn’t know if you were going to say yes,” he admitted gently. I blushed.
“Why?” I replied.
“I don’t know,” he uttered gently, his words ghosting from his lips, “But it doesn’t matter now does it? My Audrey…” I smiled.
“Hmm I think you’re better than James Dean,” I whispered, reaching up to kiss him full on the lips for a brief second prior to pulling away. “You’re mine.”
The sound of a glass heart is the most precious thing known to human kind. It pulsates and gleams like a crystal, shimmering in light and still managing to glow in the darkness. It pulls through everything and anything, life, love, hate, fear…and yet it can so easily be shattered. When two of these hearts are put together, nothing can harm them, nothing can break them. They turn from glass to diamond in a single instant, a gem so brilliant that it outshines and overpowers every other impediment. It even can cut through glass…
But still, the sound is impeccable, so fragile, so wonderful…and I am fortunate to be able to turn mine to diamond within the facets of his glass heart.
~*~
And that is the end of The Sound of Glass Hearts ♥ thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please continue to share it, promote it, vote for it and love it as much as you have thus far! I will contemplate creating a sequel, but for now, this is it.
This is the sound of a glass heart.