Epilogue
‘Tongue Tied’
— GROUPLOVE
Lara
“You two are dating!?” Ashton screams, or more like squeals. I smile and nod, squeezing Scott’s hand tightly.
“Yup, we are,” I tell them. Danny's jaw drops, basically falling to the floor. Scott leans over and kisses me on the cheek.
“Oh my gosh!” Aurora shouts, she came here with Danny. Her curly blonde hair is tame, which she has learned some new tricks on how to maintain it better. She used to not take care of it very often, letting it become frizzy.
“I thought they’d be fighting forever.” Ashton nudges Danny on the side, wiping a fake tear from his eyes. “My children.” Ashton pulls both Scott and me into a tight hug.
“I’m older than you.” Scott rolls his eyes, returning the hug.
“How are you two going to launch your relationship to the public?” Danny asks as we pull away from Ashton’s hug.
“I didn’t think about that yet,” Scott says sheepishly.
Scott and I are both pretty famous. I’m not quite up there, but Scott finished his season strong; he ended up winning the finals, and he’s now in the offseason, meaning we’ve been together for a couple of months now, privately.
Now that Ashton and Danny are visiting New York, we decided to tell them.
My grandpa ended up being fine. As he said, his heart won’t give up on him until Grams does. He scared us, though, just like Danny did. I actually thought my grandpa was going to pass away.
“Where’s Axel?” Scott asks, Axel was supposed to meet them at the penthouse, too, and we're all hanging around the foyer of Scott’s penthouse.
“He should be here any moment.” Just then, there’s a knock at the door. Scott goes to answer it, letting Axel inside, who’s holding some flowers. Pink tulips, to be exact, inside a white vase. I watch him set them on the counter, then walk over to us.
“Hey, guys.” He’s wearing a black tee and some jeans. I watch him, and Ashton makes eye contact for a little extra long.
“Why did no one bring alcohol?” Aurora pouts, crossing her arms.
I laugh. “We don’t need alcohol to have fun.”
“Yeah, we kinda do,” Ashton says.
The door flies open, Maggie walks in wearing a black dress with lace sleeves, a big chunky belt, and her iconic black chunky boots with buckles on them. Aurora’s eyes light up when she sees her because she is holding a bottle of tequila.
“Guess who brought the party!” Maggie kicks the door shut behind her, walking into the living room. I sit down on the couch, and Scott follows and sits beside me. He wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him.
“I don’t know who you are, but I literally love you,” Aurora says. Maggie blows her an imaginary kiss.
“Absolutely not.” Scott tries to grab the bottle from her, but Maggie dodges.
“Scott, don't you dare touch it,” Aurora shouts at him playfully. I sit back and watch the little encounter. Danny puts some music on the little Bluetooth speaker he won from a claw machine. It's a little static-y, but it still works, I guess.
I let the rest of the world fade away as I watch all my friends enjoy spending time with each other.
This is how I hoped everything would turn out in the end.
Scott and I are sitting down on the couch together as he quietly caresses my hand.
Aurora and Maggie rush over to the bottle, seeing who can take more shots while Danny tries to make sure she doesn’t harm herself.
I can tell he really likes her, and I hope she really likes him too.
I watch Ashton and Axel stand next to each other, trying to have a conversation despite all the history they have together. I know deep down they still love each other. I can tell by their movements that they are still crushing hard.
For the first time in 5 years, everything feels normal. I’m with the guy I’ve always wanted, I’m with my high school friends, and not the toxic ones. I’m with my new friends I’ve met along the way. Everything's perfect, and I hope it stays like this, forever.