Epilogue - Sally
SIX MONTHS LATER
Living in the freshmen athletic dorms means constantly being woken up before eight am classes because, for some reason, people like exercising when the sun isn’t even awake.
It also means I’m the only art major living on our coed floor. Everyone else here is a mixture of sports management—like Ella—sports medicine, or business. There’s a sprinkle of communication majors here and there on the floor, but nothing close to having similar classes with me.
My first semester completed at Grace Hill was an eye-opener.
I didn’t find my classes difficult, but reality was setting in that I didn’t enjoy all of my classes.
I loved my cinematography and editing courses though.
They helped improve the quality of my YouTube channel. But that’s all that has interested me.
Makes me wonder if three more years of this is really worth it.
“Should we expect lover boy?” Kayla, one of my four roommates, asks while she finishes pulling her black curly hair into space buns.
That’s what she and Nina, our other roommate, call Oliver. They didn’t believe me when I told them that Ollie and I weren’t actually dating.
That thought kind of hurts, though. I know we are going at my pace, but if I’m being honest, if he had asked me before I moved here, I would have said yes. Oliver knew I wanted to take this slow, so he never pushed.
Though that heated kiss of ours wasn’t the last time we hooked up.
Kayla and Nina seem to always remind me of Halloween.
Oliver and I went as Sophie and Howl from Howl’s moving Castle.
We had sex in the bathroom of the hockey house on campus.
What made it more awkward was the fact one of the hockey players is in my intro to film studies class and he said hi right after we were done.
“No, he told me work has been hectic lately, so he can’t make it up,” I say and try my hardest not to sound sad.
He has kept his promise of seeing me every two weeks, and I’ve spent a couple weekends at his mom’s place. Some weekends, we’ll go on little dates to get coffee or see a movie. Other times, I work on homework or edit a video for my YouTube channel.
Who would have thought that people on the internet wanted to see a trans woman just living her best life? I even got a few sponsorships to help pay the bills.
“Bummer, since there’s a party at the sin bin tonight.” She grins.
“You love going to that house.” I laugh, walking in front of the mirror.
“Sue me. I like the eye candy that lives there. Only one of them is actively dating someone. Hockey guys are just hot.”
I didn’t realize how many people actually like the sport before coming here.
Grace Hill is known for their myriad of athletic programs, but hockey is the most famous.
It might just be because the guys are hot as sin—thus the name of their house.
They attract everything that breathes, including my two roommates.
“I thought you were talking to Ricky from the basketball team. The dude is like a skyscraper.”
“I am, but we aren’t dating or exclusive, so it doesn’t mean I can’t like looking at hot guys when at a party. Especially when I get liquid courage in my system.” Kayla does one last look at her makeup.
I play with the ends of my newly cut jaw-length hair. After the pink faded, I had a crisis and decided to chop it off.
My hair hadn’t been touched much since my transition. There was always anxiety surrounding the length and color, but it was time for a change. I was scared, but a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Both physically and mentally, I no longer needed to hide behind my femininity.
“Regretting it?” Nina enters the room in a whole winter outfit that covers pretty much all of her tan skin. In her hand is a gym bag, probably filled with her swim gear.
I shake my head. “No, I love it. Swim practice?”
“Yep, Coach Greene is a killer, but he’s also an Olympic gold medalist.”
Nina waves goodbye before marching out of the room. I turn back to the mirror for a second before looking back at my room. Ella said she was going to take a call, but that was fifteen minutes ago.
“Please come to the party tonight and get Ella to come. She needs to bond with her fellow volleyball players.” Kayla follows Nina out.
Just like that, it is just me waiting for Ella to finish. We have a lunch date planned.
Being left to my own devices also means my mind wanders to what Oliver is doing. He hasn’t replied to my text since our usual good morning texts.
A moment later, Ella walks out of the room with her brows furrowed and an unreadable expression.
“Ella?” I ask, but she doesn’t look at me for a moment. “Hey, what’s going on?”
She finally looks me in the eye, and I see that they are slightly red. Is she crying?
“Ella—”
“I just broke up with Jaxon,” Ella says, wiping her eyes free of any tears before they fall.
My eyes shoot wide. Ella and Jaxon decided to do long distance before Oliver and I did. We didn’t talk about it much, but there were nights she would drunkenly mention how he never reached out to her. He was supposed to visit this weekend.
“How are you feeling?”
“I don’t know. I guess it feels like it was a long time coming. We never made time for each other. He’s practically running the mechanic shop now, and with volleyball, I’m busy anytime I don’t have school,” Ella says with a sniffle, holding everything in. “Let’s get lunch.”
“Are you sure? We can order pizza.”
“Nah, I could really use some pasta.” Ella pats her cheeks before looking at me with a grin. “I really like your hair, by the way.”
I say a soft thank you before we venture out into the cold. With it being the weekend, most of campus is empty besides the freshman dorms. Outside of the building is a wide-open space, perfect for any sort of campus activity, even with it being pretty cold.
Right now, there’s a group of guys playing catch with a football. Thoughts of Oliver playing with my brothers run through my mind. It took some time, but they all loved him.
We make our way past the boys and toward the parking lot. Moms let us take the red sedan with us to Grace Hill, but something is different. There’s a little paper attached to the windshield wiper. I pull out the paper with familiar handwriting written on the note.
It simply reads: How do you feel about a picnic, princess?
My brows furrow as I turn to show Ella the note, but she stands away from me. And when my body turns, my eyes land on the six-foot build and messy brown hair with a bouquet of sweet peas.
He opens his mouth to speak, but I’m already running into his arms, and he wraps one strong arm tight around my waist and spins me around like I weigh nothing.
This is normal for us, really. I always run into his arms, and he always twirls around like a carousel.
“I thought you couldn’t make it this month?” I question, fighting back the tears that prick my eyes.
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“Awww, you guys are so cute!” I hear a familiar voice that doesn’t belong to Ella.
My gaze rakes across the parking lot until I reach my film major best friend, Renee Basu. I met her on my first day of classes, and we’ve hit it off ever since.
It takes me a quick second to realize she’s holding a camera that’s pointed at us. “Are you filming?”
“Of course!” she chirps unapologetically. “This will be perfect for your vlog. They love Oliver. I know you read all the comments saying y’all should date.”
“Wait!” I turn to Ella, who is grinning by the car. “You knew he was coming, and let me come out here like this.” I point at the fact that I’m just wearing a baggy sweater and leggings. Then, my finger flies to my freshly cut hair.
The note flashes through my mind, and I turn back to Oliver, who is still staring down at me with the most enthralling amount of tenderness. I haven’t seen him physically all month. I hated every second of it.
“You packed a picnic?” I sound almost too hopeful.
“I did, but it might be a little cold to have a long one,” he says, and I press my face into his chest, inhaling his very essence.
“I don’t care how cold it is.”
He lowers his head to my ear and whispers, “Good. I’m sure we can keep each other warm.”
My cheeks burn.
“But I have one other question for you, princess. I didn’t want to write this one on a note.”
I shiver as he pulls away and gets down on one knee.
No fucking way.
“Oliver,” I warn, “what are you doing?”
“Will you be my girlfriend?” He presents the flowers that are still in his hands.
A gasp comes from across the parking lot as I spot a group of students walking past. One of the guys in the group whistles.
“You can’t be serious. You are going to ask me like this?” I chastise.
“Is that a no—”
“What? No, you dumbass.” I reach for his shirt, pulling him up off his knee.
“That’s not a yes, though.”
“God, you’re impossible. Yes, I want you to be my boyfriend. I want to be your girlfriend.”
He grins, bringing the hand still holding the flowers around my back and the other up to my cheek as he leans down, pushing a kiss onto my lips.
A moment later, I’m waving bye to both Ella and Renee as we run off to Oliver’s Jeep.
“I’ll send you the footage!” Renee calls after us.
Once inside the Jeep, Oliver is all over me again, pressing a kiss to every inch of my face.
“You’re my boyfriend.” The title sends a tingle down my spine all the way to my toes.
“You’re my girlfriend.” Another tingle runs down, this time with heat pooling in my stomach.
“My first boyfriend.”
“My first girlfriend.” He quickly explains after I give him a skeptical look. “I went out with girls in the past, but I could never see a future with them. You are the only person I can see a future with. I love you.”
Some might say this is too soon, and I might freak out a little, but I’ve loved Oliver for a long time, and there is no point in fighting it.
“I love you.”
I can’t wait to run away and see the world with him.