My Boyfriend Carved Jack-o’-Lanterns For All Five. Except Me Chapter 02

My Boyfriend Carved Jack-o’-Lanterns For All Five. Except Me Chapter 02

Graduation photo day. Hot.

I’d just put on my gown when I saw Caleb walking over with four bouquets.

Sunflowers for Leo and Julian.

Roses for Daisy.

Hydrangeas for himself. To hold during the photos.

I looked down at my hands.

Empty. Again.

Caleb followed my gaze. His smile paused.

“Store had a deal. Four for the price of four.”

“I meant to get you one separately. Forgot.”

Then he spotted wildflowers by the road.

He snapped one off. Held it out.

The stem was broken. The leaves drooped.

“Here. Don’t make a big deal.”

Classmates were watching.

I didn’t want a scene before photos. I took it.

Caleb relaxed.

“See? There you go.”

—

For the group photo, Daisy stood in the center.

Leo straightened her cap.

Julian tucked her hair behind her ear.

Caleb crouched. Carefully fixed her windblown skirt.

I stood beside them. Like a stranger who’d wandered in.

The photographer waved.

“Closer!”

I took half a step toward Caleb. Daisy got bumped from behind.

Caleb caught her. Reflex.

The shutter clicked.

In the photo, the four of them were pressed together.

Me. Half a step away.

—

After, Leo pulled four graduation plushies from a bag.

Each in a gown matching their major. Names embroidered on the chest.

Daisy’s eyes lit up.

“Leo. When did you prepare this?”

“A month ago.”

He handed it to her.

“You said if others had one, you wanted one too.”

I looked at the empty bag.

“Where’s mine?”

The question came out. Even I felt pathetic.

Leo frowned.

“When I ordered, you didn’t say your major in the group chat.”

“You’re my brother. You don’t know?”

He had nothing to say.

Julian stepped in.

“Custom orders were closed by then.”

“Lyra, you don’t like plushies. It’d just collect dust.”

Always the same.

If they didn’t prepare one for me, it was because I didn’t like it.

If they forgot to ask, it was because I didn’t say.

They always found a reason. Proving that being left out was my own fault.

—

Afternoon. The college opened the graduation memorial wall.

Julian collected photos.

In the most visible spot, I saw it.

[The Five’s Four Years.]

Under the title, only one photo. The four of them under the oak tree.

A classmate recognized me. Confused.

“Lyra, weren’t you closest with them?”

“Why aren’t you on the wall?”

Daisy clutched her hem. Nervous.

Julian explained first.

“Lyra doesn’t like photos.”

Leo added.

“She often skips group stuff.”

I stared at them.

I don’t like photos?

These four years. Every dinner, I took the photos.

Every birthday, I took the photos. Every trip, I took the photos.

Because they always said I was the best at it.

The album had every year of them, from young to grown.

Just not me.

It wasn’t that I didn’t join.

It’s that the one behind the camera was never remembered.

—

Back at the dorm. I took off the couple bracelet.

Caleb’s name engraved inside.

Three years. A faint mark left on my skin.

I put it in the deepest drawer.

Just as I closed it, Caleb’s message came.

[Still mad about the flowers?]

[I even picked wildflowers for you. Don’t throw a fit over a bouquet.]

I stared at the screen.

Then replied.

[Not mad.]

Because when someone truly wants to leave, they don’t need to throw a fit.