More Than This

Epilogue 1

Matt - A few months later...

Song of the chapter - Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds

The sun was beating down on me. I don't understand why they made us sit in the heat in those damn gowns. Why couldn't they put a fricking pop up tent over our seats. I mean, I guess they'd have to get a ton since there's so many of us. And then the parents wouldn't be able to see us in all of our graduation glory.

Whatever. It was boring as fuck. You'd think I'd be all excited to sit there during graduation, the last high school event of my life. I was done, out of there. Moving to a dorm in a few months and away from all of the bull shit.

But there's somewhere else I'd really rather be, someone else I'd rather be with. I took a deep breath, itching to run my fingers through my hair to calm myself down. But the damn cap was on my head. And people were watching me, so I didn't want to look like a nervous looser. Instead I rubbed both hands on my thighs, repeatedly. Even though it still made me look like a nervous looser.

Whatever, no one knew the real reason I was nervous. Shit, I needed to calm the eff down. But it was basically impossible considering what was about to go down. The speeches had started. It looked like there were about four of them, all saying the same thing.

The future is wide open

We can do whatever we set out to do

Don't let your spark burn out

Barf. I didn't need a damn pep talk, I was getting out of hell, finally, that was all the pep talk I needed. No more raging dad in my face. No more pressure to be what everyone expected all the time. No rep to keep up. I was starting over, new people who didn't have a clue who I had been. Well, except for the one person who really knew me now. The real me, the one I actually kind of liked.

Hannah.

Sitting there waiting for the speeches to end and our names to be called, I pulled out my phone. It always put me at ease, reading over our texts from the last few months. Ever since Jeff sent me her number, we'd been texting. Pretty much every day, sometimes for hours. We hadn't talked on the phone so I hadn't heard her voice since that morning I woke up in her bed. I thought about that morning all the time.

After graduation all of that would change. She would be at Jeff's house for his grad party. And I was going. I was nervous as fuck about it. I wanted to see her again. I needed to. She had been the only person who had really, truly, seen through all of my BS and still wanted to know more. God, that girl meant something to me now, so much. I hadn't seen it coming, but one day it fucking hit me. I was in deep and didn't even realize it until she mentioned Jeff's party. As soon as my heart sped up, and I felt the anticipation take over, I knew.

I was right that morning. I was so fucked.

What if I didn't mean the same to her? What if all of this was just a distraction for her? Maybe she was just bored. Maybe...

I told myself to shut the eff up and stop worrying. I just needed to see her again. It was messing with my confidence. But the texts seemed to show that there was something there between us.

I had actually taken screen shots of a few of her texts. I was that guy, the one who couldn't get his mind off of a girl. I had kind of been like that with Amber, but Hannah was a whole new level. She was so much more.

So are you still hung up on that girl that left you?-Hannah

Not really- Matt

That was a lie, but at the time I was ready to move on.