epilogue ✧

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» Grief, I've learned, is really just love. It's all the love you want to give but cannot. All of the unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go. «

☼ Mackenzie Ziegler ☼

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Mackenzie Ziegler

"Don't. You. Dare." I warn Johnny in all seriousness, holding my hands out from my body so he can't thwack me with the wet dishcloth.

"But I do dare." He grins maliciously, before tipping his head back with laughter.

I take the escape, sprinting around our kitchen and giggling like crazy. I hear him set down the glass he was holding and then he runs after me, yelling. Clumsily, I run towards the lounge, where Maddie, Jack, Mer, Dale and Ashley are watching a movie with Jack Junior and James. Surely he won't attempt to hit me if they're around.

I was wrong. I reach the lounge door puffing and out of breath, unable to open it fast enough as my fingers have now crumbled under the pressure. I hear John laughing, and I spin around fast so I'm leaning against the door, while bracing myself for the hit. He makes towards me as if to hit me and I shriek, but at the last second he puts an arm around my back and hooks another around my legs, lifting me bridal style. My dress hitches around my waist, making it shorter. I secure my hands around his neck for safety but plead for him to set me down anyways.

The door opens, and Maddie's voice floats through the hall. "What are you doing?"

Jack and James start to giggle like the six year old boys they are. Mer and Dale chuckle too, which makes my cheeks become hot. Ashley just laughs obnoxiously.

"Coming to watch the movie, duh." Johnny grins obnoxiously.

To say this boy has changed a lot in the last three years would be a massive understatement.

After a few long months of me moping after my parents died, he declared something needed to change. We graduated, and both had absolutely no idea what we wanted to do for a career. We bought an apartment together; with the savings I had from working for The Professional Cuddler, my inheritance, and his savings too. The apartment was everything we wanted... for a while. It has big, sunny rooms with high ceilings and lots of space, it's situated near the Blackfriars bridge, and there's three bedrooms– just in case.

The new living space only served as a distraction for a few months, and we soon hit a low point in our relationship. Johnny stopped sleeping again, making him upset and fragile, (he refused to cuddle me in his foul moods) and I became less attentive to him as the days dragged on. When I came home from his parents house one day to find him drunk, crying, and completely out of it on our apartment floor, something in me snapped. He drunkenly confessed he missed the old us, and I kissed him over and over and told him I missed him too.

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