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"are you excited?" london, sierras mother asks from across the table. sierra shrugs as she bites her piece of bacon. it's the day of her graduation, and she doesn't know how to feel. she imagined this day since her first year, but now that it's here it feels surreal. "you should be! it's a big day—my baby's all grown up." she says, a bright smile on her face.

sierra can't help but smile shyly at her mother's words. when she thinks about it too hard, it makes her teary eyed and nostalgic.

"when is rayana gonna be here?" sierra asks her mother.

"she was supposed to be here ten minutes ago to have breakfast, but you know that girl don't understand the concept of clocks," london replies, shaking her head and taking another bite of her food. sierra snorts at her mother's words. rayana would probably be late to her own funeral if it was possible. "let me call this girl." her mom mumbles, grabbing her phone out of her clutch purse.

while she busies herself with calling her other daughter, sierra quickly texts jack.

sierra: when will u be here?

immediately, he calls her and an immense amount of dread and anxiety wash over her. it's never a good sign when you text somebody and they respond by calling you, especially if it's about plans or clarification. and if she knows jack, this is a telling sign that she's not going to like what he's about to say. he'd never miss my graduation, she thinks to herself. but he missed my 21st.

excusing herself from the table, she answers the phone and heads down the hallway, locking herself in her bathroom. "hello?" she says, leaning against the counter

"baby?"

"yes? are you on your way?" she asks, running a hand over her soft, newly installed, hair.

"uh, no," jack says and she lets out a sigh, rolling her eyes. "but i'll be there, sierra. what time you need to be at the school?" he asks.

"eleven," she replies, her voice bored. it was 8:45. she takes a deep breath to calm herself down, but her brain swarms with so many scenarios that involve him missing her graduation that she can't fully concentrate.

"sierra."

"what?"

"i'll be there, baby. i promise," jack says, and she wants to believe him so badly, but she knows him. and she knows that when he promises things, that he never comes through.

sierra bites her bottom lip. "don't tell me, just be there. i have to go. i'll see you later," she says and then hangs up. sierra shakes her head, gently tapping the corner of her phone against her palm. she doesn't even care if she doesn't see him before her graduation—as long as he's in the crowd she'll be happy. all she wants is him there.

she comes out of the bathroom to find her mother waiting in the hallway, her hands on her hips and her head tilted to the side. "mama- what didnt you learn last time?" her mother asks, cutting her off and shaking her head. "you need to see yourself away from him."

sierra rolls her eyes. "mama, stop, please."

"is he even going to be there?"

"yes! and be nice when you see him," sierra says, her tone clipped and annoyed. london mutters to herself and sierra walks down the hallway to her room, shouting, "i'm gonna shower!" over her shoulder. she knows that bringing jack around her family is like walking him into war, but they all need to learn to be cordial with him because he's nothing but nice, and he's always going to be around.

jack looks at his phone screen and considers calling sierra back, but doesn't because it won't change anything. she's not going to fully believe that he'll show up by word of mouth.

but he wouldn't miss this day for the world. he made this promise to her, but mostly to himself because it's probably one of the most important days of her life. even when they were broken up, he was still going to find a way to get a ticket into her graduation ceremony. if he had to wait outside the football field and watch through the fence, then he'd do it.

jack speeds up a little bit, going over the speed limit by 10 mph. he's on his way to meet with a dog breeder who specializes in bichon frises to look at a pet for sierra. he's already met with two other people who had yorkies and pomeranians, and this is his last one. he's kind of made his mind up on the yorkie, but he thinks this last breed of dog is cute enough to look at anyway.

he arrives at the place twenty minutes later, and he all but flies into a parking lot and jumps out of the car. he quickly walk up to the door and knocks, checking his watch. 9:10.

seconds later, the door swings open to reveal a tiny, older white lady with fiery red hair and a big smile. "you must be jack! welcome!" she says happily, stepping out of the way to let jack in. he has to duck to fit through the door and the lady says, "whoops! this house wasn't built for people of your size! my husband was just as tiny as i was." jack gives her a polite smile and straightens up, thankful to have enough space between his head and the ceiling to comfortably wander through his house.

"thank you for seeing me today," jack says. the lady gives him a nice smile and motions for jack to walk towards the back of the house. he hears puppy noises coming from behind a door with a big window, and he peaks in to see about a dozen tiny, white cotton balls yapping and running around. they're surrounded by a gate that's four feet tall to keep them all inside.

the lady opens the door and all of the puppies start barking at high frequencies. she shushes them, squatting down low to pet some of them as they jump on the fence. "we have a new friend! one of you might be leaving me today," she says, standing up and smiling at jack. she motions for him to come over to the gate and he does.

jack squats down and puts one hand in the pool of puppies, letting them sniff him and gnaw on his fingers. the lady goes into a story about how she started raising and breeding bichon frises after her husband passed away a few years ago. jack only half listens, too distracted by three dogs who won't leave him alone. "go ahead and hold one, if you want," she says.

he grabs the puppy that has been jumping on the gate the most, and holds it to his chest, craning his neck as it tries to lick him. "is this a boy or a girl?" jack asks.

"girl. that's cleo. she really likes you!" the old lady says, a smile on her face. jack laughs as he pets cleo's head and back. "so, what do you think?" she asks, hope in her voice.

"um, i'm not sure, actually. im really just trying to get my girlfriend a birthday present, and i know she likes dogs that are small. that's about it," he says, scratching behind cleo's ears. the old lady chuckles and squats down to tend to the left out puppies.

"well, there's no rush!" she says. jack glances at his watch and blows out a breath. 9:25. he sets cleo back in the gated area and he pulls out his phone to snap a picture to send to deja and jas. thoughts? he asks, praying that they answer quickly.

cleo whines, putting her paws on the gate and trying to climb out. jack squats down and pets her again. he likes all of the dogs he's seen in the past week, and he's still leaning towards the yorkie. they all seem to like him, though, which is good because he's going to inevitably be their dad.

his phone buzzes in his pocket and he stops petting cleo to check.

jasmine: SO CUTE 😭😭😭

deja: awwwwww omfg

jack: should i get this one?

jasmine: no

deja: no

deja: get the yorkie 🥺

jasmine: BUT THE POM WAS SO CUTE!

jack: y'all are not helping

jack: yorkie or pom???

he rolls his eyes as they text back two different answers. jack stands up and brushes off his pants, but it doesn't do anything because there's still a ton of white fur covering his all black outfit. "i guess i should have warned you about the shedding!" the lady says. jack chuckle and shakes his head.

"it's alright. but i'm actually running late for something else, so i gotta go. ill let you know if i'm interested soon, though!" he says, backing out of the dogs room and into the living room.

"oh! no worries! come back any time!" he ducks his way out of the house with a wave and gets in his car, cursing to himself quietly at picking up the dog and getting himself all hairy.

ten minutes into his drive back to atlanta, he calls sierra. she picks up quickly, a lot of noise in the back. "hello?" she says.

"i'm on my way now, baby," he says, looking at the clock on the dashboard. 9:45. if he doesn't get pulled over, he'll make it.

"hmm. well, we're leaving at 10:30, so be here before that if you want to see me," sierra says. he hears her name being called in the background and she sighs. "gotta go. love you," she says.

"i love you too," jack replies, and then he hangs up. he presses a little harder on the gas, determined to make it on time.

sierra slides her feet into her heels, lacing up her shoes around her calves. her grandma snaps a picture of her from the doorway, and sierra looks up at her with a frown. "granny, i wasn't ready!"

"hush. these are for memories," she says, slipping away as fast as she came over. sierra shakes her head and stands up, pulling down her dress a little bit. she's wearing a simple white, silk dress because it's the end of spring in georgia and the ceremony is outside.

sierra walks over to her vanity and applies more lipgloss and sprays herself with more perfume. her nerves have been shot ever since jack called her earlier, and her entire family being in her apartment at once hasn't helped. her nieces and nephews running around is only making it worse.

"sierra! are you almost ready?" her mom calls from the living room.

"yes!" she shouts, looking over at her alarm clock. 10:25. and he's not here.

sierra takes a deep breath and reminds herself that he'll be at the ceremony and that she can see him afterwards. she grabs her gown off of the back of her door and slides it on, leaving it unzipped. she looks around for her cap, on her desk, on her dresser, underneath clothes, everywhere, snd can't find it. "mama! i cant find my cap!" she shouts.

her mother enters her room and starts looking all over the place, and sierra runs out to look in the living room, reminding herself to stay calm.

she runs through her house with her mind trained on finding her cap that she doesn't even notice jack awkwardly waiting in the hallway with flowers. she brushes past him, muttering to herself about all of the possible places she could have left it, before circling her way back towards her room.

sierra stops in her tracks when jack catches her by the shoulders. "hi," he says with wide eyes, taking a deep breath to show her what she should be doing.

"hi," sierra says, her face softening when she finally focuses. "you came!" she says quietly, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. jack wraps his arms around her waist, the flowers getting slightly crushed against her back.

"honey, your cap was in your ro-" her mom cuts herself off at the sight in front of her, holding the cap in her hands. jack and sierra pull apart and london's eyes dart back and forth between her daughter and jack. "it was on your bed. hello, jack." she finishes, clearing her throat.

"hello, ms. williams."

"thanks, mama," sierra says, taking the cap from her. she awkwardly glances up at jack before looking down at the floor and back up at her mother.

"are you ready to go? it's 10:30," her mom interjects, her eyes shifting over to jack for a split second.

"yeah, we'll be out in a second," sierra says, grabbing jacks hand and dragging him down the hall to her room. she shuts the door and pulls jack down into a kiss, grabbing the flowers out of his hand.

"i'm proud of you," he mumbles against her lips before pulling away and looking down at her. "you look beautiful." he says, his hands rubbing her sides.

she feels shy under his gaze, she she kisses him again and mumbles 'thank you' against his mouth. jack slips his hands underneath her robe and runs his hands up and down her backside. "cmon, you're gonna be late," he says, pulling away from her for the second time. she wipes the lipgloss off of his lips and they walk out of her room and go outside to see her family loading up. "i'll see you late, baby. i love you." he says.

"i love you too," and then they go their separate ways.

-

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iamsierra "2021 FINNA GRADUATE COLLEGE" i did that shit 😭 #ClarkAlum

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-

jack and sierra drive around in a peaceful silence, one of his hands resting on her leg while the other one steers. every so often, jack will glance over and catch sierra admiring the ring, spinning it around her ring finger and rubbing the pads of her fingers over the diamonds.

he decided to give her the ring earlier, unable to wait until her birthday to give her something so special. he'd didn't give it to her in front of her family though, like everyone else when they handed her graduation gifts. it was too special and private, and he knew they would not have reacted well either. but he is pleased to say that it was a nice evening at her grandparents house either way.

sierra sighs and leans back in her seat. "what's up?" jack asks, rubbing her leg.

"nothing—this ring is just beautiful," she murmurs, tangling her hand in the hair at the base of his neck. "and today was just so good." sierra adds. everyone was in good spirits and nice to each other. her grandfather, mother, and sister even talked to jack like regular, functioning human beings for the first time in forever, and it was nice to see him be able to relax around her family and actually be apart of the conversation, and not solely the topic.

jack smiles at her and refocuses his eyes on the road. "i'm glad you like it—i got something else for you, though," he says. sierra raises her eyebrows, but doesn't say anything. she's gotten so many gifts today, another one isn't even exciting anymore, but she does appreciate everything.

sierra scrolls through her instagram timeline, liking all of the graduation posts from her her fellow classmates. it doesn't even seem real that she won't be going back to clark ever again because she's gotten so used to it over the last four years. this whole next year is about new beginnings.

the song skips to what you heard by sonder, and sierra turns it up, singing the opening lines along with brent faiyaz. she sings the entire song up until it gets to her favorite part, and she starts yelling. "IF HE WAS A WINNER, GIRL YOU WOULDNT HAVE TO WORRY 'BOUT A DAMN THING!" sierra yells, jabbing jack in the arm with each syllable. he looks over at her with a fuck you mean? look on his face, and she keeps singing.

"and i hate talking 'bout my stroke game," they sing together, sierra finally much quieter. jack pats her leg with every syllable, his eyes on the road.

he turns into a dirt parking lot as the song fades out, and sierra sits up. she looks around and realizes they're at a viewpoint and that she's able to see the city skyline. she hadn't realized they'd driven out this far and long. jack turns off the car and gets out, and sierra follows him, walking around to the front.

she sits on the hood and jack stands in between her legs, putting his hands on the side of her face and kissing her deeply. he slips his tongue into her mouth the first chance he gets, and she pulls him impossibly closer to her by his belt loops. "i love you," he mumbles, leaning down further and kissing her jaw before moving his lips to her neck.

"i love you," she says back, sliding her hands up his silk shirt and putting one hand on the back of his neck. he pulls away abruptly and sets his hands on her knees, looking down at her with an intense look. sierra tilts her head to the side. "what?"

"hold on," he says, quickly going back into the car and coming back just as quick. he holds something in his palm and sierra gently grabs his wrist. he doesn't stop her when she opens up his hand and reveals a silver key to his house.

she looks at the key, up at him, and the back a his hand. "jack, are you- asking you to move in with me? yes," he interrupts, finishing her sentence. sierra runs a hand over her hair nervously and lets go of his wrist. she looks off to the side, gnawing on her bottom lip. "look, i'm ready for that with you, sierra." he says, grabbing her hand. she still doesn't turn to look over at him.

they've never lived together, ever. never tried it. they've stayed for days at each other's places, but it never got to a moving in point. they never asked each other, and they worked out fine until they ultimately didn't. there was never really a reason, they just never got to that point, even after almost two years.

"say something—hell, say no, so i can stop feeling stupid," jack says when she still doesnt answer.

sierra lets out a breath and looks up at him. "i don't know what to say, jack," she sigh, looking up at him. "it's not that i don't want to, but i don't want to wake up to a big, empty house every morning." she says. she had a problem with waking up alone after he stayed the night, because he would just slip out without saying anything until she called him about it.

jack considers her words and runs a hand through his hair. "you wont," he says. she tilts her head head down and looks at him from underneath her eyebrows. "okay, well maybe you will—sometimes—but not everyday." he says, giving her a small smile.

sierra rolls her eyes, but the corner of her lip quirks. "i don't know," she says.

"if you're not ready- i'm ready. i just don't think you are," sierra says, cutting him off. "i want that with you, but if i have to wake up alone every morning, then i'll pass. why would i move in just to be by myself in a giant house, when i can't even drive?" she asks. jack bites his bottom lip and nods.

"i understand," he says, his voice quiet. sierra grabs his hand and pulls him down onto the hood of the car. she rests her head on his shoulder, and he wraps an arm around her waist.

"i still love you," she murmurs.

"i know," he says. she wants to live with him and take that next step, but she can't rely on him always being there.

"just teach me how to drive," sierra says, looking up at him. jack looks down at her and smile, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"so is that a 'yes'?"

"teach me how to drive first."

-

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jackharlow proud of you @iamsierra

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——

ahhh this was hella long but i needed to write it!!!!! one more chapter and maybe an epilogue. haven't decided yet!!!

thanks for the supporttttt!!!

excuse any mistakes.