Fourteen (A Willow Falls Story)

Present 14

Leo's POV

         The sun's already beginning to set. Today has been so amazing. This has definitely been one of the most amazing days every. It's all thanks to Team Grace and especially Amanda just being awesome. I'm so grateful for all of them.

       I go over to the present pile, only to find there's only one present left. I can't believe how fast it went by. Reluctantly, I pick up the last present, a large box wrapped in apple wrapping paper.

“Time to open the last present, Amanda,” I say.

        She sits down and I sit next to her. Everyone else gathers around us.

“We all came up with the idea for this gift,” Rory says.

       I hand the box to Amanda. She tears off the wrapping and rips open the box. From inside, she pulls out a large blanket. But, the best part about the blanket is what's on it. Several pictures are on the blanket of various Team Grace memories from the photo album Rory made for Amanda.

      She looks at it for a minute, then drops the blanket and hugs me. The rest of Team Grace surrouds us in a hug as well. As we break the hug, I notice that it's getting dark. I nod to Conner and he runs up to an outlet. Plugging in a cord, the ramada lights up with fairy lights. Amanda looks astonished.

“That's not even the best part,” Tara says.

Grace pipes up with,” Look up at the sky.”

       Amanda walks out from under the ramada. To her surprise, the sky is dotted with bright stars. While she admires the sky, the rest of Team Grace grabs the blanket and lays it out on the grass of Apple Grove. I lead Amanda over to the blanket.

“So David did a bit of research a few weeks ago and found that out birthday was on a bright, clear day with no clouds. We were planning on looking at stars anyways, but this was perfect,” I say.

     We all plop on the floor and lay down. I lay with Amanda on my left, and Conner on my right. I take Amanda's hand and squeeze it. She squeezes mine back and we gaze at the sky. David is able to point out several constellations.

       After laying for a while, we all get up. I look at the ramada. It's a mess. I walk over to a pile and grab a large trashbag out. I start picking up all the trash and putting in all the garbage we've left. The girls find two large boxes and put all of Amanda's and my gifts inside. The boys gather all of the stuff from our activities and put them in some bags we had. In that moment, my mom pulls up.

“Everyone, pack the stuff into the car,” l say.

      Just then, most of the other parents pull up. We all work together to get the stuff packed into my mom's car. Everyone comes up and hugs Amanda and I. One by one, they all leave. My mom drives away too.

“Wait, where's she going?”

“Well, I thought we'd walk you home. It’s not that far.”

       She nods.

“It's just you and me, Fitzpatrick.”

      We both laugh and start walking.

“So, how'd you plan all this?”

“Well, I had some help. I couldn't have done this all on my own."

       Then, Amanda spots a tree in the distance.

“Race ya!” she says, and takes off.

“Hey, that's not fair!”

      I reluctantly start running. I get to the tree about three seconds after her.

“Beat ya!” Amanda says.

    I laugh, out of breath.

“How do you still have so much energy?”

“I don't even know anymore.”

        We start walking again. Her hand finds mine and squeezes it. I look at her, smile, then laugh.

       In a few minutes, we get to Amanda's house. She's about to walk up the steps to her front door. I pull her back for a second and take her by both hands.

“Happy Birthday, Amanda.”

“Happy Birthday, Leo.”

“Amanda Ellerby, I will always keep walking towards you,” I say.

     She pulls me into a kiss. It quickly  turns passionate. My fingers twirl her hair. I can feel imvisible fireworks going off in my head. Every kiss is magical.

    After a little while, we both pull out of the kiss and smile. She walks up the steps.

“Bye.”

      She waves and I wave back to her.

“Bye,” I say.

A/N: My gosh. We've made it to the end. It one heck of a ride, but somehow we managed to make it. I'm just glad that I actually had time to write this.

I just want to thank a whole bunch of people. I want to thank everyone one of you readers for actually reading this far. Thank you so freaking much for sticking with me on this journey. I specifically want to thank camleesny, for supporting me in this when no one else would. Thanks to my boyfriend, Nathan, for making sure the story line was good. He (sort of) helped me edit some of the chapters too, but we missed a lot. Thank you.

I'm really going to miss writing chapters for these stories. Be looking out for a possible spin off in the future! For the last time, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and series. All characters belong to Wendy Mass.