Maybe

Chapter 36

"Olivia... Olivia, wake up." I heard someone say

I squinted my eyes open to see a boy with shaggy brown hair and hazel eyes peering down at me. I saw a glimpse of red peeking out under his ear that I knew was not supposed to be there.

"You're bleeding." I said as I struggled to sit up

My leg screamed in agony, but after adjusting, I sat comfortably in front of Ethan. His hand immediately went up to the red under his ear.

"Oh yeah. Grayson took the device out. We didn't have a bandage." He said

"What device? Where are we?" I asked looking around the small makeshift room I was in

I had been sleeping on Ethan's guard jacket and under that, a mattress of pine needles.

"I remember, Olivia." He said as he smiled at me

I was taken aback. I suddenly remembered the series of events that led up to me here, sitting in front of this boy with a large bandage around my leg.

"What?" I asked in astonishment

"I remember. I remember everything." Ethan said as a tear ran down his cheek

He reached out to take my hand in his and moved it up to his face to place a kiss on it. After, he didn't remove my hand from his grasp; he simply grabbed my other one and held them both between us.

"Ethan..." I said in confusion

"Olivia. I remember. I remember you, I remember meeting you in that dingy old store, I remember sleeping next to you at your camp, I remember talking about our lives before the end of the world at that house where I almost died, I remember the fire and you crying over me. I remember everything Olivia, because of you. You saved me, you didn't give up on me, and I'm here because of you." Ethan said

"You're back?" I asked

"I'm back." Ethan said with a huge smile on his face

I jumped forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him. He buried his face in my neck.

"I missed you." I said

"You have no idea how much I missed you." Ethan said, his voice muffled by my hair

I pulled away from him just enough to look in his eyes.

"I remember you saying you love me, back in the store, before the fire. Is that still true?" He asked

I could feel his breath on my face.

"Maybe. Are you ever going to start a fire to spare my feelings again?" I asked

"Never." He said with a smile

"Then I still love you." I said

"I love you too." Ethan said

He pulled me closer to him until his lips were touching mine. He kissed me and it felt perfectly right. It was as if we could fix the world just by kissing each other. Finally, we pulled away and I couldn't help but break into a smile.

"Would you look at that? She can smile." Ethan said, "And it is the most beautiful smile I have ever seen."

In this moment, even though the world seemed to be crashing and burning all around us, I realized the reason that I was trying so hard to survive was because of this boy. He was the reason I willed myself to carry on, and he would continue to be my reason for the rest of my life. 

THE END

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Thank you to everyone who has read this book, I really really appreciate it! I was thinking about writing a sequel, so let me know what you all think!