"You're coming to my graduation right?" I asked Luke who stood on the other side of the counter. I had asked him this before but I wanted to be sure he wouldn't pull out at the last minute.

Today was the last time that I was going to be working in Luke's Diner. It was like a part of my life closed and locked away for good. My graduation was tomorrow and I wanted to make sure I had everyone who was important to me there.

One person in particular would definitely not be able to make it but Luke had to. Whether I had to drag him there in a body bag or if he was willing to go voluntarily.

"Yes, kid." Luke grumbled out as he made a fresh pot of coffee. "Still can't believe it's your last day in here."

I wiped down the counter with the rag in my hand as I smiled up at him. The bell above the door rang, signalling that the last customer of the day had left.

"I know," I agreed in astonishment. "It's been two years?" I say unsurely as I recalled all those times I had worked in here. The late nights with Luke, my mum and the Gilmores. Or the times that Luke and I ganged up in a shouting match with Taylor. And all of Kirks weird orders.

I look around at the empty diner that was washed with bright light from the setting sun in the horizon. "I'm gonna miss this place," I tell Luke sadly.

He stops making the coffee for a second to send me a sad smile that mirrored my own. "It's gonna miss you too, Cassie."

I tilt my head and smile at him mockingly. "Is that sentiment I hear in your voice?" I mock him as I make my way behind the counter to hug the man who has been more of a father to me than me real one ever has.

"Shut up or I'll take it back," Luke warned before embracing me tightly. "Cant believe you're to New York. To Columbia, an Ivy League school."

I pull away from Luke and shake my head at his praise. "It's nothing, Rory got into Yale." I tried to shift his praise to her, I was always uncomfortable when stuff like this happened. I never knew why.

"Stop it," Luke said with a pointed look, catching on to what I was doing. "I'm proud of you." He ruffled my hair slightly with a kind smile.

"Thanks," I say quietly as I go back to wiping down some tables by the door. We both stood there in comfortable silence for a while before Luke spoke up.

"You're okay right?" He suddenly asked as I stopped my movements, not understanding what he meant. "After he saw my confused face, he went on to rephrase his sentence. "About Jess."

It had been awhile since I'd heard that name. Within the week that he had left, my mum made it her life mission to pretend like he never existed. We both avoided his name like it was taboo.

"I'm fine, Luke." I lied halfheartedly. It wasn't that I wasn't fine, I think I was. It was just like a piece of me that had been there for so long was suddenly gone. I missed him, a lot, but I wasn't gonna pine. Not when he was the one to leave.

"You're not mad at me or anything?" Luke asked warily. To be fair, at first I was pretty mad at Luke. In my head I blamed him for driving Jess away, for not letting him stay because of the stupid agreement.

But after I calmed down, I realised that Luke only did what any guardian would have. He made a deal and he stuck to it, he kept true to his word. Jess was the one who couldn't uphold his end. So none of this was Luke's fault, Jess just couldn't do what he agreed to do.

I shake my head at look solemnly. "I don't blame you," I assure him. "Jess could've asked my help for school but he never did. So that's on him."

"Still, I'm sorry." Luke apologised for nothing. "I know how much he meant to you." He consoled me as I gave him a grim face, unsure of what to do in thus situation.

"Thanks," I mutter quietly as I continue to wipe down the table to distract myself.

Luke fidgeted in his spot as he dried a mug with a cloth. "You know," he began as I directed my attention towards him and his backwards baseball cap. "You mean a lot to him too. More than I think you know."

~~~

"Your speech was amazing!" I compliment Rory as I hug her from behind. Paris stood beside her with her graduation cap in hand. The three of us wore matching dark blue robes, except for Rory who had a yellow lapel for valedictorian.

Rory said a quick thanks to me before we turned back to Paris, ready to say our goodbyes to her.

"You'll call me when you get back from England?" Paris asked me as I nodded my head. My mum and I were going to spend some time in England before I had to be shipped off to New York. "And you'll call me when you're back from Europe?" Paris directed this at Rory.

She held up her cellphone and waved it lightly as she spoke, "Got both your numbers saved right here."

"You know, I used to hate you." Paris said to Rory with a smile. "Not you," She looked toward me as I nodded.

"She really hated you," I emphasis to Rory who just made a sound of protest. "And now we're best friends," I tell them both as I sling an arm around their shoulders.

"The three musketeers," Paris commented just as her nanny and kids approached us, saying something in Portuguese. "I got to go," Paris told the two of us sadly.

I didn't hesitate to engulf her in a tight hug, joined shortly by Rory. "Good luck," I whisper in Paris' ear softly. "Show them who's boss."

"Maybe I'll see you in court," She joked once the three of us pulled apart.

I raise an eyebrow at her questioningly, "I thought you were gonna be a doctor?"

"Who says I can't do both?" Paris challenged as I nodded my head at her approvingly.

"That's my girl," I say proudly before I left Rory and Paris to say their goodbyes.

I roamed around the courtyard, saying goodbye to people who I don't even know the names of. To be fair, I wasn't gonna miss this place. I went around looking for my mother when I finally bumped into her.

She stabled me with a hand on my arm. "Slow down there Usain Bolt," she joked. "Where're you going?"

"I was just looking for you actually," I tell her as we walk in the direction of my grandparents who stood talking with Richard and Emily.

"Well, I was just looking for you." She replied back with a smirk. "Your grandparents have present for you."

"Alright, I'll-" I was cut off by the ringing of my phone. It was a recent gift from my mother for graduating, but I had gotten it a few days ago.

I pulled the phone out of the pocket of my jeans that I wore under my robe. I flipped it open and answered the call from the unknown number.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone but got no reply. "Natalie Portman?" I joked hoping to get some response from the caller. Instead I heard the dial tone of them hanging up. I had been getting a lot of calls like that recently and it all started the day after Jess had left. So I had a vague idea of who it was.

"They just hung up?" My mum asked me as I tried to clear my mind of who was on the other line. "You've been getting a lot of those recently."

"Yeah," I start as my phone rang again. "Hello?" I repeated as I got nothing except the faint sound of someone breathing. I pull the phone away from my ear and look toward my mum. "It's noisy, I'm gonna head inside for a bit." I gestured to all the crowding students and parents around us.

I head inside the school before she got a chance to respond. I walked into the empty corridor and sat on a discarded plastic chair. I watched as a faculty member walked pass me before I began to speak again. "Hello? Jess is that you?" Hearing the breathing on the other side of the line stop, I knew I was right.

"I know it's you," I say confidently as I wait patiently for him to speak. "Fine," I snap, growing angry at his lack of words. "If you won't talk, I will. What you did, the way you handled things were not okay. You could've talked to me, I could've helped you. I even asked if you were doing okay in school and you lied to my face."

I had expected him to say something but all I got was more deafening silence. "So now you're gone, again. You left, again. Without a proper goodbye and if you're thinking that stupid piece of paper was a proper goodbye you're wrong. Well, that's it I guess. That the end of it, I'm going to London tonight, then I'm going to New York for college. And I'm gonna try to forget you, just like you told me to."

I made sure to stop myself before saying something that I shouldn't have. Something along the lines of I loved you and I still do, because what good what that do to either of us. It wasn't gonna make him come back, that's for sure.

"So that's it," I repeated again, more to myself than him. By this point my voice had become shaky and unsteady. "I hope you're doing good in California or wherever you'll leave off to after that. This is goodbye then, it's more than you ever gave me. Goodbye, Jess."

With that, I hung up the phone. I pushed some hair out of my face as I wiped at my eyes with the sleeve of my robe. I cleared my throat before making my way back outside to my mum.

"You okay?" She asked me whilst patting down my hair. We both made our way to my grandparents who chatted animatedly with Richard and Emily Gilmore.

I don't answer her question as I went to hug both my grandparents. "Hey Grandpa," I hug the man first before giving my grandmother a side hug. "Hi, Grandma." I say a quick hello to Richard and Emily as well.

"Cassie, dear." My grandfather greeted with a smile. "You're just in time for your gift."

"You guys didn't have to get me anything," I say, thinking that it was a small present, a notebook or a stationary set. Just like the ones they gave me as a kid.

My grandmother scoffed at my words. "Nonsense!" She protested. "Every young college student needs a car."

"Rosalind!" My grandfather exclaimed at her spilling the beans as everyone around us just laughed. "You've ruined it."

"You got me a car?" I exclaimed excitedly as I look toward the parking lot hoping to see something that would indicate which one was mine. Only to find the whole place was filled with cars of various colours and sizes with bows on top.

My grandfather handed me a pair of keys as I squealed in delight. "It's a black jeep," he told me which only added to my disbelief. "Like you've always wanted."

"Thank you!" I tell both my grandparents before engulfing them in another tight hug. I look over at my mum and hug her tightly too.
My own car! I couldn't believe it! I tell them one more 'thank you' before heading off to find the Jeep in the mass of cars.