EPILOGUE

★Kiara★

3 years and 7 months later.

I'm searching through this very overwhelming crowd of people. At this point I'm looking for any familiar face.

We managed to get separated during the ceremony, and now that it's over, it's even worse.

I'm looking for a pink and purple haired goddess, or even just her parents or Quinn. Deven should be around here somewhere as well. Dakota too, but she's likely with other people.

This is so overwhelming. So, so, so, so, so, so, so overwhelming. I didn't even know this many people attended this school, let alone were part of this graduating class.

I'm probably overreacting—seeing it as more than it really is—but that doesn't help.

I refuse to let a panic attack arrive. This would not only be a terrible place to have one, but it would also ruin my night. And this needs to be a good one. It's an important one.

I've graduated. I've now got my bachelors degree as an English major. I switched away from psychology after much persuasion from Lucille, and the suggestion of my now-long-term therapist. I also got my book published. I hired an editor and everything.

Things have been really good for me these past couple of years when it comes to personal goals and milestones, but also my relationships. I've managed to make more friends. Nothing life-long or super deep, but still friends nonetheless. And, Lucille and I have been together for 3 years and 8 months. We'll be in our fourth year in September.

While we've been together consistently, it hasn't been without challenges. We've had a couple big fights. I hardly even remember what they were about, but they sucked. I had to stay at Deven's during one of them. Not a fun time.

We always worked it out though, coming back stronger each time.

I want to marry her—which I know is crazy! But I love her. And I know I want to be with her as long as I live. And I'm nearly a hundred percent sure she feels the same.

These positive thoughts seem to calm me down, though I'm startled when an arm appears around my shoulders.

"Kiara! I've been looking for you!" Deven yells. I should've known it was them.

"Have you seen Lucille?" I ask anxiously, turning to face them.

"Wow. Your best friend is here to congratulate you for graduating, yet you're immediately trying to bail for your girlfriend." They pretend to be offended.

"Deven!"

"Yeah, yeah. I was just with her, actually. Told me to tell you that she's already heading back to the dorm so you wouldn't have to deal with the crowd, so you could find each other easier and so you guys can hurry and pack up your things. She said she texted you." They explain.

"Shit!" I pull out my phone, and see that I did indeed miss a text. I should've just called her in the first place. I am a big idiot sometimes.

We walk briskly to the dorm building, my calves aching. I am very unathletic.

I instinctively make my way up to our precious Dorm 212. It hurts, actually. Some couples get to return to the place where they first met whenever they want, but now that we've graduated and we're moving out of the dorms... We might never come back here.

I pick my feet up though, and go inside.

I'm immediately pulled in for a hug when I open the door, Lucille having practically jumped in my arms. She squeals, "It's finally over! No more classes for life!"

She pulls back just a bit. I place a quick kiss on her lips—I'm not about to do anything more with her family and Deven just a few feet away.

"Yeah... I'm so glad." I let out a sigh of relief. She's right. It's really over after this. We can finally start living as proper adults. That's definitely going to be more stressful, but we'll survive. Together.

"Come on, we gotta finish packing everything. I want to get to the apartment ASAP!" She goes back to where she was packing away the rest of her things. She hasn't even changed out of her cap and gown. Dork.

I do the same though. We already loaded most of our things into suitcases yesterday and early this morning, but there's a few last minute things that still need to be boxed up. There's actually a lot of stuff in general, but we've got Lucille's dad's truck, my car, Lucille's car, and Deven's car as well. I think we should be able to get everything. Lucille's also gonna get most of her things from her old bedroom at some point, but that's not the priority right now.

We do many walk-throughs, making sure we haven't missed anything important, and then we begin to lug things downstairs. I still don't take the elevator. Deven does the stairs with me though to keep me company. And to be witness to my death if these heavy boxes knock me down.

We do a couple trips up and down, do a final walk through, start up our cars, and drive off to our new home.

★★★

With her daddy's money, Lucille has bought us quite a bit of new furniture. It's also the main reason we were able to afford an apartment in Boston straight out of college. We're sitting back on our brand new couch. It's a light grey L-shaped sofa, pillows decorating the corners.

We're still waiting for some of the other furniture to arrive, but we've got a bed, table (it's the one from the dorm), couch, coffee table, and a TV. We also have any of the decor from the dorm.

We only got here just yesterday, but we've gotten a surprising amount done. Lucille's parents were very helpful. Quinn, not so much, but I suppose she offered some moral support. It's crazy to think that she's going to be a senior in high school in just a few months. She looks very different now. She's embraced her inner goth, and I couldn't be more proud.

She's also been accepted into Harvard. It's clear who got their dad's brains.

Oh, Quinn came out as aromantic a couple months ago as well. She does have a boyfriend right now though. I met him back in April. He seems like a good guy. A fellow alternative dresser.

Anyway, we're waiting for the others to get here. It may be June, but we've decided to have our annual Coraline rewatch tonight. I suppose it's also a bit of a housewarming party. It's only going to be a couple people though, just the main group of Deven, Lucas, Dakota, and Dakota's new boyfriend Sam. Deven and Lucas broke up after only two months of being together. Lucas came out as aromantic and asexual, and was unfortunately only interested in Deven platonically.

They worked it out though. Lucas had been going through a lot trying to figure out his identity, and Deven—knowing what it's like—couldn't help but support him. They are living together though, and are absolute best friends. I can be happy about that. Lucas is probably my second closest friend after Deven now. He just gets me.

Deven has been single for a while though. They've definitely gotten... busy, but nothing serious. I think it's kind of upsetting for them, but I know they'll find the one.

"This is all so surreal to me... I mean, graduating! An apartment!" Lucille gestures to the room around us. "And you! It feels like just yesterday we were fighting over a couple of T-shirts on the floor..."

"Yeah, no, that was last week actually." I tease. But it was last week. Genuinely. That was my bad though. I just couldn't be bothered to clean up before heading out to meet with my editor. Oh, yeah, I have an official editor now. She's going to edit my next book, and I cannot wait.

"Well, it was a mess, Kiara. And you know what I meant!"

A thought crosses my mind. A stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, dumb thought. But you know what? I don't like waiting. I don't like waiting for someone else to make the first move. I've been too afraid to act out and speak out my whole life. It's my time to be bold. No matter how idiotic.

"I want to ask you something..." I don't let her respond before continuing to speak. "I know that this is stupid and random and we're literally in stupid fucking matching dinosaur pajama pants right now, but it's something big and I don't want to waste a month trying to discreetly get your ring size—"

"WHAT?" Her head snaps in my direction, her eyes meeting mine. She knows exactly where I'm headed with this. And she is as surprised as I am.

"I'm not done. So here's what's gonna happen, I'm going to ask the question, you'll give me an answer, and if that answer is yes we are going to go on the best vacation of our lives, you'll get a pretty ring, and then we'll have a big event to plan..."

"Kiara..."

"So..." I take a breath, lacing her fingers in mine. "Do you want to get married?" AH. I DID IT. WHY DID I DO THAT?

Lucille's eyes are watering. I think that's a good sign in Lucille's dictionary of body language. "Oh my god... You are a fucking idiot." Ingenuine insults; another good sign from her. "I... Okay!" She agrees. This a slight question in her voice, but I know that's just the surprise—WAIT, SHE AGREED.

I pull her in for a hug. Holy shit. I just did that. And she said yes. And now we're fiancés, aren't we?!

"This is... This is not how I was expecting a proposal to happen but holy shit... holy fucking shit." We seem to have very similar reactions to this. "You just asked me that!?" I can hear the tears in her voice. I'm tearing up a little too...

I pull away only a bit. "I'm sorry, I was going to actually plan something but then you were sitting here looking all pretty..." It's all truth. She looks stunning. Even in her dinosaur pajama pants and messy hair.

She snorts that adorable little snort. "You... Oh my god, I love you." She shakes her head, dabbing her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie—no, that's my hoodie, actually.

I laugh too, holding her tightly in my arms again. Then another idea comes to mind. "Wait—give me a second..."

I get up from the couch, going over to where we still have a few boxes still to be unpacked. One, of which, is marked Stationary. I find a package of sticky notes and take them over to the coffee table. I peel off a single sticky note, fold it a few times, and create a paper ring.

I stay on the ground, but shift so I'm on one knee.

"Dork!" Lucille says through her laughter as she realizes what I'm doing. Her face is bright red. Tears still brim in her eyes. Good tears though. Really good tears.

"Lucille Maria Belanger..." I have to hold back my own laughter. God, this is so dumb. "Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" I ask, much more formal than the previous time I had asked. But it's different since we're both cracking up now.

"Yes! I already said yes! You're so cringy!" She wipes her eyes again, letting out a small sob.

I slip the paper ring onto her left hand. "Yeah," I sniff. "But you love me..."

"Yeah. For some weird reason, I really do.." She agrees, wiping her face once more.

I stand up in front of her. I tilt her chin up with one hand, using my other on the backrest of the couch to support me as I lean over her. I kiss her on the lips. She's wearing that vanilla chapstick again.

I don't pull back as I move to sit down beside her. I keep one hand holding her face, but I grab her waist with the other. Her hands sneak around the back of my neck as well. This is not a rare scenario for us to be in. It's all natural at this point...

We pull back for a short breath, but our lips soon find each other again.

We're straight (gay?) up making out when we are interrupted by the doorbell. Right. We are expecting guests. We reluctantly pull away, taking a moment to catch our breaths. Her cheeks are pink, as they seemingly always are after we kiss. It's cute.

The doorbell rings again, so I squeeze her hand once, giving a small smile, and then get up to go let them in. Lucille follows.

The other four are all standing outside the door. I'm sure Lucas rode with Deven, and Sam with Dakota, so they must've just coincidentally arrived at the same time.

We all exchange brief hugs and then welcome everyone in.

"Not bad..." Dakota says as she glances around. It is pretty big. All thanks to Connor and his richness.

"Money, money, money." Lucas mutters.

"That is exactly what I first think of when I see anything of Lucille's family. Their house is insane." I say to him. Great minds—as in theater kids—think alike.

We give them the grand tour, not that Deven needs to pay much attention, having seen it all yesterday.

"How far is y'all's place from here?" Dakota asks Deven and Lucas. They still live in Boston as well.

"25-ish minute walk. Maybe slightly shorter driving. Depends on traffic." Deven explains.

Lucille nudges me. "We should tell them the news..." She mutters as I bend down to hear what she has to say. It's been nearly four years, but she hasn't grown a millimeter.

"Oh? What news?" Dakota asks. Lucille isn't always the quietest whisperer. Doesn't help that there's only six of us here. Sam is pretty quiet though. He's a little awkward.

"Either one of you is pregnant somehow, or it's something very minor." Deven assumes.

"Neither of those things, actually." I say.

Lucille grins as she holds up her hand. "We're engaged!" She announces. Though, she puts her hand down remembering she's only got a paper ring on her finger."

"No shit, really?" Deven seems genuinely surprised. I'm not sure whether to be offended by that.

"We need the story. Now." Lucas demands. Dakota and Sam listen in attentively as well.

We all move over to the couch, Dakota and Sam sitting on the ground since there's not enough room for us all, and we give them the rundown.

Deven seems to laugh at how bizarre it is.

"That's sweet in the cringiest way possible." Dakota says.

"I think it's adorable." Lucas shrugs. "Definitely more interesting than most engagement stories."

We gather up some snacks—everyone was supposed to bring some to share—and start up the movie. It's early, but we plan on going out later. Just to dinner and then back to our respective homes. I'll get to come back here. With the love of my life.

Okay, yeah, we'd already been living together in the dorm, but this is different. Vastly different. This is our home. It's our own sanctuary.

I'm so grateful to have this life now. I don't know what I did to earn this, but I will be forever thankful.

From an abusive household, to some small kind of freedom, to true happiness. From fear to safety. From loneliness to real friendships and even more real love.

There have been bumps—and it's certainly taken time—but there are no regrets. How could there be? With my best friends and soon-to-be wife as my side?

I've got no clue as to what the future holds, but, from here on out, I think the odds may just be in my favor. In our favor.

THE END