Broken

Epilogue

I stood in front of the full-length mirror in my bedroom. My blonde hair was a lot shorter than it was when I was in high school. It was cut about an inch above my shoulders and came down in waves. I smoothed out my red dress and straightened my necklace.

"You look gorgeous, Hayley Ann."

Justin came to stand behind me in the mirror. He wore a smile on his face as his hands landed on my hips and he leaned forward to kiss my cheek. I turned around and looked at him. He was wearing his black suit with his red tie. I reached out and straightened his tie.

"Thank you," I said. I looked up into his eyes. "You don't look too bad yourself."

"This is the right tie, right?" he asked.

I nodded, "Yes. You should just get rid of the other one."

"What if I need it someday?" Justin asked.

"Why would you need it when you have this one?" I asked.

"I don't know," Justin shrugged.

"We better get going," I said. I walked over to the bed and picked up my bag. I placed it on my shoulder and turned back towards Justin.

"Or...we probably have time to talk about it," Justin said.

I sighed, "I don't want to talk about it tonight."

"That's what you said last time," Justin said.

"We're going to be late if we don't go now," I said. "I promise we'll talk about it later, but not tonight. Please."

Justin let out a sigh, "Okay. Let's go." He took my hand and my heart sank at his disappointment. We walked out of the room. It was the same one I had all my life, but it had been painted and a queen-sized bed replaced the twin.

The TV hummed softly in the living room. Lykos was sitting on the couch in front of it. The remote was in his hand and he was flipping through the channels. He glanced over at us. He started living in my house when Justin and I went away to college in Houston. He wanted to pay rent, but I refused to take anything and only asked that he take care of the house while I was away. I already had plans to sign the house over to him once me and Justin moved out and Lykos was already vowing to pay me for it. I wasn't worried to much about it. Lykos had saved Justin's life so giving him a place to live seemed like the least I could do.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" I asked him. "I'm sure no one would mind you coming."

"I'm good here," said Lykos.

"Okay, well...we'll see you later," I said. I waved at him as I walked out the door.

"Later," Justin said as he followed right behind me. I thought I heard Lykos mumble something back, but I wasn't sure. The drive to the high school went fast. Justin didn't say much. I knew why. He was thinking about it just like I was.

There were quite a few cars parked in the lot, but everyone must have already been inside. I got out and when I was at Justin's side, I reached for his hand. He leaned over and kissed the top of my head.

"Is Martin here tonight?" I asked. Justin held the door open for me and we walked in. We made our way towards the gymnasium.

"He said he would be," Justin answered. His hand found mine again and we walked into the room. Music was playing on the far side and people were spread around, talking to the same groups they had in high school.

"Hi! Welcome to the class reunion of...Oh my God! Hayley Allen!"

I looked over to see Carly. She was grinning at me before pulling me into a hug. She had not aged a day in the five years since we graduated. She took a few steps back and looked at me. I hated that we lost touch.