Borderline

Epilogue

"Ryder! Time for breakfast, sweetie!"

I tripped down the stairs because I was running so fast. When I got to the kitchen, I saw Eli and Joshua already sitting there.

After the incident with Carter, I had buried his body in a small plot next to my memorial of my parents. Every weekend, the boys and I would go up there and sit. I would tell Carter and my parents everything that was on my mind, and sometimes Joshua and Eli would say a few words, too.

Eli's adoptive parents decided to take Joshua and I in, after some convincing from Eli that we were good kids. They didn't adopt us, but that was fine with me. Joshua didn't seem to mind it, either. We were a lot like glorified house guests.

Now we were all sitting in Eli's kitchen, waiting for another amazing breakfast to be put in front of us.

This was still taking some getting used to, but I felt that I was adjusting surprisingly well. Joshua and I been re-enrolled in the school Eli attended, and we acted like one, big, happy family.

Even my nightmares had started to go away.

"So," Eli's mom started as she put pancakes down on the table. "I heard there's a dance going on this weekend. Is that right?"

Before any of us could say anything, Eli's dad rushed into the kitchen and said quick goodbyes to everyone, then hurried out the door. He was probably late for work again.

"Yeah, that's right," Eli said.

I continued to eat, not wanting to have this conversation. Dances weren't really my thing.

"Are any of you planning on going?"

I was surprised when Joshua answered. "I asked Ryder's friend, Jess."

I stared at him. "When did you do that? And why didn't you tell me?"

Joshua raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You jealous?"

"Why the f-" I stopped myself from cursing in front of Eli's mom. "...freak would I be jealous?"

"Because I have a date and you don't."

I glared at him and opened my mouth to respond when Eli interrupted me.

"Actually," he said. "She does."

My eyes widened and I stared at him. "You can't be serious."

Eli smiled at me, and I knew he was, indeed, serious about this.

It wasn't so much the fact that it was Eli who was asking me. That didn't matter, since we had officially been "together" for a few weeks now. That whole concept was strange to me, so I ignored it as much as possible, which is really difficult to do with Eli Richards as your boyfriend.

"No way, man. I do not do school dances!"

"Please, Ryder? It sounds like a lot of fun! And you don't have to be around me the whole time, even though it would be awesome if you were." Eli's face made him look like a hopeful child who had just asked his mom for ice cream.

I sighed, hating myself for caving. "Fine. Whatever. I'll go the stupid dance."

I saw Joshua pull a ten dollar bill out of his wallet and give it to Eli.

"Seriously?!"

As we all laughed, I felt something click. Something that told me everything was going to be okay.

And I believed it.