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"No one ever said we had to aze and held it as he stood up and turned, holding a hand out toin his question was clear

"No," I replied, but still held outit into his, I let him puller folded his arht his head down near mine to speak softly in my ear "Don’t think about next week, or toht noe have to go to our graduation Right now Ben would be flipping out because you would be h, and a deep laugh rumbled in his chest

"And you would tell hi for et over it and bet him twenty bucks that ould still beat you there"

This tih was fuller, and he rubbed his hands overaway fromI would shoith fresh charcoal on er rolled his eyes "That was one tiuy anyway" I smiled and his eyes darted over my face before he held his hands up "No fresh charcoal, and we’ll show up at the same time So no one wins today"

I took a deep breath in and out, and nodded ht" He bent forward and grabbedto leave the roo rooh to look in the mirror and wipe away the streaked makeup Once ere in his car, I touched his forearer For co to me--justthank you" He had no idea how thankful I was for him, and I wouldn’t have kno to explain it if I tried He was just always there to s better, always there to helpI needed

He shook his head slowly once, and his green eyes stayed locked ontoo You don’t need to thank me, just let me knohen you have to talk about hio of his ar chain that held Ben’s wedding band Taking coe that he would be proud of Jagger and raduation without crying again, but I never felt like I was happy that it was happening Even though Jagger had gotten , the second he left my side e arrived, I’d fallen back into a state where I was constantly on the verge of crurief of what today was Only to be er than normal, and then I’d seen my parents and older brother, and none of the ratulations"

Lunch afterward didn’t prove to be much easier for anyone One ofwith it, and it had turned into so the other under the table, and giving theful looks as if to say: Shut the fk up! For the next forty-five minutes, no one said a word Not even a thank-you to the waitress when she’d brought the food

As much as I hated it, and as ood-byes andokay, kid?" he asked when he pulled into a parking space

"Some days"

"But not today" It wasn’t a question, he knew

"Yeahnot today," I said softly

"Do you want ht, and head back toht, so I’ll probably go to bed when I get in there"

"Grey, it’s four in the afternoon" He looked at me with either pity or sympathy, neither of which I wanted to see

"Today was kind of rough, it felt like three smashed into one, and like I said, I didn’t really sleep last night I’m tired"

He was silent for a minute before he twisted in his seat to face ritted , "You shouldn’t be It’s been two years, I’h, but there was no humor in his tone "I knew today would be hard for you, there’s no way for it not to be But, shit, how h?"

I jerked my head back "What? I don’t know"

"Do you look at yourself in the mirror? Do you see how you look in your clothes? You look like you’re wearing so"

Glancing down at my shirt and skirt, I shook ! You saw er"

"No, Grey I ate half your burger You picked it up and put it down at least a dozen ti up one of the halves only to put it back down I watched you You ate two fries Nothing else"