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Pine-green, storm-gray, and alabaster-white banners and streamers flowed gently among its sparse population on the stage. Smooth and brilliant lapis lazuli-blue plastic chairs lined up in two neat arrays. An aisle void of any objects ran between the two arrays. At the very front of the stage, there stood a sharp and traditionally uncomplicated-looking brown podium with a microphone attached to it.
John Doe, a young man with jet-black hair pulled out his phone from a finely-crafted suit pocket as he stood outside the gates of the campus he would finally be graduating from.
"Seven," John read aloud from his phone while stroking his partially gelled-hair. Shortly afterwards, he shoved his phone back in his pocket. Then, the darkening sky caught the attention of John's eyes.
Glowing stars speckled the sky like flecks of white paint on a dark canvas. The crescent-shaped moon illuminated the landscape like a god or goddess bringing humanity's guiding light.
Suddenly, John felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned his head to the side to find himself face-to-face with a magenta-haired girl drawing her black-nailed fingertips away from him. John's dull-golden eyes lit up so brilliantly upon seeing the face of his oldest and closest friend, Seraphina, or Sera as he called her. She wore a sangria-purple dress entertained with shining black high-heels.
"John, you ready to go?"
"Always, Sera."
"Then let's get out of here."
The two of them walked away from Wellston's High School gates.
Their walking journey ended at the tea shop, Woaba Boaba. Before John could even lay a single finger on the door handle, Sera had already grasped it herself and pulled the door wide open for her and John to walk through. They took their seats in a booth next to a large, pristine window, each opposite the other of the table.
"I see you aren't using the usual amount of hair gel tonight."
"Yeah. I just ran out of hair gel."
"Pffft. I doubt it."
John could hear the memories from just months prior to this moment ringing softly in his ears:
"Hey, John. For curiosity's sake, why do you still use that much hair gel?"
John, stroking his slicked-back hair at the time, replied, "Huh. I guess it's just out of habit now."
"You know, John. I've always found that the less gel you use, the better you look."
"Really?"
"You've heard me, John."
"No, Sera, but are you sure - Yeah, okay. I admit it's always been kind of a pain in the ass to do all this extra work on myself. And it didn't even do much -"
"Pffft."
"What's so funny, Sera."
"Nothing. You're just really funny, John."
John felt warm colors flush into his cheeks. Then, the memories faded out of his mind, but his face still flowed as if these memories transferred the heat to John in the present.
"Hello. What can I get you two today?"
John jumped slightly at this friendly and cheerful inquiry.
"Mango, please."
"And what about you, Sir?"
"I'll have the same thing as her, please."
"Okay, I'll be back with your drinks shortly."
Sera gazed out the window into the glowing, speckled nigh-scene.
"The graduation ceremony should have started by now."
"Yeah, and I couldn't be any more glad that we decided to skip it."
"Of course. Why go to graduation when you could be having tea with your best friend instead!"
John tilted his head slightly downwards with a soft look in his eyes. This caught Sera's attention and she smiled softly in response. John's fingertips started making their way to Sera's, but before they could even touch in the slightest, the waitress appeared again. Only this time, with two yellow-orange drinks with dark orbs filling the bottom.
Sera stared curiously at John's free hand relaxing on the table as they both drank away. John's stare was completely pre-occupied with the starry night Sera was looking at earlier. Overtook by temptation, Sera grabbed John's hand in one swift motion. His eyes averted back to Sera, who was pressing on and interlacing John's fingers with her own. He could not help but stay motionless as he let her do what she wished his hand. Soon enough, the both of the them finished their drinks, and promptly threw away their empty cups into the nearest trash-bin.
Shortly after walking out of the shop doors, they found a flight of stairs on a rather simple building. These stairs easily led to a rooftop. John took Sera's wrist as they ran up the steps together. Upon reaching the top, John and Sera slumped down against the rooftop's railings.
"Hey, Sera. Remember that time we promised that we could tell each other anything?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Um. Well. It's just that there's been something I wanted to tell you for quite a while now. At first, I thought this wasn't a big deal. But, as time went on, it just became more and more important. At this point, I don't think it's fair to keep you out of this. I don't even remember when it all began, but I can't hide it now."
"Go on. I'm listening."
"Look, the truth is, you're not just my best friend. Your loyalty and care has done wonders to me and changed everything about what I thought the world was for the better. But everything you do for me goes just beyond that. Because of you, I can spend the rest of my life knowing I have and will continue to feel the purest feelings possible. It feels as though any day now I could melt out of just simply bliss. But everything would be just so much better if I could share this bliss with someone. Someone I have called, still call, and indefinitely will call my partner. But, Sera. Once I say this, there will be no going back. You understand that?"
Sera nodded her head.
"Okay.
I've fallen in love with you, Sera."
Sera's blue eyes pierced John's golden ones, but with such a willingly vulnerable and relived look to them. They held this gaze for a few moments.
Suddenly, John felt a pair of arms grasping onto his back as a pair of lips crashed into his own. He could only keep his eyes closed as he wrapped his arms around her waist. The work John had put into styling his hair that morning started breaking down as Sera intertwined her fingers between the strands. The heat they immersed themselves in kept off the cool of the night. Eventually, they broke apart and observed the moonlight glinting on each other's faces. Sera's hands slid from the back of John's head to his glowing and warm cheeks. John wiped a tear off of Sera's face with his thumb, and she felt just as warm as John.
"I've fallen in love with you, too."
They locked lips again. Then, broke apart to gaze and check up on each other. Then they kissed again. This cycle would last many more times before they exited the rooftop via the stairs.
John and Sera headed back to their apartment. Just about a few months prior to the graduation date, John was able to get a hold of an apartment near the college he and Sera decided they would attend. Knowing that Sera had no plans to go home anytime soon, he took that fact into consideration, and made sure their new place has one more bedroom than John's old apartment.
After unlocking the door, John turned the knob and opened it a little, only for him to see his father's legs through the opening. As he opened more the of the door, his father could be seen sitting on the sofa attending to two pieces of creamy-colored paper on the coffee-table in front of him. Upon John and Sera's appearance at the doorway, the father simply smiled in their direction while holding the papers up.
"You kiddos should've at least picked up your diplomas."
"Thanks, Dad. Also, how did you get into this place?"
"I managed to find the spare key you left outside. I saw a suspicious-looking dirt pile and dug it up."
"Did you put it back?"
"Yes."
Sera slowly inched her fingertips toward John's knuckles. Upon first brush of contact, John immediately clasped her palm with his hand. They started to work out the kinks of interlacing their fingers when John's dad gave this sight an interested look.
"So, John, Sera, what have you two been up to all night?"
"Uhhhh."
"Well, you don't have to tell me. Not tonight at least. Anyway, I'll be cooking dinner as a celebration of your graduation, which had a ceremony you two had totally not showed up to at all. So, what would you kids like to eat?"
"Ramen will be fine, William."
"Yeah, same here."
"Ramen?! That's it?"
"Actually, never mind. Some triple-chocolate cake sounds really good right now. Plus, I think John deserves a piece since he hardly got any cake the entire time he has been in school."
"Sera, please tell me you're joking.
Okay, fine. I'll let you naughty kids skip dinner and go straight on to dessert. I'm going to get started on that cake right now."
John's father dashed to the kitchen at a rather nervous pace. Sera, her hand still enclosed by John's, pulled John along to the little hollow area where their bedroom doors face each other on opposing walls. A white, squarely window on the wall at the end of the hollow area allowed a spotlight of moon to shine through onto the floor between the doors.
John grabbed Sera's free hand and started longingly into her glossing blue irises like he did earlier on the rooftop. Sera stared back and the moonlight glistened on John's soft, now messy, black-cat-like hair. She desired to touch it again. And that was what she did. John pulled Sera's wrists towards him as their lips crashed together once more. Just like before, they each closed their eyes. They could not see anything; they did not need to - only feel. Feeling hair, clothes, and skin. Feeling heat and passion and and euphoria all at the same time. Every feeling that came through Sera and John's head was all but simply in its purest and rawest state.
After what seemed to be far too soon, they released each other. It was only that Sera could not let go and tightened her embrace around John. He smiled and combed through her hair with a single hand.
"Let's see how Dad is doing with the cake. It better be better than Wellston's cake. That would be the best way to get revenge on that school."
"Mmmn. But first, let me hug you longer."