Chapter 31

                                Five Months Later; June

                Staring down at my test paper, I rechecked my answers over again, for the fourth time. I let out a silent sigh, glancing up at the clock that hung above me, on the wall. The bell would ring any time now, signaling my freedom. I tapped my pen against the desk, flipping my test paper over. Just as I laid my head down on my desk, the bell rang. “Okay, everyone bring your test papers up and put them in an orderly pile right here!” Mr. Winston called out as students quickly emerged from their seats, some still jotting down answers. As I got up from my seat, I noticed Cooper Daniels struggling to answer the first few questions on the test, glancing over at my paper. Mr. Winston caught his eyes wandering on mine, shooting him a glare. “Cooper Daniels, ten points off your final!”

                I couldn’t help but release a smirk, still remembering how big of a complete asshole Cooper Daniels was, and still is. I walked up to Mr. Winston’s desk, placing my test paper within the pile. Once I stepped outside of his classroom, Cassandra and Maria were waiting for me by the doorway, anxious smiles on their faces. “How was it?” Cassandra asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

                I gave the two girls a tight smile before a grin spread across my lips in a sense of victory. “I owned that test.” I squealed while Cassandra and Maria beamed. I let out a deep breath of air, feeling accomplished. My last final of the school year was over with. “Where are the guys? Aren’t we supposed to celebrate overcoming our last final by going over to Jared’s house?”

                Maria beamed, nodding. “Yup, they’re already at his house preparing the grill and stuff, but they said we could come over whenever you were done with your test.”

                Cassandra looked down at the phone in her hands, tapping away, her fingernails making sounds as they hit against the screen. A small smile lingered across her face as she texted. “Max said that people are showing up already.” She muttered, flipping her blonde hair behind her shoulders. “We should get going.”

                By the time we got to Jared’s house, at least half of the upperclassmen were already there. Dozens of cars were parked in and near Jared’s driveway, so finding a parking spot took quite some time. Once we got out of the car, we made our way into Jared’s backyard. It was no secret that Jared was a lot wealthier than us all, so it was natural that he had a sizable area for a backyard. His in-ground pool was filled with recognizable students from our school, and there were people all over the place. The three of us spotted Jared working at the grill, whipping up hotdogs and burgers near the refreshments table.

Maria ran up behind Jared, snaking her arms around his waist. Cassandra and I followed behind as Maria gave her boyfriend a light peck. Once they separated, we properly greeted Jared. “How did you manage to get so many people to come within four hours?” I asked, amazed by the amount of people that showed up within a short span of time.

                “Jared is hot, that’s why.” A nasally voice came from behind us, shoving her way through us and to Jared. Katie was dressed in a skimpy red bikini that was tied with strings the size of floss. She gave the three of us a glare before snickering at us. Katie turned her attention back to Jared, placing a hand on his arm, causing Maria to fume. “This is a great party, by the way. I cancelled on my spa session today just to come for you.” Katie shamelessly flirted with Jared with Maria right beside him.

                “Why don’t you do something useful in your life for once, Katie?” Maria advised. “You could start by pissing off of my boyfriend.”

              Katie snorted, rolling her eyes. She bluntly ignored Maria, turning her attention back onto Jared. “Great pick, Jared.” Katie sarcastically snarled. “She seems like the clingy type, totally annoying.”

                Tears were welling up in Maria’s eyes by now, not because she was upset, but because she was pissed. I watched as Maria dug her nails into her palms, biting on her lower lip to stop herself from crying. Taking in deep breaths, Maria turned on her heel and stormed away. Cassandra gave me a look of worry before she chased off after Maria. Maria was never one to handle her anger well, and if Cassandra hadn’t gone off to console her, she would’ve done something she’d regret later on.

                “I don’t know, Katie. If anything, you’re the clingy one here.” Jared shrugged, stepping away from her. “And quite frankly, I don’t remember inviting you to my party.”

                With those final words, Jared left to go find his girlfriend.

*

                “There you are,” a voice surprised me when I was pouring myself a glass of water from Jared’s kitchen, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”  

                I turned around, facing Everett. I found him a lot closer to me than I had expected, leaving me breathless. I cautiously looked up at him through my eyelashes, giving him a small smile. “Well, I’ve been here.” I murmured. “Are you having fun? A lot of people showed up.”

                Everett let out a laugh, his chest vibrating against mine. It wasn’t until now that I realized that Everett had slowly backed me up, pinning me against the counter. My back was touching the marble counter and Everett’s arms were on either side of my waist. “Yeah, I’m having loads of fun with people who I don’t remember Jared inviting.” Everett said sarcastically, earning a light chuckle from me. “But, I’ve been waiting to see you.”

                I suddenly frowned, tilting my head. “Why? Is there something wrong?”

                Everett laughed, shaking his head. He pressed his forehead against mine, his breathing fanning over my upper lip. I shuddered under his touch, biting my lower lip from nervousness. “No, Riley.” My named rolled off the tip of his tongue smoothly. “You worry too much.”

                I let out a shaky laugh, unsure of whether or not it was a good thing to worry too much. “Right.” I muttered. “Then why did you want to see me so badly?”

                Everett shrugged before I felt his hand reaching to my back. I immediately arched my spine under his touch, as if it was an instinct to do so. A small smirk left Everett’s lips, trying to hold me as close as possible to him. “I just really wanted to do,” he paused, his eyes flickering to my lips, “this.” Everett concluded before he pressed his lips against mine. It took me a second to respond to his kiss because I was so shocked, but it didn’t take me long to kiss him back, with just as much passion, if not more. I felt Everett smiling against my lips, his grip on my waist firm.

                It was then when I realized just how much I was hopelessly in love with Everett, all over again. Kissing him didn’t just give me a feeling of pleasure, but it also gave me a sense of security. I felt safe in his arms, like I was invincible under his touch. I could do anything I wanted, as long as I was with Everett.

                My God, I love him.

                I love him so much.

                “Holy shit!” a voice suddenly hollered, causing Everett and I to spring apart. Max approached the kitchen with his hands covering his eyes. “Please tell me you guys aren’t doing anything other than kissing!”

                My cheeks turned red as I let out a sigh, shaking my head at my blonde friend. “Max, you can uncover your eyes now.” I said amusedly. “We weren’t doing anything.”

                Max slowly removed his palms from his eyes, letting out a breath of relief. “Thank God.” He muttered, running a hand through his blonde curls. “Here I was, just trying to come into the kitchen to grab another pack of beers. But no! I can’t even do that without walking into some couple shoving their tongues in each other’s throats.”

                I gasped, my face flushing as Everett chuckled. “I’ll catch up with you later, Riley.” He pecked my cheek quickly before escaping the kitchen.

                Once I was sure that Everett had left the kitchen, I smacked Max across his arm, sending him murderous glares. “See what you did?” I snapped. “You made Everett leave!”

                Max winced, rubbing his arm where I had slapped him. “Hey, that hurt.” He mumbled under his breath. “And it wasn’t like I was trying to get him to leave! I was just trying to get another stock of beer. These drinks go by fast at parties.”

                I huffed, leaning my back against the counter. “You can blame dumb teenagers whose life’s aspiration is to drink themselves to death.”

                “There’s the witty and sarcastic Riley that I’m used to.” Max teased, taking a pack of beers out from the fridge. “I’m going back to put these outside. Are you going to come with?”

                I nodded, pushing myself off of the counter. “Yeah, let’s go.”

                When the two of us returned outside, it seemed as if the amount of people from before had doubled dramatically. Horror washed over my face as a kid whom I recognized from my math class jumped into the pool with absolutely nothing on. I’m pretty sure everyone got a clear view of his junk, especially from the squeals coming from the girls sitting near the edge of the pool. Staring farther ahead, I found Maria and Jared in the middle of a heated argument, Maria’s face flushed as Jared tried his best to console her. I began to worry about the two, but not before Jared wrapped his arms around Maria while she buried her tear stained face into his shoulder.

                “Hey,” Cassandra smiled, handing me a cup filled with golden liquid. I frowned down upon it suspiciously before Cassandra rolled her eyes, nudging my elbow, “its apple juice, Riley. Don’t you have any trust in me?” I stared at Cassandra intently, her face falling as she realized the words she just spoke. Cassandra quickly cleared her throat, taking in a deep breath of air. “Forget I said anything.” She muttered.

                I blinked not once, but twice before my hand shot out to her arm to stop her from walking away. Cassandra turned back around, her eyebrows knitted tightly together into a frown. I sighed, giving her a small smile. “Yes, Cass, I do trust you.”

                Cassandra’s face remained blank momentarily, but once she recovered, a small grin itched onto her face. Her hand reached out for mine, giving it a tight squeeze. “Thank you, Riley.” Cassandra whispered quietly. “Things for me haven’t been this good in a long time.”

                “And they’re only going to get better.” I said ironically as Max snuck up on Cassandra from behind, earning a giggle from her.

                This was how things were supposed to be.

*

                “Let’s play a game.” Everett whispered, his voice on the brink of tiredness as we laid in bed together later that night.

                Jared’s party today was definitely an exciting one, seeing as to how it completely worn Everett and I out. My limbs were weak and sore from dancing, and at this point, it was a struggle for me to even open my eyes. Especially with being wrapped in Everett’s arms at the moment, I was trying to keep myself awake. “What game?” I asked, chuckling lightly.

                Everett’s breathing was light and slow, and I could feel his fingers playing with the tips of my hair. “I ask you a question, and then you get to ask me one.”

                “Why does this sound familiar?” I asked, letting out a yawn. “Okay, I’ll play.”

                Everett stayed silent for a short moment, making me think that he had fallen asleep. I felt the heartbeat of his chest on my back, and soon a vibration. “Have you kissed any guys after we stopped talking?”

                I took in a deep breath, contemplating on whether or not to tell him the truth. I knew I could never lie to Everett without him detecting it, but if I told him the truth, he would think I’m pathetic. “No.” I finally whispered. “I haven’t.”

                Everett held my hand, gently rubbing my palms. “Good.”

                I turned around on the bed so that I was facing him. “Have you kissed any girls after we stopped talking?” I asked, reversing the question.

                Everett held onto my hand tighter after I asked the question, making my heart beat against my ribcage. He didn’t even have to tell me his answer, because I already knew what it was. “Yeah.” He mumbled, making my heart drop to the pit of my stomach.

                I mean, I already knew what his answer was beforehand, I was just secretly hoping inside that I was wrong- that he would prove me wrong. Here I was, for the past two years, moping over Everett while he was probably having the time of his life smacking lips with various girls. I felt pathetic. “Oh.” I breathed lamely. “Who were they?”

                Everett sighed, brushing away my bangs as he gently pressed his lips against my forehead. “That doesn’t matter, Riley.”

                “You didn’t like any of them, did you?” I felt myself beginning to panic.

                “Riley, you’ve asked an extra two questions.” Everett pointed out. “To answer your last question, no, I didn’t like any of them.”

                I was going to ask him why he kissed them if he didn’t like them, but I felt myself stopping. I didn’t want it to seem like I cared too much about Everett, after all, I knew deep inside that I needed him a lot more than he would ever need me. I pursed my lips, narrowing my eyes to the side while Everett let out a huff. “You aren’t mad, are you?” he asked me slowly, studying my face for any reaction. I simple shook my head, avoiding any eye contact with him. “Riley, don’t be mad. The kisses- they didn’t mean anything, I swear.”

                “Okay, okay.” I released a breath. “Whatever, just continue on with the game.”

                Everett seemed reluctant to speak, but eventually, he did. “Why did you forgive me so easily?” he asked softly. “After everything I did to you- why did you even forgive me at all?”

                Because I love you.

                I always have.

                I laughed bitterly, shaking my shoulders. “Everyone deserves a second chance, right?” I muttered, staring at anything but Everett’s eyes.

                I heard Everett gulp through the quiet, thick tension between us. “Thank you, Riley.” My name rolled off the tip of his tongue smoothly. “I promise you won’t regret giving me another chance.”

                I couldn’t help but smile at his words, my heart warming. “You promise?” I asked quietly, holding out my pinky.

                Everett stared at me momentarily before holding my pinky with his. “I promise.”

                                July

                As summer came around, I found the days passing by quickly with everything going so well. Everyone was finally united again- there was no tension between any of us anymore. I’d taken up the responsibility of getting a summer job with Cassandra and Maria on the boardwalk of our local beach. We worked in a small business- a bikini shop. I didn’t know what I had gotten myself into until Cassandra and Maria dragged me into Jo’s Bikinis. After getting used to being surrounded by tiny two piece swimming suits, I’d finally started to appreciate my summer job- being with my two best friends and getting a decent pay. It also didn’t hurt that Everett stopped by a couple days a week during my lunch break, bringing me frozen yogurt all the time.

                By mid-July, Maria, Cassandra and I had saved up enough money from work to finally give ourselves a vacation. Everett, Max and Jared had also found jobs and saved up some cash as well. We all agreed at the beginning of summer that towards the end, we would all go somewhere together.

                “Four hundred fifty six, four hundred fifty seven,” I paused, counting my last dollar bill, “and four hundred fifty eight. How much do you guys have?”

                Cassandra held up the wad of cash in her hands, answering with “Four hundred eighty eight.”

                Maria counted the last few bills in her hand, muttering quietly under her breath. “Three hundred ninety six.” She concluded, letting out a deep breath of air.

                Cassandra grabbed a nearby calculator, counting up our total. “That’s one thousand, three hundred and forty two dollars.” Cassandra beamed, biting her lip from excitement. “And that added to the total amount that the boys gave us is two thousand, five hundred and sixty two dollars.”

                “Oh my God, that’s a shitload of money.” Maria gaped.

                I couldn’t help but smile because all of this money was earned by ourselves- we worked hard for it. “Guys, more importantly now, what are we going to do with it?”

                Maria grabbed her phone out of her purse, typing away furiously. “Let me text the boys to come over, we’ll all decide.”

*

                “How much more time until we get there?” Max asked Jared, who was driving us.

                Jared glanced over at the GPS that was attached on his dashboard, glancing back at Max from his rearview mirror. “Fifteen more minutes.” Jared answered. “Wake the others up.”

                I stretched from my seat in the back, staring out at the window. We were currently in the middle of nowhere- literally. After the boys came over, we all agreed unanimously to go on a road trip in North Carolina, where Jared’s aunt owned a vacation home by the beach. But from where we were now, there was no sight of any beach, let alone residence. “Are you sure we’re going the right way?” I asked.

                Jared smirked, nodding. “Don’t worry, Riley.” He assured. “I’ve been to my aunt’s beach house many times by car. I know where we are.”

                I nodded, glancing over beside me, where Everett was taking a nap. His long lashes batted his cheekbone, his dark hair messily falling over his forehead. I gently shook him awake, him slowly stirring. “Everett, wake up.” I whispered. “We’re almost there.”

                Everett groaned, leaning up as he let out a tired yawn. “It’s about time.” He muttered. “We’ve been stuck in his van for seven hours.”

                Just as we pulled off the road into a hidden path, everyone slowly started to wake up. Cassandra’s blonde hair was a complete mess while Maria’s makeup had smudged just a little bit. I tried to get some sleep during the journey, as well, but I couldn’t sleep for more than an hour, tops. The guys were the only ones who had driver’s license, so every two hours or so, they’d alternate turns and drive.

                “Where the hell are we?” Maria asked her boyfriend. “There’s no beach. All I see are trees and more trees.”

                Jared smirked, speeding up the van just a little faster. “Wait for it.”

                Just a few moments after those words left Jared’s lips, we pulled into a road, leading to the beach. Everyone’s eyes turned bright with excitement, flaunting over the beige sand that was waiting to be stepped in, and the clearest blue ocean water. Sights like these only came once in a lifetime.

                “Oh my God,” Maria muttered under her breath, “it’s beautiful.”

               There was a single beach house far right to the beach, looking incredibly beautiful and expensive from the distance. I leaned closer to the window, admiring the glass windows of the house, wondering the view from up there. “Jared, are we staying there?” I pointed.

                Jared nodded, looking as amused as ever at everyone’s bewildered expressions. “You bet.” He grinned, pulling the van up to the driveway of the glass house. “This place is everything.” Cassandra beamed.

                “How come there’s no one here?” Everett suddenly asked, making us all notice that there was no one on the beach, no other house near where we were.

                “My aunt owns this whole lot.” Jared explained, pulling our suitcases and bags from the trunk of the car. “She bought it at an auction.”

                I laughed with disbelief, still trying to take everything in. This was all just so surreal. How many people get to say that they get to go on a vacation with their best friends at some fancy, private beach?

                “You certainly found yourself a lucky one!” Max teased Maria, carrying his and Cassandra’s bags up to the front steps of the house.

                There were enough bedrooms for us all to snag one each, but none of us girls wanted to be alone, so the three of us decided to share a room together. Besides, it wasn’t like the rooms were small, either. “I guess we found the best view in this house!” Maria gushed, staring out at the window that gave us a clear view of the beach.

                There was a knock on the door as Jared poked his head inside the room. “We’re all running down to the beach in ten, if you girls want to come.”

                “We’ll be down there.” I assured.

                The three of us dug our bathing suits from our suitcases, courtesy of Jo’s Bikinis. I quickly ran to the bathroom with my swimsuit in my hands, stripping down before I secured my top and bottom by tying the ends tightly. I stared back at my reflection in the mirror, noticing that my navy blue bikini seemingly made my skin look paler than it already was. This vacation at the beach was definitely going to help with my tan.

                After quickly grabbing a thin sweater from my suitcase, I pulled it over my head, meeting up with the girls downstairs. Maria was rummaging through the refrigerator, finding nothing but a few cans of soda and beer. “There’s no food?” Cassandra asked with wide eyes.

                “We’ll have to go grocery shopping later or we’ll starve for dinner.” Maria sighed, closing the fridge door. 

                Walking out from the balcony doors, we made our way towards the beach, which was just outside of the house. The sand was nice and warm, making my feet sink into it easily. There was a gentle breeze coming from the waves, where the boys were. They were tossing around a football, all shirtless with glory. I tried to hide back the blush that was creeping over my face when my eyes wandered towards Everett’s very shirtless body. I couldn’t help but admire the way his swim trunks hung loosely around his hips. His body was toned perfectly- not too buff yet not too scrawny.

                “Close your mouth, Riley.” Maria teased. “The boys can detect drool.”

               I gasped, trying to conceal my face with embarrassment. Maria simply laughed, pulling me closer towards the shore. Once we were just a few feet away from the guys, Maria departed from me, hopping onto Jared with her arms around his neck. Everett slowly got out from the water, approaching me. I couldn’t help but notice how his eyes flickered to my bare legs, making me insecure. I knew my legs were pale and such, nothing compared to Maria’s golden tan or Cassandra’s long legs.

                Everett suddenly wrapped his arms around me tightly, pressing my face onto his bare chest. “Everett!” I squealed. “You’re wet!”

                From the distance, I could hear Max shouting, “That’s what she said!”

                There was never a time that I wanted to punch my best friend more than I did now.

                Jared and Maria left after an hour or two on the beach to run into town to shop for some groceries. They took the van out with them and came back once they’d purchased everything that everyone made a request on. When they came back, everyone was exhausted, and we were all just relaxing on the balcony.

                The sun had already set by now, and it was just a little past nine. Jared and Maria came through the sliding doors from the kitchen, carrying a few boxes of pizza and some drinks. “We’re all tired,” Jared explained, “Maria and I figured that we should just order some pizza rather than cook tonight.”

                “Oh, thank God.” Max muttered under his breath, grabbing a slice of pepperoni pizza from the cardboard box. “I’m starving.”

                We ate in a long silence for a while; all of us too busy eating to talk. None of us have eaten since we stopped at a gas station on our way here, and that itself only consisted of some cookies and soda.

                “You know, I never thought I’d be here with you guys.” Cassandra finally said, snuggling deeper into Max’s arms. “Half a year ago, I’d never expect to have all you guys as my best friends. I always thought that the best I could do was Katie. But then you all came along, and I’m just really thankful for that.”

                “Same here.” Maria piped in. “I mean, I moved here not knowing what to expect. I really didn’t know that I’d make five new best friends.”

                “You mean four new best friends,” Jared corrected, wrapping his arms around Maria, “and one amazingly attractive boyfriend.”

                Maria rolled her eyes, but I could tell that inside, she was ecstatic. “I love you.” She whispered to him.

                I looked over at Maria and Jared, then Cassandra and Max, adoring the way the two couples were so affectionate. I glanced over at Everett, wondering why we couldn’t be like that. Sure, I love Everett, but I just didn’t know how to say that to him. Besides, he never seemed like the type that would show feelings in public. I didn’t want to take him for granted, so I tried my best to push aside those thoughts.

                I failed miserably.

                                August

                After our short vacation on the beach, we had to come back home. Things settled back to the way they were. The three of us girls went back to working at Jo’s Bikinis, trying to squeeze in a couple more weeks of work before senior year started up.

                “Welcome to Jo’s Bikinis,” I greeted a couple of teenage girls, who looked not much older than fourteen, “if you need any help, feel free to ask me.”

                The teenage girls returned a smile to me, nodding a thank you. I went back to what I was doing, opening a new shipment of bikinis that just arrived earlier this morning. After a couple of minutes, one of the teenage girls approached me with a coral pink bikini in her hands. “Excuse me, do you have this in a small? There’s none left on the shelves.”

                I took checked the tag on the bikini for the code before smiling at the girl. “I’ll go check in the back room for you.” I assured. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

                On my way down to the storage room, Cassandra passed by me with an armful of blue and white polka dotted bikinis in her hands. I gave her a questioning look before she explained to me, “These ran out of stock.” It was no surprise because those were one of the top selling bikinis we have.

                The storage room of Jo’s Bikinis is arranged by the first letter of the code on the price tag. In this case, the bikini I was looking for started with a C. Skimming through the shelves, I eventually pulled out the girl’s desired bikini in a size small. Quickly running back upstairs, I found the girl and handed her the bikini. “I love the color.” She beamed. “Thanks!”

                “No problem.” I said, heading back towards the cashier counter.

                After a few more minutes of browsing the store with her friends, the girl came back towards the cash register with another bikini. “I’ll take these two.” She said.

                Maria walked by me, glancing over at the items that the girl bought. “Oh, those are nice.” She complimented. “The coral will really bring out your tan skin.”

                The girl smiled, blushing slightly. “Thanks.” She shyly muttered.

                “Your total will be fifty nine dollars and fifty cents.” I said as she passed over three twenties across the counter.

                I shoved the cash into the register, dropping back fifty cents into her palms. “Thanks for shopping at Jo’s Bikinis.” I smiled. “Have a great day!”

                Once the girl left with her group of friends, Maria turned to me with a grin. “You did good today.” She nodded. “You smiled and everything.”

                “Are you saying I suck on all the other days?” I asked teasingly.

                “Maybe.” Maria stuck her tongue out, laughing at my reaction. “There’s someone waiting for you outside.”

                I frowned, staring down at my watch. There was at least fifteen more minutes until my lunch break, and Jo would have a fit if she knew I left the shop early. “Who?” I asked. “My lunch break doesn’t start yet.”

                “Go see for yourself.” Maria urged. “I’ll take the fault if Jo comes by.”

                I left the shop, and to my right, I saw Everett leaning against the wall casually, typing away on his phone. “Hey,” I smiled, Everett finally looking up, “what are you doing here?”

                Everett shoved his phone back into the pockets of his shorts, giving me a half smile. “I’m here to by some bikinis.” He joked, earning a chuckle from me. “But seriously, I wanted to take you out for lunch.”

                I bit my lip, narrowing my eyes to the side. “Really?” I asked. “That’s great, but I actually promised Cassandra that we’d go get burgers down the boardwalk. Maybe some other time?”

                Everett seemed disappointed, and it sent an aching pain to my chest. He cleared his throat, running a hand through his dark hair. “Is everything okay?” he asked me.

                I gave him a shaky smile, nodding. “Of course, why couldn’t it be?”

                Everett’s lips parted as I forced myself to stare away from him. I focused on a group of people playing volleyball by the sand. One guy ran towards the net to spike the ball, and earned a point for his team. “I-I don’t know.” Everett sighed. “You’ve been kind of distant since we came back from vacation. Is it something I did?”

                I shook my head roughly, not wanting Everett to blame himself. The truth was that I didn’t want to be around Everett as much anymore because I was scared to tell him that I love him. If I told him, I didn’t know what would happen. If I didn’t tell him, I would be overwhelmed with guilt. “No, no, don’t blame yourself. You didn’t do anything wrong, I swear.” I reassured.

                Suddenly, Everett looked frustrated. A flash ran across his eyes, he clenched his teeth, outlining his prominent jaw line. “Then why do you keep bailing on me?” he asked. “Ever since we came back, it’s like you don’t want me anymore. Is that how you feel?”

                I closed my eyes, letting out a deep breath of air. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. “Everett, I don’t want to fight.”

                “Yeah, and I don’t want a girlfriend who keeps pushing me away.” Everett snapped, turning away from me.

                I watched as he walked down the boardwalk, never turning back. I lost my breathing. I didn’t know what just happened. I lost Everett once, but now I was losing him again? I didn’t know if I could handle it.

                Suddenly, the doors opened as Maria stuck her head outside. “So, how did it go?”

                She didn’t even have to wait for me to answer. One look at my face, and she knew that things didn’t turn out so well. Her lips parted as she closed her eyes momentarily, shaking her head. “It’s okay, babe.” Maria assured, guiding me back inside the store. “I’ll go grab Cassandra real quick and we’ll run down to get some frozen yogurt, okay?”

                There were no tears, just a numb feeling.

                “I think he just broke up with me.”         

*

                I was curled up in my bed, my head resting on my pillow. The lights were turned off and I had my door closed. It was only a little past nine o’clock, so it was still early for me to sleep. But, I was hurt to do anything. Everything and everywhere I went reminded me of him. It was ridiculous to think that all of this could’ve been avoided if I had just told Everett I love him.

When I came home from work that night, I walked by my mother without a word. Immediately, she knew something had gone wrong. She tried knocking on my door a few times, but I’d tell her that I didn’t want to talk about it. She finally understood, and left me alone for the rest of the night. I was invited out with Maria and Cassandra, but I’d kindly rejected their offer, telling them that I just needed to sleep it off. They seemed reluctant, but they didn’t want to press it upon me, either.

Approximately three hours after Everett broke up with me, he tried to reach out to me. First, he’d sent me a text message. After I ignored a few of those, he tried to call me. As soon as his name flashed on the screen, I clicked the red ‘end’ button on my phone. Everett left me some voice messages, but I didn’t want to listen to them. Listening to them meant that I was required to hear his voice.

                “He hurt you. He deserves to suffer.” Maria said, snatching my phone away and turning it off completely.

                My mother came back knocking on my door at ten thirty. “Mom, I really don’t want to talk right now.” I croaked.

                She opened the door without my consent, the light from the hallway blinding my bloodshot eyes. “Oh, honey.” She sighed. “I just wanted to tell you that someone’s at the door for you.”

                I closed my eyes, breathing. “Who?”

                My mother gave me a sad smile. “It’s Everett. He said that you haven’t been answering to any of his calls or texts.” She paused. “Did something go wrong?”

                I pursed my lips, shaking my head. “I-It’s nothing.” I lied. “Tell him I don’t want to see him.”

                “Riley, whatever it is, you should talk to him about it.” My mother advised. “It’s pouring outside, and I think Everett ran all the way here from his house. He’s drenched in rain and he was panting when he rang the door. The boy really wants to see you.”

                I thought long and hard about it. I pictured Everett in my head; soaked in water, his dark hair matted to his face, his bright eyes staring over at me. I gulped, finally shaking my head. “I’m sorry, mom.” I whispered. “Can you tell him to leave?”

                My mother smiled softly, nodding. “Okay.”

                I heard my mother’s footsteps disappearing down the hall, and then the stairs. I heard her chatting for a moment before the front door closed. Then, my phone rang.

                I picked it up off my nightstand, watching as Everett’s name popped on the screen. My hands were literally trembling as I held the phone, contemplating whether or not to answer. Finally, I pressed the green answer button, holding the phone to my ear.

                For the longest moment, no one spoke. But then, I heard Everett’s ragged breath, and the sound of the rain hitting against the pavement in the background. “Tell your mom to let me in.” Everett spoke first.

                My heart hammered against my chest while I gulped. “You shouldn’t be here.” My was voice high and hoarse.

                “I need you to hear me out.” He continued. “Look out your window, at least.”

                I hesitated before crawling out of my bed painfully. I let out a deep breath before pushing my curtains aside, peering out my window, through glass. Everett was standing on my lawn, rain soaking him from head to toe as he stared back up with me with pain in his eyes. I almost wanted to take him back- right then and there.

                “You need to leave before you catch a cold.” I said quietly.

                “I don’t care, Riley.” Everett said, determined. “I want you.”

                I didn’t quite know what to say.

                I stared down at Everett, whose eyes seemed brighter than ever in the darkness. I hung up on the phone, leaving my spot beside the window. I got out of my room, my mother watching me carefully as I skidded down the stairs, breathing heavily at the front door. I finally pulled it open, and found Everett at the same spot, where he was before. I hadn’t realized how cold it was tonight until a whiff of cool air blew my messy hair behind my neck. I shivered, feeling guilty for making Everett stand in the rain for so long.

                “You need to come in.” I finally said.

                I left the door open for him before walking back upstairs and into my room. No more than a minute later, a figure entered my bedroom without turning the lights on. I sat on my bed not too far away, concealing my face from Everett. I didn’t want him to know how much pain he’s given to me in just a few hours.

                “I’m sorry.” Everett finally said, coughing at the end.

                My eyes snapped over to his, frowning. I couldn’t help but be concerned about him. “You caught a cold.”

                Everett shook his head, shrugging. “It’s fine.” He stopped. “But that’s not important, Riley. I need to tell you that I didn’t mean anything-,”

                “Let me go get you some dry clothes and a towel.” I cut him off, getting up from my bed.

                Just as I was about to walk out of my room, Everett grasped onto my wrist, pushing me against the door. My eyes widened and my breathing stopped at our close proximity. Everett’s eyes flickered down to my lips for a split second, and the look in his eyes told me that he was contemplating on whether to kiss me or not.

                “Let me finish, Riley.” Everett whispered, pinning me against the door, his hands dropping down to my waist. “I didn’t mean anything I said earlier today. I just thought you didn’t want to be with me anymore so I ended it before you did. But then I got home later and Maria told me why you’ve been keeping your distance from me. And I got over here as soon as I could because I love you.”

                My heart stopped.

                I swear, it stopped.

                Those words that flew from his mouth so effortlessly made my legs go weak, my insides tingle. I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around his neck. Even though Everett was still in his damp clothing, I didn’t care at the moment. I pressed myself against him- as close as possible, and I kissed him.

                My lips molded perfectly against his perfectly, his cold and soft lips taking mine. Everett’s hands glided up to my lower back, gently lifting me from the door and backing me up towards my bed. He lowered me until he was hovering over me, our lips removing just for a second before he kissed me again. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I pressed myself against him as Everett’s lips found its way to my neck, nibbling gently on my collarbone.

                “I love you too.” I whispered.

THE END.

                  It's true, Forever and Always His has finally ended. First off, I just want to say I'm so so so incredibly sorry for making you guys wait literally two months for me to update. I know how much it sucks to wait for an author to post up a chapter, and I really do apologize for being inconsistent. So for those who waited patiently, thank you so much. I made this chapter especially longer for you.

                 Secondly, thank you for everyone who supported me for reading Forever and Always His. I loved the feedback that I got from you guys, especially the tips and advice some of you gave me. For those who corrected my grammar, I actually did take those tips into thought. And yes, I finally did notice how I made my characters lick their lips waaaaay too much. I tried to limit myself to using that term after a lot of you pointed that out. Also, someone commented before on how my characters need some lip balm because they were always licking their lips! It seriously made my day. I really never thought that Forever and Always His would be liked by so many people. I mean, 4+ million reads? That's just completely insane. I remember my first story on Wattpad, which is taken down now because everything was just horrible. The storyline was horrendous, the characters were so dumb, and the pacing was just awful. Anyways, I remember that story got like a hundred views all together and I was so happy about it. This just goes to show that even though your story may not be viewed as much now, it just takes time for you to improve and get better.

               But now that Forever and Always His has ended, I'm going to be focusing a lot more on my new story, Falling Apart, which has four chapters up, I believe? That story has been slow as well, but thats only because I wanted to get this one out of the way before I devoted myself into a new story. So please do check out Falling Apart on my profile!

                 To clear things up, there will not be a sequel for this. I'm sorry to all those who were hoping for one, but I really don't want to drag this out. But, there will be an epilogue, and it won't take me as long to post it!

                   I really do love you all, and thank you so much for the continuous support. Forever and Always His was such a bittersweet story to write, and we definitely had a love/hate relationship.

            xo

       Vanessa