Page 4 of All That Glitters
Down on the field, Tony had just accepted his diploma when the commotion erupted. He turned toward the source of the noise, squinting up at the bleachers where the brawl was spreading like wildfire. His eyes found Debbie in the epicenter, her hands covering her face.
“Of course,” he muttered, a fond smile tugging at his lips.
Higher in the stands, Debbie slowly peeked through her fingers, looking left, then right at the bedlam she’d accidentally unleashed.
“Oops,” she said with a cringe. That one word, which would probably be the epitaph on her tombstone one day, was the story of her life.
Fifteen minutes later…
What had been a graduation ceremony now looked like a tornado had passed through it. Wisps of tear gas still lingered over the field where campus security and local police in riot gear were leading away the last of the combatants. Folding chairs lay overturned, programs and water bottles littered the ground, and the sprinklers had come on, drenching everything.
From behind the podium, the still-cowering dean waved his handkerchief as a makeshift white flag of surrender. Most of the graduates had either fled, or stuck around to watch the chaos with amusement. Tony and his two best friends were in the latter group.
Matt Larson and Jeff Slewinski had been Tony’s roommates and partners-in-crime since freshman year, bonding over a shared appreciation for beer, reruns of forgotten TV shows, bad decisions, and spectacularly failed romantic endeavors.
Jeff, a soon-to-be law student and self-proclaimed ladies’ man, scrolled through photos on his cell phone with an ever-broadening grin.
“Dude. And check this one out,” he said, showing his phone to the others. “It’s when the cops shot that fat guy with the beanbag gun. I’m totally posting this.”
Matt, the pragmatic accounting major of the group, adjusted his glasses and surveyed the bedlam with a mixture of awe and curiosity. “Did you guys see how it started?”
“TONY!”
The boys turned at the sound of the voice. Debbie was making her way toward them, dodging security personnel and overturned chairs with remarkable agility for someone who just triggered a riot.
Tony sighed, a resigned smile crossing his face. “You’re about to meet how it started.”
Debbie reached them, slightly out of breath, and grabbed Tony in a fierce hug that nearly knocked him off balance. It was a hug that packed fifteen years of friendship.
“Look at you,” she beamed, pulling back to admire him in his graduation attire. “The college graduate. I can’t believe it.”
Tony shot her a curious look. “Can’t believe what?”
“That you graduated,” she replied, her eyes sparkling with affectionate teasing.
“I got that part.”
“As in, you actually finished something,” she explained, nudging him playfully with her elbow.
Jeff snorted. “Shocker, isn’t it?”
Debbie nodded. “Uh huh.”
“I finish things,” Tony said.
“Name one,” Matt said. “And beers don’t count.”
“And while he’s trying to think of something that doesn’t exist,” Jeff jumped in, extending his hand to Debbie, “hi, I’m Jeff. And that’s soon to have an esquire after it.”
“Hi,” Debbie replied, shaking his hand with a warmth that came naturally to her. “Debbie. That has perpetual student after it.”
“Oh, you’re his friend from Phoenix who’s always breaking things,” Jeff said.
Debbie’s smile faltered slightly. “I am?”
“According to Tony,” Matt said, stepping forward to introduce himself. “Hi, I’m Matt.”
“Hi,” Debbie replied, then turned to Tony. “I don’t always break things.”
