Epilogue
Gwen
6 months later
“Really? You had to wear your Bright Lights shirt?”
Xander’s eyebrows raise to my choice of shirt as I race my way into the living room and by his side on the sofa, the computer screen propped up on the coffee table.
“Well, of course! Why wouldn’t I show the guitarist of such a brilliant band how much of a big fan I am?”
Xander’s face reads complete disbelief to my statement.
“Oh Gwen, your ever so small crush on Avory is so funny!”
I smack his bicep as I bite back, “Oh, and your massive crush on the lead singer is so subtle?”
His face falls flat before we burst out laughing in unison. Our chuckling is quickly interrupted by the ringtone singing through Xander’s speakers, as two very familiar faces pop up on the screen in a small circle. We compose ourselves as Xander hits the accept button. The screen remains black for a moment, then a mixture of darker colours appear alongside muffled voices whispering through the speakers until the camera begins to settle and their microphone becomes clear.
“Hey guys! Can you hear us?”
Xander and I cheer back to them as both Sawyer and Avory appear on screen. A wooden headboard stands behind them as Avory’s back presses against it with Sawyer sinking lower and under his arm. An evergreen duvet piles around them, and I cannot believe that they are both still in bed at 11 a.m. on a Wednesday. Rather than asking them how they both are, that is the first statement that tumbles out of my mouth – probably out of slight jealousy.
“We may have gotten slightly preoccupied this morning, and it seems we’re still here.”
Sawyer’s eyes widen behind his frames before pulling the duvet over his head as Avory winks, followed by a devilish laugh. Xander rolls his eyes at the young love, my eyes shortly following.
“Isn’t Sawyer the best for cuddles, though? I miss Sawyer cuddles!”
I cry out in an exaggerated manner, and Avory instantly agrees, probably not realising how much he then scuttles on about how perfect him and Sawyer fit together.
“Well Gwen, remember our deal! By forty, I’m all yours!”
Sawyer reveals himself again from the duvet as he speaks, a small giggle following his statement.
“Huh, so I need to slip a ring on this by thirty-nine? Got it.”
Avory threads his fingers through Sawyer’s as they laugh, and there is a moment of pure tranquillity for them.
I can’t help but notice how Sawyer glows when he’s with Avory, and I’ve noticed him burning brighter with his creativity and humour with every call we have with them. We still haven’t caught them since they left months ago, but Xander and I agree that for some time, they need to be away from us. They need their space and with each call we have, we’ve been slowly watching our Sawyer come back, and we have that guitarist to thank.
Sawyer started writing his own romance novels, slowly feeding us with chapters and snippets, which we may have picked up on as his own life story, and I’m consistently spammed with book recommendations he finds online. He also started to learn guitar from Avory, but judging by the lack of chords he can hold after six months, I gather that they don’t actually get on with a lot of practising together. Marcus has been teaching Sawyer a hell of a lot, too, to the extent that Sawyer is now working alongside their manager as an assistant for the band, in every aspect it seems.
After only a month of exploring the country and away from the grasp of Tetherton, I notice that Avory had painted Sawyer’s nails a deep ivy green, and I remember squealing so loudly when he showed them off to the camera that Xander had to block the ear closest to me. Of course, the next day I painted mine the same colour and sent him a photo, and Xander’s, obviously. Sawyer has even worn make-up a few times courtesy of Avory once again, and Xander had to leave the room until I calmed down.
As expected, he did often ask about his mother, and about the café. However, you could tell that ever so slowly, and by no means will this disperse anytime soon, you could see the tight grip she had on him loosening. Avory keeps in touch, too, and he told us that as Sawyer begins to discover and explore himself once again, he has learnt to say one thing after anything he was once taught was wrong: it’s okay. I’m just so proud of him and everything he has accomplished in a few months.
I’m also so proud of the fact that Xander and I can say we are close friends with the band, Bright Lights since Avory and Marcus have been growing more successful with each performance. They have officially been announced as a support act for a massively popular rock band after being included in the lineup of a music festival in London, and Xander and I may have placed bets on the fridge for how long it’ll take until they have a tour of their own. We have tuned in for every show we could livestream with an array of cocktails, a coffee table of snacks and all their lyrics being screamed out in our small flat to show our support.
We had a wild week of scanning all their comments section after the festival show they recently attended since Sawyer had to run on stage for a technical difficulty with the microphones. He approached Avory’s stand, earpiece in place with the curled cable going down into his shirt, just for Avory to dip his small frame to the floor and kiss him in front of hundreds of cameras and thousands of people. The audience screamed with surprise and the desperate need for more Sawyer and Avory, or ‘Savory’ as people started hash tagging once they found Sawyer’s miniscule online presence. We didn’t hear the end of Sawyer’s annoyance that their ship name from those online is the American spelling of the original word ‘savoury’.
Another thing to add to the list of things Sawyer started since leaving Tetherton: social media. Luckily, Bright Lights have some amazing followers online with only a handful of people who had a problem, but Marcus made it very obvious with a video posted everywhere that he does not want those people around their band anyway.
“Gwen? Gwen!”
Sawyer’s voice drags me back into the room as I see him waving at my no longer vacant self. I nod to Sawyer to carry on.
“We’re sending you two tickets for Marcus and Avory’s show in a few months, if you’d like to come? Let us know if you need us to send more at any point.”
Sawyer winks before giggling to himself and Avory about how he is nowhere near as smooth as the guitarist himself.
I roll my eyes before thanking them for the tickets. Dating is nowhere in my future. I glance over to Xander who appears distant. I grab his hand out of view of the camera, because I have a feeling I know who’s at the forefront of his mind since he hasn’t dated anyone since him.
Oliver Hart.
As Xander continues to chatter away with Sawyer and Avory about their travels, their next performance, the newest book Sawyer has read and forced Avory to read with him, a knock at the front door grabs my attention.
“I’ll get it, you stay here with these two!”
I point to the boys, and I hope that Xander will stay sitting down. I need to get this parcel.
I speed down the stairs and answer the door to a portly postman, a thick beard moving as he speaks. “Good morning, ma’am! I have a parcel for a… uh… Alex, uh… Alexander Sweet?”
“Uh huh! That’s my brother, I’ll take it for him! Thank you so much!”
The postman tips his hat to me as he waddles off down the road, and as I stare at the white box in my hands, a sense of dread builds in my stomach. Have I done the wrong thing?
My thumb runs over the parcel label, your usual parcel label, but on the top of the box is indented.
Are you the nation’s top baker?
I really hope he’s not going to kill me for this.