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It had been five years since the death of Justin Foley and Elizabeth Jensen's high school graduation. Elizabeth graduated Sanderson College with a degree in English and a minor in education. Even though it got easier every day to live without the boy she loved, she had not been able to fulfill her to Justin and move on. Whenever she found herself trying, she would always sabotage herself in someway. She did not know why, but she was unable to love anyone besides Justin Foley. She had kept the promise she made to herself, though, and never called him after Graduation Day. When she felt like she wanted to, she would call her best friend, Zach Dempsey. It was nice having someone actually respond to her.
After graduating from Sanderson, Elizabeth joined Zach out in New York City, the two living together in a small apartment in Brooklyn. Isabel Henry and Jessica Davis had moved out to New York City, as well. The two had broken up during college because of separation, but eventually found their way back to each other after graduating. The four friends would have dinner every Friday night at Zach and Elizabeth's apartment.
Elizabeth found herself growing happier and happier as she grew to love the city of New York. She found herself growing into a new person, someone who could survive what she had gone through. Many different times during her four years at Sanderson, Elizabeth debated committing suicide, but she decided against it every time. She had first hand experience on what loved ones go through after someone does that, and she did not want to do that to anyone that she loved.
During her final semester, Elizabeth's English teacher gave students the opportunity to enter a writing contest. Each student who entered would have to write the first three chapters of their own novel, and the best would be chosen and would receive a book deal. Elizabeth knew right away what she wanted to write about : Justin. She knew she wanted to write a memoir of his life, encompassing both the good and the bad. She didn't know how she wanted to end it, though. But, odds are she would never end it. She was probably not going to win the competition, right?
Wrong.
Elizabeth won the writing competition. All of her professors told her how inspired they were by just the first three chapters, and how they needed to know how it was going to end. She did, too. She had no idea whether she wanted to end it happily or how Justin's life actually ended. Elizabeth was torn.
It had been a year since the book deal, and she was still writing the story, trying to figure out how she wanted to finish her novel. Zach told her to end it with Justin graduating high school and moving on to bigger and better things, but both Jessica and Isabel told her to leave it how it happened. Elizabeth had no idea what to do.
She sat on her couch, sitting behind her laptop. Her fingers fumbled against the keys, before she erased everything she had just written. Every time she wrote something, she would realize she hated it and have to begin again.
At the point, she had written fifteen different endings to Justin's story, and she still had no idea which one to choose.
"You've been working on this all night." Zach chuckled as he sat down next to the girl. "Have a beer. Relax. You deserve it."
Elizabeth shook her head, beginning to type a new ending. "No, I have to finish this or else I will lose the deal." She groaned, hating everything she had just written. She pressed 'delete' and erased the whole chapter. "Fuck." She ran her fingers through her hair.
"Eliza, calm down." Zach stood up, making his way to the refrigerator. "They love your book. They want it. They're not going to take away the deal."
"I don't know that." Elizabeth turned around, watching Zach grabbed her a beer. He made his way back over to the couch, sitting down next to her.
She took the beer from it and popped off the top. "You need some sleep."
"I can't sleep until I finish this." The girl spoke before taking a large swig from the beer. "This is the chance of a lifetime. If I blow this, I'm never going to forgive myself."
"They picked your book for a reason, okay? It's fucking amazing."
Elizabeth nodded, turning back to her computer. "The first three chapters were. The rest sucks." Zach watched the girl begin to aggressively type, and he let out a sigh. He reached forwards, closing the laptop, causing the girl's head to snap towards him. "What the fuck?"
"You need to chill for a minute here. Just get some sleep." The girl shook her head, trying to turn back to the laptop, but Zach picked it up from the table. "I'm doing this because I care about you." He pointed to Elizabeth's bedroom. "Go to bed."
The Jensen girl frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Zach-"
"Go to bed."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, standing up from the couch. Zach watched her walk into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. He looked down at the computer and smiled.
*
Elizabeth woke up bright and early the next morning to begin restarting the last three chapters once again. She frowned when she realized something. Everything that she had tried was with Justin surviving. She subconsciously refused to write the real ending to the story because she still did not want to believe it was real. The girl let out a sigh, moving her fingers to the keys. She began to write about Prom, about Justin fainting. And for the first time, the chapter felt right. She led into the next chapter, beginning with Justin's diagnosis and leading into all of his friends coming to visit him. Elizabeth, finally, made it to the final chapter, which began with his death. It then moved on to tell how Justin Foley would live on in all of his friends and his girlfriend.
She leaned back against the couch, staring down at her laptop. After two months of trying to write the final chapters of her novel, she succeeded. She realized that she had been trying to hold onto him all of this time, but she could not anymore. Justin had been dead for five years, and she was still in love with him. After writing the end of her novel, she felt as if that chapter of her life had officially come to a close.
She would always love Justin Foley, but she had to move on. She did not know how or when, but she needed to find a way to be happy. She did promise him that, after all.
And Elizabeth had never lied to Justin Foley.
Rewritten Word Count - 1154
An: it makes me so sad that this is the final installment of Eliza's story, but we had to get here at some point. It has been such a joy writing this story. Thank you to everyone who has read and supported this story! You all mean the world to me!
If you all want to read another Justin fic I have it's called shadows. It's fun and cute. I also have a JJ Maybank fic going on. And I think I'm going to start up my Steve Harrington fic again.
Again, thank you so much to everyone who has support me and this story!
