Shaforostop It (2015)

Chapter 37 - The Final Episode

Denis' eyes went wide. "What?"

"I remember. What happened at the bar I remember everything." All the guys were watching me.

"Is that why you quit?" Cameron asked. I was still kind of in shock about what I had done, throwing away everything, but I was too excited about what I had found.

"No. No." I said. "Guys, he didn't do it." Just then I saw all the guys walking down the hall. All the outside was windows, the bright sunlight shining on everything in the hall that wrapped around the centre of the even stadium. I dropped my bag and bolt. I jumped into James and held onto him like my life depended on it. "I'm so sorry." I said.

"What?" He did his best not to touch me really, and stop me from falling at the same time.

"Leda, what are you-" I cut Ben off, hopping down.

"I remember." I looked up into his eyes, but his face remained confused. Then it registered what I had said. "I remember everything. You didn't do it." James hugged me so tightly, and in seconds Denis was by my side.

"But you admitted it." Denis said, lost.

"No, I didn't. I stopped trying to convince you that I never did it, because I knew you would never believe." James let me go.

"Hey," I smiled, and hugged Cam, Ben, Sam, Brandi, and Haley.

"Why the fuck didn't you- you know?" Ben asked. Everyone was bewildered - the only word I thought might fit their expression.

"No more wading through the bullshit." I looked up at him. "I'm done."

"What a way to fucking go then." Cameron patted my shoulder roughly. He literally towered over me.

"Thank you." I smiled at him.

"Are you sure about this? I mean, gymnastics is your life..." James said.

"Never," Roger looked me dead in the eyes, dropping his pass for the games in front of us. "Never, speak to me again." He walked away and I looked down.

"Wait-" I went to go after him but Kyle and Denis both grabbed my shoulders.

"Let him go, Leds." Kyle hadn't called me what since we were kids. It occured to me that in midst all the drama with James, and the drama with Denis when we first started dating, I had pushed Kyle away. When I wasn't training, I was with Denis. Because I didn't live with him, and we didn't talk that much, I never saw him. I turned and wrapped my arms around Kyle tightly. At first he was surprised, but he soon hugged me back.

"Sorry for being a shitty little sister in the last six months." I said into his T-shirt.

"You haven't-"

"Yeah I have."

"Well I'm sorry for being a shitty brother." I pulled away and smiled up at him before turning to everyone else.

"What do we do now?" Brandi asked. Her baby bump was getting bigger and bigger each time I saw her. It had been almost a whole month.

"Can we just go the fuck home?" I asked. Denis nodded and came around to hug my from behind, resting his chin on the top of my head.

"Yes, baby. Let's go home." We all went back to the hotel room for one more night before packing all our things and heading back to Texas. All of Rogers things were gone, out of the hotel room, and put of the house. When we got back, rather than everyone go to their separate houses, everyone came over and passed out in the living room.

"So Leda, now that you don't have anything to do with the rest of your life, what are you gonna do?" Ben asked, his face stuffed into the pillow on the armchair.

"God knows." I sighed. All the sudden James started to laugh. Everyone looked at him, lying in front of the window, on the heater beside Brandi.

"Didn't you spend a lot of money building a gym in the basement?" Denis let out an exhausted sigh.

"We mostly used it for sex anyways." I sighed, not really caring. I heard a few noises of disgust and Denis high-fived me.

"What are you gonna do with it?" Cam asked.

"Probably nothing. I don't really think we need any more room considering its just the two of us living here."

"That's fair." I looked around at everyone's tired faces, their bodies draped over some piece of furniture, or in a pile on the floor. It felt like we were all back to normal. The mourning I had done for the best family I lost, was for nothing. Because I never really lost them. I thought back to James' speech just before we left for the club that infamous night. I hope that even when we're too old to fuck, and our arthritis ridden bones can't play instruments anymore, and Leda can't do back flips, and Brandi can't sell houses and Haley and do whatever the hell she does all day, that we're still together'. We had made it around one of the biggest struggles we may have ever faced, relatively unscathed. No one had lasting scars or emotional damage - sure, everyone was a little shaken, but what's life for if not getting scared. What's it for if you don't have your family by you're side to help you through everything. To piss you off, and make you cry, and do everything wrong all the time, but be there when you really need them. We sure did all that, pissing each other off every other day. We joked about each other's insecurities and heartache, and said terrible things to each other. But all that was part of what made us a family. No family got along all the time. And even though none of us were blood related save me and Kyle, I was sure that what we had, was stronger than blood. We stayed together because we wanted to, not because we had to. That's how you know you have something special. Something that will last forever.

"Denis?"

"Yes, James?" Denis poked his head up slightly.

"Are you back in the band, mate?" There was a long pause. Worryingly long.

"Been here since the beginning. Not fucking off now, am I?"

Lol what last chapter. The next one is the epilogue. My long and drawn out emotional A/N is gonna be at the end of that chapter, and it will be all the feels. 😘