6.4: Now She's Graduated

Booker's POV...

   I stood at the graduation ceremony, watching her glide up to the stage and accept her diploma. I watched the class throw their caps into the air as the crowd broke apart. Everyone was an adult now. They were officially free from the homework and teachers and nagging parents. I stood in the back of the auditorium, unsure of why I was here. She didn't invite me here. I had shown up unexpected, ready to clean up the damage I left at her birthday party.
   I was a politician. I smoothed things over with a simple phrase. It wouldn't be difficult, just a charming wink and a little chuckle, I'd be completely home free. Kayleigh was an adult with a high school education. My degrees were so numerous, I was probably able to supply everyone here with one. Appaloosa Plains couldn't help it; the town was full of uneducated simpletons willing to vote for because I appealed to their oh so plain values and morals. Dating an eighteen year old? With the elections for mayor approaching in six months, that was the exact opposite of what I should be doing. Our relationship was layered and much more complex than that, though. I had given her a shred of hope that I would eventually rip into tiny pieces. I could edge her on, flirt a bit, leaving her in the dust eventually.
   Ditch Kayleigh. The plan was simple, written out in ten simple steps. Tens simple steps. I used the ten step method to campaign and win and then used it once in office to get everything into the correct shape. The years it took me to develop the ten steps were painstakingly long. First step, hope. I'd already accomplished this step; no worried there. Here teeny tiny country mind was bubbling over the rim with hope for love and all that crap. Now she's graduated and the hope for a future has become real. The future is real, unfortunately her plans for love and all aren't.
   I may seem cruel to you. I'm not. My heart isn't stone and ice. My heart is well and beating, ready for the love arrows to come for it. It was the simple fact that the race for mayor was on. I was in the game for far too long to realize what feeling I had.Washington's term for mayor was four simple years. There was no term limit. In a small town like this, mayor was like the Judicial branch of the federal government. Once you have the job, it's yours for life. You have to have elections, every year, of course, but unless you're in a huge scandal people vote for you. It's not that they like you, they just hate change. Why else would anyone live in a small town with  seven stoplights, one grocery that was run by a local family, and crooked politics? Since you're mayor for life, it's rare for the position to open. This was the year I'd get to run. The old mayor had a heart attack or something, of course I attended the old crackpot's funeral and campaigned.
   I was as crooked as Appaloosa Plains' only stop sign. It had been up for years and run over periodically. I was not someone you wanted your daughter to date. I cared for Kayleigh. I honestly would breakdown in tears if she was to go off the deep end and attempt another graveyard. I liked the girl. But she was only a girl. I was not an honest man. I wasn't a bad man, though. I protected those who I loved. Since my brother passed... I haven't had any family to love. Nobody to keep my morals in check. There was this lamp in me. When I buried my brother, the flame in the lamp burnt out. It didn't make my heart freeze, but it made it harder to see. Kayleigh was this tiny spark that relighted the flame. And damn was I scared to see that tiny light back and have to deal with what I'd done. Nothing illegal, but politics... it ate your soul.
   "Woah! I'm... an adult!" I heard her shout, as she threw up her diploma. Her family surrounded her as they pranced out of the place, outside. I stood up, glancing at my feet. I shouldn't have come. I should let the flame die and the spark dance on. My eyes drifted around the room. Families happy, together. This wasn't what I would have...it was what I wanted. But, I couldn't find anyone. With her, happiness was easy. But the office I wanted... voters would frown upon the relationship. My eyes landed on hers. She saw me. She smiled and mouthed something. "Come on!"
   I began walking outside, pacing myself. No running. Don't look odd. Just be calm. C-A-L-M. Four letters... so was like. And love and hate and vote and vote is what  voters do and voters decide who get to be mayor and mayor begins with M and so does 'Man, that's a bad idea!' and ideas are what people would be getting if I associated myself with her. Ideas are dangerous, they make people question and if voters question they might not vote for me and I might not be elected and have a job and then I would be unemployed and part of the statistics, which is never a good thing because then people talk about your stats on the news and people jeer at you and you find yourself without money to pay the  bills and end up homeless and that's going to be the front page of Appaloosa Times, because yes even in this itty bitty town we have our own newspaper. So that's why I need to not run to see her. I might be over thinking this. Maybe just  a little.
   "Hey." I greeted her.
   "Hey, didn't know you'd be here. Um, why exactly are you here?"
   "Well, see... I, uh. I thought for a minute and I was a little... maybe I was a bit cryptic."
   "A bit? Um, yeah. Way cryptic."
   "Sorry."
   "Great, but my parents and I have reservations and, I like you, but Booker. This is just weird."
   "I thought you loved me."
   "Huh? You're hard not to, but seriously? I realized something."
   "What?"
    "Me and you? Never going to happen. I mean I wish it would. Really, really, really badly. It just won't, so I figured I should stop trying."
    "Really?" This was great news. Really great new... that made me want her even more.
    "Booker..." She set her arms around my shoulders."You have pretty eyes."
    "Huh?"
    "I just noticed... they're pretty. I'm thinking of leaving to Bridgeport. Connie knows a few stars and one of them could use a nanny. I figure I could watch th em and become reputable, then start this star sitters program..."
   "Wait leave? For good?"
   "Yes, silly." She giggled. "I wanted to open a daycare, but... I had no luck in Appaloosa Plains. Other than meeting you, I mean."
   "Kayliegh don't go!" I blurted out.
   "What?" She looked confused. "You said all those things..."
   "Look, I like you. I shouldn't, but I can't help it. You're... look, I feel this weird bond. I know it's crazy, but it's true. Me and you."
    "Booker I said I'd never get over you, but I was trying... I was going to move across the country for Pete's sake! Now you tell me that you like me?"
    "I know, it's crazy. I just hadn't realized it yet. Don't go. You said your only luck was meeting me, so why let that go? Please."
    "Kiss me."
     "But your parents."
     "You like me? Kiss me. Be a man. Convince me to stay."
     "Convince you with a kiss?" That was absurd. She was going to go if I didn't try, though. I took a deep breath, my morals clashing. I stood there awkwardly, her face a few inches from my face. Suddenly, her lips were on mine. She was kissing me softly and I found myself kissing back. "I thought you said I was suppose to."
      "Took too long." She giggled.
      "Will you be my girlfriend?"
      "Really? No flowers, no date?"
      "I want you to stay."
      "I know you do." The longest minute of my life was the one she used to think over the answer to my question. Many men say it's the big question, but it isn't. Not really. You've been together and know each other by then to read their mind, but at the beginning of a relationship you're clueless.  This is exactly how I felt. "Yes."
     "Yes?" I felt the pressure slowly decrease, as relief sweltered through me. We held hands chatting about her plans for life. There was me now and she was going to stay in Appaloosa Plains. We talked and chatted until I flt a tap on my shoulder.
     "Excuse me, Booker." I turned around to see Kayleigh's father standing right there. Big, muscular Trevor Janes.
     "Yes, sir?"
     "Can we talk."  The words made up a question, but it wasn't. It was an order from the man close to a decade older than me who worked out at the gym four times a week.
     "Sure, sir." I followed him off to the side, as Alani swooped over to Kayleigh's side.
     "First, stop calling me sir. Second, I saw you kissing my daughter."
     "Well, she.... she started it."
     "Really? Because she's my precious baby girl and if you do anything she isn't one hundred percent comfortable with, I'm saying one damn thing, I'll have you arrested."
     "She's eighteen; an adult."
     "Barely. I swear,  if you hurt her I will come find you and you better hope that I'm in a good mood, otherwise you'll not have a very good chance of seeing the light of day again. Trust me, I have a shovel and an alibi lined up. "
     "I promise.  Beside, we're... may I have you permission to date her?"
     "Yes. If you come to my home and show anything less than your best manners and gentleman attitude, that means no physical affection, I will not stand for it."
      "Yes, Trevor."
      "It's Mr. Janes."
      "You said awhile back I could call you Trevor."
      "That was before you were a threat to my daughter." This is the scariest moment of my life. The father of the daughter that you're dating. It was confusing and uncomfortable, but as I stood there promising to take care of her, I knew it was right... but with the elections for mayor creeping up, my campaigning side would spring to life and it wasn't pretty. I could only hope Kayleigh could hold on tight and stick around for the journey... it was going to get rough.

NOTE: Sorry for the late update... I (as of today, Wednesday)  have had THREE snow days when I was suppose to go back to school Monday... I am stuck babysitting for the neighbor and my parent's coworkers and have required reading to finish. *Sighs* I read the book a few years ago when I was into the genre, but can't remember the details. Major plot points? Yes, but details? Haha... nope. Anyways, I haven't started and have like...well, today to finish the book I currently hate. It was good the first time when I liked the fantasy stuff, but now it's not intriguing or anything. I know, I know. ( #Firstworldproblemsofastudent)  Thanks for letting me ramble.  ☺