Epilogue
ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD BY STEPHEN DAY
Bellamy Archer:
I pack everything I still have. All the other things have been sold, mostly because I’ll just buy new stuff when I get there.
College felt like it ended abruptly this past summer.
It had been a long time coming. I had waited for it and wanted it for so long until it finally came.
We graduated only a month ago, and it feels like it’s been a lifetime already.
No one really ever tells you just how scary it’s going to be when you graduate.
It’s worse than you’d expect. No one else thinks you’re meant to go out and make a name for yourself right away, but I felt like I needed to.
I felt like I didn’t get to rest, wait, or sit still.
Especially since I was a first round draft pick for the Giants.
The New York fucking Giants. That’s why I’m packing. Training starts in two weeks.
“Bellamy.”
I look to the door of my apartment to see her, her long black hair trailing down to her stomach. She’s got half of it pulled up into a messy bun on the back of her head, the rest of it naturally curly. She’s got a clean face mostly because she’s been packing all day, just like me.
After she came back for summer sessions and told me how she felt, I barely let her leave my side.
She did practically perfect on the field during the summer sessions, and even better during the season.
Her mentors let her ride solo a lot, and I could tell it boosted her confidence higher than it already was.
Our friend group got closer, and everything felt so much more natural.
So much easier senior year compared to the other three here at SPU.
After Lawson went to the basketball coach about what happened to Kamryn, she was called in to give a statement.
Coach Corbin went with her after everything, and stood by her side in all of it, just like me and the guys did.
Just like Sienna did too. Caleb was suspended for half of the season because of what he did, another girl had come forward against him after Kamryn did, and it solidified everything.
He deserved worse, if it were up to me, he’d get it.
That brought all of us even closer. Being here, being with Kam, and Lawson. Going to see Griffin for home games, and him coming back to see us. It’s like a second family.
Ryn and I didn’t really leave each other’s side all semester unless she was leaving me to go to see her friends, or I had workouts with Lawson and Parker.
We figured after having so many sleepovers at each other's apartments that it was dumb to keep going back and forth with sleepover bags. It was tiring, so Kamryn ended up moving into my apartment right before SPU’s holiday break started.
She invited me up to her parent’s house for the holidays.
I came to meet her dad, and officially meet her mom as well, then we came back to campus together before the break was over.
She met my grandparents too. They showed enough embarrassing baby pictures for a lifetime, but seeing the way Ryn smiled at them…
I’d let her see every single one if it meant she’d do it again.
“What do you need?” I ask and stop what I’m doing to watch her.
“For you to pinch me because I still don’t believe it,” Her voice is somewhat somber.
I get it. I feel it.
“It is real...” I barely believe it myself.
Since the moment the two of us started officially dating, all of this has felt like a dream. The thought of leaving it all behind. It’s bittersweet to see things change this way. To see things change for both of us in such drastic ways.
“I’m going to miss-”
“Don’t say it,” I pull her down to my bed with me, my back hitting the bed first, her hitting my body next.
“I am though.”
Neither of us has really known anything different than right here… I understand it completely.
“At least I won't be missing you...” She speaks, and my heart warms at the thought of her moving with me.
I wasn’t sure if she would want to. But she mentioned it before I even had the chance to ask her.
She’s been saving her money, and she’s going to get her masters in New York.
She’s continuing her education on a full ride scholarship.
I’m not surprised considering the glowing recommendation from Coach Corbin who has another national championship under his belt after this past season.
“But this is what I’ve always wanted, Ryn. This is it. Well, not the New York Giants… But you, and an NFL contract. That’s what I’ve always dreamed of,” I joke with her, knowing good and well that she was over the moon when I was drafted by her favorite team and not mine.
Her lips are warm as they greet me. She’s happy, and I’ve seen her the opposite this past year.
I’ve seen her stress, and struggle, and I know this is the perfect place for the two of us.
The perfect place to be a family. To be together.
To discover, and to find ourselves even more.
This is the perfect place for a legacy to begin.
This is our start, and despite the past year, we have a long road ahead of us.
“The Giants are great, they have you,” She boasts about me, and I roll my eyes. “They were great before you even if you can’t see that… But they’re even better now.”
I kiss her quickly one more time before pushing us up.
“Come on, we’ve got to pack, no being lazy.”
She groans and I pull her from the bed. She whines some more but laughs as I smirk at her. My chest warms up seeing her laugh.
She’s going to be a part of the same team as me one day.
And I can’t wait to look on the sidelines and to see her there just like I did this entire past season.
That is if I get any playing time. No matter what happens, I know Kamryn will be there.
I know that we’ve got each other. Kamryn is loyal.
She is hard headed, but she loves harder than anyone I’ve ever met in my life.
Once her shell was discarded she turned into the most romantic person I’d ever met. She loves cooking with me. She enjoys coordinating our date outfits, and she thinks it’s fun to have skincare nights where she goes at my face, in her words “making it more perfect than it already is.”
We’ve learned the ins and outs of each other, and it was hard to mold our lives together, but she was willing, and so was I.
Before Kamryn, I wasn’t really sure if I believed in soul mates.
I know she hadn’t either, not in real life anyways.
The small part of me that did believe in them wasn’t sure if I’d ever even meet mine.
Then I met her, and I got to know her. Kamryn Hart is easy to love.
She’s without a doubt in my mind, my soulmate.
I think about what it took to get us here.
I think about the torturous tutoring sessions and the aspect of playing dumb around her just to spend time with her.
She never knew, but I stole every glance I could.
I tried as best as I could to get anywhere…
The list was the perfect in for me, it was the perfect way for me to get her to just go out with me, even if it was only once.
It was also one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever had.
It almost cost me her altogether. I’m still lucky for that list even if it was stupid for me to use it.
She doesn’t know it but I still keep that silly list folded up and shoved in my wallet.
It’s some of the happiest moments I’ve experienced.
Since I started seeing Kamryn she has felt like family, like a safe space, and when she looks at me she confirms it.
Everything is set into place when she looks at me, no matter where we go, or what we do.
No matter what happens I have a partner for life with her, just like one of those movies, or those silly books.
Kamryn is my happy ending. She has been since the very first date.