Tattler || 5sos

Epilogue

            ~Emery~

            ~one month later~

            The paint glides onto the canvas, and I find myself smiling, which is still a new feeling to me. I hear the door open, a the sound of grocery bags hitting the table. I don't stop painting, not even when he bends down and kisses the top of my head.

            "You haven't painted in a long time," he says softly, and I can hear the smile in his voice.

            "I know," I sit down the brush and turn on my stool to look up at him. "It feels good."

            Ashton reaches down and traces the still-red scar on my collarbone. "Everything's going back to normal." But his voice is strained, and I know that he will never quite be the same. I stand up and take his face in my hands. His eyes soften ever so slightly.

            "I know you don't want to talk about it," I say in a hushed tone, "but when you do I'm here. I'm always here."

            He pulls me in and kisses me, lighter than air. He's been gentle near me ever since, but now my bruises have faded and the cuts have scarred over and I wonder if perhaps he's being gentle for his own sake instead of mine.

---

            "Wow," Luke stepped into the apartment with a smile. "It smells amazing in here!"

            "Who knew Ashton could cook," I laugh, stealing a carrot from the plate. "I'll never order takeout again."

            Ashton smiles and shakes his head. I hop around the counter to hug Luke. "How are you?" I ask, taking the bottle of wine out of his hand and getting the corkscrew from the counter.

            "Better," he nods, "but not really the same."

            I pour three glasses while Ashton sets the plates out. We sit down and begin to eat. Luke looks up at us. "Actually there was something I was going to tell you two."

            "Sure, what?" Ashton set down his fork and took a sip of wine.

            Luke took a breath. "I'm going to go into the military."

            "What?" Ashton stares and I try not to react.

            Luke shrugs. "I need to do something that means something. I'm alive, but what am I alive for? To keep tutoring middle school kids in math? That just doesn't seem right to me. That doesn't seem like the kind of life I've killed for to have."

            "So you're going to go risk that life?" Ashton sounds hurt, and I am too. Luke was our only friend. Michael had moved away, with an excuse of not being able to stay in a city where so many things had happened. Calum was dead. Britt was dead. Ivy had died of a wound on the car ride back to our apartment. We were it.

            "I'm not asking for your permission," Luke takes another bite of the chicken and meets my eyes. "You're my best friends, hell, my only friends. I leave tomorrow."

            I put my napkin on the table and stand up. "Excuse me I need some air."

            Out on the terrace, I try to breathe deeply, to keep from crying. Because that's what I want to do. I want to cry, but crying won't fix anything so I won't. The door behind me slides open and Luke leans against the railing with me.

            "I'll come back," he says, "but I need to do this, Emery."

            "I know," I sigh and turn to look at him. "I'm            just going to miss you."

            "You have it good here. You'll be happy," Luke turns to look at me with the crooked smile that has stuck by me since kindergarten.

            "But I'm going to miss you, Luke," I bite my cheek. Luke puts his arm around me.

            "I'll miss you too, Em."

---

            "Emery?"

            I step out of the bathroom, my brush in my hair, and look at Ashton, who is sitting on the bed. "Yes?"

            "Can we talk?"

            I put down the brush and come to sit across from him. "Of course we can."