Epilogue

1/6

The cool air sent chills up and down my spine but I felt warm with his arm around my shoulders. I tried to keep my mind off of everything that could happen that day. How would everyone else respond to us? Had the word already gotten around? Would anyone even notice?

"Quit worrying so much," Kyle whispered in my ear. "Since when do you care so much about what everyone else thinks?"

I'd gotten used to him knowing exactly what I was thinking in the past couple of days. We'd been practically inseparable since that night at the beach. It had been one of the best – and most unforgettable – nights of my life, but the next morning I felt like it was too good to be true.

That was one of the reasons why every morning since then, I'd checked the back of the heart on the bracelet to make sure it still said 'I love you.' I believed those words the moment I read them. He hadn't said them out loud yet but I knew he was only waiting for me, and I was waiting until I was absolutely sure I meant that. By the way things had been the past couple of days, I knew I was close.

"I don't," I replied as a snowflake landed right on the tip of my nose. The school was slowly coming into view, causing small butterflies to erupt in my stomach.

"Then why do you look so nervous?" he noticed.

I looked at him wryly. "Does it show?"

He gave me a small smile and squeezed my shoulder lightly. "It's just another day."

I turned away so he couldn't see the doubtful look on my face. Once we crossed the street, we were officially on school property and I knew it was too late to chicken out. Still, I asked, "Can't we just ditch?"

He let out a small laugh. "Not today."

A sigh escaped my lips and I leaned my head against his shoulder. He kept me walking in the direction of the school until we reached our lockers and made sure I didn't bang my head on my locker when he let me go.

People had definitely noticed us together but it wasn't as sudden as it had been with Chris. I figured people were already used to Kyle and me being so close, which helped settle my nerves a little. I didn't want as much attention as I'd gotten with Chris – once was enough.

If possible, everyone was more interested in my cast and the accident than Kyle giving me a quick kiss before we headed to class. I tried to answer their questions the best I could even though it was a little weird having to talk about it. Yes, it had hurt and no, Aaron wasn't dead; he was in class just like everyone else. Yes, it had been a drunk driver and he'd died. And no, I definitely wasn't running away with Aaron at two in the morning.

After a while, the questions got a little too weird and I started repeating the answers. By second period, I knew what the question was going to be just by the look on the person's face.

Kyle had been practically the only one I'd seen the past couple of days so I hadn't thought much about everyone else. Chris was back to normal and the occasional talk about me and Kyle didn't seem to bother him. Nick, on the other hand, still wouldn't look me in the eye when we talked. I couldn't help getting frustrated by that since I wanted us to try starting with a clean slate.

"Quit worrying so much," Kyle's voice echoed in my mind, helping me relax for a bit.

I hurried to my locker at break, hoping to catch Kyle there before he left for the Quad. I was pleasantly surprised to see him waiting patiently by my locker, his books already in his hand. He seemed to be less conscious about everyone else that could have possibly been watching than I was when he kissed me on the cheek. The moment he did, I heard the whispers erupt and my face flushed.

Kyle frowned slightly. "Are you still thinking about that?"

I shrugged lightly and hurriedly tried to open my locker. It took me three attempts to get the combination right but the lock still didn't open. I saw Kyle's hands reach over and place his warm hands on top of my freezing ones. He calmly dialed in my combination and the lock practically flew open.

I smiled in thanks.

"Calm down," he said softly. He was standing closer than I'd thought and for some reason, I had trouble getting my math textbook out of the locker. He was still smiling slightly when I finally slammed my locker shut in frustration after getting my things out.

I followed him to the Quad – not like I had much choice, though, considering his arm was placed securely around my waist the whole time – mentally scorning myself for letting him know I was still thinking about the same thing.

Fortunately, I relaxed a bit once we sat down at our usual table in the Quad and I saw Aly practically jumping up and down. It didn't take long for me to find out that she'd asked Drew out on a date. I couldn't help being surprised, though, since Aly was very old-fashioned and preferred it when the guy was the one to do the asking out. Still, I was glad that she'd made the first move and hadn't let the chance pass her by.

Drew didn't seem bothered by everyone talking about that, but I could feel him glancing at me every once in a while. I smiled at him and said, "I'm fine with it."

That seemed to work and he flashed a smile before continuing his conversation with Nick. Nick refused to even glance at me, which hurt a little but Kyle distracted me by taking my hand from underneath the table. A small smile slowly appeared on my face and I leaned against him, still feeling a little conscious about everyone that could have been watching.

After break, Kyle walked me to class, which I appreciated because Aly was still talking my ear off about how excited she was about her date, and I knew his next class was on the other side of the school.

Math class wasn't much better than my first two classes of the day, even though Travis was able to keep a handful of people from asking me the same questions over again. I'm not sure why he did that, though; maybe because he knew it bugged me to talk about it. He told me it was because he was getting annoyed himself, but I noticed the small smile on his face after he looked away.

It was a little odd walking into English without a single worry, compared to the last couple of times I'd gone in there. I didn't want to think about that too much because I was on a high and I didn't want to get down.

The rest of the school day went by similarly with people interrogating me about everything I had done the night of the Formal. Of course, I didn't tell them any more than they needed to know, which wasn't much.

I didn't see Aaron until after school when he was heading to the field for soccer practice. It didn't take much to catch up with him since he was still getting used to using the crutches again.

"Crappy day," he muttered. He had to use crutches for the next two months but he was fortunate enough that he could still walk, though he disagreed with me. He claimed he'd rather be stuck in bed for two months than have to use crutches and watch the soccer games from the sidelines.

I shrugged. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," I admitted.

He grunted. "You weren't asked if I was trying to kidnap you," he muttered.

I couldn't help but laugh at that, earning a glare from him. "At least I wasn't running away with you," I defended.

A barely-noticeable smile appeared on his face when I said that but he quickly wiped it off. "Fair enough."

He made his way to the field while I took my place at the top of the bleachers. It hadn't snowed too much over the past couple of days so the guys were still able to practice on the field, even though it was covered in snow. There weren't many other people on the bleachers, making it quiet enough for me to hear every single word Aaron was yelling at the players. I was used to his impatience whenever he wasn't allowed to play, but it still got on my nerves when I was trying to focus on studying for my upcoming finals.

I was just about to yell at him from the bleachers to shut up when someone caught my eye: Kyle.

I sighed deeply, unable to look away. I'd been with him most of the previous 72 hours but I still felt like that wasn't enough. He was concentrating on getting the soccer ball past Chris but he still managed to glance at me from the corner of his eye. My heart practically stopped when he flashed a smile. It only lasted a few seconds but it was enough to make bearing Aaron's constant swearing almost worth it.

The smile stayed frozen in my mind for longer than I'd expected but it gave me something to daydream about for a while.

I swallowed hard when I thought about how screwed up things had been before the break.

The only person who was willing to talk to me was Drew and even he abandoned me at the Formal alone with Chris. But, it took Chris to make me realize I couldn't stay mad at Kyle, no matter how big of a jerk he had been. I let another sigh escape my lips. If it hadn't been for Shauna, I could have found out that Kyle liked me that night. And maybe if I hadn't been so mad, I would have simply asked Aaron for a ride home, instead of almost freezing to death and trying to make him mad.

But things are never that easy, are they? I had to survive making up with him and two almost-kisses before I could even begin to imagine the possibility of being more than friends with Kyle. I still can't believe everything that's happened in the past two weeks…

Aaron yelling incoherently at Chase to kick the ball the right way snapped me out of my thoughts. Chase already looked impatient with Aaron, along with the rest of the team. Even the JV team looked like they wanted to yell a couple things back at him. Kyle looked more annoyed than the others, which made sense considering he had to deal with Aaron at home too.

Chase mumbled something under his breath and continued chasing the ball, trying to block Aaron out. He was already planning something for his and Jade's 5th anniversary, which was just around the block. From what Jenna had told me, they hadn't had a single fight yet – not sure if that's a good thing or not – and were still as happy as they had been when they first started going out.

At first, I found it hard to believe that they could be that happy, but then I thought of Kyle and I knew it was possible. I knew no matter what happened in the future, we would still be friends in the end. Maybe we would only last for a couple of weeks, or even months, but I wasn't about to let our friendship end, even if our relationship did.

I blinked in surprise when Kyle caught me staring at him. Even though he'd caught me doing the same thing several times in the past couple of days, my face still managed to flush a deeper red than it had before. He always responded with a laugh that made my heart flutter – just like it did at that moment – even though I couldn't hear him over Aaron's constant yelling.

I had half a mind to yell at him to shut up once and for all but I decided it would be more fun to watch the coach yell at him. Fifteen minutes later, that's exactly what Coach Miller did and Aaron was sentenced to the side bleachers for the rest of practice. Even from the top of the bleachers, I could hear him swear under his breath as he stumbled over to the bleacher. There was only another half hour left before practice ended but that was twenty-nine minutes too long for Aaron to stay quiet.

I couldn't help but feel bad for Kyle, but I understood the other reason he'd spent more than half of the weekend at my house. Andrew left for Mississippi the day before and Travis was out with Kaila so we'd had the whole house to ourselves for a couple of hours. A smile slowly appeared on my face as I thought about how I'd wanted him to stay the night but wouldn't dare ask.

Shauna hadn't exactly been as bitter as I thought she would be. Of course, it wouldn't have been right if I hadn't received death glares from her throughout the day, but at least she hadn't tried to come up and talk to me. Hopefully, she would realize that she and Kyle were over.

Thinking about Shauna made me think about Nick all over again. I didn't want things to stay the way they were between us but I knew it wouldn't be that easy to move on either. He'd told me how he felt only after I'd gotten with Kyle and he knew that made things even harder. I didn't even want to think about choosing between them because, honestly, we both knew who I would pick.

I jumped when I heard someone climbing up the bleachers but I immediately relaxed when I saw it was Kyle. He had already dressed back into his regular clothes, meaning practice had ended. He was smiling the smile that made my heart skip a couple of beats.

"Hey," he said, sitting down next to me. His arm went around my shoulder and he leaned in to give me a kiss, drowning out my reply. He was still smiling when he pulled away. "Ready to go?"

I looked around the snow-covered field once and said, "Not yet."

He didn't argue and simply pulled me deeper into his embrace. I could have sworn that he heard how fast my heart was beating when I rested my head on his shoulder. I felt safer inside his arms than I did anywhere else; I knew he wasn't going to let me go any time soon.

Things aren't perfect; even though it seems like they are, they aren't. But that's Ok. Who really needs perfect anyway? I'm fine where I am, inside his arms, and the way I feel is unbelievable.

I glanced up at Kyle for just a second but that was enough to give my heart a complete cardiovascular workout. He placed a kiss on my temple and I felt my whole body go numb. How could I want anything else?

I love Kyle…and that's all I need.

(A/N) -deep breath- It's over...:( forever and ever :( But...it was time -deep breath-

So, on a happier note, it's finally finished! I did it! I did it! I did it! I finally 'graduated' from this story!!

When I first started starting, I had no idea that I would write a whole 80 chapters of it! (or even 10) And I can't believe people actually read this!! Crazy, isn't it?

Thank you everyone that's read even a chapter of this story and I hope you stick around for the sequel!

Speaking of the sequel, I've already started working on it and so far, I think it's just as awesome that I want it to be :) It'll probably be up in...a week or two? I know that kinda seems like a long time but it's not really, considering it's a sequel and some authors wait months or even years (shudder) before even starting to write sequels. Not me, though! :) I don't waste any time (Well...that's not entirely true...of course)

Oh, and I apologize if the Epilogue isn't what you expected. Even I'll admit it's not everything I wanted, which is kinda sad :P But I was so excited about "Until It's Gone" that I...I...I...Ok, I have no excuse :( I just wanted to move on to the next story, so, once again, I apologize :(

The one, the only,

Yours truely,

DolphinWriter88 :)