Break Free // a.g (Lesbian Story)

Epilogue

ok this one's real I promise

I walked into the coffee shop and ordered a cup. Three sugars, one cream. Then I spotted him, and made my way to his table.

"H-hi Lyric," Casen said timidly. I nodded curtly at him.

It had been six months since Ryan had attacked me. Six months since I ended things with Ariana. I had been staying with my mother again, and I brought Micah to Ariana's every other week. He was there now, visiting with her before she went on tour again, after stopping to recover from the attack. It was Micah's idea to visit with Ariana. He still loved her.

And so did I.

"Are you ready to explain yourself?" I asked stiffly. After Ryan was led away in handcuffs and I ended the best relationship I'd ever had, I spotted Casen. I calmly walked up to him and punched him right in the face. Then I left with Micah and showed up on my mom's doorstep.

"If you're finally ready to listen," he replied. Even though we worked together, I had been ignoring him as much as possible. Finally Casen texted me and demanded we meet at a coffee shop to talk.

"Fine. Go." I took a sip of my coffee and crossed my arms defensively across my chest.

"Ryan and I were students at the same high school," Casen started. "He bullied me constantly, and I hoped college would allow me to escape that. And I was wrong. Orientation, he was the first person I saw. He went to the office and requested to be my room mate. He made up some bullshit sob story about me unable to room with anyone besides him because of my stutter and so on. I couldn't get away from him. And as we lived together, he constantly decorated his side of the room with pictures of you. Of you in high school, of you grocery shopping, et cetera. It was a little disturbing. He even had pictures of you naked and passed out in that alley. I had no idea who you were, because when I started working at the record company, you looked completely different from the grainy photos of you with purple and range and green hair. All the pictures, you had different hair, and your face was obscured.

"Then Ryan heard your name on the news, saw you entering the record company. He demanded I help him get a job there. He threatened me, Lyric. I didn't know what to do. I was scared of him, and I didn't understand his immediate obsession with my job. But I helped him. I got him a job. That's when he started obsessively watching gossip news channels. It scared me, so I spent as much time as possible at work. I saw you a few times, but it wasn't until I saw new, clear, updated pictures of you on Ryan's wall, that I recognised who you were. So when I fell into your office that day, and I knew your name, it was Ryan's fault. He pushed me into your office. It was because of him I knew your name. And when we became friends, he started threatening to hurt someone I loved, unless I fed him information on you.

"I know I should have called the police. But I was weak, Lyric. I was so afraid of him. I was afraid he would hurt the boy I loved. So I told him things. I told him when you were leaving town. I told him about your favourite tee shirts, favourite bands, all that stuff."

"So you became my friend because of my stalker," I said in a hard voice. "That's fan fucking tastic."

"No, I didn't," Casen said sadly. "I became your friend because you were the first person in years to treat me like a person. A person who deserved friends. Ryan used that friendship against me. I'm sorry for that, but it wasn't my fault."

I nodded stiffly, believing him for now and waiting for him to continue.

"So things I knew about you, like when your coffee machine broke and stuff like that, was all because of Ryan. And after being your friend for a while, I decided to stand up for you and myself. I told Ryan he had to stop being so creepy. I told him that stalking and breaking and entering are both illegal, and he could go to prison. His response was to punch me in the face and start terrorising the guy I liked from our college. It was terrible, and-"

"Is that why you had that black eye?" I asked, my anger ebbing away, and my concern for my best friend coming through. He nodded and I bit my lip to hold back tears. He was trying to protect me.

"I tried to warn you, not just that night." Casen was no longer looking at me, but stirring his coffee. "I don't know why I picked that day to try. Everyone was busy, especially you. Trying to squeeze in Real Friends, Neck Deep, and Citizen. God, I don't know why I didn't wait until later, or tell you before. And when you finally came over to me, I chickened out. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I mumbled quietly. Casen looked shocked and I smiled a bit. "And if your offer is still open... Well, my mom's house is already crowded without Micah and I there."

"Dude, that would be great!" Casen said happily. "Oh God, yeah I'd love to have you guys." A week after I'd moved out of Ariana's house, Casen had offered to let Micah and I stay with him. I had just walked away from him, and it hurt me. I did miss my best friend these past six months, but I was so focused on trying to hate him, I never considered forgiving him.

"Micah's gonna love it," I said as we left together. Casen just smiled and nodded, and I squeezed his hand, hoping everything between us could really be okay again.

A/N: It's done! For good!

Thank y'all so much for sticking with this story for so long omg I loved writing this & the response I got was crazy like omfg people seem to really love Ariana as a lesbian.

Not sure if I should be an evil author & leave the story like this or if I should write a sequel.

Nah, I think I'm gonna leave it. It's over.

I really love all of y'all that read this & vote & comment, even the ghost readers, & if y'all ever need anything my inbox is open <3 (I'm typing this on a computer for once so sorry if that heart looks weird)

Thank you guys so much!!! - l.s

LMAO jk there's totally going to be a sequel