All I Want • Alex Gaskarth (Adoption)

Epilogue

"Lexi, you slept in. Time to wake up. We have some people coming in today."

I groggily look up to see Miss Marie looming over my sleeping form. I give my usual nod of acknowledgement, sitting up to ready myself to begin the days' routine of cleaning and preparing the orphanage for whoever the guests would be.

Miss Marie leaves my room and I'm left to ponder the dream I just had. It felt like it went on forever. Adopted by Alex Gaskarth? My subconscious has some imagination work to do. However, I couldn't shake the feeling of how real and detailed the dream was. It felt as as though I dreamt a whole new life for myself and that was my reality. On a brighter note, at least it wasn't a nightmare.

I sighed as I realize that being awake means having to get back to my boring life. This was my normal - not the beautiful dream I wished it was, but instead, a quiet and basic life of an orphan. My own perspective felt off, coming off of a dream where I got to do anything I had ever dreamt of, anything I could ever want. I wish I had the happy and loving life I had created in my sleep; real life doesn't work that way.

Melody, my precious yet ferocious kitten, came strolling onto my bed. I smiled and whispered, "Some people are coming in today. Don't be a dick, please." She meows in understanding. My cat is a genius... or at least I'd like to think she is.

My day goes by as usual. I get all the cleaning done to help Miss Marie, then I head downstairs to involve myself in the 'adoption routine' that never actually works for me. Wanting to avoid being sent for the mail - lightning plagued the skies outside - I make myself comfortable on the couch, Ember beside me and Melody on my lap. Miss Marie walks in to begin her speech:

"Okay, girls. You know how this works. Be on your best behavior. These guests are important. We'll have celebratory pizza for dinner tonight if everyone plays nice. They'll be here any second, so use these next few minutes to relax and wait."

My heart skips a beat. Important.

Whispers immediately erupt all around me. Who is it? Who could it be? Barack Obama? Satan, perhaps? Not a single person here can guess who's on their way. Ember is excitedly bouncing on the couch next to me, listing off as many names of famous people as she could. It made my heart warm to see her so happy.

The mystery of the guests make the room an energetic environment. The girls who usually pick on me pay me no attention now. Melody has already fallen asleep. Ember stops her rambling and begins her usual chatter with me. I feel as though I haven't seen her in ages. Suddenly everything she says makes me want to talk to her forever.

"I'm so hyped. Celebratory pizza? Marie never does this," she rambles. "Who do you think it could be? A movie star?"

Like I know. "Dunno," I say, shrugging.

Miss Marie hurries back into the living room, clapping her hands for our attention. "They're here! Sit still, look pretty."

Our heads turn to the hallway, eagerly awaiting the 'important' guests. We hear the door handle turn. The anticipation was almost deadly. The room was silent as we waited for the guests to make their way inside. I suppose Miss Marie shouldn't have told us they were important because at this moment, the atmosphere felt almost tense.

My mouth drops open in shock as the guests walk into the living room.

All Time Low.

My head cannot wrap around the fact that I just dreamt this. A few people turned to look at me, knowing they're my favorite band. The others didn't know who this was, confusion and disappointment clear on their face.

So many thoughts flew through my mind. I had to be dreaming. Am I a psychic? No, that's crazy. This is pure coincidence. It's a coincidence that I just had a dream that All Time Low came to our orphanage, where Alex chose me and we became a family. Now they're here. Standing in my living room. My head hurts from how fast my thoughts make their way through. I genuinely cannot believe what just happened. I spent hours through the night relentlessly dreaming of this exact situation, but that was just a DREAM. This is real. This moment was so real. All Time Low stood there, in the flesh, right in front of us. Real. Breathing. Here. 

I snap out of my thoughts when I feel like I have been staring at the boys for ages. In reality, it's only been a few seconds. My thoughts were going a mile a minute. The boys sat on the couch across from us. Just like before. The dream felt surreal.

All Time Low being here meant so was Alex Gaskarth. I quickly searched for him amongst the others, soon holding my eyes to his in a desperate attempt for eye contact. Looking at him in person gave me this weird sense of déjà vu. Alex was smiling at everyone in the room. He seemed to be enjoying the excitement that refilled the room from its' previous gloom from those who didn't care for All Time Low. I held my eyes there, hoping he would look my way soon. I just had to remember what it was like, remember the warmth I had felt in my dream whenever we had laughed with each other. Heavy anticipation took me over. I began to get nervous, although I couldn't figure out why. My eyes never left Alex's. I think he knew. His eyes met mine no more than two seconds later. I immediately got that warm, comforting feeling the instant his eyes met with mine. With the look that flashed in his eyes, I knew he felt it too.

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Guys, we did it. This book is finally done. I've spent the last few years writing it - of course it wasn't the greatest, but I'm proud of it. Thank you so much. It's done.

Holy. Betcha didn't think that's how this book would end, did you? Being fair, I ORIGINALLY planned to kill her off because I'm terrible but my friend said she'd cry so I decided to kill off the person who would kill her or I'd be too tempted. Instead, I chose to hurt my heart with this ending. I wanted this chapter to be MUCH longer but there's really only so much I can say before she met Alex again so it's a shorter chapter, but I'd like to think this one will stick well.

Thanks for reading, my friends.