Epilogue #2
I grabbed him by the apron straps around his neck and swung him into the counter, the small of his back hitting the edge.
He was still taller than me, but I leaned up into his chest. Even though the effect was seriously dulled by my puffy jacket, it wasn’t ruined entirely, if the look in his eye was any judge.
“And you have to admit,” I murmured to Logan in a soft voice, “that I’m much better. ”
The look in his eyes reminded me of one of the first times I’d flirted with him.
What are you chalant about? he’d asked me, to which I’d replied with, You.
Logan swallowed hard now, exactly as he’d done then.
“Yeah,” he said in a drastically less smug voice than he’d had a second ago. “Yeah, you’re much—”
I didn’t let him finish; I kissed him.
All at once, Logan seemed to melt into me, just as I had melted under his smile moments ago.
I pressed closer, leaning all my weight into him, and kissed him deeper, savoring the warmth and quiet ache of the moment.
His hands found my hips, tentative but steady, as if he was afraid to hold on too tightly.
And it was never tight enough. I let my hands fall from the tie at his neck to press flat against his chest, savoring the firm touch of muscle. I could feel his pulse pick up its pace, his warmth anchoring me in a way I never thought possible. And it was never enough.
A sudden knock-knock-knock had us jerking apart, but it also had Logan’s hands tightening at my waist, pulling me into his chest as if he was ready to protect me from whatever was lurking in the dark coffee shop.
But it was just Maisie in one of the windows at the front of Expresso’s, her eyebrows high on her forehead. “The movie starts in ten minutes,” she called through the glass, going as far as holding up all ten of her fingers.
“I’ll grab my coat and turn on the alarm,” Logan said to me, and even though it was dark, I could see the flush on the tops of his cheeks. He unhooked the apron from his neck, nudging me toward the door. “I’ll be out in a sec.”
I could see right through him. “You just want me to take the brunt of her teasing.”
He turned away, but not before I saw his sheepish grin. “You can handle it, Juliet.”
I scoffed, but smiled anyway.
“I have tickets for a horror movie, not a rom-com,” Maisie said the second I stepped out into the late October air. She blinked expectantly at me. “I leave you alone for five minutes and you’re macking on your boyfriend.”
“Oh, please. As if you and Connor don’t—”
“I got impatient.” Connor suddenly cut between Maisie and I, pressing his lips to hers boldly and proudly in the middle of the sidewalk. He leaned back, but caught up her hand. “Hey, Madison.”
She blinked at him, dazed at his sudden appearance—and the even more sudden kiss attack—before her star-struck gaze shifted to mine.
I raised an eyebrow.
Maisie sniffed. “Whatever.”
“I figured instead of waiting in the movie theater lobby, I’d come wait with you outside Expresso’s.” Connor squinted through the dark windows. “Reed texted me on the way over that he and Ava were almost there.”
“What about Landon and Lacey?”
He shook his head. “They’re off on a road trip this weekend. Was it Massachusetts, Maisie?”
Maisie shook her head. “Gemma said Maine.”
“One of the M states.” He shrugged, and instead of being content to hold Maisie’s hand, Connor wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Speaking of Gemma, she—”
“Road with Rachel and Josh. Good thing we reserved our tickets. We rented out, like, half the theater.”
The door to Expresso’s opened as Maisie started her last sentence, and Logan came out into the chilly air wearing his Brentwood Bobcats hoodie.
“Hey Connor, Maisie,” he greeted cheerfully as he turned to lock the door.
Once he was finished, he slid his keys into his pocket.
“Let’s go see that scary movie, shall we? ”
Connor kept his arm over Maisie’s shoulder as they walked, and her arm hooked around his waist, fingers wrapped around one of his belt loops. “And she points fingers at us,” I muttered with an affectionate tsk.
Logan gave my hand a squeeze. “You know what’s funny? All of your friends started dating their boyfriends at the same time.”
I nearly objected, because surely not, but then started doing the math in my head.
Connor and Maisie made it official on at the homecoming game.
Ava and Reed started dating literally at the homecoming dance.
Gemma and Hudson made things official a few days before the game, and Landon and Lacey were around the same time.
Even Rachel and Josh, from what I’d gathered, started going on dates a little after the dance.
“Huh.” I tucked myself into Logan’s arm.
“We were technically the first, then. We started dating before school even started.”
Logan dropped a kiss to the top of my head.
So much had changed in the last two months.
Honestly, they felt like three years—like the kind of years that shape you, piece by piece.
Before school started, I thought I’d known who I’d been and what I’d wanted.
I’d been Madison Oliphant, co-captain of the cheer squad, second in command to Jade Dyer, and desperate to taste the sweetness of popularity.
Now, I was Madison Oliphant, sole captain of the cheer squad, and discovering myself day by day.
I didn’t need to fit into anyone’s version of perfect or chase after a name people whispered in the halls.
For the first time, my life was mine—every choice, every mistake, every beautiful, ordinary day ahead.
I didn’t need everyone at Brentwood High to remember my name anymore. Just the people who were part of my story.
And maybe even just Logan Castle.
With my arm still wrapped around his, I squeezed myself even closer. “I’m super chalant about you,” I told Logan quietly, so that Maisie and Connor wouldn’t hear.
Logan didn’t immediately say it back. At first, I thought he might not have heard me. He stopped walking, halting the two of us while Maisie and Connor continued on, unaware. Logan turned to me, his features soft in the lamplight, his attention only on me. “I love you,” he said suddenly, simply.
The world, as it had so many times before with Logan, suddenly quieted.
I had a feeling it’d always be this way, where everything else faded into the background.
The three words settled over me like the world’s warmest blanket, wrapping around me.
For so long, I’d been chasing love that looked good from the outside—love that came with conditions, rules, and the need to be someone else.
There were no conditions in Logan’s eyes, no rules in his words, and no need to be anyone else.
And then Logan’s lips quirked up into his adorable, boyish smile. “Did I catch you off-guard again?”
I couldn’t hold myself back. I reached for him out of pure need, my palms bringing his face down to meet mine. Our lips were both cool, but in seconds, warmth bloomed between them, spreading across my skin. I kissed Logan deeply, showing him how the words felt before saying them aloud.
In a way, I’d always be grateful to Jade Dyer.
She was the reason Logan and I met. She was the reason Maisie and I stopped being friends, but she was also the reason Maisie found Rachel and Ava.
Ultimately, too, Jade was the reason Maisie and I had found each other then, and along with her, I’d found so many more new friends.
Jade Dyer was a name I’d always remember—not for the pain she caused, but for all the beautiful things that bloomed in its wake.
“Always trying to one-up me,” Logan murmured against my lips, the words pulling out of him with a gasp.
I swallowed them.
Logan broke away again. “Your friends—”
“I don’t care.” My fingers curled around the strings of his Bobcats hoodie. “Just kiss me.”
And Logan did. Many, many more times.
Connor and Maisie ended up having to call out to us, laughing, and we caught up with them.
Reed and Ava scolded us for running late while in line for snacks, and Logan made sure to stock me up on all my favorite movie-watching snacks.
Gemma and I decided to split an order of cheese sticks, while Hudson and Rachel both decided they wanted cola slushies.
Lacey even texted our group chat a picture of her and Landon holding a bag of Twizzlers, adding We’re with you in spirit!
Our friend group was big, loud in the movie theater lobby as we all laughed together, and perfect.
As we walked hand-in-hand toward the movie theater, Logan leaned in to whisper in my ear. “What are you doing tomorrow?”
I smiled up at him, my beautiful blue-eyed, golden-haired boyfriend, and knew, without a doubt, that whatever dweeby date idea Logan had in mind, I’d be so down. “Anything with you.”
Most Likely To: Peak in High School? Nah.
Most Likely To: Live Happily Ever After?
That sounded about right.