Spoilers:  After cattle incident and snippets of future episodes

Disclaimer:  I own none of these characters, and if I did, I would have never gotten rid of Eric! :D  May indeed include fictional shops and stores.

Pairings:  C/E, snippets of C/W

 

Chapter Thirty Three

 

Graduation.  A day Caitlin never thought would come.  As she peered into the mirror, Caitlin couldn’t believe she was standing in the flowing blue gown.  She’d seen so many seniors before her, walk across that stage, and now it was her turn.  It was a far cry from the streets and the dark road she would have traveled if it hadn’t been for Dori, Jim and Griffin.

 

Knock. Knock.

 

“Yeah?” Caitlin answered, still starting at herself in the mirror.  It only seemed like yesterday she was wearing a leather jacket and had streaks of purple in her hair.  Now she stood in front of the mirror, without hair dye, well, okay her hair was dyed, but they were called highlights to normal people.  And she was, normal that is.

 

“I just wanted to check if you were ready to head to the school,” Jim said, leaning against the door he was holding.  “You look beautiful Caitlin.”

 

Caitlin didn’t want to turn around and face Jim.  She knew that if she did, he would make her cry and she didn’t want to ruin her make up.  “Thank you,” she choked out, taking a deep breath and sighing.  “It’s been a long road hasn’t it?”

 

Jim laughed and shook his head.  “You can say that again.”  Caitlin listened as his footsteps drew nearer.  She felt his hands rest gently on her shoulders and saw Jim come into view in the reflection of the mirror.  “You know how proud of you I am?” he whispered.  Caitlin could see the tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

 

“You can’t cry,” Caitlin ordered.  “Or you’ll make me cry.”

 

They looked at each other in the mirror, both smiling.  Then all of the sudden Griffin burst through the door.  “Hey!  Let’s get the show on the road!” he exclaimed excitedly.  “Our chariot awaits!” 

 

Caitlin patted Jim’s hand and followed after Griffin who had dashed down the hallway.

 

~ * ~

 

“Okay guys, smile!” Dori shouted from behind the Nikon digital camera that they’d just recently bought.

 

Caitlin and Griffin stood side by side, clothed in their cap and gown.  Dori had decided to take pictures on the stairs.  Each made a funny face at each other and laughed as the flash went off.  “So how many do you think she’ll take?” Griffin asked sarcastically.

 

“Oh, a hundred or so.”  Caitlin motioned over to the kitchen counter and brought his attention to the rolls of film she had lined up in a row.  “Give or take a couple of rolls.”  She laughed and nudged Griffin lightly on the shoulder.

 

“Mom!” Griffin whined.  “We really have to get to the school.”

 

“Just a couple more!” Dori protested happily.

 

Caitlin stifled her laugh and raised her eyebrows at Griffin who was slowly collapsing on the stairs in a form of protest.  “But we’re going to be late!” Griffin moaned, as he stood up one more time, prodded by a glaring Jim.  Dori’s face was once more hidden behind the camera and when the flash had blinded them for the fifth time, Caitlin and Griffin shook their heads in protest and headed out the door. 

 

“Remember the ceremonies are at one,” Caitlin reminded Dori and Jim as she rushed out the door.  “You should probably come early to get good seats.”

 

~ * ~

 

Griffin was already waiting for her in the car as she bound down the wooden steps of the porch.  Her hand lifted the door handle and she quickly slid into the passenger seat, as Griffin impatiently, began to back out of the driveway.  She looked at her cousin and glared.  “You know you could at least wait until I get into the car!” Caitlin said rolling her eyes.

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Griffin mumbled.  “We still have to pick up Eric and it’s already 11:30.”

 

Caitlin frowned.  “So?  We’ve got plenty of time!  The ceremonies don’t start until one,” she explained.  “We’ve got plenty of time to pick up Eric and the entire football for that matter!”

 

Griffin looked over at Caitlin as if she had something on her face.  “What?” she exclaimed.

 

“I can’t believe you’re so calm about all of this!”

 

“Calm about what?” Caitlin was confused.  She’d never seen Griffin so flustered.  He looked like he was sweating buckets.  “Why are you so fidgety?” Caitlin asked, as she watched Griffin continue to adjust his car seat.

 

“Hello?” Griffin cried.  “We’re graduating today!  No more school, no more books.  No more teacher’s dirty looks!”

 

Caitlin sighed and shook her head.  She sat back in the passenger seat and began to laugh.  “Are you crazy?  We’ve got probably four or five more years of school.  I can’t say that I’m looking forward to it right now either.”

 

Griffin shook his head.  “But that’s different.  It’s university and college.  It’s not high school anymore Toto.”

 

As they pulled into Eric’s driveway and he shifted the car into park, Griffin looked steadily at Caitlin.  “It’s good bye High River and hello world!” he said quietly.

 

Caitlin couldn’t help but feel sympathetic to Griffin and what seemed to be an overwhelming sense of anxiety.  She didn’t know why she was so calm.  When they had finished their final exams, Caitlin wasn’t caught up in the elation every other senior was at writing their last test in that high school.  She was sad more than anything else.  But she got over it, and was now excited at what the future had in store.

 

Caitlin opened the passenger door and allowed Eric the room the climb into the back seat.  “Hey Eric!” Caitlin smiled, glancing at him over her shoulder.

 

Though they hadn’t really talked much after prom, since exams were during that week, Caitlin did feel that things had settled back down into their normal routine again.  They hung out more in a group than together and Caitlin didn’t know if it was him, or her, but they never seemed to be in the room together for more than a few minutes before someone would join their conversation.  It definitely didn’t leave room to talk about the prom or what they really felt.  Caitlin turned around in her seat and faced the dusty gravel road again.

 

“Hey guys.  Is it me, or do parents just go crazy when their kids graduate?” Eric chuckled.  “I don’t know how many times I had to tell them that I was fine and that I really didn’t need another picture of me in my cap and gown.”

 

Caitlin looked over at Griffin, who was staring at Caitlin, and they both laughed.  “Yeah.  Same here,” Griffin groaned.  “It was bad.  I mean, did both your parents come into your room and just stand there looking at you, sniffing and grinning like a Cheshire cat?”

 

“Worse,” Eric sighed.  “They kept patting my head and squeezing my cheeks.”  He leaned back in his seat and pulled off his cap.  “It was like I was 4 not 18.”

 

Caitlin turned around and stuck out her lower lip.  “Oh, that’s so sad, you poor baby!”  Eric rolled his eyes at her and looked away, trying not to laugh.  “Shut up Seeger,” Eric exclaimed.

 

Just as Caitlin was about to reply, the car lurched forward and then stopped.  “Our last day of school awaits!” Griffin exclaimed, snapping the seatbelt release and jumping out of the car.

 

Caitlin didn’t realize that they’d already arrived.  As she hopped out of the car and pulled the release for the passenger side seat forward, Caitlin couldn’t help but feel a slight flutter of butterflies.  Eric climbed out of the back seat and smiled at her.  “Here’s to our last day at High River!” he grinned, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and guiding her towards the familiar doors.

 

Griffin jogged over to Caitlin and also wrapped his arm around Caitlin.  “So are you nervous now?” Griffin inquired suspiciously, sticking his finger in her face.

 

Caitlin narrowed her eyes and slapped his hand away.  “No,” she said matter-of-factly.  Caitlin was of course, lying, but there was no way she’d let Griffin or Eric know how jittery she felt.   But their conversation was short lived because as they passed through the school doors, Griffin spotted Nikki and Eric mentioned something about having to grab something from his locker.

 

As Caitlin surveyed the empty halls, reminiscing about all the outrageous conversations and stupid pranks, arguments and jokes, she began to photograph this moment.  Caitlin knew that this would be her last day as a student of High River.

 

***

 

The ceremonies had gone well.  As they had congregated in the first several rows of the gymnasium, Eric couldn’t help but feel excited.  He’d spotted his parents and the Lowes in the first row of the audience seating.  He really hated ceremonies like this though, they had a tendency to run long and be overbearing.  But as it was, the procession and the awarding of scholarships seemed to fly by a lot faster than he had imagined.

 

Eric had received the Denmar’s Memorial Scholarship for Most Valuable Player of the year.  It would help defer some of the cost of university, but Eric was hoping to hear good news from U of M or U of C.  Though he had his sights on U of M, Eric thought he’d better have a back up plan just in case he didn’t get accepted to Montana.  University of Colorado ended up being closer to High River anyway, but there was something about U of M.  He’d always dreamed of going there.

 

Of course though, since he applied to go to U of C, Griffin also followed suit and applied there as a back up plan too.  Eric was glad that Griffin had decided to go in with him on this.  It made everything a lot less stressful and anxious.  Besides, they had both examined the two universities curriculum and decided that there wasn’t too much difference in the universities.

 

“Pssst,” Brett whispered as the Principal was finishing up the ceremonies.  “What’s up for afterwards?”

 

Eric shrugged.  “I don’t know.”

 

Suddenly a trickle of applause began to sound as Mr. Pettigrew announced, “And here is your graduating class of 2002!”

 

Eric stood up along side his classmates and clapped along with the hundreds of parents.   It was over.  He would be going to university and moving away from all his friends.

 

Suddenly Caitlin stumbled over with Griffin and they were holding onto their caps, just in case they fell off.  “What are you guys doing?” Eric said frowning.  They both had smiles on their faces, which Eric couldn’t resist, and his frown turned into a smile.

 

“We didn’t think we should do this a couple of rows away from you, just didn’t feel right,” Griffin explained.

 

“Do what?” Eric asked.  He watched as both Caitlin and Griffin looked at each other and pulled their caps off.  Suddenly Eric realized what they were talking about.  “Oh!”  Eric slipped off his cap, running his empty hand through his tousled blonde hair.  “Well, let’s do it!” he smirked.

 

All three of them lowered their arms with the blue caps and the gold tassels and flung them in the air.  Eric laughed out loud and hugged Griffin.  “Dude, we’re graduates!” he yelled.  “Whoohooo!”

 

“Yeah, I can’t believe it!” Griffin shook his head.  “Um, hey, I see Brett and Jordan.  I gotta talk to them for a second, kay?”

 

Eric nodded.  “Yeah.  No problem!  I gotta go find my parents anyway.”

 

He watched as Griffin stumbled through the large mass blue gowns, calling to Brett and Jordan.  Eric turned awkwardly to Caitlin.  “Hey, congratulations on the Art bursary.”  He pointed to the manilla envelope in her hand.

 

Caitlin’s face was red, from the body heat that the mass of people created in such a small gymnasium.  “Yeah.  Hey, congratulations on the  scholarship!  I mean that was pretty much a sure thing there!”

 

Eric shrugged.  “I wasn’t too sure.  I mean, if Brett hadn’t been out for most of the sports season, I’m sure he would have had a chance at it,” he said dismissively.  “So have you seen Dori and Jim?”

 

Caitlin shook her head.  “No, but I’m sure they’re around here somewhere,” she smiled, rolling her eyes.  “Dori will want to get pictures of the gang and stuff.  I know she will.”

 

“Well I don’t think I mind so much anymore.  It’ll be nice to have a picture of us here in our gowns.  Last time I think we’ll ever be students here, eh?”

 

“Yeah,” Caitlin sighed.

 

“What are you speechless Seeger?  That’s never happened before!” Eric laughed.  Then he sobered and slowly nodded his head.  Eric picked up his and Caitlin’s cap off the floor.  “I know what you mean though,” he said awkwardly.  “It’s going to be weird not having to come here every day.”

 

“Yeah,” she smiled softly.

 

Eric looked around him, they were surrounded by wall to wall people.  He frowned and scratched his head.  “Do you, uh, want to go outside?” Eric mumbled.  “It’s kind of getting a little bit crowded in here.”

 

Caitlin’s eyes darted around the mass of people hedging them in and nodded.  “Yeah.”

 

***

 

Caitlin pulled out the black elastic that held her hair back into a neat ponytail and ran her fingers through it.  “So what are you doing for the summer?” she asked curiously.

 

“Just working on the ranch until the fall.”

 

Caitlin nodded.  “Oh.  Yeah, me too.”

 

Eric raised his eyebrows.  “Really?”

 

He seemed surprised.  Caitlin didn’t know why.  What did he think she was doing for the summer?

 

“Where are you working?” Eric asked inquisitively.

 

Caitlin unzipped her gown and slipped it off her shoulders.  “Well, I got this job at the newspaper in town.”

 

Eric frowned.  “I didn’t know we had a newspaper!  We always got one from Boulder?”

 

Caitlin had a big grin on her face.  “We didn’t, until now.  They’re starting a newspaper in High River and I’m doing the photography.  And even maybe a little journalism.”  She grinned from ear to ear.  “They said it possibly could work into my degree at NYU.”

 

Eric looked shocked.  His mouth kept opening and closing without saying a word.  Suddenly Caitlin found himself in a bear hug.  “Congratulations.  That sounds great!” he exclaimed, pulling out of the embrace.  “I can’t believe you’re staying for the summer.  I thought for sure you’d be heading out to NYU, maybe pick up a job there before school starts.”

 

Caitlin didn’t know what to say.  It didn’t seem logical for her to move out and start paying rent on an apartment before the fall semester started.  “No way.  I’ve got to save up some money for school.  I don’t know how I’m actually affording to go to NYU!” Caitlin muttered under her breath.

 

“Caitlin!” Griffin called, jogging towards them.  Caitlin saw Dori and Jim, trailing close behind with Eric’s parents too.

 

“Besides,” Caitlin turned to Eric and smiled, “I wouldn’t miss my last summer here for anything.”  She turned to greet Jim and Dori, whose faces were beaming.  Eric nudged Caitlin in the arm.  “Well I guess we’d better make it a good one then, huh?” he smirked.

 

Just then, the crowd of family and friends surrounded them and offered congratulatory hugs and kisses.  Caitlin basked in the glow of this wondrous day.  She didn’t think she would have another one like it.