Page 88 of Since Always

Becca: go there.

Me: Becca. I told you not to come here. There's going to be like 20,000 people here our age who watch your show. It's going to be a madhouse.

Becca: Oh, ye of little faith. Just go.

I roll my eyes, but smile, grateful for the millionth time to have her in my life. The crowds are already crazy, so I weave through families and grads in gowns and sashes as I make my way to the theater. As I approach it, I scan around, looking for my leggy best friend. I keep my eyes peeled as I circle the building, knowing she is probably hiding from the crowd somewhere. I am just about to text her again when I see it.

There, around a corner, leaning casually against a tree with a baseball hat pulled down and large sunglasses on to be incognito.

Not Becca.

Owen.

The knot that has kept my body tight for the past few months slips free almost instantly, the relief washing over me in a wave. I want to run across the grass to him, but I walk slowly, taking in the sight before me. I am trying to process whether it is real or if I have just been lost in the desert too long, and this is a mirage.

"Hi, you," I say.

"Hi, you too, Graduate."

I try to suppress my grin. "What...uh...What are you doing here? I haven't heard from you in a while. I didn't expect you to come today."

"Yeah. To be honest, I didn't expect to come today, either. But, then I realized something really important."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

He takes my hand and pulls me into him. I was afraid, for just a moment, that he was only here as a friend. But this does not feel just friendly.

"I love you, Cassidy Sloane."

He strokes the side of my face, looking down at me. I can just make out his eyes through the dark glasses.

My heart feels like it could burst.

"But what about.."

"Doesn't matter," he shakes his head. "That's what I realized. I knew I loved you. I've known that for a while now. That wasn't the realization. But I thought everything else was important. These last few months—not having you there for the wins and not being here to celebrate yours—My realization was that nothing is as important as this. And I'm sorry. I am so goddamn sorry that I didn't realize all this sooner, and that I put us both through all this."

He kisses me then, and it filled with everything that we could not say the past few months.

"Wait..." I say, pulling back, even though it is the last thing I want to do. "Owen..."

Something crosses his face then. A moment of panic. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should have asked if you were still…if you were seeing someone or..."

"No! It's not that. I'm not. And I am definitely still…Everything. I love you too. I love you more than anything in the world. But everything that we were worried about still exists. Your job..."

"I came clean to my team. I told them about you. We've been, and I hope this is okay, we've been doing a little preliminary research on the best ways to go public and minimize the fallout for both of us. Step one was definitely waiting until you had graduated and were working. We can get into this later. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but..."

"You don't have to sell me, Owen Blaze. I told you I was in a long time ago. If you are willing to face it, I am willing to face it with you."

"I really am so sorry it took me so long to get here," he says, dropping his forehead to mine. "I'm so sorry, Cass. I didn't want to hurt you, but in the end I just hurt us both."

"It's okay. I know why you were scared," I say, as I lean forward to take his mouth with mine. I pull back when I remember. "What about Chris?"

"Funny story," he says, and takes my hand as he fills me in on his trip to Denver.

The main ceremony is so boring I can't see straight, and I'm going crazy being separated from Owen after having just reunited. I text with him throughout the entire thing, filling him in on everything happening in my life, and asking him about his.

Me: I was so happy to see the Internet Safety bill pass. That was big news. I'm so proud of you.

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