"Aurora, I-"

I cut EJ off by walking past him, pulling on the handle of the door; of course, they locked it; I walked over to the other door, man, they were quick, "Ash, Gina, this isn't funny," I yell, banging my hand on the door, "open the door."

"We're really sorry, but it's for the best," Ashlyn yells back; I can see her and Gina backing away through the glass; Gina is wearing the pink jacket I'd volunteered to come look for, "just talk, we'll be back before we all leave for slices."

I sigh once I can no longer see them; I can't believe they would do something like this; they both know what happened, and yet they both decided it would be a good idea to lock me in a room with him.

I walked over to the set of benches at the far end of the room, trying to distance myself from EJ as much as possible; though it didn't really matter, he hesitantly moved closer, his hands shoved inside of his pockets.

"I had no idea about this, by the way," He informs me, leaning against the wall; I believed that he looked just as shocked as me, "but maybe it's a good thing?" He offered, shrugging his shoulder.

I glanced up at him, disbelief written across my features, "they'll be back to unlock the door soon... we don't need to talk."

EJ nods, and I turn my attention away from him, placing my attention on the rings on my hands, absentmindedly spinning them, "I get you don't want to talk," EJ sighed; he'd barely lasted a minute, "but can you listen?" EJ continues before I can even respond to him, "I don't want things to go back to the way they were, I don't want to stop talking to you; these past two weeks have been miserable, I miss our conversations in the middle of the night, and our drives to school... I even miss your sarcastic one-liners," he chuckles at that, "I thought we were friends again, and I get you didn't want that at first, but I refuse to believe that it was all pretend or not real to you... I just want to know, why the change of heart?" He asks, finishing his rambling.

"Because I don't want to be your friend," I mumble, running my fingers through my hair. I don't think before I say the next part; I've been keeping it all in for so long, it's hard to stop once I've started. "I heard you talking to the guys the other day," I admit to him, looking back down at my hands, "the idea of you possibly being interested in me was so absurd to you; I get to you we're buddies, and I'm just Aurora, but I don't want that." I hate how pathetic I sound; I've never felt like this before.

I glance up at EJ out of the corner of my eye once he doesn't respond; I'd been right all along, I knew he'd been totally freaked out by this and back away, that's why I wanted to avoid this, "So, I'm assuming you didn't hear the rest then?" He finally says something, a small smile making its way onto his lips; I shake my head, "I admitted to the guys that I'm scared of being rejected; what if I told you how I actually felt, and then you rejected me? I'd rather be your friend and have hidden feelings for you than not have you in my life at all... You're not just Aurora to me; you're my best friend. I can't lose you again." EJ had feelings for me? He was so scared of me rejecting him; meanwhile, I pushed him away out of fear of being rejected, "and for the record... I never thought the idea of being with you was absurd; I thought that you would think me liking you was."

I've never been in a situation like this, and I'm sure EJ is expecting an entirely different reaction, but I laugh, shaking my head. It was ironic how EJ and I both had the same thoughts and fears; we could have resolved this a lot longer ago if we'd just been honest with one another, "Oh, you're laughing," He observes, nodding his head, "I just misread this entire conversation, didn't I? Look, I totally get if you want to be friends? Or-"

A surge of confidence rushed through me; without thinking too much about it, I stood up, moving over to him, "I don't want to be your friend EJ," I inform him, crashing my lips against his.

EJ hums in shock at first, but within seconds he's kissing me back, my hand cupping his cheek as his snake around my waist.

"That was a really good way to shut me up," He mumbles, once we've pulled away, both a little breathless, "I don't wanna be friends either."

I laughed at that, stroking his cheek with my thumb, "Oh good," I let out a playful breath of relief, placing a chaste kiss on his lips.

"I wanna be your boyfriend," He states nervously as if he needed to clarify, "if that's okay with you."

"That is more than okay," I nod, moving my hand down from his cheek to interlock our hands; if someone had come to me at the beginning of the semester and said that all of this would be happening, I would have thought they were insane. Still, being with EJ felt right; I don't think I've ever been more sure about something in my life.

Before either of us could say anything else, a knock on the door rang through the room, "are both of you still alive?" Gina's voice called out.

I pulled on EJ's hand, dragging him over to the door; I held our hands up to the small glass pane, showing the two girls; both of them squealed, his cousin's hands reaching for the keys almost instantly, "Yes!" They squealed simultaneously, high-fiving one another.

"So," Ash sang, excitedly rocking back and forth on her heels, "how'd it go?"

I shrugged, not letting go of EJ's hand; I can't believe I get to hold it all the time now, "We talked."

"And kissed," EJ chimed in; I elbowed him lightly, shaking my head in amusement; I was trying to be discreet.

"Wait," Gina's eyes were wide, an excited smile taking over her face, "are you guys together?" we both nod our heads, smiling as EJ squeezes my head.

"Shut up!" Ashlyn squealed, running over to me, pulling me into her arms, "My cousin is dating my cousin; this is the best day ever." EJ and I share a look, both laughing slightly; we knew what Ashlyn meant, I'd always been an honorary cousin to her, but that didn't make it any less humorous. "Oh, you know what I mean," She waved her arm, pulling EJ into a hug next.

"Okay, as grateful I am that you locked me in here, I'm starving and really wanna go see my family," I admit, causing the three of them to laugh, "can we leave now?"

Gina nodded, "I suppose we can allow that."

"C'mon," I link my finger through EJ's, tugging him towards the door, "Bella is going to freak."

He laughed, keeping pace with me; despite my short legs, I was walking fast, excited to reunite with my parents, "I think our moms might cry; I'm pretty sure us being together is their dream." He states, as we search through the crowd of parents, there were way more people here than the performance of HSM.

"Wanna bet?" I ask him, smirking up at him mischievously, "You know I love a good competition."

EJ nods, "you're on, Garcia."

We find our families a few minutes later; Bella is in my dad's arms, they're all smiling and chatting, it makes me feel even happier, "Mom, Dad," I call out, causing them to turn their heads in my direction. We meet in the middle, my family pulling each other into a large group hug.

"Oh, Aurora," Mom grabbed either side of my face, observing me with a proud smile, "you were fantastic Mija, I had no idea you could dance like that."

Dad wraps his arms around my mom's shoulders, "She gets it from me."

We talk for a bit more; everything finally felt right again; my mom and dad were home, and EJ and I were on much better terms, "So," Mom nudged me, nodding towards the boy in question; he was a few feet away, talking to his parents, "You and EJ seem friendly?"

"Anything you wanna tell us?" Dad asked, a knowing smirk on his face; my parents could read me like a book, and the blush that began to make its way onto my cheeks did absolutely nothing to help.

"You know the way I always told you I didn't have a boyfriend cause the right person hadn't come along?" I ask, biting my lip to repress the huge grin that so badly wanted to take over my entire face, "Well, uh, I guess the right person was right next door."

Bella squealed almost immediately, "You and EJ are dating?" She asked, so loud that other people looked over, including the Caswells; EJ nodded at her, causing my little sister to jump out of my father's arms and run into his, "I've always wanted a big brother," she exclaims, her tiny arms wrapping around his shoulders.

I smile at the pair, walking over to them; this was easily my favorite thing about EJ; somehow, seeing him with Bella made him ten times cuter, which I didn't know was possible. Our families all hugged and talked for a bit more; even Cash hugged me, telling me he would miss having Bella and me around the house and to come over whenever we wanted; he also thanked me for making his son so happy.

As I expected, our moms were in their glory; they asked a million questions at a time, "Can we talk about this tomorrow?" I ask them, laughing slightly, "we have a cast dinner to get to, but we can have family brunch tomorrow?"

Kirsten nodded her head, "Of course, you two have fun."

We greeted our family's goodbye before walking out of the school and over to EJ's car, "I won," I inform him once we're alone, "our moms were definitely excited, but no tears."

EJ playfully groaned, "I guess that's fair; I mean, I won the first bet." I tilt my head at him, confused, "I mean, technically, the bet was that I could make you see I've changed and become friends again..."

I nodded, "yeah, friends." I then gesture between the two of us, "We're not friends Caswell... So, I think neither of us won."

EJ smirked, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, I lifted my hand, so my fingers were interlocked with his, "No, I still think I did," He informs me, "I mean, I've got you as a girlfriend, I'm clearly winning here."

I can't help but burst into a fit of giggles, "that was disgustingly cheesy," I inform him, still laughing.

EJ shakes his head at me, "you're gonna have to get used to it, Garcia."

EJ and Aurora are finally together! How's everyone feeling?
only a few chapters left, and then that'll be the end of Wildest Dreams🥺❤️