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Elias

I've been counting the mornings lately.

Tracking sunrises more than sunsets 'cause the best part of the day is when it begins.

When the light comes spilling in through the windows of Ryker's van and there's nothing else around but the quiet. I've needed a lot of that over the last couple days. Time to think. To work out the thoughts that've been kicking around in my head ever since reality knocked me off my feet forty-eight hours ago.

People tend to say that everything happens for a reason.

But when it happened- in the middle of what I thought was gonna be a normal afternoon-I couldn't figure out why.

I'm still trying to figure it out.

Still trying to deal.

But mornings like this one make things easy one minute and terrible the next 'cause--

--she's here.

It's five a.m.

Five a.m. and I'm wide awake just listening to Jersey breathe. Her head's propped up against my chest, hair spilling out across my skin, fanning out like feathers.

Her hands are tangled in mine and they're soft and vulnerable like they've always been. But I'm holding onto her a little tighter today. I'm holding on to every part of her that I can before she leaves.

Every feeling.

Every sense.

Her touch.

Her smell.

The sight of her.

She's messy, wild, and everywhere. Like she's always been. And that's how she'll always be to me.

Everywhere.

Today's the big day. The morning she finally heads back home now that both of our finals are over.

Hell Week hasn't been easy on either of us. We've had to sneak around just to get to our classes undetected and then beg Ryker to let us borrow his van after school just so we could spend some time alone together.

After the weekend trip to the fair, we got lucky enough to snag a couple great nights together. Nights where Jersey sat on my lap with a book in her face, trying to study, while I spent most of my time trying to distract her.

In the good moments--the rare ones where I could genuinely get her to laugh, smile, or kiss me despite how badly she wanted to work, it almost felt like Winter Break wasn't coming. That it was just another day and that we'd keep having great ones just like it.

But then there were the times when I felt her leaving.

Heck, I still do.

But, I guess that's time. Never a friend. Too much of it when we're apart. Too little when we're together. Lately, whenever I'm with her I become way too aware of how short a week is and how much I'm taking it for granted.

But that stops today.

Today, I don't wanna miss a moment of her. 'Cause going back to San Francisco for the holidays is gonna be filled with nothing but sadness, tension, and age-old arguments that me and Tanner will probably spend three weeks hashing out just for the heck of it.

I don't wanna go home.

I never do.

I don't wanna be anywhere else but here under this blanket with her next to me. But this morning's all I got.

And I can barely take it.

I shift out from underneath Jersey as slow as I can and lower her head down until she's resting against the pillow.

Jersey stirs a little and I reach down to smooth out the furrow that's digging it's way into her forehead. She doesn't sleep peacefully these days. In the handful of nights she's stuck around, she's been crying in her sleep. She says things-

-things that I probably shouldn't have heard.

But I did.

A week's gone by since we've been back together (without Lisa knowing) and every night she's with me, it's the same.

She says things that she doesn't remember in the morning. But they're things I can't forget. No guy in my shoes ever would.

The thing is, if I told her about what's been going on at night, she'd probably brush it off as Finals' Week stress, but I know it's more than that.

More than she knows and more than I know how to fix.

I guess there are some things I just can't.

And right now, I can't take the idea of that.

I slide over to the edge of Ryker's beat up mattress and crawl over the mess me and Jersey made of his blankets until I reach the side door. The van's so beat up that I probably won't be able to get out of it without waking up Jersey, but I need to be outside right now.

I need air.

'Cause this morning snuck up on me way too fast and I'm barely keeping my head above water.

I crank open the handle which creaks a little less obnoxiously than I expect it to and then check over my shoulder to see if Jersey's watching. She rolls herself up in the sheets until she's lying face down snoring into the pillow.

I smile at how disastrously beautiful she is even though seeing her like this physically hurts. I tear my eyes away from her and go back to sneaking out the door until I'm standing in the cool morning air.

Thanks to Ryker we've been allowed to take the van pretty much anywhere on campus as long as we didn't land him any parking tickets. I figured staking out on top of Sunset Rec.'s parking structure for my last night with Jersey would be a good way to leave things before she's gone. Jersey made her way up here to meet me a couple hours after her last final yesterday.

We shared a fancy dinner of Ramen Noodles, Lady and The Tramp style, and then watched the sun set over UCLA. It was beautiful.

Nobody bothered us.

Nobody stalked us.

The camera people who've been camping out at the dorms are probably getting pissed that they've been missing out on all their photo ops thanks to Indigo and Ryker's sneaking around advice/genius. Jersey has had a slightly easier time sneaking around over the last week than I have, but even though the buzz has been dying down, it doesn't change how much the whole experience has been stressing her out.

I wish she'd told me how bad it was.

I wish she'd said---something.

Anything at all, but this is just how she is.

How she's been.

How she loves.

She hides all of her hurt from people so it won't turn into an oil spill. And I guess that's where we're different. That's where we've been different for longer than I've been able to see.

I just wish I'd seen this coming.

The van door shutters open and I hear Jersey's timid little footsteps shuffling across the concrete and over to me. I feel her there before I see her. Her tiny arms find their way around my waist as she rests her head softly against my back.

When I woke up this morning, I thought I'd be able to handle this. That I could slap on one of those "everything's okay" faces like Jersey does so well.

But having her standing right here next to me, with her body pressed against my back and her palms pressed against my palms, just rattles reality right back into focus. When all I wanna do is get lost in the blur.

I stare out at the sunrise for a little while without saying anything. The whole sky's a palette of reds, oranges, and yellows that blend and burn into the masterpiece I like to call a California sky.

This picture's just an easy stroke of God's paintbrush across the horizon. But instead of focusing on how beautiful all that color is, I'm stuck in the black and white.

Of her.

Of us.

Between the truth of what she doesn't know I know.

And the lies I'll have to tell her just to keep things as light and casual as she wants them to be.

Only a couple hours left and we're still playing games. I wonder if she'll play with me until all our time runs out.

"Morning, early bird. Did your alarm malfunction or is the world ending?" Jersey asks.

She laughs against my t-shirt and the sound of it almost slows down the tension creeping into my body a muscle at a time.

"Depends on how you define the apocalypse. Your breath was so rank this morning I had to walk outside to get some fresh air," I say.

"Liar."

She steps into the space next to me and I wrap an unsteady arm around her and pull her close.

"I'm not the liar in this relationship, Pinocchio. Smell your breath. It stinks. You gotta stop making out with guys who eat instant noodles before bed."

Jersey waves a hand in front of her mouth a couple times and then elbows me like we're two elementary school kids. I should laugh or keep on teasing her, but I barely have it in me to keep the two-cent smile on my face.

"Wow, you're just chockfull of compliments this morning, Elias. Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the van," she teases.

"Yeah, I guess so."

I don't know why my voice comes out as flat and lifeless as it does, but Jersey picks up on the change in seconds. She steps in front of me, takes my face in her hands, and looks right through me.

"Everything okay? You sound--different," she says, and for a split second, I almost tell her I'm not and how not okay everything is, but I brush off the seriousness in her question instead.

"Depends on how you define okay. Right now, I'm-getting by, but as soon as you step on that plane I might cry like a girl watching The Notebook. You ready for me to embarrass you at the gate? 'Cause it's probably gonna happen."

A little bit of the concern disappears out of her eyes and she smiles up at me looking bare-faced and all kinds of early morning beautiful. My heart tightens up in my chest but I act like I don't feel it shrinking.

"Remember the first day we met. Same place. Same airport. But you were so-"

"Different?" I ask.

"--so much of a douche face that I'm surprised I didn't turn around right then and fly back to Jersey."

She wriggles her way into the space that's cut out for her in my chest while I rest my chin on the top of her head. I'm gonna miss so much about her.

How different parts of her always sneak up on me and find their way into my veins. The smell of her zany watermelon shampoo is one thing. But, it's just-all of her.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't go back. If you'd left, I don't think I would've let myself fall for anyone else again," I say.

Jersey stares up at me skeptically.

"You would've found somebody eventually. You're Elias King after all," she says, and the sadness in her voice nearly knocks the wind outta me.

"I wouldn't have found you."

I tip her lips up to mine before she has the chance to answer me. I kiss her so she feels how badly I wish she wasn't leaving, so she knows how much I need her to stay. But instead of her backing down or easing away from me like I expect her to, she kisses me back with the kind of desperate intensity that sets my skin on fire.

I lift her up off the ground and she grips her legs around my waist until I can feel almost all of her through the thin fabric of her clothes.

She pulls away just enough to catch my hazy-eyed stare and tells me to take her back to the van. I'm dizzy and punch drunk on the moment, but it's just a moment. That's all I can let it be.

"We should head out-"

I want you to stay.

"-your flight's leaving soon."

Jersey shakes her head back and forth and her messy bun sinks down until it's hanging loosely over her shoulder.

"I don't want to go."

"Yes, you do. Or else you wouldn't have-"

I stop myself before I say too much, but it only takes those four last words to suck all the color out of Jersey's face.

"I wouldn't have what?" She asks, and I don't know whether or not to really answer the question.

"Nothing. Let's get dressed. We've still gotta swing by the dorm and get your stuff."

Jersey lets go of me but her eyes don't leave me for a second.

"What's wrong, Elias? You've been weird all morning and what did you mean a minute ago? About me leaving?"

She folds her arms across herself like she's cold when it's easily close to being seventy degrees outside. I bristle up seeing her like that. Small, insecure, and questioning everything about herself. About me.

I promised that I wouldn't ever make her feel that way again and that I wouldn't do anything to hurt her. But there's a tidal wave building up behind my lips and I'm scared of what I'll say when it decides to crash out into the open.

I run a hand through my hair and sigh into the air like it'll get rid of the pressure building up in my chest, but it doesn't.

"I don't know what I was saying. I'm sorry, I'm just-I just don't want you to leave. I'm not good at the whole departure thing, you know?"

"I know. But that's not what you were talking about earlier."

Her eyes go up in flames along with my ability to keep holding back the truth.

"You're right. It wasn't. I just-don't know how I'm supposed to say this without blowing this whole morning but I guess it's already messed up as it is."

I take a couple steps away from her like it'll help me find my feet but the further I get, the less balanced I feel.

"Please talk to me," she says, and her voice comes out in a million little pieces. I can't stand hearing her like that or seeing her cave into herself so I swallow my pride, take her by the hands, and hold onto her even though I'm shaking.

"Remember when you came over to the van to study the other night?"

She nods but clearly isn't remembering any part of that night the way I do. There's no way she could.

"You passed out in the middle of reading so I packed your books into your backpack for you so you wouldn't forget them in the morning. And I promise I wasn't trying to go through your stuff, J, but I saw these papers, this thick stack of papers, and I just-couldn't understand why you had them. I couldn't honestly understand why you'd be applying for a leave of absence and not even talk to me about it. Especially after I--I asked you to move in with me. Is that why you wanted more time? 'Cause you were planning on not being here?"

The truth just starts spilling out of my mouth a mile a minute and instead of it coming out as strong as I want it to, everything I'm saying sounds about as shattered, confused, and desperate as I feel. Jersey's eyes fill up with tears that I understand all too well.

This is the woman I've turned her into. Someone who feels like she has to hide every important conversation, every dark part of herself, and every shadow just so she can keep the people she cares about from seeing how broken she is.

She spent a summer watching me hide behind excuses, and avoidance, and lies, and now she's living the same way.

Just like I taught her to.

Jersey steps towards me, her feet slow and unsteady, and then reaches out and holds onto the bottom of my t-shirt like a child.

"Elias, no. I didn't mean to-the only reason why I didn't say anything to you was because I'm not going through with it. It wasn't-even something I considered until after everything happened with the press and the baby and with my parents-"

A handful of tears go tumbling off her cheeks and land in little dark circles on the concrete.

"-they just kept saying how much they wanted me to come home. My mom was so scared for me, Elias. I didn't know how to calm her down. I couldn't calm her down unless I agreed to look over those papers and consider spending a semester with her at home. But that wasn't even the worst part-"

Broken breath in.

Broken breath out.

"-she wasn't just scared for me. She was scared of me."

The second those words come out of her mouth all the pressure in my chest dissolves into a kind of sadness I can barely stomach. Jersey's parents were the first people to make me feel like I had a home after I'd lost mine. They took me in and all I did was get their daughter pregnant, leave without saying a word, and then drag her into the public eye.

Now, all the good memories I have of Rich and Evie at Belmar Beach that day will only ever be just that-'cause after everything that's happened, they probably won't want me near their little girl ever again.

Especially if I'm turning her into something they don't even recognize anymore.

I try clearing out the lump in my throat but it stays wedged in my windpipe.

"Why would she-be scared of you, Jersey?"

She wipes her hands under her eyes but the tears don't slow down.

"Because I was saying things and thinking things that made me afraid of myself. I read so many of the comments people said-about you, me, and our son-I was starting to agree with them. I started to think that I didn't deserve to live, or be happy, or be with you because of what I did to our son. And no matter how much I try to ignore the voices, and tell myself that I'll be okay, I'm not okay, Elias. Everyday, I wake up and every time I see you I feel like I don't deserve the way you still look at me, or the way you still love me. I don't-deserve to have the things that our boy never will."

I pull her into my arms before she can say another word. Jersey starts uncontrollably sobbing into my t-shirt and suddenly everything she's been saying in her sleep comes rushing back into my mind.

The "I'm sorry's," the times she'd beg me for help, the "don't forgive me's", ring through my ears like a thousand little alarm bells.

The day we met up at the fair, I thought she'd be different. I thought that she'd show up and I'd know how hard our separation had been on her from just a look. But she put on a smile for me, because she knew I wanted to see her that way, because I wanted her to be okay when she wasn't. When we both weren't.

I've been pushing for this dream of a future like there's no tomorrow, instead of focusing on the problems we have today. And now she's hurting. She's hurting because of me and I can't keep letting that happen.

I already let it happen once and it killed Lacey. Because I was too busy believing that we'd be okay that I was blind to how much of our relationship wasn't. Twice, when I followed Jersey on that plane last summer. And now, we're here. Because I'm the guy who runs the red when I should be paying attention.

"Jersey, you deserve so much better than this, than me, than what I did to you. I don't know why everyone I care about ends up broken, but maybe it's me. Maybe I just-just love people the wrong way."

She lifts a hand up to my mouth and presses her fingers against my lips.

"No. How can you even say that? I don't know what would've happened to me that summer if I hadn't met you, Elias. You were the first person who didn't pity me, who didn't treat me like I was this fragile, shattered, little girl. You were what I needed then, and you're still what I need now. And that's why I'm not going anywhere."

"Jersey."

"No, listen to me. I'm not going to stand here and act like I didn't think about taking a semester off to work through things at home. Ever since my mom brought it up, I've been back and forth trying to figure out what to do. And, sometimes when I'm with you, I feel like the longer we're together the more I believe that I can be okay. But there are other times, I look at you, and all I see is our son and I just lose my way. I get caught up in a downward spiral of different thoughts about you that I know don't even make any sense."

"Like what?" I ask, even though I already feel like I know the answer. Jersey takes in and lets out an unsteady breath and then does her best to look me in the eye and tell me the truth without running.

"I don't know, one moment I feel like being with you is what I need to heal, to feel okay. That it's something I feel I know is true because in those moments away from you when I'm alone, I feel the emptiness and fear and darkness set in. I feel like nothing but a void. But, it doesn't make sense because other times, when I'm with you, I feel too much."

"Because of something I'm doing?"

"No, it's just-there are times when I think about everything hard that's happened with us and I want to blame you but it makes no sense to blame you for all of this. I see you and I love you. I see you and I hate you. Because I see him. That our son couldn't be here because I had to make a choice because you couldn't be there. And so much of me knows it's because you just couldn't because of rehab, but then I see that other baby girl you were there for. Those times I see you, and see everything you wanted to be for him. What you would've done for him. And that's what hurts the most. Because I took that away from you. From the both of us."

"Please don't hold onto that, Jersey. You can't keep blaming yourself. I don't want you to keep tearing yourself apart because of what you felt like you had to do."

"I know, but even though you've told me that a hundred times, whenever we're together it always leads me back to the same thing. All I see is everything that's wrong with me as a girlfriend and a mother and it feels like I'm drowning. Like no matter how hard I'm fighting to be the person you need me to be, that I still won't be enough. That I can't be. But I'm trying, Elias. I want to try."

I don't even know what to say to her. I'm choking on her words, on the truth, on everything that she's been trying to carry on her own. I take her hands in mine and try to keep her from shaking.

"Jersey, you're enough. You've always been-"

The sudden ring of my phone alarm sounds out of nowhere and cuts off the conversation. Even if it hadn't-I don't know if I could've answered her. I'm all out of answers right now.

Jersey reaches into my back pocket and pulls out my phone. I don't even have to look at the screen to know what time it is or what that alarm means.

"We have to go," I say, but I don't really feel like it's me saying it. Some distant, hollow, part of me keeps telling her that she needs to leave, 'cause if she doesn't get on that plane soon-I'm not gonna let her go.

***

A half an hour later, I'm holding onto Jersey in the middle of LAX, staring up at the escalator that's gonna take her away from me. There's a million people around us saying their goodbyes-but Jersey and I are silent. I'm sitting on her suitcase while she's standing over me, trying her best to force a smile when that's the last thing either of us should be doing.

I look away from her 'cause I already feel what's coming even if she doesn't. She combs her hands through my hair then leans down to kiss me when she catches me trying to run away from what I know I have to do.

"You know, I was thinking about things on the way here, Elias, and I've finally made a decision."

I don't even have it in me to answer her so I just stare at her in silence with an empty smile on my face until she continues.

"When, not if, but when I-get back from Trenton in three weeks, I want to see that apartment. Full tour and everything," she says.

"Jersey."

"Wait, just, hear me out. I already was on the fence about the whole leave of absence thing anyway. And for once in my life, I wanna look at the bright side of things like you do and go for something crazy and unexpected. My parents may not get it, and Caleigh and Tanner may not get it, but if I'm with you, and we work through this a day at a time, eventually I'll be okay, right? Eventually, somehow, I'll be the person who you need me to be. I can change, I just have to keep- "

I stand up and pull her to me as hard and fast as I can, 'cause I can't let her keep pretending anymore.

"I need you to do something for me and I need you to promise that no matter what I ask you to do, that you'll do it."

All the colorful confidence that was highlighting her cheeks just seconds ago disappears into the black and white of things. She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and eyes me cautiously.

"Can I back out of it if it's something I don't like?" She half teases.

"No, I'm a King remember? You've gotta do what I say, especially today."

She rolls her eyes but then snaps right back into being serious when she sees how serious I am.

"Fine, but only because I-"

I kiss her because I can't hear her say it. Not right now. A couple seconds pass, the boarding call for her flight sounds out over the intercom, and I force myself to pull away from her.

"I love you, Jersey. I love you more than you understand, but I keep hurting you. Anyone can see that. I keep causing you to bend yourself out of shape for my sake when that's not how it's supposed to be. I don't wanna turn into my father. I don't wanna wake up one day and see the way you look at me change."

"Elias--"

"--So I need you to help me. I need this one favor so that we have a shot, okay? So that we don't fall apart before we have a chance to make it off the ground, " I say, while all the air in my lungs goes rushing out into the silence.

She wipes the beginnings of tears away from my eyes and cradles the side of my face as softly as she can.

"Okay."

I take in an unsteady breath and fight every part of myself that wants to keep silent.

"I need you to turn around, take your suitcase, and go up those stairs without looking back," I say.

"What--what do you mean?"

"I need you to leave me, Jersey. I need you to go. I promised that I'd never leave you again, so if you don't walk away when you can, I'll beg you to stay when I shouldn't. I'm not strong enough to not. You were right--about needing time. We both do. 'Cause neither of us are okay right now and even though I know that, and see it, and feel it, I still can't--let go. I'm still an addict when it comes to you and that's gonna kill us, babe."

She shakes her head and slams her hands against my chest but I just stand there and take it.

"No, it's not. Why are you even saying this right now? Why are you acting like this when I already told you I would try harder for us?"

"Because I love you and I can't look at you everyday knowing you're hurting because of me. I already did that with Lacey, Jersey--and it cost her--"

All the strength in my voice dies away, but I force myself to keep going.

"--it cost her everything. So believe me, when I say that I can see all the ways I'm slowly chipping away at you. I'm becoming everything that's wrong with you, so please. Go. If we're gonna get this right, I need you to get on that plane, go home, and don't come back here until you're ready. I need you to be the one to do it. I already know I don't have it me to. I won't. But, I know you can. You're stronger than the both of us. And I don't care if that's a semester or six months or six years, I just need you to take the time to get back on your feet, to remember how to smile, and figure out what you want."

"But I already know what I want."

"So do I, Jersey. But maybe what we want can only happen when we give each other what we actually need. I know what I want. I want you to be my everyday. I don't want to live out some stupid college relationship that falls apart in a year or two. I want your forever, but if we're gonna make it there, we have get back to being okay. Better than okay. We have to able to be together without lying, and hiding, and tearing each other apart. We need to grow up enough to be honest. And we're barely hacking it right now. So please go."

A second boarding call screams across the airport and Jersey pales at the sound of it. I take her suitcase in one hand and her wrist in the other and try easing her over to the escalator. She rips her hand out of my grip and digs her feet into the ground like angry child.

"I'm not doing it. I don't care what you say to me, Elias, I'm not ending things here just because you want me to."

I smile at her and the monster furrow on her forehead gets six miles deeper.

"I'm not ending anything, Jersey. I'm just asking you to start a forever with me. There's a difference."

Tears come spilling out of her eyes so fast I don't reach them in time to catch them all on my fingers.

"What if I don't come back for like twenty years just because I'm pissed at you for doing this to me, huh? What if I don't come back until I'm old and wrinkly and completely unattractive?!"

"Oh, That'll never happen in twenty. I give it ten years tops before you start looking like that. My bet's on you can't stay away more than two."

She slaps my chest half-heartedly, a smile barely meeting the sadness in her eyes.

"Now, you're just being mean."

I kiss the top of her forehead and smile against her skin. We stand there like that for a few more seconds.

"You know I'll wait for you. However long it takes. But I can't starting waiting if you don't start leaving. So go. You're gonna miss your flight home."

Before she has a chance to answer me, I take her by the hand and lead her over to the escalator a second time. We're making our way up to the edge when Jersey stops again and looks up at me through water-logged eyes.

"I love you, Elias King. Even though half of me doesn't wanna listen to you. And even though I'm going to prove you wrong and probably come back in three weeks feeling better than ever, I still love you for doing what I couldn't do. And for--being the man that you are."

I smile at her and every part of it's real this time, even though it hurts.

"I knew that the minute you first walked off that plane. Now turn around, get on those stairs, and disappear around the corner before I change my mind. You've got thirty seconds. One--"

Jersey stands up on her tip toes and kisses the strength out of me for the first ten.

Waves at me from the top of the escalator by twenty.

And then just like that--she's gone.

And, for the first time, I go against everything in myself.

Everything I'd normally do.

The decision I'd normally make.

And do what I couldn't do over a year ago.

I let her go, and I don't follow.

And for the first time, for anyone, I give her what she needs instead of what I want.

***

(AS ALWAYS THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR READING AND LISTENING! THE NEXT AND SUPER SHOCKING UPDATES WILL BE UP TOMORROW AND TUESDAY FOR YOU GUYS TO ENJOY!

BUT JUST BECAUSE WE'RE NEARING THE END...THANK YOU GUYS FOR STICKING WITH US ON THE JOURNEY THROUGH THIS ADVENTURE WITH ELIAS AND JERSEY OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS! WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN SUPPORTING US THROUGHOUT THIS STORY, THROUGH ALL OF THE LATE UPDATES/DELAYS, AND THROUGH THE EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER(S) WE'VE PUT YOU THROUGH OVER AND OVER AGAIN! HONESTLY, THANK YOU FOR BELIEVING IN THIS BOOK FOR AS LONG AS YOU HAVE. WE'RE AMAZED AT EVERY READ, EVERY COMMENT, EVERY MESSAGE THAT YOU GUYS HAVE SENT US BECAUSE IT HAS HELPED US KEEP PUSHING ON TO MAKE THIS STORY COME TO LIFE. IT WOULD NOT EXIST OR CONTINUE TO EXIST WITHOUT YOU.

AND TO THE AUDIOBOOK LISTENERS, WE CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR TAKING THE TIME OUT OF YOUR LIVES TO LISTEN TO THE PERFORMANCES kaelking12 HAS SPENT THE LAST FEW YEARS RECORDING FOR YOU! SHE'S NOT ONLY PUT IN 150% INTO CO-WRITING BUT ALSO RECORDING. IT HAS BEEN AN SO MUCH FUN AND AN HONOR TO WORK WITH SOMEONE AS TALENTED AND HARDWORKING AS SHE IS ON MY PART SO I HOPE YOU GUYS FEEL THE SAME! THANK YOU FOR EVERY LISTEN, EVERY COMMENT, AND EVERY BIT OF SUPPORT YOU'VE SHOWED US BUT SIMPLY PUTTING ON YOUR HEADPHONES. WE APPRECIATE IT MORE THAN YOU KNOW!

AND FINALLY...KRISTEN AND I ARE SUPER EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE WILL...

...ABSOLUTELY BE RELEASING THE SEQUEL AT THE START OF THE NEW YEAR! STAY TUNED FOR ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE WATTPAD RELEASE DATE!

NEXT UPDATE IS ON: MONDAY & TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH & 13TH.

SEE YOU THEN!

***

#REALTALK QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

1. How long have you been reading the CFTM SERIES? How did you first hear about it? Are you glad you decided to read it?

2. Do you think Elias made the right decision for Jersey? Do you think you could do the same if you were in his shoes?

3. How long do you think it'll take Jersey to come back to him?