Why Won't You Love Me?: Sequel to Dazed & Confused

Epilogue

16th of July 2040

'Harry, get downstairs, please! Everybody is here,' I yelled from the bottom of the staircase to our middle child, Harry Lucas Hemmings.

'I'm coming Mum!' he called back, and I smiled to myself as I heard the ten-year-old boy, who is a spitting image of his father, close his bedroom door and run down the stairs to greet me. 'Sorry Mum, I was making a PowerPoint for my assignment next week.'

Harry was definitely the most studious out of our three, with our eldest Alex, oozing musical talent like his father, and our youngest, Madeline, spending most of her time at her dance school, as it is her dream to become a ballerina.

'Is this the one about Harry Potter?' I asked and Harry nodded as I smiled to myself, that my son too, adored the books that I was once obsessed with. Harry continued to chat away as we entered the dining room where everybody was seated and waiting for us so we could start dinner.

'About time,' Alex mumbled from his seat next to Jackson, who is Calum and Olivia's eldest son, who is also seventeen.

'Sorry, your brother was immersed in his schoolwork,' I said with a smile, sitting down between Luke and Madeline, who were both waiting potentially to eat their dinner as well.

It was Luke's birthday, meaning all the guys, their wives and families were all at our house for dinner, which is not a rare occasion, it just makes it more special when it's someone's birthday.

5 Seconds of Summer is still as strong as ever, and they are currently in the middle of a world tour, but taking a short break for the month of July. They also took another break when Olivia and Calum had their twins, Logan and Thomas, a couple of years ago.

'Who would have thought, that thirty years ago we would all be sitting here at this table?' Michael questioned from the head of the table, his two twin girls, Elise and Olive, who are also ten-years-old, and their only two daughters. Evie and Michael are still together, and she sat at the other head of the table, shooting smiles and winks at her husband, who very clearly was loving the attention from his wife.

'Not me, that is for sure,' Ashton said from across me, a smile on his face. Isla and Ashton have a small army of six, making Christmas with our families absolutely insane. Their eldest, Charli, is the same age as Alex, and only two weeks younger than him, as Isla and I got pregnant at the same time all those years ago. Then they had Astrid, who is fifteen, Noah who is twelve, Elio who is ten, Blair who is seven, and their final boy, Jax, who is five.

'Definitely not me, I wasn't even born yet,' Noah said with a smirk next to Ashton, who was definitely the most cheeky out of all the children in the room.

'You are such an idiot,' Astrid said, rolling her eyes at her younger brother, making Isla raise an eyebrow at him before we all went back to eating our dinner, laughing and talking about some of Luke's finer moments from the last couple of years because although we may be a lot older, our party habits are still the same.

I am now editor in chief at Vogue, which has been my dream ever since I started working there, and although it took me a while to work up the ranks, I got there eventually and it has absolutely been worth it.

Luke and I are still living in Sydney, with a house also in Los Angeles and an apartment in London, since that is where we usually travel the most. My parents are also still living in Sydney, and are very happy to have nine, healthy and beautiful grandchildren.

However, there is still a hole in our lives where Jordan should be. Madeline, who is only five-years-old, always asks about the 'little boy,' in the photos with 'Mummy,' and 'Uncle Ash,' which always makes me tears up, but it is important for her to know about her family, and who Jordan was and could have been.

'So, when do you guys go back on tour?' Alex asked from his seat next to Madeline. Alex is also the lead singer is band, 'Salt in the Wound,' with four other guys, Jayce, Simon, Rex and Dylan, whom he all met at school and they have been inseparable ever since.

'Next week, we fly to Adelaide on Monday to start the Australian leg of the tour,' Calum said and Alex nodded from where he was sitting. His band is classified as pop-punk, and they are very good for the time they have been together. 'Why, do you want to come with us?' Calum asked with a laugh and Alex just shrugged his shoulders.

'I wish, I still have to finish year twelve,' he said with a laugh.

'Next year then,' Luke said with a smile.

'You're really going to go on tour again next year?' Charli questioned and all the boys just laughed, knowing that they probably would because they love it so much.

'Look we will see,' Ashton said with a small grin, Charli just rolling her eyes at her father before we all finished our dinner, Harry and Alex clearing the table whilst Astrid and Charli went to the kitchen to help Madeline with Luke's birthday cake.

These celebrations, with a large chosen family, is what makes our lives so special. Every time after 'Happy Birthday,' is sung and the whole cake is demolished, we always find ourselves in Luke's music room, everybody singing and laughing about how terrible half of us are, and the boys love it so much, which is the main thing.

'Luke, our flight is at 7 am on Monday morning, do NOT be late,' Calum said as everybody was leaving, earning a laugh from Ashton and Michael, and a groan from Luke, who was sick of being taunted by his three best friends.

'Hey! That was one time,' Luke protested.

'It was actually three times but whatever you say!' Michael called as he got into his car, a huge smile on his face as him, Evie and his two girls drove away, everybody calling out to each other as everybody left, leaving Luke, Alex, Harry, Madeline and myself standing outside our family home, Luke and I extremely content with the life we have built for ourselves and our family.

'Is this the part where the credits start rolling at the end of the movie?' Alex asked as we all walked inside, making us all laugh as we headed into the kitchen, for either a cup of tea or if you are Harry and Madeline, a glass of milk.

'Oh definitely, and then there is the cheesy montage playing during the credits, that's what is happening right now,' I added whilst pouring two glasses of milk whilst Luke made our cups of tea.

'Mummy, what's a montage?' Madeline asked as she and Harry sat at the kitchen stools together, both looking incredibly exhausted, meaning it was way past their bedtime.

'A lot of videos and photos piled into one,' Alex said before I could answer, Luke, handing me my cup of tea, as Alex, Harry and Madeline all headed to the lounge room so that they could all sit on their favourite couch together.

'We did pretty good, didn't we?' Luke asked.

'We sure did baby, we sure did.'

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well shit it is over

thank you SO SO SO much for all of your support with Dazed and Confused and Why Won't You Love Me! I have had so much fun writing these books and it hurts my heart a little bit to be letting them go <3 your support means the world to me and I am so grateful that so many of you have read both books xx

My first chapter of 'Lights Up,' which is a Harry Styles book will be posted tomorrow, but if you are still wanting a 5SOS fix, I have heaps of other books on my page, and I am currently writing a social media Ashton one called Disconnected!

Thank you so so so much for reading, I love you all xxxx

Why Won't You Love Me

January 2020-April 2020 x