Finals were brutal, and Keeley lost a lot of sleep, but they were finally over! Graduation was the following day, so she went out to celebrate with her friends. It was a last hurrah before they all went their separate ways: Keeley would stay in New York, while Lydia headed to California, and Jeffrey went to Washington, D.C. She would really miss them.

Keeley hadn't focused much on making friends in college because she was too busy working, studying, or chasing Aaron. That was definitely going to change. She didn't want to be so socially isolated this time. She might even meet people she got along with as well as Lydia and Jeffrey if she put herself out there.

"I'm terrible at bowling," Lydia moaned after another gutter ball.

Jeffrey patiently instructed her during his turn. "It's in the wrist movement; you're doing it wrong. Watch." He executed a perfect spin and got a strike, his face lighting up with delight. "Okay, that was way cooler than I expected. But I guess it proved my point. Try doing what I did next time."

Keeley lazily consumed the chili cheese fries she'd bought at the snack bar as a post-finals treat while they talked. She needed to focus on enjoying her youth instead of wasting her time being single-minded. Now was the time to try new things—like these fries, which were surprisingly decent for bowling alley food.

When her turn came, she didn't do much better than Lydia. She hit about half the pins on her first try, but got none on her second. Jeffrey was definitely going to win; the other two were competing for last place.

"I'm doing what you did, and I still can't get more than four pins at a time," Lydia complained. "Can you take the second half of my turn?"

Jeffrey laughed. "Sure. You're so far behind, it won't help much anyway." Lydia stuck her tongue out at him as he knocked down the remaining pins, giving her a spare.

Keeley smiled at their antics. Those two could have been cute together, if they weren't moving to opposite sides of the country. Lydia would probably end up with the California boy she liked, and Jeffrey had a good chance of meeting someone at school. Keeley didn't worry about such things. If she ever fell in love again, it would be far in the future. She had too much life to live and didn't want a man holding her back this time. She wouldn't date until after she had her doctorate and was working in a research lab or university.

Not that she even wanted to date; Aaron had kind of ruined that for her. Spending her life alone would be perfectly fine. Worst case scenario, she could use a sperm donor or adopt. She wanted to be the mother she never had. Besides, she couldn't deny her father the chance to be a grandfather. Expanding their family might ease some of the pain of losing half of it.

"Keeley, it's your last turn," Lydia reminded her, breaking her train of thought.

"Got it." She glanced at the scoreboard. Unless Lydia got a strike or spare, Keeley only needed to hit a couple of pins to avoid last place. She threw the ball with force, hitting three pins on the right side. On her second throw, she hit four more, almost certainly securing her victory.

In the end, Lydia got another gutter ball after hitting five pins, and Keeley beat her by twelve points. Jeffrey won easily.

Her friends laughed and teased each other after the scores were announced, and Keeley felt content. She wanted to remember this moment. She asked a nearby employee to take a picture of the three of them. He was surprised but agreed, and Keeley handed him her phone after opening the camera app. Jeffrey stood between the girls, and they wrapped their arms around each other, huddled together in a bright, smiling photo.

It was a good picture. She might get it printed and put it on the corkboard her father bought her for her dorm room. Having a bit of the past with her as she moved forward would be wonderfully symbolic. But thinking of the past…Aaron had been avoiding her. Not that she'd tried to contact him, but if he caught her looking at him, he'd look away. Previously, he'd stared back smugly, as if saying, "Yeah, I know I look good, keep staring."

She really needed to stop thinking about him. She wouldn't see him again after tomorrow—they were seated next to each other because the graduating class was ordered alphabetically by last name. Among all the seniors, no one was closer alphabetically to Hale than Hall. She was fairly certain the boy on Aaron's other side was named Landon Green. It would be a relief to have him out of her life. She only thought about him so much because he was confusing, and she had to worry about his next move. Once he was gone and she had other things to worry about, she was sure she could get him out of her head permanently.

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