The air is nearly gone by the time the door opens. I was staring at the ground, too scared to make eye contact.

"Hello.?" A very confused voice asks. Once again, obviously Mr. McLauglin's. I slowly look up and look in his eyes before I speak, as everyone should do.

"Hi," My soft, shaky voice lets out. Rhett's eyes widen, confused and curious of why his best friend's girlfriend from 20 years ago is still 16 years old.

"Is this some kind of joke?" He asks, hoping to get an answer.

"There's a lot of explaining to do. But it's me, the one and only." I say shrugging a little bit. Rhett lets me into the house, quickly reaching in his pocket to grab a photo. It was of me. He held it up and examined my face and comparing it to the picture.

"It really is you!" His face lightened up, and he hugged me. It nearly brought tears to my eyes, and after we parted from the hug, it nearly brought tears to Rhett's eyes, too!

Rhett showed me to the hallway right outside a lounge area. "Link is in here with no clue that you're actually out there. We kinda gave up hope a year after we sent you that twitter DM.." He whispered. "So, this might surprise him."

Rhett pushed me ahead, causing me to step into the lounge area, where I could already see a depressed-looking Link Neal. He was laying on the couch, a warm blanket over him. His eyes were shut, probably napping. He didn't notice me yet, but I noticed him. I cleared my that loudly, and stepped more into his sight.

His eyes opened and head turned, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Who?" He questioned, examining me. His body shot up, and he quickly wiped his eyes. "Lily?" He asked, confused, yet excited.

"Yeah, Link. I-Its me!" I say hesitantly. He yanked the blanket off of himself and ran to hug me. Rhett appeared behind us.

"Be careful.." He said cautiously.

"Why man? We found her!" He said with the biggest smile on his face.

"Because she's clearly still 16 years old." Rhett said, his voice drowning out all the happiness once again. Links face sunk, the confused expression played on his face once again.

"what?" He asked, exchanging glances between Rhett and I.

I went over to the couch and sat down. I motioned for them to sit as well, and they did. I had to explain everything, or else things could go bad.

"Yes. I'm still 16. You guys aren't. It's weird, I know." I begin, very scared. I gulp down the lump in my throat and continue. "You see, 3 weeks ago, I received this necklace from my mother. It's apparently a family tradition to pass it on to the next girl in the family. I eventually got it, and my mom told me that my crazy grandma had said it held mythical powers.." I say, examining their faces. They are obviously listening and trying to understand. "Anyway, we had a field trip the same day. To Harnett County, NC. Buies Creek was nearby, so I took a detour of my own and searched for the elementary school where you two met. I eventually found it. I kinda wished and hoped that if/when I meet you guys, it wouldn't be awkward. The magic gem," I use my fingers as air quotes, "took that in a way to take me back it time to you guys." I said.

I explained the rest. I almost cried a few times, as did Link. It was hard to tell them this, considering neither of them has really gotten over me.

"Long story short, I screwed up everything." I ended. "I'm still 16, you guys still know me. I ruined everything." I sigh and face palm myself.

"Nothing's been ruined, Lily. You're a great girl and you changed our lives. We still talk about you all the time." Link says. I look up at the two men who are smiling at me. "Obviously nothing romantic will be occurring, but if you ever want to come sit behind the scenes during an episode of GMM, you are more than welcome." My eyes welled up with tears of excitement.

"Really?" I reply softly.

"A thousand times yes! I understand we were involved together, but the love that Rhett and I have for you is how we feel about family! We don't want to lose contact with you again."

"Hey maybe in a few years you could intern for us," Rhett adds. I jumped up and snagged the guys in a big group hug.

Never could I have imagined this happy ending to such a crazy story, but my heroes made it possible.