First off, I want to thank every single person who motivated me in writing this, who inspired me, and who even yelled at me when I didn't think I could continue (Oh, the writers block...) I mostly want to thank everyone who liked my story and all those harsh critiques. Kat and JC: you guys saved my butt. Hah, and now that this is ending I can go back and edit every chapter and rewrite the ones that I've been needing to. I've been working on this story for about eight months, but I originally started the idea a year ago. Peyton - you've also been a big inspiration. Hah, along with all my friends who I've gotten personalities from. My characters would've been nothing without you guys. I'm really sad to see this come to an end, but now there's always the sequel:D OH, and I'm going to be working on another story called Secrets of Desperation - so look out for that(: There's also an epilogue, but that will be put into my final copy of this when it's edited and rewritten. Anyways, enjoy the last and final chapter - please, harsh critiques to make this better are welcomed.
Carly slowly exited Ripley’s Believe it Or Not with a gloom face. She had just broken off her relationship with Brad and now felt horrible.
“Hey.” Evie enveloped her friend, noticing how tense Carly was. “Let’s go back to the room and talk about it, okay?” Evie turned to Aaron who was now standing, “Is that okay?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll go find Brad.” Aaron cleared his throat, then walked back into the museum to find Brad.
“So, what happened?” Evie asked as soon as they entered the door. She walked over to their bags and pulled hers out. “Don’t mind me, I’m just going to start packing for tomorrow.” Even when Evie said this, she felt a pain stagger in her, they were all going home tomorrow.
“Well… remember that really cute guy from the club that you introduced to me?” Carly sat down on the bed, picking at the cloth.
“Sean?” Evie asked, walking over to the closet and pulling out the first stack of clothes.
“Yes. Sean. Well, he texted me and I was looking at this albino alligator, so Brad had my phone.” Carly started, becoming more serious than gloomy now. “Anyways, it said something about going back to the club tonight and Brad asked me what he was talking about. I told him and he flipped out. He was seriously freaking out that I danced with someone.”
“Well, he does love you, Carly.” Evie shrugged, carrying over the next stack of clothes.
“That doesn’t help.” Carly flatly stated. “So, as I was saying, he kept getting louder and angrier every time I told him to be quiet. Then he said ‘Don’t you care about us?’ and that’s when it hit me. He needed to know.” Carly lowered her head.
“…And then?” Evie pressed on, stopping in her tracks with the final stack of clothes.
“And then I told him no. I just- I just can’t do it anymore. I can’t bear to lie, bear to pretend that I’m happy. I need to do what’s right for me. I felt really terrible about saying No so I hurried off and that’s when I called you…” Carly’s eyes began to water.
“Aw, Carly. Listen, you were right. You need to do what makes you happy and right for you. No one wants to be involved in something that they have to lie about. Sure it’s hard now but that’s how heart break is.” Evie rubbed her back. Carly started to solemnly cry.
“That’s the thing…” She sobbed, “I don’t feel anything. I don’t feel heartache, or break, pain, guilt. I feel free. That’s terrible! I should feel like the biggest… bitch in the world! But I feel happy. That’s so wrong!” Carly cried on Evie’s shoulder. Evie hugged her friend and just let her vent. This wasn’t an advice asking, this was a vent. Carly felt terrible and she needed to let it out.
“How about we turn on some ancient music we haven’t listened to in forever and then we can start packing, get our minds off of all this?” Evie offered, helping Carly up on her feet. Carly smiled diligently.
“Okay.” She agreed, then went to go plug in the iPod player. Evie started with all the clothes, folding and packing, while Carly took care of all the toiletries. Carly emerged from the bathroom, dancing, zipping up her own toiletry bag. She hoped to her suitcase and tossed it in. Evie danced herself and went to go retrieve anything left in the closet. She grabbed all of the shopping bags and as she passed Carly, they shared a dance moment, dancing with each other then laughing, and then returning to what they were doing. All in all, they were having a good time. Carly grabbed her pillow off of Evie’s bed, not noticing the letter that dropped on the floor when doing so.
Evie rounded the bed to get hers and tripped over some shoes. She bent down to get them when she noticed the folded piece of paper laying on the ground. Evie placed her pillow and shoes on the bed, grabbed the letter, and turned to pause the music. Even with the music off, Carly danced with herself, singing the lyrics out loud. When she noticed the silence, she stopped and turned around to see Evie’s eyes moving fiercely, from left to right, across the paper. She skipped her way over to Evie and peered over the letter,
“Whatcha reading?” She asked in a childish tone.
“Shh!” Evie hissed as she gradually got closer to finishing the letter. Evie’s eyes watered before she read the last line of Aaron’s letter. She looked up and saw the concern in Carly’s face.
“Evie, what’s wrong?” Carly was serious now, walking to stand right next to her friend.
“Read this.” Evie croaked out, handing the paper to Carly. Carly skimmed over the words just as fast as Evie did, but had to reread some lines making sure she was reading this right.
“Oh my god.” Carly breathed. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know!” Evie blurted, confused. She felt warm tears slowly trace down her face. She never knew, all this time. When did he leave it? When did he write it?
“You should go find him!” Carly urged, handing her the note. Evie wiped her tears away, sniffling.
“He’s with Brad, what am I supposed to do? Just run up and talk to him about it when Brad is in the worst mood ever?” Evie spat, frustrated. When Evie mentioned Brad, the guilt feeling Carly experienced not too long ago returned. Carly’s eyes closed and she felt her eyes water. “I’m sorry.” Evie sighed, realizing what she said. As she attempted to calm Carly down, she had to calm herself down too.
“Hey…” Both of the girls’ heads looked up to see Brad walk through the door.
“Where’s Aaron?” Evie instantly asked, her heart beat racing.
“Enjoying his last night out along the boardwalk I think?” Brad questioned. Brads face looked tired and warn out. He looked like he was ready to just sleep.
“Oh. Okay, um, Carly I’ll be back later okay?” Evie asked. Carly looked at Brad but nodded. Evie raced passed them and out the door, the letter being squeezed and crinkled in her hand.
Brad walked up to Carly and smiled down at her.
“I’m really sorry Brad. Can we please talk about this?” Carly asked, her eyes as guilty as she felt.
“Of course.” He kept smiling, sitting down next to her on the bed.
“Brad… I’m not breaking up with you for any reason other then this: I’ve lost all love for you. I see you as… a brother now. You’re so sweet, you listen to me, and you understand. But when you talk about love and stuff… I just don’t feel it! And I’ve realized after six years of being with you, I am hurting not only you but myself. I need to be happy with myself, content with me and my decisions. I also realized that staying with you was only making your pain worse with thinking I love you.” Carly finished, feeling actually relieved that she was able to explain this all to Brad.
“Wow.” Brad breathed, running a hand through his hair. “Really?” He asked her, his hand resting in his hair. Carly nodded in response. “Man… I thought it was because of the Bella thing.”
“No.” Carly shook her head. “I just don’t want to be faking something anymore.”
“I… I guess I understand.” Brad had a hard time coming out with it. Sure, he would do anything to make Carly happy. But to do that he had to let go of their love and everything from day one up to now. That was going to be really hard.
“Thank you Brad. You seriously don’t understand how relieved I am to know that we’re okay.” Carly smiled, hugging him. She felt awkward doing it and thought that it was too soon to, but she couldn’t help it. She was really content with everything.
Even if Carly was okay and Brad reassured her that he was too, Carly didn’t know that Brad was dying inside.
Aaron sighed and plopped down on the sand. Where was he to start, last night in Miami, nothing went on with Evie, and Carly and Brad are split. It seemed like high school was fallowing him even to the coast line. Aaron, for once, ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back off his forehead. No one was going to come by that he knew so it wouldn’t make a difference what he looked like. He let the water ride up to the top of his shoes and then the shore slowly cascaded back again. Aaron didn’t know what to do, he was bored on his last night. There was still drama and he hasn’t been relaxed this whole week besides that night with Evie.
“Hey.” He heard a petit voice from behind him. He knew it was Evie and didn’t say anything - he thought back to the day when he was laying on the beach and Evie tried to sneak up behind him. He snapped at her that day…
“I need to talk to you.” Evie said more demanding now, after she cleared her throat. Aaron turned to her and nodded, indicating her to sit down. He looked as she sat down and took in her distraught face. She looked like she had been over-thinking something very hard.
“What is it?” He asked clearly, gulping a little, his mouth getting dry. Evie looked down and pulled out a small folded piece of paper from her back pocket.
“It’s so easy to find you, you know that?” She asked, smiling. “I like your hair by the way.” Evie didn’t want to confess that she read the letter right away, she kept thinking Aaron didn’t write it and that he didn’t like her at all. Aaron sheepishly smiled and fixed his hair back to it’s natural state.
“So… what did you want to talk about, Evie?” He was serious now, placing his full attention to her. At this moment, Evie felt like a melting candle. As soon as she told him she read the letter, she felt the flame would go out. But, even if she didn’t the candle would soon melt down to nothing some day and then it’d be too late. Evie placed the letter on Aaron’s lap and Aaron stared at it for a moment.
“Read it.” Evie insisted. Aaron had a feeling he knew what it was and his spirits lifted just a little. He unfolded the note, each time he unfolded one side a comfortable, relaxed feeling grew inside of him. He shook the paper flat and smiled: it was his letter.
“You read it.” He smiled. Evie and Aaron both felt relieved at the same time, happy that each other knew the other’s feelings. “But… wait- what did you want to talk about?” Aaron asked. He thought that maybe Evie didn’t feel the same anymore… that she didn’t want him as much as she’s always wanted him.
“How come you didn’t just give it to me sooner?” Evie smiled, leaning over her arm to kiss him. They’re lips moved together as one, fingers entwined, smiling while doing so. Evie started to kiss harder and Aaron responded back with a much more forceful kiss. It was anything like fireworks exploding above their heads, or in front of a setting sun. No, it was their own little original story. Aaron rolled on top of Evie, their legs fitting into place with each other. It felt like the world was slowing down and speeding up all at the same time, while they remained in place. Aaron ended the kiss and smiled down at her, the summer moon light outlining his head. He leaned down closer to her and smiled, “And she kissed me like she meant it.”
Fin.
