[a/n: so, this is it. the last chapter of this story. it only seems fitting for this to end just as 2016 is beginning.

this is really, really short, as it merely functions as an epilogue of some sort. after all, this story could have easily ended in the previous chapter, but this one gives you a general direction of what happens to reed and austin. so, i really, really hope you enjoy it still. :)]

Chapter 32

"Sure you got everything?" Mom asked me, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest, the car keys dangling from her right hand.

"Yeah," I said, taking one last look around my room.

"Then let's go."

I was only really bringing a handful of my stuff, but all of the things I packed up were the ones that actually mattered. Pictures of me and Tori, a couple of my favorite books, the bookstand my mother gave me on my birthday last year and the small lampshade Tori and I bought together a few years back. She bought the same one, which she'd also brought with her when she left for Japan a week ago.

Austin, who was also leaving in two days, had come over last night to help me pack up even though I was mostly done anyway. He also joined us for dinner at Aunt Rosie and Uncle Silas's, who insisted to prepare a little going-away dinner for the two of us.

Aunt Rosie, of course, was delighted to see him, and though Uncle Silas wouldn't admit it, I knew he was warming up to him, too. Austin and I had run a couple of errands for them over the summer when Aunt Rosie's bad hip suddenly worsened.

Mom seemed to like him, too, though she still insisted on making us leave my bedroom door open while we packed away the last of my things after dinner last night.

Not like she had anything to worry about.

Even when Austin and I started going out, neither of us could seem to stop arguing with each other. We acted mostly like the way we did the first night we'd spent together, though Tori insisted on saying there was something affectionate about the way we wouldn't stop teasing each other.

"It's cute," Tori had told me.

"What part of him putting a fucking beetle in my bag is cute, exactly?" I'd asked her. Lewis, Tori, Austin and I were having dinner at this slightly fancy diner that opened a few towns over. Austin had somehow managed to sneak a large beetle in my purse, and when I opened it, I'd jumped up screaming, tossing my purse and accidentally hitting an old lady seated on the table next to ours.

It was mortifying, to say the least, and the dickhead was obviously so proud of himself for his little prank.

"You asked for it," he'd told me, not the least bit concerned of hiding his laughter. "That was just payback for what you did."

"Oh, grow up." I rolled my eyes at him, but I still couldn't help feeling a note of pride from the prank I'd just pulled off a couple days ago. I'd convinced Lewis to plant a disturbingly realistic rubber snake in their shower right before Austin used it. His reaction was priceless and I was glad his surprisingly high-pitched scream had been caught on video.

Still, it wasn't fair for him to humiliate me in public, and though I'd told him to grow up, I was already done planning my revenge by the time we paid the bill

I couldn't say what exactly we were, to be honest. We disagree most of the time and from the way we usually talked to each other, it was like we'd had an agreement to never stop throwing petty insults at each other.

We didn't morph into one of those couples who couldn't get their hands off of each other, but we did share rare moments of intimacy that seem out of place either.

Last night, for example.

Since the park wasn't too far from Aunt Rosie's, the two of us had gone out for a walk when we finished cleaning up.

"I'm going to miss Aunt Rosie's cooking," he'd told me, letting out a regretful sigh that only made me laugh.

"I told you she likes you," I said. "It's not every day she meets a person who can wolf down so many steaks in just ten minutes."

"If only she was a couple years younger..."

"Hey!" I slapped his shoulder, unable to keep myself from scowling. "Thank you very much for that disturbing mental image."

"Aw, Red, there's no need for you to be jealous," he said. "Just because you can't cook shit doesn't mean—"

"Well, I'm sorry, Dick. It seems I didn't get the memo that your girlfriend should be able to cook like Martha fucking Stewart when I first—"

"Girlfriend?"

"What?" I flushed.

"You said girlfriend."

"No."

He cut into my path and stopped right in front of me, hands landing on my shoulders to hold me in place.

"So you're my girlfriend now," he said, and though I kept my eyes lowered, I could visualize the teasing smile that was probably plastered across his face, "and I'm your boyfriend?"

"That was just a slip-up and—"

"No take-backs," he said, the playful note on his voice suddenly replaced by a more sincere one.

Neither of us had dared to talk about what we were, exactly, and naturally, I was more than just humiliated for dropping the G word just then.

He took a step closer to me, compelling me took up at him. The thoughtful expression on his face surprised me, to say the least, and I felt my heart skip a beat. Something was shifting between us. I could feel it in the charged air that connected us; in every breath I drew in and out of my lungs.

"I know I haven't really said anything because I was afraid I'd freak you out," he said, "but summer's almost over, and... I don't know. Does that mean we are too?"

"Austin."

"Just tell me straight up," he said, giving me a smile that didn't quite seem to reach his eyes. "No need to soften the blow. I came here fully prepared to have my poor little heart ripped right out of my chest and torn into a million tiny, microscopic pieces, so—"

"Austin." I took a step forward, closing the space left between us. I reached up to hold his face in my hands, locking my gaze with his. "I'm no good at this. I suck at this and you know it. I'm a pessimist by nature, and most times I feel like I'm programmed to think the worst of people.

"Think about it, Austin. I would be the worst girlfriend ever," I told him, my voice picking up almost involuntarily. "I'm stubborn. I'm not honest and I don't think I can ever stop from being snarky. And we won't even be together since we're going to different universities so, what's the point?"

He kept his eyes on mine, taking all this in for a second. Then, quietly, he said, "I know that already."

"Then why—"

"It doesn't make sense to me, too," he said, his frustration surfacing in his voice. "Honestly, it doesn't."

I looked away. "I don't know, Austin."

He took in a sharp breath, dropped his gaze before taking a deliberate step back.

He forced a smile out, nodding as if to say he completely understood. "Right."

Something about this made my gut twist, and when he moved to take another step back, widening that gap between us, I suddenly found myself reaching for him, my body moving to stop him even before my mind could make sense of what my heart was trying to tell me.

"My e-mail's Reed Oakley at Gmail dot com, no caps, no spaces," I said, wishing he'd know what I'm trying to say even without me spelling it out for him. "I have Skype, and there's this chatting app Tori basically forced me to download before leaving, though I still haven't completely figured that out yet, and if you ever get around to using your phone again, you can always call me at—"

Before I could finish, he had already pulled me into him, cutting me off with a kiss—scorching and desperate and somewhat overjoyed all at the same time. I answered with the same fervor, letting the kiss tell him what I couldn't voice out; letting myself fall into his touch, into his world as I let go of the brakes and allowed gravity to do the rest.

We were both breathing hard by the time we pulled away. He kept me close, not quite letting go.

"I'm so going to regret this," I muttered, but my arms tightened around him.

"That's my line."

And even now as the airport loomed closer and closer, signaling the end of this summer and everything that it stood for, everything it held for me and those who'd become part of the life I'd lived here so far, it still didn't make sense.

It didn't make sense to me at all.

But if there was one thing that I'd come to learn after everything that's happened in the past few weeks, it's that it didn't have to make sense to make sense.

It only had to make me happy.

* * * end * * * 

n o t e: 

first and foremost, i'd like to thank everyone for sticking with this story up until now. writing tpoce had been a really fun experience for me, and this is mostly because you supported me all the way to this chapter. thank you!

there will be no sequel to this story. i will, however, work on a spin-off. paper cuts, which i'd temporarily taken down from my profile so i can rewrite it a little, features the characters from austin's background, particularly mia dealing with the guilt of parker's death.

however, that's only a short story, and i'll be working on no hard feelings, which is basically an ex-turned-best friends love story. do check it out if you have the time!

i know i'm not the best at updating and keeping up with everything that's happening on my wattpad, so it honestly overwhelms me when i think about all of you rooting for my stories. i hope you enjoyed reading the possibility of chance encounters as much as i enjoyed writing it. :)

much love,

sam xo