The Beginning In Our End

Chapter 38- A Summer's Beginning

June.

Ava's POV.

I rested my cheek on my palm, hoping to at least get a few minutes of sleep. My eyes fluttered closed, sighing in relief in my undisturbed time.

"Ava!" A voice shouted quickly, making me squeal and jump behind the counter. My eyes widened as I saw Jasper laughing till his face turned red from the other side of the register. Irritation and fury blasted through me as I reached over the counter and swatted his arm roughly. He continued to chuckle as I hit him, still finding my stunned expression very amusing.

"It's not funny," I muttered as my eyebrows pulled tight together, "I was actually starting to fall asleep."

His laughter started to die down as he took deep breaths to calm himself. "I'm sorry Avalyn," he said in his charming french accent, "I couldn't resist."

"You're lucky you're my bestfriend," I remarked with my irritated tone, "or else I would have kicked you in the balls."

He cringed at the thought of hunching over in pain as he clutched his hurting testicles. "Yeah, I guess I'm lucky," He shrugged.

"What are you doing here anyways Jasper?" I sighed as I slipped off my apron and exited the register booth.

"We're done with our first year of school!" He cheered, hoping to raise my excitement but with no such luck. "Summer is finally here. We need to celebrate!"

I groaned at the though of any physical activity he would surely want to do today. "I'm still tired from last night," I explained to him. Last night I had thr opprotunity to perform in the Circle, the resturaunt and club both Kylie and Jason employed at. I performed the infamous song, "Elastic Heart," by Sia. Trust me, that song took some very advanced vocal cords. Of course by the end of the night, my lungs were exhausted and due to my foolish mind, I came up with the idea to go clubbing. Kylie, Jason, Jasper, and I danced and drank all night long. Because of the large amount of alcohol I consumed, I was stll trying to overcome a malicious hangover.

"You did such a good job Avalyn," he praised, "You deserved a night to let loose."

I smiled at his attempt to make me feel somewhat better. After the kissing incident from long ago, it took me a while to gather my courage to speak to Jasper again. Even when I was at fault for kissing him in the first place, he was never the one to hold a grudge. Ever since, he has been my rock that I knew I could count on. One of the greatest people I ever had the pleasure to come across. Even though our friendship wasn't to become anything more, I was still grateful to have had him stick around.

I sighed deeply as my rubbed underneath my tired eyes, "I better go," I murmured, "Kylie and I are taking a trip to Jason's parent's lake house for the week. And I have yet to go home and pack."

As a child, Jason and his family spent their vacation time in the lake house. But when he parents divorced, both of them stopped taking him there. The lake house was still well reserved and definetly open to his family if they ever decided to visit once again. So, he had invited Kylie and I to spend our first week of summer there. Kylie, being overjoyed and happy to go to her boyfriend's childhood lake house, she immediately agreed. As much as I refused to go and inevitably be a third wheel, I finally gave in when Jasper had told me of his summer plans. He was going back to Paris to visit his family. He had invited me to go, however I didn't want to selfishly take his time away that was originally saved for his family. I didn't want to spend my first week of summer stuck in our apartment, I had agreed to company Kylie and Jason.

"You still haven't from.. him?" Jasper asked, seperately exaggerating the 'him' even though I knew who he was talking about.

I solemly shook my head in remorse. When Taylor first left, he still managed to keep in contact with us the first three months. But after that, his phonecalls and texts shrunk to a minimum until he just.. stopped. I had understood that he was very busy taking college courses and balancing on his job as a photographer, but I had secretly hoped he would have come back within six months. However, ir has now been nine months and eight days in counting since I had last seen him. And frankly, a majority of me believed I never would again. My doubts and fears had finally took over, making me believe that he had finally settled into ablife of his own. As happy and proud as I was of him, every ounce and atom in me ached till the day I would see him again.

But after weeks of tear stained cheeks and horrid thoughts, I had finally pulled myself togwther and decided to continue on my life. Of course a part of me was never going to his memory go and if I had the pleasure to see him again, maybe our hearts would bring us back to each other, falling into the passionate love we had built and restored. But until that day, I was a strong independent girl I had longed to be. Since my mother's passing, I was once a lonelsome, depressed, quiet girl. Thriving off every ounce of affection that came my way, making it my only source. But I had learned that my happiness could not and would not depend on another. As much as my heart warmed for Taylor, I still had to regain the strengththat only I could pull from within to carry on. I had made it through my first year of college without his presence, and for the most part, I was doing alright. I knew if I had to, I would be strong enough to carry myself through more years if Taylor were not return.

But within my depths, I secretly wished he would.

..

Okay guys, I have a few things I want to announce.

I am going to end this book on Chapter 39, which is the next chapter. It will be long, of course. I had told only two people of the ending to this book and they were pleased but mad at the same time. So, if you have any questions or concerns about the book, please don't be afraid to comment them. But for the 40th part of this book, I will be posting an Epilogue and a Final Author's Note in your guy's favor. Because I am sure you guys are gonna want to know about what happen's after the last chapter. So, I will be posting the last chapter tonight!

DUN DUN DUN. The ending is nearing and I am so excited! I hope you guys will try to understand and love it as much as I have. Love you guys!