Parker

Epilogue Part 2: Aggie

Author's note:

Just in case this gets confusing, this is not 5 years after the previous epilogue chapter.  This is 5 years after the events of Chapter 32.  It's happening at the same time as Parker's Epilogue Chapter.

*********5 years later (Aggie's POV)******

Aggie learned she was an adult when she realized she didn't find weddings boring anymore. It happened one day when attending a small ceremony for a friend of her boyfriend's. The ceremony had been poorly planned on Christmas Eve. But only twenty people had been invited, so her boyfriend, Charlie, had insisted they attend.

It hadn't been a particularly nice wedding or anything. It was at Los Angeles City Hall, one of her least favorite places. And there wasn't good food or alcohol. And the bride's dress wasn't beautiful. And there wasn't over-the-top entrances or first dances.

In fact, there seemed to be no emphasis on making it perfect at all. No panicked bridesmaids, asking where the bouquets were. No photographer snapping endless cheesy photos. No air of animosity or drama as there had always been at any other one she attended.

The bride and groom laughed throughout the whole ceremony. As if it was the funniest thing in the world that they were getting married. They struck her as the sort of couple that had fun together. And something about that was kind of sweet.

"That was nice," Aggie said as Charlie drove her to the airport directly after the ceremony. She was flying to Parena to spend Christmas with her father and Georgina who had recently gotten married. After a bit of convincing, her mother had agreed to come along as well, and was meeting her at the airport.

"Really?" he asked, sounding surprised. She couldn't blame him. She always complained when he took her to weddings.

"Yeah," she said honestly, "They seemed happy."

"They are," he said, smiling.

Charlie had one of those genuine and charming smiles of up-and-coming actors. Thank god he wasn't one. He was a jr. producer at her office. They had met about a year and a half ago now. It had been a month or two of fleeting glances in their cubicles before he introduced himself, and another two months after that before he had asked her out.

He was good looking. So good looking that she almost found it suspicious. But something about his smile told her not to dismiss him.

When she agreed to a date with him, she thought he would take her to some fancy restaurant in West Hollywood, full of producers ordering overpriced alcohol and models ordering steaks that they wouldn't actually touch. She was surprised when he took her to a rundown theater in Glendale to watch a magic show.

"It's the best," he had said to her excitedly, "you're going to love it."

She had seen nearly all the tricks performed before, and the magician clearly had awful stage presence. But Charlie was so amazed by every single act of his performance that Aggie found herself enjoying it as well.

"Does it bother you that you don't know how he does his tricks?" she asked him after the show, "Like, does it ever seem like it's a lie?"

"No, I guess it doesn't," he said, "some mysteries are better left unsolved. Don't you think?"

Aggie was quiet for a few moments. The statement brought her back to the largest mystery in her own life. The one that had been solved just five years ago.

After finding her sister in Sydney, The family had said an awkward and openly fake goodbye just two short days after arriving. Her parents each individually had long talks with Mira, which neither returned from looking very pleased with. Her mother had asked to keep in touch and gave Mira a long hug. But Aggie had walked to the taxi without so much as a goodbye. Her response wasn't out of anger; it was grief. She couldn't understand how she had found her sister after all this time but still felt as though she lost something.