Unravel (Completed)

Epilogue

Epilogue

I sit on my new bed in my dorm and look around me. There are bags everywhere, but I haven't unpacked any of them. If you had told me a year ago I would be sitting in  dorm room across the country from my family, with no friends and a broken heart, I would have laughed. 

I can't believe how much my life has changed in only 365 days.

After the police showed up at my party, most everyone there was arrested for underage drinking. Luckily I was not arrested, only charged for a noise complaint. Somehow my parents never found out about the party. Or maybe they did and just pretended it didn't happen. 

Everyone hated me, not just because I cheated on on my best friend's boyfriend, but also because they all got arrested and I didn't. Maybe if I had taken it and faced Hannah, or went to jail with them, they wouldn't have been so spiteful. But they saw me as a coward, someone who ran from the problems, which was pretty accurate.

I think after the picture was shown to everyone, and them all being in jail together really gave them a lot of time to bond and discuss how much they hated me.

I push myself off of my new bed. This is my new start, I tell myself. Don't screw this up. I begin to unpack my things. Starting with my bed then my clothes then my toiletries. Finally I find all the pictures I brought. I put the one of my family up and then a few more. That's when I find the picture of Dexter and I. I stare at his face. He was so happy, so carefree. His long hair falling in his eyes. I always told him how I loved his messy hair. It was just Dexter. Hannah always hated it. she spent so much time trying to convince him to cut it off. To look like a mature grown up. But he always told her no, usually throwing a wink my way, letting me know that he was keeping it for me. 

After the party, Dexter cut his hair off. He turned into the person Hannah had been trying to make him. 

I like to believe she gave him an ultimatum. That He was all in with her, or not at all. That when he agreed, she forced his to cut off his gorgeous locks. That she forced him to be someone he wasn't. Because I don't think I could handle it if he did it on his own, all for her.

I stare at the picture for too long, taking in everything. This is it, the last memory from my old life. From now on I am not going to be that person. I peel the picture out of its frame. I stare at it one more time before I tuck it behind the picture of my lake so I don't have to torment myself by staring at it everyday.

I brush my hands off on my jeans, staring around the room. Everything is in its place. Everything is where it should be. I am where I am supposed to be.

So why do I feel so empty?

I grab my runners and my running clothes. The only way to get over this is to leave it out on the road. To run until I am so exhausted I don't have the energy to think about this anymore.

I leave the room, ready to run. but as soon as I step out the front door of the dorm I am greeted by a sight I never thought I would see again.

Dexter stands in front of me. He is holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He is wearing dark jeans and a black  button up shirt rolled up to the elbows, my favorite look on him. His short hair is messy, like he has run his hand through it so many times, it finally moved. And he is staring at me.

"I'm sorry," he says. And for some reason that is enough.

I run down the steps throwing my arms around his neck. 

"You came," I say. 

"Of course," he says, "we had a plan."

His arms feel so good around me. Right where they should be. Where they belong. I breathe him in. He is my home, my best friend, my safety. And nothing matters anymore. Not the secrecy, not the lies, not the cheating. It doesn't matter because this is where we should be. This where we belong. 

I was never a believer of love. Of being able to forgive someone no matter what. But with Dexter its like I finally understand what all the love songs are about. and I never want to leave him again. 

And then we are kissing. His lips on mine, his hands in my hair. My legs wrapped around his waist. 

"I love you," he says. 

"I love you too," I reply. Then he starts moving. back up the steps of my dorm. he pushes it open and heads toward the elevator.

"What floor?"

*********************

That's it! It's done! I know I kind of left the ending open with the whole what happens next, but I feel like you can decide for yourself what will happen. For right now Dexter and Liz are happy. What about Hannah and Krista? What happened with Hannah and Dexter? Decide for yourself. 

I want to thank everyone who read my story, it has been a long time coming. I started this story way back in 2013 and I know my plans for the story definitely changed over the three years it took me to write this, but the ending is pretty much the same.

Thanks again! Hopefully you can all follow me when I venture into writing a new book.

xoxo