Freshman Year Roommate Pt. 20

I smiled at him. Or maybe "beamed" would be a better word. Could he be a better person? I didn't see how. I said, "How about this? See how the cash flow goes in the months ahead, and when we can, we can send some money back to them. Something like, 'hey, John is making some money now, so we didn't need so much.' Knowing them, they'll say no and tell us to save it, but we can try."

"Okay, that makes sense. Let's not rush it. But I'd really like to start to stand on our own as much as we can."

The days ahead went by slowly in some ways but too fast in others. We got a few things squared away. I started to learn more about what my law school would expect of me in my first year, and John got ready to head to officer training after graduation was done.

When graduation day came, we'd picked up our caps and gowns, and both of our families were in town. It was a gorgeous day, with the sun shining and a light breeze, and before the ceremony, we all were standing around on the upper quad, just chatting. Our parents had spoken by phone in the past, but this was their first chance to meet. They seemed to be hitting it off well, and that was great. Since John's parents seemed more reserved than mine, I was worried about them not meshing well. I shouldn't have worried. In time, I'd come to understand that their love for their boys overwhelmed any differences, and that was all it took.

I was floored by one part of the conversation. John's dad, who I'd worried about after our first meeting, was talking to my dad. "It's a great organization. Up to you if you want to join, but it feels right to me. I'll be damned if I'm going to let anyone treat my son, about to be an officer in the United States Army, and my son-in-law, who's going to dedicate his career to justice, as second-class citizens."

My dad asked, "What's it called again?"

"PFLAG. It stands for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays."

Okay, could someone please come pick my jaw up off the ground? It wasn't my left-leaning parents leading the charge but John's dad who was ready to fight anyone who dared stand in the way of his son (and son-in-law... dammit, I really didn't think of myself as such an emotional mess, but... well, let me try to keep myself together).

I went over to my future father-in-law. I stood there looking at him for a second. He looked a little puzzled. I just said, "thank you," and I hugged him. He hugged me back and said, "No one's going to mess with my boys!"

Maybe I could get used to this whole Texas attitude!

Then it was time for everyone to find seats, and John and I had to head up to the area where the about-to-graduate were expected to sit. That was easy enough to find. A giant herd of blue caps and gowns pointed the way. But before we went there, there was something I wanted to do. "Hang on a sec, hon." John just watched me as I walked over to the families and took my sister aside. I whispered into her ear. When I got back to John, I said, "Okay, let's go."

"What did you just do? Her eyes almost bugged out of her head."

I just shrugged and said, "Oh, nothing."

John just said, "Jess. Tell me."

"All I said was, 'I'd appreciate your behaving, even though John decided to go naked under his gown.'"

And he burst out laughing. "Oh, you're awful!"

"Four years of her teasing me about my hot man. I figured this would be a great time to get her back."

"Awful!" and he kissed me. "Let's go!"

The ceremony was nice. Our keynote speaker was pretty good. The university president, very popular with the students, was his usual personable self. He congratulated each of us personally, and when one of the graduates handed a beer to the keynote speaker, the speaker looked around and handed the beer to the president who immediately chugged it, getting loud applause and hoots from the crowd. (Yes, it really happened at a world class university.)

We received our diplomas, and we looked out into the crowd... from up there, we had no idea where our families were in that huge crowd. There were way too many people. So we just waved and hoped it looked like we were waving at them. Soon enough, the formalities were over, and we headed back to find our families. When we did, John played along with my fun.

As we stood with them and accepted their congratulations, we took off our caps. Then John said, "these things are so hot! I can't deal with this anymore. Give me a second to whip this off!" and he quickly pulled off his gown, to a loud gasp from my sister. Then she saw he was wearing a nice button-down shirt and chinos. Lori immediately turned on me. "You bastard!"

I put on my best shocked/innocent look. "What?"

She was sputtering. "I... you said... ohhh, you are the worst!"

Mom and dad were watching this display and looked suitably puzzled.

I looked right at Lori and said, "What has gotten into you?"

Lori was pretty much at a loss for words.

My mom said, "Jesse, what's going on?"

"No idea, mom." Then to Lori, I said, "Hey, Lor, did you know the word gullible isn't in the dictionary?"

"Ooh, I hate you. You're such a smartass!"

Then dad laughed and said, "Lori, meet your brother Jesse." That broke the tension a bit.

John grabbed me and turned me so he was between Lori and me. He said, "You just stay right here, babe. I'll protect you."

She crossed her arms and said, "Great, now there are two of them in the family!" to much laughter.

Everyone started to move out. My parents and John's parents had dinner reservations set up for all of us, so we started to make our way to the cars. As we were walking, dad walked near us and said, "I don't know what you two did--and I don't think I want to know--but she's going to try to get you back."

I laughed. "We'll be okay, dad!"

He laughed, too. "I'm sure you will."

Dinner was wonderful, and everyone had a great time. Even Lori, who quickly got over being played. And before we knew it, everyone went to their hotels, and we went back to our apartment. When we let ourselves in, we found that someone had used the master key to go in there while we were out. On the little table in the entryway, there was a bottle of champagne with a note: "Congratulations, boys! I hope you had a wonderful day. I'm very proud of you. Love, Feebs"

I smiled and said, "Just when I thought this day couldn't get any better. She's the best!" John smiled back and said, "I can think of one more thing to make it better" and started to unbutton my shirt as we slowly moved toward the bedroom.