when in rome | ethan

twenty one

three years later
(sorry for all the time skips lol)

"graduation day. can you believe it?" mia says as she fixed her hair in the mirror of our apartment. sophomore year of college, aria, isabelle, mia and i decided to move into together. dorms were expensive and with moving in we can all split up rent and get side jobs here on campus.

but now, we're graduating. and three years of partying, late night study seshes and boys over almost every night was over with. the best memories were the ones i've spent in this college life. i'll never forget it.

"better believe it. we're growing up so fast, i can't believe i can legally drink now!" isabelle says. it was her twenty first birthday not too long ago, for we had just celebrated recently. mia and i were twenty two along with aria, so isabelle was definitely the baby of the group.

"are the boys coming over?" aria asked, checking her phone and pulling her hair over her ear.

"they said they'd come." mia shrugged.

"any texts from them yet?" i questioned, fixing the way my white dress looked on my body.

aria shakes her head, looking down at her phone before looking back up to us, her lips pursed. "nope."

"damn. i really don't wanna see them right now," isabelle sighed, slouching down on the couch.

junior year of college, isabelle and alex fell out hard. breaking up took a major toll on her and she fell deep into depression. we tried being there for her, but understood it was a dark time when she didn't speak to us for weeks.

when she finally did talk to us, she was feeling better, but that didn't mean she was okay. her and alex, i really saw a future for them. they were so very in love.

as for noah and aria, they're the complete opposite. thriving better than ever. noah finally committed to their relationship after years of trying, and they're currently dating when he slipped the question a couple summers ago.

mia and grayson are of course, the cutest couple out there. going strong and have been all this time. we're all super supportive of them and i can tell they are truly committed to this relationship. they're all they have when it comes to that sort of comfort.

ethan and i on the other hand, on new year's eve three years ago, he asked me to be his girlfriend. he told me he loved me. i said yes. i was naive. we dated for two years and it was great. one of the best years of my life.

at the beginning of senior year of college, we had a conversation about what we wanted to do in the future. what we had planned for our lives were so very different.

i wanted to pursue writing in europe and hopefully travel the entire world writing about my experiences. i wanted to be spontaneous and live life to the fullest. he wanted to stay in our home town and work there, maybe live in a suburban home with a family. our views of the future were different.

we argued. hard. he didn't want me to leave. but i wanted to follow my dreams. he guilt tripped me. told me if he was even apart of my dreams. this only angered me more. he knew i loved him with all my heart, and still choose to make me out to look like the bad guy.

but, despite us breaking up.. i still love him. there will always be a place in my heart for him. we don't talk anymore, but it isn't as awkward as i thought it would be.

because grayson and noah are dating mia and aria, we still see each other all the time since our friend groups are still friends all the way from freshmen year.

but where we stand? i guess you could say... we're acquaintances. we're grown up now, and we decided we needed to start acting like it. we're mature about it.  

"it's okay, izzy. just don't talk to him." i reassure her, sitting on the couch next to her, and rubbing her shoulder. she nods, sighing and rubbing the slight water from her eyes. she's still not completely over it.

a knock comes from the door and all our head whipped in that direction, "cass can you get it?" aria asks, finishing up the last piece of hair needed to be curled.

"yep." i got up from the couch, smoothing out my dress and i approached the door. not even bothering to check who it was, since i had already knew it was the guys, i swung open the door after unlocking it.

"reading to get our graduation on!" noah says, his voice projecting throughout the entire room. aria gets up from the chair, going over to hug noah and greet him.

they each file in through the door as i held it open. ethan walks in last, "hey." he says. i just smile and do a quick nod. "you look pretty." he tells me, looking me up and down.

i look down at my dress, "oh uh, thank you." i say, looking back up at him. he just nods, stepping more into the room. i shut the door, locking it in the process and then turn around.

isabelle's missing and mia stands in the mirror with grayson next to her. noah rummages through the fridge with alex watching him close by and ethan sits on the couch texting on his phone.

"what time is it?" aria asks, walking into the living room from her bedroom.

"uhh," ethan says, "four-thirty."

"we should probably get going right?" aria asks, in a rush to put on her gown.

"graduation doesn't start until six, aria." i explain to her, my arms crossed.

"we have to be there an hour early." she shrugged. "if we go now, we'll be there by five."

"the center is just down the block, ari." mia said, laughing. "don't worry, we'll be there before you know it!"

"sorry, i'm just anxious i guess," she says, sighing and plopping down on the couch besides ethan.

aria never thought she would graduate with us. she always thought so low of herself, thinking she was too dumb. her parents had little to no faith for her. to have them watch her walk across the stage is major for her, because then she proves how worthy she really is. how smart she can be when trying.

but now we're all graduating together and that's so important to us all.

WHEN IN ROME

i watched all my friends get their degrees. i was mad crying. because i know that after this, we'd all move on with our lives. mia and i stuck with each other from highschool, and i'm surprised to see how we've managed this friendship for so long. same with ethan and grayson.

life was ahead of us. we were officially done with school. we were adults. our free trial, it ended. now it's time to play the game.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

GUYS! i just keep on writing and writing i cannot stop lmao.

fourth chapter in 4 hours or so??

sorry about the time gap. the rest of the story comes out to be when they're adults. i need to get to the point, yunno? we missed a large portion of their lives but this chapter was to sum up most of it.

PEACE