Streaker.

Epilogue

"Just hold on a minute, El, I'm kind of busy." Luke said, balancing his cell phone in between his ear and his shoulder. He ran past his now 10 year old cousin Ellie, who was sitting at the table and finishing up her math homework.

After his second year of college, Luke finally moved out of his mom's house and got an apartment that was in the same neighborhood that his aunt and uncle lived in. When Ellie found out she was just ecstatic and insisted that Luke spent as much time with her as he could.

Luke entered the kitchen and opened the fridge, searching for something to feed Ellie and also himself.

"Do you want me to just call back?" Ashley asked through the phone, laughing softly.

"No, no, we haven't talked in weeks." Luke shook his head quickly. "I'm just trying to make dinner and help Ellie with her homework. Things are just kind of crazy."

"You seem really busy." Ashley said. "I can call back, Luke, it's not a big deal."

Yeah, he was busy. Luke was 22 years old now and between finishing up his last semester of college and babysitting his cousin all the time and trying to have some kind of a social life, things were kind of hectic. But he dealt with it and he was okay, Luke's life was pretty crazy but he loved it.

"It's fine, Ashley." Luke chuckled. "I can multitask, you of all people should know that."

For the most part he did a good job of keeping things under control. Luke was able to go to class every day and then pick up Ellie from school, then come back to his apartment and make something to eat for her. They'd work on her homework together and maybe watch a movie or a few TV episodes before Luke's aunt came to pick Ellie up on her way home from work.

"Alright, fine." Ashley said, laughing again. "So how are you? How's Ellie?"

"I'm good. She's good, just doing her homework now." Luke said. He quickly popped his head into the dining area again, just to check on Ellie. "You okay, Ellie-Bean?"

"Yeah!" Ellie yelled back, giving Luke a thumbs up from where she was sitting at the table. Luke walked back into the kitchen, hoping that he had a frozen pizza or something that he could heat up for dinner.

"I saw the picture that you posted of you and her on Instagram, it was really cute." Ashley said. "Michael also thought it was cute, he said he misses Ellie."

"I'm sure Ellie misses Michael too." Luke chuckled softly, leaning up against the counter. "How is Michael? Are you keeping him out of trouble?"

Ashley and Michael had been dating for the last few years, which was a huge surprise to pretty much everyone. They had a nice apartment together and was close enough to both of their colleges.

For a while Luke was upset about Michael and Ashley being together. He still hadn't agreed with Ashley going back to Michael after all he did to her. They really did like each other, though, and Luke had to accept it. Eventually he was able to move on and be happy for Michael and Ashley, and now Luke didn't mind their relationship.

Luke and Ashley were still best friends, even though they lived thousands of miles away from one another and only saw each other a few times a year. They'd never tried to be in a relationship again, because honestly they were just better off as friends. They loved each other, just not in a romantic way, and Luke was very happy with that.

"Oh, definitely." Ashley said sarcastically. "He hasn't gotten arrested again, don't worry."

"That's still one of my favorite stories." Luke laughed, remembering when Ashley had called him complaining about having to bail Michael out of jail one night.