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“Meeting new girls is what you mean.”
“Yes, meeting new girls,”
“None of them are you! I only want you! Don’t you trust me?” he asks.
“I mean, of course, I do. It’s just that,”
“What?”
“I’m scared,” I say, telling the truth. “I’m scared that you will forget about me, that you will outgrow me.”
“How could I, Soul? How could I outgrow a part of me? Trust me, Soul, trust us.”
“Okay, Gabe,” I give in because how could I not after all I love him. But our last night together truly broke my heart. He asked me earlier to leave the door unlocked since he was going to break it to his parents, mostly his father, that he signed the contract and would be leaving, and it went just like he expected. His father exploded and disowned him. When he came to me, he looked wrecked; his father gutted him. He looked so broken. He talked as I held him all night. He snuck out that morning, grabbed the bag he hid in my backyard, and left. So here I am, on graduation day, missing him. We get in the car and head to the venue. I look out of the window, mindlessly watching the scenery fly by, but my world, which used to be full of color, is now grey to me. I battle the tears that threaten to ruin the makeup Serenity did this morning, much to my father’s chagrin. This year has been a rollercoaster. He was not here, then he was here, and now he’s not here again. I wish he would have never come. It would have made this a lot easier. Angie is waiting for me when we park, and so are my sisters and their husbands.
“Come on, girl, we worked hard for today,” she says, looping her arm through mine after I hug my family. We find our seats and talk excitedly about how we are going to spend our summer before we go away to college. We will have freedom, well, I’ll have freedom. Angie pretty much does what she wants. Soon we get through all the boring speeches, and it’s time for us to walk the stage. Angie follows me since I am Davis and she is Dawson. We hold hands at the top of the stairs until I hearSoul Dreame Davis.She releases my hand as I begin to walk toward my principal and school superintendent, who is holding my diploma. As soon as I am at the other end, I hearAngela Rene’ Dawson.I slow down so she can catch up to me. We clasp hands as we walk back to our seats, laughing and showing off our diplomas to each other. We retake our seats and watch the rest of our class walk the stage. Move our tassel right before throwing our caps and I am officially a high school graduate. Once the ceremony is over, we hurriedly fight through the crowd to find our families. I see the sign Serenity made and begin making my way that way, dragging Angie along. It happens so slowly, it almost seems unreal. My family is standing in a circle talking, I call out to Seven, and she and my other sisters turn toward me, opening up the circle and causing me to stop in my tracks. There in the center, holding the biggest bouquet of peonies, lilies, and orchids that I have ever seen, is Gabe. I am in motion before I can comprehend it, and I am in his arms before my next breath. I don’t care what my father says or how he feels. I miss him, and besides, it's just a hug.
“What are you doing here?”
“I know you didn’t think I would miss your graduation,” he says, smiling down at me and I swear he’s grown another few inches since he’s been gone.
“Well now that everyone is here let’s go,” my dad says as Gabe laces his fingers with mine and we all head out. He has a car now, and I ride with him to my party. Best. Day. Ever.
Gabe
I fought to get here, against my manager’s wishes, but there was no way in hell I would miss this. The past few weeks have been hard as hell. I am trying to live out my dream alone, and it hasn’t been what I was expecting at all. I have no say so in what I sing or how I sing it for the most part. They already had songs and backup singers for me, and the arrangements of the songs were already set, too. I have a little leeway, but not a lot. I have to remind myself that it isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon, but I also feel like if I had family or support I wouldn’t have my ideas overrode so often. But this was one thing I wasn’t going to budge on, and finally, they agreed to give me the weekend off so I could go see my girlfriend. I am so proud of her. She looked so beautiful she literally stole my breath away. I went by my old house but was turned away at the door by my father who told me, “You’re dead to me. Don’t ever come back here,” before closing the door in my face.
I leased a house here. I would have bought it, but I don’t know how long Soul plans on being here, and I am going to be wherever she is.
“How long are you here for?”
“Just the weekend.”
“Oh,” she says, looking dejected.
“Don’t do that, babe. Let’s enjoy the time we have together,” I say not telling her how much trouble I caused to come or that I would probably have to pay a fine for missing a few days in the studio. None of that matters, none of it is as important as she is. It’s my burden to bear not hers and I do not want to ruin her day.
I have also been in contact with her parents and sent money to help make her party a grand affair. I used my limited resources to secure the ballroom at one of the hotels and flew her family in so she could have the best night of her life until our wedding reception, of course. Angie and her were having a joint party so she was also included along with her family. We pull up in front of the hotel and park, “I have something for you, will you wear it?”
“Of course,” is the immediate reply. I reach across her, open the glove compartment, pull the box out, handing it to her.
“Gabe, what is it?”
“Open it and find out,” she carefully unwraps the velvet embossed purple wrapping paper, opening the box to reveal the gold necklace with a diamond G wrapped around an S on it.
“Gabe,” she whispers.
“So that we are always together, even when I am away,” I tell her, pulling the necklace out of the box and placing it around her neck. “Come on before your father comes looking for us.” I get out and make my way around the car to let her out.
The venue is beautifully decorated, and her family and friends are in attendance. Her sisters and Angie go with her so they can change into their party clothes as I find a seat to be as inconspicuous as possible. I just want her to enjoy her day. She will be seventeen soon, but still not old enough for her to come with me, so I have another year to wait. In the meantime, I’ll wait and hope that time doesn’t work against us and that it’ll all work out in the end.
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CHAPTER9
Eighteen Years Later
Gabe
