Beautifully Broken

Epilogue

"Is this the last one?" Mason asked, picking up a box of my belongings.

"Yep, that's it" I said, sighing as I looked around the now empty room that had been my home for the last 14 months.

"Alright, let's aim to leave in 10 minutes then, say your goodbyes" he said as he carried the box out to my car.

Mason and I were officially moving to our UCLA College dorms today before classes started next week. I was packing up my life and moving again. As I double checked all my draws and the wardrobe making sure I hadn't left anything behind, I heard a soft knock on the door.

"Hey girl, you ready to go?" Kara called out, I turned to her, willing myself not to cry.

I nodded, not wanting to speak the words. Kara was heading to Berkley, this was the furthest we would be away from each other, in all honesty I wasn't sure how I was going to cope without her.

She walked over to me, wrapping me up in her arms. "Are you sure you are ok?"

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine! I wish everyone would stop asking me that! Mason will look after me, it's just College" I said as she pulled back and looked at me with her no bull shit look.

"Kara, you and I both know we are talking about Tyler here" she said sternly.

I sighed. "I'll be fine. He made his choice, we made our choice. I'm always going to love him Kara, but what we had, it's over now. We needed each other to heal, we did that, now it's time for us to grow on our own."

After we graduated, Tyler decided he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, and he joined the military. I got into college, he was leaving, it made sense for us to part ways. In one way it felt like our love story was complete. We served a purpose to each other, he healed me when I was broken. We were each other's constant when the rest of our lives were falling apart.

I loved him or love him still, part of me will always love him, you never forget your first love. But we couldn't be together, not like this. Maybe, when your first love serves such a purpose as ours did, it has an expiration date. It needed to end for the both of us to grow as our own people.

"Ok, if you insist you are ok. I'll reluctantly take your word for it. You remembered to call your Dad and Drew, right?"

"Yes Mom! They are going to come and visit me in a few weeks when I'm all settled" I rolled my eyes as we made our way out of the room to where Mrs. James, Harry and Madi were waiting downstairs to say goodbye.

"Yeah well, your real mom is MIA, so someone has to keep you in line!" She retorted.

I still hadn't spoken to my mom, I refused to see or even acknowledge my half-sister. As far as I was concerned, she was dead to me and that's what I told people when they asked me about her. My mother tore apart my family because of her own selfishness and she didn't deserve my forgiveness. Those who matter most to me understood and never pressured me to think otherwise.

Drew was getting his life back on track, he moved in with my dad up north when he finished rehab. They had taken over ownership of a hardware store and were enjoying small town life. I liked visiting them, but I was never intending on living there. I loved the big city so much more.

Just as I made my way downstairs my phone dinged in my hand. Speak of the devil!

Have a safe drive sis. Text us when you get settled in, so we know you are safe. Drew.

I smiled, my brother was back again and even though we weren't as close as we used to be, we were on the way. He was gutted when he learnt what his old friend had tried to do to me, the guilt nearly sent him to relapse. The lingering guilt is the only hurdle stopping us from being as close as we used to be. I hope that with time, that might change.

"Kayla!" Madi broke me out of my thoughts as this amazing little girl wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her back, crouching down to her level.

"You promise me you will be a good girl for Aunt Nessa, ok. You will try your hardest at school and make Tyler and I proud. I'm going to miss you, but you call me whenever you need to. Plus, I'm going to come back in 2 months for your birthday, ok!" I said to her, holding back tears as I saw her bottom lip quiver.

"I'm going to miss you Kayla."

"Oh sweetie, I will miss you more than you know. I'm only 2 hours away though, so if you ever need me, I'll be here!" She nodded her head at me and grabbed a hold of my hand as I stood back up.

I looked over to Mrs. James and the tears that I tried holding back with Kara and Madi broke through.

She wrapped me up in another hug.

"Thank-you for everything. I don't even know where to begin" I said, my voice muffled from the hug and the tears.

"Oh Kayla, please. The pleasure was all mine. You kept the boy's in line all year, I was wrong about any concerns with you and Tyler, I hope one day you two find each other again. This isn't goodbye anyway, it's see you soon. Madi won't let you go very far, you know that, and you are always more than welcome in any and all of the James homes. The daughter I never had" she said, releasing me from the hug.

I wiped away more tears, before Harry took his turn. He wrapped his arms around me and picked me up, spinning me around.

"Enough tears Kay, you are just going to college!"

I laughed, "I know, I know! I'm going to miss you though!"

"I'll miss you too, who is going to do my laundry now?" I rolled my eyes, shoving him slightly.

"I'm sure you can find some sucker of a girl to do it for you, or just pay someone. God forbid, you might even learn to do it yourself!"

"The horror! Seriously though Kay, you will shine bright. Go and find yourself, show the world how amazing you are" Harry said seriously.

After hugging everyone goodbye once again, Mason was finally able to drag me outside, much longer than the 10 minutes he first anticipated. Both our cars were packed full of our belongings and I was going to be following him on the drive down to campus. If I couldn't have Kara or Tyler on this journey, I was more than grateful to have Mason.

"Let's go Kay, our next adventure awaits us!" He said, kissing my head, closing my car door for me before getting into his jeep.

Pulling out of the driveway, we waved out the window to everyone standing at the edge of the drive watching us leave. The beach house will always be a special place in my heart, but it was time explore the next stage of my life.