I made a few changes some past chapters. Nothing big but if anyones curious, Callaway is now located in Connecticut. If you wish to know why thats kind of an imporant detail, it has to do with my new story That Was Then. Anyways, here's the epilogue and i hop everyoen enjoys it! :)

I turned the knob on the radio down while I nervously kept my eyes on the very icy Kelm Street.

I was a little surprised that I still remembered my way towards my Aunt Rebecca's house, seeing as this is the first time I've been back in Callaway since summer vacation. I didn't come home for Thanksgiving break because I used the time to take some extra courses so I could earn some extra credits and now it's Christmas break, so I've decided to come home. In the short three months that I've been away from Callaway, I'm sorry to say that I haven't undergone any drastic changes.

My hair is still that dark brown that it's always been, but since I haven't been in the sun so much, it doesn't have as much red tint as it used to. Also, much to my pleasure, it seems as though my hair finally decided that it didn't have enough wave to it, and now the waves are much more prominent…you could even say they're just super loose curls. Although, that may be pushing it a little far seeing as how its only wavy near the ends.

With a shake of my head and sigh of relief, I pulled into the long driveway of my Aunt's home and killed the engine. I had just gotten out of the car when the front door to the house slammed open and Troy came running out of the house.

"Aroura!" He yelled in delight before throwing his arms around me. I giggled and hugged him tightly and before pulling and way and ruffling his blond hair.

"When was the last time you got a haircut?" I questioned curiously as I fingered the somewhat long strands.

"Well I was supposed to get one last week but I keep avoiding mom and Aunt Rebecca." He told me solemnly. "I like my hair the way it is." I shook my head.

"You're gonna get caught sooner or later." I reminded him and he nodded.

"And I'd rather it be later then sooner." He replied. "Now hurry up and give me the keys to your trunk - if I get the bags out then they’ll be distracted by what I'm carrying and they won't look at my hair." He told me before snatching the keys from my hand and running to the trunk.

I shrugged - fine by me.

I stood up just as another blond head came running out of the house.

"Aroura! You're back!" Clarissa beamed and I giggled softly.

"Of course, I had to come home eventually." I replied and she rolled her eyes before pulling me into a big hug.

"Well you know honey, some of us were beginning to wonder." I pulled away from Clarissa at my mothers voice.

"Mom!" I spoke happily and my mom pushed some of her blonde hair out of her face before she too enveloped my in a hug.

"You're never going this long without visiting me again, do you hear me?" She whispered into my ear and I nodded. Ever since she lost dad, she's been holding what's left of her family closer to her then ever before.

"Now lets all head inside, Rebecca's making sure that the cook has everything prepared." My mom told all of us, then she turned to me. "She's very excited to see you, dear." I smiled.

"I'm excited to see her too."

"My God, Aroura! What do you have in these bags?" Troy huffed at me as he passed; the strain evident in his arms as he carried them into the house. I let out a laugh and followed him, my stomach growling and prepared for what was sure to be a delicious and satisfying dinner.

+------------------------+

"What do you mean there's no strawberry ice-cream?!" I hissed at my brother, outraged. He shrugged but had a tiny smirk on his face as he licked his spoon clean of vanillaice-cream. Bleh.

"I 'forgot' that you love strawberry ice-cream and so I wrote down vanilla ice-cream instead."

"But vanillas your favorite! Not mine!" I whined accusingly and he shrugged again.

"Slipped my mind, maybe next time I'll remember." He told me offhandedly.

"Maybe…maybe next time?" I repeated disbelievingly before shaking my head and grabbing my purse off the mantel. "I'm going into town for ice-cream." I told him with my nose in the air. He waved me away.

"Yeah, yeah. Leave me alone."

"Fine." I spoke to the brat. I was on my way out of the house when I spotted my mother. "Oh mom, Troy's hairs looking a little…long, don't you think?" And at my words, I swear I saw a light bulb turn on above her head.

"Oh, of course! Thanks hun. Troy! Come here!" I smirked to myself as I left the house. Feeling a whole lot better about the situation, I got into my car and drove off, determined to find the nearest ice-cream parlor.

I was surprised to say the least when I saw a newly built Dairy Queen after only a minute of driving but just as I pulled into the parking lot, I remembered how absolutely fantastic the strawberry ice-cream at Keller's Ice-Cream Parlor was.

Ugh, I can't go there…he may be there!

I glanced up at the bright Dairy Queen sign and sighed. Was the strawberry ice-cream really worth a possible run in with Aden?

After a moment or two, I put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking lot.

Of course it was.

+------------------------+

I studied the ground as I stood in line at the ice-cream parlor and nervously tapped my foot against the hard tiled floors.

"Alright, whose next?" I heard a booming voice sound and I took a deep breath before looking up and smiling as I moved towards the serving counter.

"Hey Mr. Keller." I greeted nervously and I watched as his pupils dilated for a second before a huge grin came over his face.

"Aroura! My God, how've you been?" He asked happily before leaning over the counter to give me a hug. I hugged him back and smiled at him when he let go.

"I've been fine. College is going great." I told him honestly and he nodded.

"Good, good. So I guess you'll be having a strawberry cone then, huh?" He asked, his grin still remaining on his face. I laughed and nodded.

"Of course."

"Alright, why don't you go have a seat then. Your order will be right up - and please stuff that bill back into your pocket! It's on the house." I smiled at Mr. Keller and nodded my thanks before I went to a booth by the window.

As far as I could tell, Aden wasn't here. I mean, this place is pretty full and yet the only people working behind the counters and serving the ice-cream and food is Mr. Keller and some random teenager who I'm guessing was recently hired to help out.

Reassured, I settled back into my seat and watched as the cars zoomed by the street

It didn't take long for my ice-cream to arrive, despite the big crowd, and as I looked up to thank the server, my words caught in my throat as Aden gave me a cool look. He wasn't smiling but he wasn't frowning either…and his brown eyes were sparkling in their usual way that would never fail to make my heart jump.

He looked away from me for a second to take in the surroundings before bringing them back to look at me.

"It's kind of crowded in here…come outside with me?" He asked and held out his hand. I didn't think twice before grasping his hand and allowing him to pull me from the booth, my ice-cream remaining untouched in its cup on the table. He pulled me outside and brought me up the long driveway and towards his ridiculously large house. The air was pretty cool and my cheek tinged pink when I realize I left the house without grabbing my jacket or anything like that - I only had a long sleeved shirt on.

The front of his house had a wrap around porch with an oak wood railing and next to the double French front doors, there was a cute wooden swinging bench which Aden promptly led me towards. I sat on the bench expecting him to join me, but instead he just leaned against the railing, leaving barely a foot of space between our legs.

He was watching me and I forced myself not to squirm under his wandering gaze.

"You're quiet possibly the most beautiful girl I know." He finally said.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes and now that the ice was finally broken, I found old feelings washing upon the shore.

"Oh? So is that the reason you chose me to be the final girl for Brody and Will to screw over?" I asked him, my voice level and cool but with the tiniest pinch on bitterness stirred in.

At my words, Aden paled considerably and I watched as he quickly shook his blond head and got down on his knee in front of me, taking one of my hands into his. I felt my heartbeat quicken at the position and felt myself blush even harder - how can I be annoyed at this guy and yet be thinking about him proposing to me at the same time?

This time, Aden noticed my cheeks flush but he didn’t realize it was because of my overactive imagination.

"Jesus, Aroura. What the hell possessed you to walk out of the house without any layering?" He scolded as he realized I was missing an essential wardrobe piece. He shrugged out of his out sweatshirt and while I was grateful at first, as soon as I saw that he was only wearing a short sleeved shirt underneath, I instantly shook my head.

"Aden, you're bound to be a lot colder then-"

"Take it." He growled, practically forcing the sweatshirt into my hands. "I'm fine, really."

He stood back up and leaned against the railing again.

I stared at him for a second as he promptly folded his muscular arms and continued to watch me. He didn't seem to be lying…but I knew pretty well that he's a better liar then most.

Finally, after a few more seconds, I shrugged the sweater on and felt wonderful at the sudden warm sensation.

"You know." I muttered after a few seconds of basking in the warmth. "I still haven't totally forgiven you for what you did."

He sighed and started to pace in front of me.

"I know. But you have to understand…when I chose you, I didn't know you. I didn't know who you were or what you were doing here, I only knew you're name and who you were staying with. I get it now, I get how stupid and just downright ridiculous the whole scheme was and you'll never be able to understand just how sorry I am."

"Well, I'm glad that you understand now, but Aden…how many girls did it take before you finally realized this? The whole stupid plan was sick and twisted and I just…I hate thinking about how you screwed over so many girls."

"One hundred and one." Aden slipped in when I took a second to breathe. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"What?"

"One hundred and one. That's how many girls it took." His brown eyes bore into my shocked ones as he came back over to me, got down on one knee, and once again took my right hand in his own. "And including you, I actually tracked them all down and apologized to one hundred of them." He told me and for a moment of two, I couldn't form a single coherent thought. Finally, some intelligent words pushed through my mushy mind and lazy tongue.

"What about the last one? You apologized to one hundred, including me, but there were one hundred and one girls…"

Aden shrugged.

"Trisha didn't want me to come within 50 feet of her unless I was planning on groveling and wining her back. Which I wasn't." He informed me as he rubbed his thumb soothingly over the back of my palm. "I'm so sorry, Aroura. I never wanted to hurt you and I realize it's kind of late but…god, I'm just so sorry. I tried to stop it, stop your involvement in the scheme, but Will wouldn't let you go. I just…and when I agreed to let you finish up the month with Brody it's because I was so desperate. I was so in love with you - still am - and I was grasping at straws. I knew you wouldn't fall in love with Brody, so I knew you wouldn't be hurt when he ended things…but I wasn't planning on you confessing your love for me right after I made that deal. If I had known…" He looked down and pulled away before standing back up and taking a step back so that he was once again leaning against the railing. "Well, I guess none of that matters now, huh?" He told quietly. "The look on your face right now…it's all over, isn't it? I'm still grasping at straws and none of them are long enough anymore." He ran his hand through his blond hair and shook his head. "This was stupid…I'm going inside." He said in a somewhat hollow voice and without even glancing at me, he walked up to the front door.

However, before he could turn the doorknob, my hand was on his wrist and I was standing right behind him. I could hear my heartbeat thumping wildly against my chest and I wondered briefly if his was doing the same.

"In the span on a month, you apologized…to every single girl who would listen. You knocked some guy out when he was harassing me. You were even in the process of taking me on an extensively long road trip just because I was upset! You introduced me to your grandparents and you were there for me during that whole thing with my dad-"

"I would have been there at the funeral too if my stupid dad had let me go." He said gruffly before turning to face me, a single eyebrow raised. "But go on."

I laughed.

"My point is that even though you've made some really shitty mistakes - and I'm talking really, really bad, like a cheerleader dropping the Spirit Stick bad, like the world running out of water bad, like-"

"Aroura." Aden cut in, his voice sharp but with a hint of amusement in it causing me to smile.

"Anyways, my point is that even though you've made mistakes…you've done so much more for me and it's…you think I'm beautiful, you're always there for me and…" By now, I was fully away that I wasn’t making any sense and I realized that I wasn't making any sense because there was no plausible way for me to put what I was thinking…what I was feeling into words. It's like, my heart is pounding so hard and my head in spinning so fast (figuratively speaking, of course) that just a bunch of random words and lines are flying out of my mouth, just bits and pieces of what I'm feeling.

So instead of trying to portray what I'm feeling and thinking, I decided to say one of the more coherent lines that’s flying through my head.

"I love you." I told him before I flung my arms around his neck, stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. Aden's hand went around my waist in a heartbeat and he pressed me up against the wall next to the door as his lips ravished my own. My left leg wrapped around his waist and his hand moved from my waist down to grab my thigh and he pulled my leg tightly around him. His other hand went to my hair, effectively messing it up as his hands ran through it.

"I love you, too." He whispered as he pulled away from my lips and instead went to tenderly kiss and suck on my neck. I smiled at his words before I started to run my hands through his hair and his grasp on my thigh tightened.

We were interrupted by a deep throat clearing.

"Oh shit." He mumbled into my neck before releasing my thigh and turning around. I smoothed down my hair and let it flow a little in front of my face as I hoped that it would cover my burning cheeks. Aden wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me to him as his parents watched us wearily. I groaned and buried my face in his chest and I felt it rumble as he laughed lightly. "It's alright, beautiful. We won't be in to much trouble…" He tried to reassure me and even as I looked up at him, my eyes full of doubt - we were just caught basically having dry sex on their front porch - I couldn't help but not care about the embarrassing reprimanding that was bound to happen any minute now. And I didn't care because I finally got what I wanted. What I'd been wanting since the very beginning of the summer, even if I didn't know it then.

I've got Aden. Perfect, fantastic, beautiful Aden and he loves me.

What more could a girl ask for?

…Oh wait, hold that thought.

"Aden." I whispered as his hand grasped mine and we followed his parents who were directing us through the house to the living room.

"Yeah?" He whispered back.

"Well, I know you love me and all that and I was wondering…I haven't had any good, strawberry ice-cream in a while-" I was cut off when Aden laughed and we stopped following his parents. He turned to me and pulled me into his chest, his grin lighting up his face.

"Aroura, you can have all the strawberry ice-cream you want. All day, every day. Promise." He assured me and continued to laugh. I grinned and when his parents called for us from the living room, we ignored them.

"I love you, Aroura." He told me and I couldn't help but grin and lent up to press my lips to his once more.

Okay, now what more could a girl ask for?

The End.

Well thats all folks. Thanks so much for sticking with this story - it really means a lot to me.

And in case anyone's still interested in Aroura and Aden, they're going to become permanent side characters in my new story That Was Thenso you should check it out! :) They're not the main characters or anything but they'll be supporting chracters. :))

Thanks so much and please don't forget to review!

- Vi