The City | GirlxGirl

thirty nine ➳ Epilogue

Jude watched, sipping tea that was far too hot to drink so soon out of Skylar's Batman mug, as the garbage truck drove by, collecting a set of cardboard boxes. One thing she had quickly learned from living with Skylar was that the girl was the worst procrastinator she had ever met. That, and she liked to call the shots. The boxes were from a month and a half ago, upon Jude's moving in. But her actual moving in had been very, very slow. Skylar insisted that Jude could just borrow her things, and leave the rest of the stuff in the boxes to deal with later. Jude knew that Skylar was just trying to get Jude to throw everything out, in case it reminded her of Thom or her parents, but eventually she bit the bullet and unpacked the small amount of clothing, mugs and notebooks she had. That was really all that was important.

Thom's family may have written back to Jude when they received the journal, but if they did, they would have been writing to her old address. She trusted that Ruth was a good woman, and she was right: although Jude would never learn of it, the mousy woman left her husband, fled from Kenora with her eight remaining children, and built a new life, just as Jude had.

"This course is extremely hard," Skylar groaned.

"You're the one who said you wanted to follow my footsteps into accounting."

Jude turned fast enough to see Skylar scoff and raise an eyebrow. "Because it pays well. I don't actually enjoy math. I'm just good at it."

"Jude?" Blair called.

The smaller girl walked into the living room, where her best friend and her girlfriend sat hunched over a sheet of paper on the coffee table, apparently trying to work out a math problem.

"Tell your girlfriend she's stupid," the blonde said.

Jude hummed, smiling, as she sat down next to Skylar. Peering at the paper, she said, "If she can understand that, then she's clearly not stupid. That looks like another language to me."

Skylar grinned triumphantly at Blair. "Jude, tell Blair she's stupid because she doesn't like poetry."

"Neither do you," said Jude, and Skylar frowned.

"I like yours."

Blair rolled her eyes. "What a kiss up. Jude, when you get the first copy of your book, I promise I'll read it."

Skylar, twirling her pencil through her fingers, said to Blair, "You better go. Your fiancé is waiting."

Blair stood and said, "Wipe that smirk off your face, Skylar. There was a time in your life when you wanted to be my fiancé."

Skylar's entire face turned red, and Jude couldn't help but laugh. She walked the blonde to the door, thanked her for helping Skylar through her math, and said goodbye.

When she entered the living room once again, she found Skylar waiting for her, smiling brightly.

"I'm so proud of you," she said.

Jude sat, gesturing to the paper and pencil, seemingly abandoned, on the coffee table. "And I'm proud of you."

Skylar stared at Jude for a moment, before remembering suddenly, "Mack is coming over for dinner tonight."

Jude raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for the short notice," she said, but truthfully was happy to see her brother. He was living on his own in the same apartment building as Blair, cleared from the rehabilitation centre, and was working at the cafe where Jude had first spotted Skylar.

"Sorry, love. You know my memory."

Speaking of that, Jude thought, there was something she kept forgetting-or rather, pushing away-to bring up. She took Skylar's hand, and squeezed it. The other girl noticed that something between them had shifted, and asked what was wrong.

"Nothing's wrong, Sky. I just want to ask you a question." Jude chewed her bottom lip for a moment before she asked, "Did you go to Logan's grave the other day?"

Skylar sat in silence for a long time, not looking at Jude. Then she said, "Remember the night that we decided to be together? That we mailed the journal, and you left your apartment?"

"I remember."

"You said that you don't want to forget what happened, but to start over." Skylar sighed. "I can't forget Logan. It was her birthday last week, and I did forget that. So I went to her grave, put flowers down. I didn't tell you because I didn't know-"

"You can tell me anything," Jude said firmly, squeezing her girlfriend's hand.

Skylar smiled. "Okay. I will."

Jude moved a little closer to Skylar. Looking at the dark, brown eyes that once intimidated her, she said, "Tell me this."

Skylar nodded.

"Do you think we'll make it?"

"It depends on what your definition of 'make it' is." Skylar smiled, and said, "Because in my eyes, we already have."

Jude closed her eyes even before Skylar leaned in, before she felt familiar lips on her own. Spearmint chapstick and warmth and reassurance and home. Home was something she had never really understood before moving to the city. It was never something she understood until sleeping next to Skylar every night, listening to her even breathing, with the door closed but the hall light kept on, so just a sliver of yellow could reach the dark room. Skylar knew she didn't like the dark, and embedded this little thing into their routine.

So many little things, adding up to a huge amount of happiness, resting deep in the centre of Jude's heart. She kissed Skylar back with everything she had, and decided, too, that they had made it.

THE END