He’s making a face, and when he knows he has my attention, he places a palm on his heart, adopting an earnest expression. “This is the first day of the rest of our lives. We can be anything we want. Leaders, visionaries, social justice warriors.” He makes his voice dramatic as he mimics the speech given by our valedictorian.
I roll my eyes and smack his arm with my diploma. “You can be excited, Finn. You don’t have to be too cool for everything.”
Finn sheds his navy blue gown and throws it over his forearm. He’s wearing his favorite shorts, the ones with two holes in the bottom of the left leg. Most of the guys wore a collared shirt, but not Finn. His plain white T-shirt announces his indifference and mild distaste of the pomp and circumstance.
Behind Finn’s head, I catch sight of my mom waving me over. She and Ted stand on the platform of the bleachers. She’s wearing a pale pink pantsuit, and Ted wears a gray suit with a yellow and white gingham tie.
I hold up one finger, telling her I’ll be there in a minute. Finn turns to see who I’m gesturing to.
He turns back around and leans in to my ear. “He must be sweating like a whore in church.”
Laughter bursts from me. Finn grins, proud of his joke.
Mom waves again, so I hook my arm around Finn’s and pull him across the football field and over the track until we’re standing below them. It’s graduation night; my mom has to be nice to Finn, right?
“Hello, Mrs. Blake. Pastor Blake.”
My mom gives Finn a tight smile. Ted leans down, extending a hand. “Congratulations, Finn. Do you have plans for college?”
“Finn’s going to Stanford on a full ride,” I answer before he can, looking at my mother pointedly. I can’t stand the way she turns up her nose at him. As if she wasn’t trailer trash until her white knight showed up and whisked her to lower-middle-class suburbia.
Ted nods his head approvingly. “Nice work. I’m sure your uncle is proud.”
Finn nods, looking around the crowd. Probably for his uncle, although it’s pointless. His uncle rarely makes it to school events, and even though I know he came tonight, he wouldn’t have stuck around. Crowds make him uncomfortable.
“Can Finn come with us to dinner?” I direct the question at Ted, because he’s more likely to say yes, but Finn interjects.
“I have plans, Lennon.”
I turn to him, bewildered. “Plans? With who?”
“I told Brady I’d come over.”
“Oh.” My feelings are instantly hurt.
“Thanks, though. Enjoy dinner. Bye, Mr. and Mrs. Blake.”
Finn takes a few steps away, and he’s quickly swallowed into the crowd of navy blue gowns.
“Meet us at the restaurant, Lennon?” Ted’s smiling at me.
“Sure,” I agree, and go off in the direction of my car. We drove separately because I had to be here early, which makes me realize that Finn doesn’t have a ride home. I picked him up on my way here.
When I get to my car, I grab my phone from my purse and call him.
“How are you getting to Brady’s?” I ask when he answers.
“John’s dropping me off.”
My lips purse. John’s the only other person I’d call Finn’s friend, and he’s the kind of friend Finn grabs lunch with sometimes, but has never been invited to Finn’s home.A school friend,as Finn calls him.Not a life friend.
I end the call quickly and consider calling Brady to suss out what they’re up to. In the end, I decide against it.
Trinity had their graduation tonight too, otherwise Brady would’ve been here, watching Finn and I toss our caps into the air. Or watching me do that, anyway. Finn’s too cool to show that level of excitement. It bums me out that Finn and I didn’t get to see Brady in his brick-red gown, or the proud smile on his face. It’s even more of a bummer we didn’t all graduate from the same school.
What else won’t we do together anymore? I wasn’t invited to whatever it is Brady and Finn are doing right now. We’re going to different colleges, in different states, and what if tonight's the beginning of the end?
When I get to the restaurant, I carefully tuck my despondency behind a happy exterior. I play the part of proud graduate. Ted is friendly and borderline boisterous, chatting with other parents from the tables around us. Two members of Ted’s congregation come up to say hello, and my mother becomes animated. They leave when our food is delivered.
