Chapter 92 - His Betrayal
Joey
Graduation is tomorrow and I have a special night planned for Josie and I after we celebrate with our parents. It took a lot of convincing on both ends but I managed to get our parents to agree to my surprise for Josie, which was a weekend trip to a bed and breakfast where I found outings to different places I had looked up. My parents were concerned at first, but they knew that we were responsible and that soon we would be in college and they needed to trust us. Her parents took a bit more persuading, mainly her father, but between my mom and Aunt Amy I got their permission to take Josie away for the weekend.
My mother was thrilled that things were going well between us and she offered some advice on places to visit. I wanted everything to be perfect, our families planned to celebrate together after the ceremony at a local Italian Restaurant. Once we were done I made arrangements to take Josie directly from the dinner. Her mother told me she would put together clothes and personal care items and I can have it ready for when we take off. I told her I would get them from her when we all were at the restaurant. I put all of my stuff together and put it in my new/used SUV that I got with my insurance money from the accident. I was thrilled with the newer vehicle because it comes in handy when we go camping later this summer.
The day of graduation I loaded my graduation gown and made my way over to grab Josie. Our families will meet us at the school but we had to get there early to prepare for the ceremony. Josie came out of her parents place with a huge smile and her gown slung over her arm. She looked absolutely radiant, she was wearing a sundress that hugged her curves in all the right places. I jumped out and ran up to her pulling her into my arms pulling her in for a deep kiss. I couldn’t wait for us to have our weekend away and I hoped she enjoyed everything I had planned for us. I guided her to her side of the car and placed her gown in the seat with mine and we took off for the school.
The ceremony went well and thankfully the speeches were not too long, we took the traditional family photos afterwards. I made sure to get a few pictures of Josie and I together to mark this special day together as well as a special weekend for us both. Once we were done we all made our way to the restaurant. My parents had reserved a private room for our group so we didn’t have to worry about disrupting anything for others. We all enjoyed visiting with each other while we ate. Eli and my younger brother and sister ate and seemed to hibernate to a far corner and started playing a game together on my brother's Nintendo Switch. Josie and I figured that would happen eventually and as if she could read my mind I heard her murmur next to me, “That didn’t take long at all, I wonder if we should be insulted that we are not entertaining enough for them compared to video games.” Laughing I kissed the side of her head, “At least they are not sitting back mopping.”
Lily, Josie and I were talking with our parents for a while when Aunt Amy motioned for me to follow her. “I’ll be right back, make sure no one steals my dessert while I’m away.” Josie just nodded then turned back to Lily continuing their conversation. Once I had walked out to my vehicle, I noticed my Aunt was already standing there with a bag. “This should be everything she needs but do you want some cash in case you have to pick anything up?” I told her we would be fine and it was just supposed to be a relaxing weekend away for both of us, nothing too fancy. I placed the bag in the back of my SUV and we both walked into the restaurant. “I want you both to have fun and enjoy yourself, just be safe and reach out if you need us.” I had already given our parents the information of where we were staying and a general itinerary so they at least had an idea of places we would be if it was ever needed. I knew Josie’s parent’s appreciated that because I could tell her dad especially was struggling a bit with this but Aunt Amy told me he would be fine.
I sat back down with Josie and we finished our meal with our dinner with everyone, I kept noticing that Lily kept looking a bit off so when we were ready to leave I pulled her aside to ask if she was okay. “Joey don’t worry about me, I am just working out a few things for myself. I will be fine, I actually have plans with some friends tonight so I am going to take off now. Congratulations again on graduating big brother, I can’t wait for my time next year so I can go off somewhere to college.” She walked off towards my parents and I made a note to check back in with her when I got home after our trip.
I pulled Josie with me, “We have places to be so let’s go.” She looked at me completely confused, “What are you talking about Joey? I don’t remember us making any plans to go anywhere today other than this dinner.”
“I have a surprise for you that was hard to plan without you finding out, so I just want you to sit back and relax and you will see what the surprise is when we get there.” Her eyes sparkled with amusement and I could see she was excited, Josie sat back and watched as we pulled onto the highway. Our next stop will be the bed and breakfast I reserved for us this weekend, the Live Oak bed and breakfast. I know we have a camping trip planned this summer but I wanted to take this trip with Josie so we have some time to ourselves. I had plans for a bigger surprise tonight that luckily does not require a lot of time and effort to put together.