Unintentionally Falling

epilogue

Aaron

3.5 years later...

I make my way through many people, attempting to get seated before the commencement begins.

It felt like yesterday when I was a freshman trying to navigate this change. Seven hours ago, I formally graduated, walking across the stage to receive my degree from my department head. There was a surrealness to it, I had got through four years of university.

Everyone important was watching my big day unfold. My parents showed up for graduation day. They confirmed to me that they would be attending, but a part of me still doubted that they weren't. But, when I spotted a couple surrounded by five bodyguards I knew it was them. Slowly but surely, these last few years they've started to spend more and more time with me. Sure, I don't see them all the time, but they visit more frequently.

It was cool to see that Jadon and Parker showed up too. After we finished our freshman year, Jadon wasted no time declaring that he was entering the NBA draft. Teams were exhilarated at the thought of having him. Jadon was a big part of UCLA getting to March Madness's Final Four. They didn't win the tournament, but Jadon put himself on the map as the best shooting guard in the United States.

Parker declared himself for the NFL draft halfway through our senior year of college. During his junior year, UCLA won the college football championship. All eyes were on him when he caught a forty-yard pass and juked three players for the game-winning touchdown.

Parker also bought a nice house near the beach in New York, so during the summer Iris and I are going to visit him while we stay at my family's summer house in the Hamptons.

Liana was teary-eyed watching me walk through the stage and after she tackled me into her arms. She told me how proud she was and how she couldn't believe how old I'd gotten. Liana is not my housekeeper anymore as much as she likes to disagree. I still pay her salary but I let her lounge around and watch her trashy reality tv shows. She's too old to keep working as hard as she does, and other workers will gladly take the money to work as a housekeeper.

But there was one person who cheered the loudest of them all. Long warm brunette hair, whisky eyes and a smile that was the centre of my happiness. The girl whose laughter reminds me of home and the only one I've ever loved.

My Iris.

After our sophomore year of college, we decided to get a place off-campus together. I bought us this huge apartment that made her dorm look equivalent to a shack. Iris freaked out about the utility and electricity costs but I told her not to worry, the cost was basically what my family's business made in a minute.

Our apartment became a little bit of a halfway house whenever our friends needed a place to crash. Sometimes Crystal came over because her sorority sisters were annoying her or Alexia came when her new roommate would bring over many people unannounced. Parker would come and crash when he wasn't feeling the rowdy parties the Football House would throw.

Living with Iris was incredible, and there wasn't a moment where I regretted the decision. Getting to go home and see Iris was the highlight of my day. Every single day. It was the little things, doing the dishes, laundry, and cooking dinner that I cherished the most.

As soon as I walked across that stage, Iris left right away to go get ready for her commencement. And seven hours later, I'm at hers.

"Aaron!" Iris's father, Peter, calls out. He waves me over to come to sit with him and Mateo.

"Hey man," Mateo greets me. He's wearing a baseball cap that covers most of his face and dark-coloured clothing. I believe it's because he doesn't want to get recognized by anyone, especially on a day that's meant to celebrate Iris' accomplishment.