Page 129 of Second Serves and First Times

“Of course, I remember. Thank you.”

“We’d better go and find our seats, Tabitha,” Dad tells Mom.

“Good luck out there,” Madison says.

“Yeah.” Sloane slaps me on the back. “Good job, old boy.”

“Will you hold Grogu?” I ask Elias, handing over the Build-A-Bear dressed in his new cap and gown, along withthe gift bag holding the watch. I catch Madison wrinkling her nose again as Elias takes him with a grin.

“He can sit in my lap and watch.”

I feel sorry for Elias having to sit with my parents through the ceremony, but he’s pretty good at blanking things out and everyone’s in a good mood at least.

Nate grabs me before we take our seats with the rest of our business class.

“Ben, I just wanted to say.” He pauses. Is he getting teary-eyed? “It’s been an honor running the frat with you this year.”

“Oh,” I blush and rub the back of my neck, feeling sweat start to bead under my cap. “Yeah, me too.”

“And I mean … well, I just wanted to say thanks. For being a good friend—no, agreatfriend. I couldn’t have asked for better.”

“Jeez, Nate. You do know we’re not going off to war, right?”

He laughs, his eyes sparkling. He sniffles and wipes his face, pulling himself together.

“I know. And I know we’re going to see plenty more of each other.”

“Plentymore. We’re going to be running a business together.”

“I know, I know. It’s just that you’re going out on the tour with Elias in a few weeks, and, well. I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too. But we’ll talk on the phone every day and have boring video meetings in hotel rooms, it’ll be just like we never graduated.”

He laughs.

Someone is going around, telling people to find their seats as the ceremony is about to begin, so we settle in and wait for the first speaker to take the stage.

This is it. The culmination of four years of hard work—more if you count prep school and years of extracurriculars and planning. My heart races at the thought. But instead of panic and self-doubt taking over, it’s excitement I feel. I can’t wait to get started.

I turn in my seat and seek out Elias. He’s still there, sitting straight-backed while my sister studies her program. He gives me a smile that tells me he has no doubt that I’m going to be absolutely fine before making Grogu give a little wave.

I turn back to the stage with a snort.

“Okay?” Nate asks.

I take a deep breath as the first speaker is announced, the mic giving a little feedback.

“Yes,” I tell him. “We’ve totally got this.”

THE END