Author's Note:
Many thanks to the readers who've responded so positively to my story. With the exception of my Anonymous reader who's "looking for a mature man..." (i.e. spambot), I've been pleased to be free so far from the trolls that I've heard tell about. I've probably just jinxed myself, but it's worth the risk to express my gratitude.
With the preliminaries out of the way, it's time to advance the timeline in the Jeremy edition of "This is Your Life."
As always, any sexual activity takes place between people 18+.
MB
*****
The weeks between the charity event and graduation flew by faster than Jeremy ever would have imagined. There's a long time between the impatient excitement of the first day of kindergarten and the sweet release of the last day of high school. Most of those years in the middle seemed to pass at a glacial pace. Really, up until Spring Break, this year hadn't been much different. But the crush of wrapping up what for some would be the conclusion of an academic career meant the prom, chapter and final exams, graduation practice and, in just a few short days, graduation. It was a whirlwind that seemed to be passing in the blink of an eye.
Beyond all of the usual chaos that the other students were experiencing, Jeremy was also looking forward to turning 18. Being one of the youngest students in his grade hadn't ever really been an issue before, but this last year had been a little different. All of the people he was friends with at school had officially reached adulthood once Mark's birthday passed on February 2
nd
. Granted, there isn't a whole lot a high school student can do at 18 that a 17-year old couldn't, but his friends made sure to remind him that he was "just a baby." He tried to keep a good sense of humor about it, but it still began to grate a little. He lost count of the jokes about him "understanding when he's older" and being "jailbait." They pointed out that he couldn't take a girl to any of the under-21 clubs in the area, which was a minor impediment to his dating life. Or, not that he wanted one yet, that he couldn't walk into a tattoo parlor and get some ink done either.
It had most definitely been tougher than most years, but there was one positive: in a quirk of the calendar, Jeremy's birthday fell the day before graduation. Thus, he was having two nights of partying this weekend instead of one.
Tonight, though, Jeremy was taking a breather from all the activity of the week. Relaxing in the gazebo, enjoying the scent of honeysuckle drifting on the evening breeze, he was pensive about his final year of high school. So much had changed in his life over the last 9 months. New school, new home, new friends, and not one, but two girls he was spending a lot of time with. Not to mention a couple of other girls who'd expressed an interest in seeing him. The last couple of months had been so fantastic that there was a part of him expecting to wake up from this dream and be the same old guy he'd always been. Still, Jeremy found himself musing on the happenings of the last several weeks like an old man recounting "the good old days."
Despite their best intentions, following the argument between Monica and her parents, Jeremy and Monica hadn't been able to come up with a plausible excuse to bring him around to meet her parents. They'd simply been too obstinate, and Jeremy secretly (but with no small amount of guilt) appreciated the excuse. He still liked Monica, but with other attractive options in his life, he simply didn't feel motivated enough to push the issue. He sincerely hoped that when she headed off to Howard University in the fall, she'd find someone who could appreciate her for who she was. It bothered him that she felt in even the smallest part like she didn't fit into either a black or white community. Hopefully, getting away from her parents and graduating from a prestigious institution like Howard would provide her some fulfillment and direction.
True to Serena's prediction, videos of the scuffle between Jeremy and Colby outside the movie theater spread like wildfire. Before two days had passed, some enterprising member of the AV club had spliced several videos together and edited them to look like a fight scene from the old Batman TV series, complete with "pow" and "bam" graphics. Colby's furious face added to the fun when they took the angry threats he'd made while storming away and autotuned them. Finally, they'd pulled an image of Jeremy where he was staring off into the sunset from his social page and overlaid that on a flag gently waving in the breeze, and then backed it with a stirring, patriotic song and ended the video there. It was hilarious, made Jeremy a cult hero to all the people Colby had bullied over the years, and did absolutely nothing to lessen the animosity between the two. Eventually, though, even Colby had to admit that there was nothing he could do to Jeremy that wouldn't make him look even worse. Thus, they'd settled into a kind of uneasy cease-fire. Like North and South Korea, but less friendly.
Jeremy had also forgiven Jess. He still didn't feel good about how things had gone down at the barn party. But he'd already concluded that it had more to do with Colby than Jess, since they hadn't really been clear on how their relationship would work when she'd first brought up the idea of being non-exclusive. He felt guilty for jumping on the idea of him dating other girls without expecting the reciprocal to be the case. Then, when she explained how she'd set up Colby to see Jeremy with Serena at the movies, well...it was hard not to give her
something
for that.
Of course, it was much easier to forgive her when he had no intention of being anything more than friends with her. He'd made it clear that he still didn't see the two of them as being especially compatible romantically, but he'd be happy to hang out with her sometimes as friends. Surprisingly, without the specter of romance hanging over their heads, they were becoming decent companions. Jess was still a high-energy, competitive young lady after all, which suited Jeremy just fine. So, they'd already made time to compete against each other in miniature golf and the dance game at the arcade, with plans for further adventures over the summer. The results of these matches yielded bragging rights until the next event, so it behooved each to try their best.
He was not completely free from the Harper girls, however. While Jess seemed to have accepted that there was nothing but friendship in her future with Jeremy, he was surprised to find that Lanie had not forgotten about the date he'd promised her the night he'd rescued her from Ryan Walters. At the time, Jeremy had been sure she was simply caught up in the moment, overcome by emotions following the attack. However, over the weekend she'd called him up.
"Hello?"
