End point

Chapter 12

Christopher

Owen and I have been good friends since the day we met, but I was always closer with Ethan until he started acting weird and we completely lost contact with him. As much as I know, he moved back to Utah.

When Katherine moved to Italy, Owen and I became really close. He helped me a lot and I watched how his relationship with Hayley grew. I think that he saw how heartbroken I was and started worrying that it might happen to him. So he proposed to her soon after and now they have two kids. One that they have adopted because Hayley always wanted to help a child which is kind of awesome and the other one is their baby girl that was born a year ago. But he never told me that I have a daughter when he knew it all along.

I drive to their house and park my car on the street. It's a nice home, although it's small. I always liked this place.

"Oh, hey Chris." Hayley opens the door, holding her daughter Violet.

"Hey, Hayley." I say as I get in.

"Hey man." Owen says, standing up from the couch. He is watching last week's game.

"How are you doing?" I ask Hayley and take Violet's little hand. She looks like her parents with dark hair and dark eyes. Although Owen is still bleaching his hair.

"I'm good. I need sleep but I'm good. I might drop the kids to Katherine for a day or two." She says.

"It's okay. I don't think that she would mind." Adaline is staying sometimes at their house so it's only fair if their kids stay with her.

"Can we talk?" I ask Owen as Hayley collects the toys from the floor.

"Sure. Let's go outside."

"Lucas! Come and get your notebooks." Hayley shouts.

"Do you want to drink something?" Owen asks me as we walk out into the backyard. It's more like a balcony. They have a small plastic kids pool, a lot of kids toys and I guess the coolest thing, a mini fridge.

"What do you have?" I ask him, taking a seat at the round table of their patio.

"I have beer." Of course he does. "And soda."

"I'll have a soda."

"You're not drinking anymore?" He smirks, placing the soda can in front of me.

"I don't think that it's wise for me to drink anymore." I say as he opens a beer bottle for himself.

"Suit yourself man. I'm cool with the beer."

"Why didn't you tell me that Katherine was pregnant?"

He puts down the bottle and stares at the table for a moment. "I didn't know that she was pregnant. She only told us when she was in labor... I know it's fucked up that I didn't tell you. But she told us not to."

"You also knew where she was?"

"Jesus..." He sighs and sits back on the chair. "I couldn't tell you. Also she moved from there. So even I didn't know where she was and Hayley wouldn't tell me. Trust me, I tried." I put my hands on my head.

"How did you even two talk? Wasn't that weird after all these years?" He asks me.

"Yes, it fucking was... But we figured it out. I love her and she still loves me. Nothing has changed."

"She's married now."

"You and I both know that that marriage is bullshit."

"Well..."

"I just wish I could've had those years with them."

"I can't imagine how you feel right now. Because back then, I didn't know what it was like to feel that kind of love for someone... But now that I'm a dad myself, I don't want to be away from them for a minute." He has changed a lot since the time he met Hayley. The guy that I met in college, who was always drinking and partying, sometimes even getting high, became a family man. Not everyone can understand the power of that change.