The boys were forced awake by the sounds of their cell phones ringing without mercy. Roman threw his with an irritated grunt while Alex sighed and answered his. A chipper, soft voice greeted him-- far too awake for his liking.
"What's up, Mel?" Alex rasped, wiping his sleep swollen eyes with the back of his hand.
"Figured you two would still be asleep. It's already ten of one," she sighed.
"And?" he yawned into the receiver as Roman groaned his way to the bathroom and slammed the door.
"Alexander! We're graduating in like six hours!" She said, exasperated.
"And?"
"Sweet Mary, you two," she sighed heavily once more, and Alex had no doubt she was trying not to pull her hair out. The corners of his lips twitched with a small smile. "You two cannot show up to your own graduation half asleep and wearing jeans."
"Mel, I think you're forgetting that, unlike you, we won't be spending time shaving our legs and curling our hair." He smirked when she huffed again.
"Fine. Do you guys wanna go out to lunch with me?" Alex frowned. Melani was no doubt home alone again and that meant there was a slim chance her parents would even make it to graduation. He didn't even think before he agreed and told her they'd see her in an hour.
***
Roman devoured his greasy cheeseburger while Alex watched with disgust. He would occasionally reach over and wipe condiments from Roman's chin. After the fourth time, Melani didn't bother to hide her amusement. When Alex went to the bathroom to wash his hands her smile fell and her eyes hardened. Roman shifted nervously as she studied him like he was a lab rat.
"You're really leaving, huh?" she asked.
"On Thursday."
"Are you going to tell him?" Roman dropped his remaining burger onto the plate and frowned. Melani closed her eyes and exhaled heavily. "Roman, what are you afraid of?"
"Look, this is hard enough. We've never been away from each other and now I'm going to be on the other side of the country. I can see how it's breaking him and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm doing my best to put on a smile and pretend everything's fine. You have no idea how fucking hard that is, Mel," Roman whispered harshly. Her petite hand slid across the table and covered his as he stared at the smeared ketchup on his plate.
"You need to tell him, Roman. You're going to be gone a long time."
Roman's eyes locked with hers, and she could see all of the words that would go unspoken and she could see the wounds that was going to cause. Roman had never been good with them. Roman did the physical part of things. He left words to Alex. He cleared his throat and stood up, muttering that he was going to get some air. Melani leaned back in her chair, staring at the half touched plates on the table until Alex came back and looked between the empty seat and Melani twice before raising a brow. "He said he needed to grab something from his car. Weirdo."
Alex smiled and nodded knowingly before accepting Melani's bent arm as she stood up. "Do you want to get ready with us?" He asked as they headed for Roman's car with their arms linked loosely. Her face lit up slightly and her cheeks tinged a light pink. "Or we could just come to your place so you don't have to carry a ton of makeup and hair sprays and hair curlers and that weird eye lash thing."
Melani swatted his chest playfully as they came to a stop. "Hey, I'm a natural beauty!"
"Yes, you are." She blushed harder when Alex kissed her cheek. "We'll be at your place by five."
