No, We Are Not A Couple

Epilogue

Amanda

"Moom! We're here!" Instead of my mother, Leo's greets us instead. 

"Hey, you two. Hope the drive was okay."

"It was fine, mom." Leo answers, as we take off our jackets. It's about an hour drive from our apartment near campus. We're planning on getting a new one closer to here, but that was the best one for us college kids. Or, ex-college kids. We've already graduated. After two years of going to CSU, Leo and I got an apartment together. After four, we're here, having dinner with our families, a month post-graduation. 

"Leo! Amanda!" Nemo bounds into the room grinning. The 18-year-old just finished high school, and is excited to start college. She wraps us in a hug together. I rub her back.

"Hey, Mo! Good to see you." 

"How's your girlfriend?" Leo teases. Nemo rolls her eyes as she pulls away. 

"Leo, she's not my girlfriend.. yet." Nemo bites her lip as I laugh. 

"Ask her out, Nemo. She likes you." Leo's sister shrugs.

"I just dunno." I sigh as the three of us head for the living room. 

"I felt the same way junior year, Mo. Don't waste your time. You could missing something great." I say, smiling at Leo. Nemo nods, and looks at Leo, a glint in her eye. A grin breaks out on her face as they share a look.

"Oh, hello, Amanda." I turn to see my dad sitting on the couch.

"Hi, Dad." He gets up and hugs me. Dad hugs Leo too, then disappears to the kitchen. My gaze trails up the photos on the wall. 7th-12th grade. I bounce on my heels at the circle of pictures that sums up our senior year in a nutshell. It's more than just us by school, like the others. It's us going to dances, and when we graduated high school.

Twelfth grade: Me in front of Leo, his arms around my waist. We're both beaming. My head leans on his chest, and head leans on mine. I have on a long sleeve grey and white striped shirt, pink velvet overalls on overtop. Leo's sporting a darker grey long sleeve and black jeans.

One picture over, homecoming: I'm in a hoodie in school colors, making double peace signs at the camera. Leo's in a blue hoodie, blue and yellow face paint smeared on his cheeks. The lights of the football field behind us. We've always been more into running, but's fun to go to the homecoming game.

Next photo, Christmas 'ball': I'm in glittering green gown that hugs my figure, and Leo's in a suit with a red tie. My hair is tied up beautifully, and we're embracing. 

Valentine's Day: I have a high waisted white skirt on, and a pale pink cropped sweater on. Leo's in a long bluish-grey sweater, and we're posed in front of the door, impatiently waiting for our parents to release us to our date.

Last photo in out side of circle: We're in our graduation gowns. You can see the purple of my dress peeking out from the corner of my shoulder. Our arms are around  each other, our caps sitting lopsided on our heads.

And then, the picture in the center of the circle. The picture that remained my phone's wallpaper for all of senior year: We were taking senior photos together, like you would expect. It was fall, and the colors of the leaves were gorgeous. I had on a pale yellow dress, and Leo was wearing a grey sweater. The picture is in front of a red and orange tree. It only shows our shoulders and up. Our faces are so close, our noses touching. Our eyes trained on each other, pure golden love.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Later in the night, Leo and I are walking. We stop a the park in the center of time. "Wow, it's been a while, huh, Manda?"

"Yeah." I breathe. The park is how I remember it. Fountain in the center, large gazebo on the right side. People get married in that gazebo. Leo's palm is warm in mine as we head for the middle of the park. "I remember coming here on the Fourth of July when we were kids."

"Running around between the blankets, waiting for the fireworks." I nod as I hop up on to the stone rim of the fountain. I slowly begin to walk around the circle, Leo beside me. 

"I remember coming here for my aunt's wedding."

"You had to skip the cross country meet, and I won the race without you." I laugh. 

"I know. I wish I could've seen you. It was your first win, right?" Leo shakes his head yes. "I'm sorry." He grabs my hand as I stumble.

"It doesn't really matter. You were there for all the others." 

"Do you remember when we came here after I played at that music place?" Leo smiles.

"You totally killed it." I hop over a crack in the stone. 

"You were my inspiration. The song was about us."

"I could tell." I jump off the fountain and we start walking home.

Back in my yard, Leo is pushing the swing slowly and I'm gazing up at the trees. The wind softly blows my hair around as the sun starts to go down. "Hey, Amanda?" I look back at my boyfriend.

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember when I first kissed you?" I smile.

"Of course. I was so happy. Everything clicked and it was just perfect."  

"It took me forever to get the courage to do that. Manda, you were my best friend for forever, how was I supposed to admit I loved you more than I thought? You made- you make everything so much better. These last two years of living together have been so beautifully blissful. I love you, Amanda, I love you more than I have a way to say. You said to me once, you would give me the world if you could. But I don't need the world, I need you."

 Leo takes one of my hands and traces my face with the other. "You make me so happy. I could look at you for a minute and find a thousand things I love about you. Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was much beyond my control. People say everyone has a best friend, a girlfriend, and a true love. But you're truly lucky if one person is all three." Leo pulls away from my and reaches into his pocket. He moves to the ground and pulls out a box.   I gasp, and clutch at my chest.  "Amanda, I love you with everything I have. I love you for all that you are, all that you have been, and all you are yet to be. We have so much time left to live, and I want to spend every second with you, forever. Amanda Joy Crosby, will you marry me?"

"Jesus Christ. It took you four years of college to ask me that?" Leo looks confused as I start laughing, tears running down my face. "I would've said yes if you asked me right after high school. Of course I'll marry you, you dummy." I jump forward off the swing and into Leo's arms. We fall backwards and end up with me lying on top of him in the grass. "I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you so much." I pull away and half laugh again, then move to kiss him. 

I love you.

A/N

Guys

This is the end. I'm so happy! I'm ugly crying right now. Sorry if this chapter sucks, I'll fix any mistakes if you find any. It's currently midnight, which is later than I intended to stay up to. 

Thanks so much for reading! ❤️❤️

Now I'm ready to go mark this as finished! :D

Until next time!

~Hedgehog