reckless | mgc

epilogue

2014

"I miss you a ton," Michael sighed, his voice coming out crackly through the speaker of Addy's laptop. His face was pixelated on the screen, but Addy was just glad she got to see it at all, considering he was hundreds of miles away.

After high school, Michael had applied to a college in the area, while Addy had applied to a bunch that were out of state. Calum had ended up moving in with his new girlfriend, (who he never shut up about) and they lived in a little apartment on the upper east side of the city where they both attended the community college together. Ashton had settled in a small house with his girlfriend, who he was planning to marry sometime in the near future. He decided against going to college and was now working an office job of some sort, (making music on the side) but his girlfriend had started going to college after a little convincing from the others. As for Luke, he got accepted into pretty much every Ivy League school there is, despite his struggles during high school. He was now attending Harvard University, where he wasn't really looking for a girlfriend. He was single, and he wanted to keep it that way for the time being while he focused on his education.

Addy knew she had the intelligence to get into the school she wanted and that she probably would, but she also knew that it came with leaving her boyfriend behind. So here she was, sitting on her small bed in her college dorm room, Skyping with her boyfriend that she hadn't seen face to face in months.

"Ditto," Addy mumbled, looking sadly down at her hands. She didn't know it was physically possible to miss someone so much that your whole body hurt. She just wanted Michael next to her. "Only two more weeks until we both have spring break though. I bought my plane ticket home last week. We can see each other then." Michael nodded on the other side, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He was upset a lot of the time and he missed Addy, but the thought of her coming home to him was enough to make it seem like nothing bad had ever happened in the first place.

"I know," he replied, the smile spreading to Addy's face now. "Damn, I love you Ellis." Even after two years of being out of high school, Michael had still insisted on calling Addy by her last name. She was irritated beyond belief that he hadn't disposed of the nickname earlier, but it had eventually come to grow on her.

"Love you too," she breathed, putting a hand on her forehead and wiping her eyes. It was late, and she needed to be up really early the next morning for finals. She always hated saying goodbye to Michael, because with both of their busy college schedules, they never knew exactly when they'd be able to talk again. It was rare that they both were free at the same time. "I should go, though. I have finals in the morning."

"Really?" Michael pouted on the other side of the screen, briefly making Addy believe that maybe studying and sleeping weren't that important after all. However, she snapped out of it quickly, understanding that she really, really needed to get good scores if she was going to go see Michael anytime soon. "No, no," he continued, dismissing his earlier comment. "You're totally right. You need to get sleep and all that healthy shit. Good luck on your finals tomorrow babe. And remember, only two more weeks."

"Two more weeks," Addy repeated, nodding once at Michael to signal that she understood. "Goodnight."

"Night, Ellis. Love you." Addy repeated her goodbye and closed her laptop, shoving it off of her lap and setting it on the edge of her bed. She stood up, stretched and started her nightly routine so that she could finally get to sleep. Once she was in bed, a text appeared on her screen.

Michael: Good luck tomorrow, you've got this x. Love you so much.

She replied quickly before sleep started to overtake her, forcing her eyes to shut and her mind to drift off.