by Morgan Utley
“It just makes me so happy to see the two of you together again!” she gushed and ran over to hug them both, “Noah, are you staying for dinner?”
“I’m sorry, but I have to get going. I’m picking up my parents at the airport in a couple of hours, and I need to make sure I have everything together before they come. But thank you,” he said graciously.
“You know you're always welcome, Noah! How exciting that your parents are coming into town! What’s the occasion?” she inquired.
“I’m officially graduating this weekend, and we’re having a party at my uncle’s. I would love to have all of you come. I would invite all of you to the ceremony, but I don’t have enough tickets,” Noah explained and continued, “Here, let me write down the address. The party is on Saturday at five in the evening. There will be food, so don’t worry about eating before.”
“That sounds great! We will be there,” her mom assured. “We have nothing going on Saturday right, honey?” she looked over at her husband.
“Nope, just Noah’s party now,” he affirmed.
“Yeah, we will stop by too,” Chris pointed to himself and Gloria. “Thanks for the invite, especially after everything,” he said with a concerned look.
“Hey, it's all good, man. You were just looking out for your sister, and I respect that. Forgive and forget. My car though, it doesn’t forgive and forget as well as I do,” he laughed.
Chris laughed sheepishly in response, “I’m sorry about that, man.”
“You’ll never do that again, will ya?” Gloria said sternly.
“No, mamacita. No, I will not.”
After a moment of awkward silence, Noah finally piped up and said, “Well, I better get going. I have errands to run, and I don’t want to be late to the airport.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Peyton offered. After saying goodbye, they followed each other out to the car, and Noah spun around to look at her before getting into his car.
“So, will you come to my graduation?” he smirked at her and leaned up against his car.
“Of course. If you want me to be there, I would be happy to be there,” she smiled.
Noah beamed, “I do want you there.” He took her hand and pulled her gently into his arms. “It means a lot to me that you would come. Peyton, I don’t want to go another day without seeing you. Quite frankly, I don’t even want to go pick up my parents because I just want to stay here and be with you.”
“I want you to stay too. But it wouldn’t be fair to leave your parents at the airport. I bet they’re so excited to see you,” she encouraged. She didn’t want him to leave. She felt like she just got him back, and now he had to leave so soon. It made her tremendously sad, but she didn’t want him to know it.
“Yeah, I haven’t seen them in a while, so it will be good. They’re very excited to meet you.”
“Oh, really? You told them about me?” Peyton asked, now feeling extremely nervous about what she had just agreed to.
“Of course, I did. I knew they were most likely going to meet you this weekend, so I had to tell them about you. Plus, why wouldn’t I? You have made me so much happier in the last couple of months than I have been in my entire life,” flattered Noah as he brushed the side of her cheek. “You bet I took that opportunity to brag about you!”
“You are so sweet. How did I get so lucky?” Peyton cooed and stared dreamily into his eyes.
“I could ask the same thing,” he smiled affectionately and bent over to kiss her on the lips. He leaned his forehead onto hers and whispered, “I better get going. I’ll text you the address to the school, and here,” he paused to pull a piece of paper out of his pocket, “is your ticket.”
“Thank you.” She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. “Text me.”
“I will,” he promised and with one last kiss, he was off.
Chapter 20
Saturday came quickly, and Peyton was both relieved and nervous. The last couple of days, Noah wasn’t able to come and see her because he had things going on at his school that he had to attend, and he was trying to spend time with his parents. Peyton could understand why he hadn’t been around since he had invited her to his graduation ceremony, but it made her uneasy. She could only imagine the countless questions his parents must be asking, considering she was a widow at twenty-four. She hoped that he was preparing them well enough for when they finally met.
Besides feeling worried about meeting Noah’s parents, she felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She was, knocking on wood, happy. She was singing around the house, chatting with her parents cheerily, and texting Noah constantly. The last couple of days without seeing him didn’t feel nearly as hard as the last few weeks. Maybe it was because they finally figured everything out and knew where they both stood. For the first time in a long time, Peyton felt confident in her relationship and knew that no matter what happened, Noah was always going to be there. Through the good, the bad, and the ugly—and it put her at ease in a way she hadn’t felt since she had Derek in her life. She felt confident in opening up to Noah and expressing her feelings, and she didn’t let wanting him scare her away but rather let it empower her. She wanted to be with him, just as much as he wanted to be with her. She wasn’t ready to admit it out loud, but she was beginning to think the last few weeks apart actually helped their relationship in a positive way. Absence truly did make the heart grow fonder. She loved him, and she knew it.
Noah let Peyton know that the graduation was at nine in the morning, so she got up early to run, shower, and get ready. Her mom made sure to come into her room to help her pick out an outfit while Peyton curled her hair and applied makeup. She struggled with putting the makeup on because she was still hot from the run, so she kept fanning herself to try and cool down. Her mom picked out a flowy, flutter sleeve navy blue dress to try and bring out the blue in her eyes. She also found a pair of strappy heels that Peyton had forgotten she even owned and knew she wouldn’t be able to talk herself out of wearing this time. After almost falling over in her heels a couple of times, she stood in front of her mom, waiting for a reaction.
“You look beautiful,” her mom said and started tearing up.
Peyton rolled her eyes, “Oh, brother. What time is it?”
“It’s 8:30. You better get going if you're going to make it in time,” her mom pointed out.
“Holy crap, Mom, why didn’t you tell me!” Peyton rushed out of the room as fast as she could in heels and grabbed her purse and keys on her way out to the car.
Her mom followed behind her and stopped once she got to the front porch. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours!” she called and waved.
Peyton waved back then drove down the driveway. With the way Peyton was driving, it only took her fifteen minutes to get to the graduation ceremony. She started panicking because she realized she didn’t know what his parents looked like, but luckily, she spotted Dr. Schoenborn. He was not hard to find in a crowd.
She walked over to her old therapist and greeted him, “Hey, Dr. Schoenborn.”
“Peyton,” he held out his hand and she shook it, “it’s nice to see you again. We saved you a seat.” He pointed in the direction where there were two empty seats next to a couple already sitting.
The couple looked at Peyton and smiled. Dr. Schoenborn went on, “Peyton, this is my sister Wendy and my brother-in-law, Clark. These are Noah’s parents.”
His parents stood up, and Noah’s mom held out her hand, “Hi, Peyton, it’s nice to meet you. Noah has told us a lot about you,” she said in an airy sweet voice. She was short and petite with short pixie-cut brown hair and dark brown eyes.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Peyton stuttered and held out her hand to Noah’s dad. He was much taller than his wife, easily over six feet, with blonde hair that looked like it was slowly turning white and the same blue eyes as Noah’s. “Hi, Clark.”
“Hello, Peyton. Nice to meet you,” he said in a gruff voice. It seemed as if Noah was a n
ice mix of both and came out a handsome, smart man.
They all sat down in their chairs with Peyton sitting in between Wendy and Dr. Schoenborn. It seemed as though Peyton had gotten there at the right time because the ceremony started not a minute after they sat down. Music began to play, and the graduates started walking between the aisles. Peyton saw Noah walk down, and he winked at her as he walked past, which naturally caused her to blush. All the graduates sat in their seats in front of everyone, and the long line of speakers began. The president of the school, the vice president, the dean of students, and the class president all spoke. Each speaker took between ten to twenty minutes for their speeches. They did a good job, but it was a long time to stay seated and pretend to be engaged as she had no idea what most of the people were talking about. She was grateful when the dean of students stood back up to read off the names of the graduates.
“Matthew Albert Harris,” the dean’s voice boomed through the microphone. “Noah Marcus Hart.” Peyton watched Noah walk across the stage, accept his diploma, and shake hands with a long line of old men. He turned to look at his family and smiled. Next to her, his mom started snapping lots of pictures quickly before he walked across the rest of the stage. The rest of the naming ceremony went on for another ten minutes, followed by some quick closing remarks, and then it was over.
Noah waded through the crowd of graduates and families until he found his own.
“Hi, guys!” Noah greeted them.
“We’re so proud of you!” His mother hugged him first.
“Thanks, Mom,” he said. He pulled away and noticed tears in her eyes, “Thank you for being there for me and supporting me.”
“Honey, it's been a pleasure being your mom,” she gushed and kissed his cheek.
“I echo your mother’s comments,” his dad said.
“Glad to hear it,” Noah said and he hugged his dad.
“You’ve done a wonderful job, Noah,” Dr. Schoenborn offered his congratulations.
“Thanks, Uncle Walter. Thank you for all you’ve done for me,” Noah expressed and gave him a quick hug.
“Anything for you, Noah,” Dr. Schoenborn assured.
Noah turned to Peyton and smiled, “You look beautiful.”
“You don’t look so bad yourself, handsome,” Peyton complimented, and Noah walked over and gave her a tight hug.
“Thank you for coming, sweetheart,” he whispered in her ear.
“Anything for you,” she whispered back.
“How do you feel? You're all done!” his mother grinned.
“I feel weird. I feel like I should be doing something, but I don’t have to,” Noah answered.
“Well, you’ll be going to work soon enough. For now, just enjoy the little break you have,” his dad suggested.
“Yes! Like going to your party!” his mom sang. “We should get going. Your cousins have been working hard to get everything together, and they’re so excited for you.”
“Let’s go then! Do you mind if I ride with Peyton? That way I can show her how to get to Uncle Walter’s,” Noah asked and intertwined his hand with hers. Peyton looked at him and smiled.
“Sure, honey, we’ll see you there! Oh, but don’t change out of your cap and gown, because I want to take some pictures!” she said quickly.
“Okay mom.”
His parents went in one direction to their car, Dr. Schoenborn went in a different direction, and Peyton and Noah walked hand in hand to her car.
“You look good in your gown and cap,” Peyton observed out loud and smiled at him. “Congratulations on graduating.”
Noah put his arm around her while they walked to her car and kissed the top of her head, “Thank you. It’s been a long road, and I’m so glad I’m done. I’m especially happy that I got to graduate with a beautiful girl on my arm,” he beamed.
“Thanks for inviting me here. It was very cool seeing you walk across the stage. You accomplished something that not a lot of people are capable of doing, and it’s amazing. Do you want to drive?” she asked, offering him the keys. “It will be easier for you to just drive rather than me take directions. Sometimes I swear I still can’t tell the difference between my lefts and rights,” she admitted.
Noah laughed out loud and replied, “If you don’t mind me driving your car, sure I’ll drive. My uncle’s house can be kind of confusing to find.”
They hopped into the car and drove about ten minutes through town heading in the opposite direction of Peyton’s house, eventually driving through a thick grove of trees. Then, unexpectedly, the trees dispersed and revealed a beautiful lake with a gorgeous house nearby. It was a beautiful two-story craftsman style house that had to have been ten thousand square feet. It had three garages, a long driveway, and even a boat ramp by a lake, nestled off to the side of his property. It had all the bells and whistles that a pudgy stout man needed to live.
“Holy crap,” Peyton mumbled under her breath.
“Yeah, it’s not small, that’s for sure,” Noah chuckled. “He always wanted to live next to a lake so he could fish whenever he wanted and have a big garage for all his cars.”
“He collects cars?” she reiterated.
“Yes. He loves cars and loves working on them. He considers it his hobby,” Noah explained and parked the car in front of the garage. “You like parties?” he smiled his crooked smile, which sent Peyton’s heart racing, and she shook her head.
“No, not particularly, but I’ll suck it up for you,” Peyton sighed and smirked.
“Thank you, it means a lot,” he gave her a quick kiss, and they walked into the house to party it up.
The party lasted a couple of hours. Her parents showed up right on time with Chris and Gloria in tow and headed right for Noah and Peyton. Her parents were very eager to meet his parents and went on and on about how much they loved Noah. They immediately hit it off and started swapping stories about their children, and Peyton left the conversation quickly so that she didn’t hear her parents embarrass her.
Chris found himself at the food table where there was an assortment of sandwiches, meatballs, chips, salads, and desserts. Peyton watched Gloria tug at his shirt and tell him to slow down, but once Chris was near food, there was no stopping him. Peyton knew this because he had done this constantly growing up. He refused to engage or talk with anyone unless they stopped by the food table, and then he would end up eating himself sick. Peyton was grateful that Chris didn’t live at her parent’s house anymore because it was nights like these where he would stay locked up in the bathroom.
Peyton met a lot of family members, but luckily, Noah refused to let go of her hand, so he was there for all the meet and greets. She finally met Dr. Schoenborn's wife, whose name she found out was Emily. She met their daughters, a couple of other aunts and uncles, lots of cousins, friends, and even Peyton’s favorite person in the entire world, the bubbly blonde Barbie, Brittany. She charged up to hug Noah, which was extremely awkward seeing how Peyton was holding his hand, but Noah refused to let go, so he hugged her with only one arm. Luckily, she kept it short and sweet, and Noah shuffled away from her as quickly as he could, looking apologetically at Peyton. She just laughed it off so that he knew it was all good. Her mom kept eyeing Peyton and smiling at her as if she was acknowledging that Noah refused to be away from her the entire evening. It not only made her mom happy, but it made Peyton extremely happy. She felt like she fit right in with his family and, more importantly, with him.
Toward the end of the party, when people were slowly starting to leave, Noah pulled Peyton aside, “I would love to come to your house, but my parents are leaving tomorrow, so I should stay here with them,” he explained.
“Oh, don’t worry about it! You should be with your parents. Thank you for inviting me and my family. It’s been a fun day,” she assured him.
“Yes, it has been. And I got to spend almost the entire day with you,” Noah hummed and embraced her.
“Yeah,” Peyton realized. “I guess we did,” sh
e said, wrapping her arms around his waist.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow once I drop off my parents, okay?” he asked.
“Yep, that sounds good. I think my parents already left, so I’m going to go too. With a week left before the wedding, Gloria and my mom are slowly going crazy. They’re probably going to need my help,” Peyton speculated. “Not to mention, Gloria’s parents are coming in a couple of days, so things are definitely going to start getting crazy.”
“That’s right, the wedding is next week. Are you excited?” Noah wondered and started walking her out to the car.
“I’m very happy for them. They seem to truly love each other, and I think Gloria is going to be good for him. She seems to keep him in line,” Peyton giggled, remembering Gloria telling Chris to lay off the cookies.
“Good. They seem happy together.”
“Yep,” Peyton said. She pulled out her keys and unlocked the car. “Do you want to come with me?”
“With you where?” he teased and smiled. He was merely giving her a hard time.
She giggled and rolled her eyes, “You think you're funny, don’t you.”
“Oh, I know I’m funny,” he laughed and continued to wait for her to repeat the question.
“Will you go to Chris and Gloria’s wedding with me? You know, as my date?” She made sure to clarify and could feel the blush coming on, which made Noah laugh again.
“Yes, I would love to take you. It sure took you a while to ask,” he said and raised his eyebrows. “Were you wanting to ask someone else?”
“Yeah, there was another guy at the ceremony who looked exactly like you, and I wanted to ask him instead, but he was already busy next Saturday. So, I settled for you,” Peyton joked and started giggling to herself.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Noah rolled his eyes. “You are trouble.”
“That’s not the first time I’ve heard that,” Peyton informed him, and he tilted his head back and laughed.
“I’m sure,” he smirked. “But really, I would love to go with you. Thank you for asking me,” he kissed her on the cheek. “Alright, I better go.”