Colliding Stars |✔️

Epilogue

L A N A

The sunlight streaming in from the window and into my bedroom woke me up from my sleep. I yawned and blinked several times to clear my blurry vision. The first thing I noticed was a foot gently rubbing against mine.

I turned my head and found Everett lying on his stomach next to me in my bed with a notebook and textbook before him and pencil in his hand. His attention was completely set on the notes he was reading through as his lips moved while pronouncing every word carefully.

"Hi." My voice came out raspy, both startling and surprising me at the same time. And then I remembered. The fight last night. Carlos, who knocked down Everett and almost killed me was arrested.

By the faint sound of my voice, Everett quickly turned his head and his eyes widened when they met mine.

"Hey," he whispered, a sense relief laced to his voice. He hesitated as he reached his hand out but I nodded which caused a sense of relief across his face before he touched the side of my head, rubbing his thumb against my head like he always did. I exhaled a deep breath as his touch felt so soothing. "Are your alright?"

I nodded but when I tried speaking, only a squeak came out and I started coughing.

"Hey, it's okay. Carlos choked you pretty hard, remember?" I squeezed my eyes shut as flashbacks of how he threw Everett to the ground and then me before pressing his body on top of mine, his big, slender fingers around my neck.

As I felt my whole body tremble and my heart pounding in my chest, the sound of Everett's soft voice reassured me. "Lana, hey. It's okay. You're okay. Can you look at me?"

I gently opened my eyes and my fists unclenched and so did my clenched jaw as I met Everett's soft gaze on me. His smile was a reassurance and I returned a wobbly smile after exhaling a deep breath. Just then, my stomach tumbled, loudly.

Everett grinned. "You hungry?"

I nodded.

"I made lasagna yesterday. I'll go get you some. I just need to text the girls to tell them you're awake."

I narrowed my eyes, confused. How did he make lasagne last night? As far as I could remember, we both came here to my place last night after Carlos was taken away. We were so tired that we crashed on my bed within seconds. Also, why did he need to tell the girls that I was awake?

Noticing the confusion across my face, Everett said, "Lana, you've been sleeping since Friday night after the fight. It's currently Monday afternoon."

My eyes widened. I quickly sat up and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. A gasp escaped my mouth as my phone showed that it really was Monday, 15:00 pm.

"Oh, shit."

Everett sat up too and grinned. "Oh shit indeed."

Realizing, I glanced at Everett. His face and hair were clean of the dirt from Friday night and he was wearing my dad's old sweatpants and hoodie. "You've been here with me the whole time?"

He nodded.

"You skipped school today?"

He nodded, again. "The girls took notes for me."

"They didn't. They don't take notes."

Everett laughed and pushed a stack of sheets in my direction. "Here's your proof. The neatest notes. Better than ours."

I skimmed through them and felt my eyes widening to the point that Everett started laughing.

"So, should we eat?" He asked, putting the notes aside.

"I think...I'm just going to shower first," I whispered, sitting up and rubbing my arm.

He frowned. "Okay. Are you feeling alright though? Does it hurt anywhere?"

I shook my head. "No. It's not that. I just...I need to-I usually shower a few times during the day. It's just... I mean it's not you or anything like that. I just-"

"-Yuuki." I stared at him as my Japanese name sounded so beautiful in his calm and meek voice. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes with a soft smile. "It's okay. You don't have to explain yourself. I understand."

I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned into him, my face against his chest, the soft fabric of his shirt touching my skin. I put my hands on his waist and Everett slowly puts his arms around me. We held each other like this for a while.

"Thank you," I whispered, closing my eyes.

Everett put his arms around me for a couple of moments before pulling away and fishing out a small box from his jeans pocket. "I got you something. For our one month anniversary."

He put it in my hand and I, who was surprised out of my mind stared at the box for a moment before slowly opening it. I almost gasped at the sight of a beautiful necklace. A heart shaped one.

"You can open it."

I blinked, astonished. "I can open it?"

He grinned and nodded.

When I finally opened the heart, it was a picture of the two of us. A selfie from a day we hung out at my place and ate too many donuts while playing probably a million rounds of Mario Kart. It was a silly picture from an imperfect angle, but our heads were titled close to each other and we were smiling. That day, I was the happiest I had been in a very long time.
Thus, I felt my whole body warm at the sight of the picture and I looked up, smiling at Everett. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

"I actually have something for you too," I said after he helped me put the necklace on. I opened the drawer on my nightstand and retrieved a small plastic bag. I gave it to Everett who raised his brows, surprised.

He opened it and grinned so big that a laugh escaped his mouth. He was holding a bunch of Mario and Pokémon character pins in his hands. "Wow! They're even cooler than yours. Where did you find so many?"

"It's a shop down town. They have everything when it comes animated stuff. I love taking my bike there and spending my Saturdays there. I'll take you this Saturday if you want to?"

Excitement appeared across his face. "Sure. Sounds really fun. I wanna know about all your secret hang-out places."

I smiled back and wrapped my arms around him for a hug before he could. Everett laughed softly and closed his arms around me, his warmth reaching all the way to my toes. It felt like home. Everett was home.

***

The end!! Thank you so much for the endless support. I really appreciated it❤️