Runaway

Epilogue

Holly's POV:

'Luke,' I say into the phone. It's the first time he's called you since you left - it's been a month since I spoke to Charlotte.

'I needed to hear your voice,' he says, had he been crying?

'Why?'

'Because...' Luke trails off. 'I keep thinking. If what we had was real, then how can you be fine?'

'You just stole one of Charlotte's song lyrics.'

'I know,' he says, 'but I'm not fine at all.'

I don't respond - I don't know how to.

'I still have every picture you ever sent me, every picture we ever took saved on my phone. Whenever I'm alone, I look through them.'

A betraying tear falls from my eyes.

'If I woke up with you right beside me again, I'd hold you closer than I ever did before. You'd never slip away.'

I can hear that he is crying now, too.

'You never even told me you were leaving,' he says quietly, 'I never got to say goodbye.'

'I'm sorry,' I say. 'I couldn't do it. I had to leave.'

But if I hadn't left Luke,

((((Would you still be with him now???))))

then I wouldn't have gotten to have your cousin become your best friend. I wouldn't have been able to start going to school again, and have made new friends.

Everything would be so much easier if I could forget everything that happened with Luke. I wouldn't have to miss him, them.

Right as you are thinking you need an excuse to hang up, there is a knock at the door.

'Luke, I have to go,' you say, 'there's someone at the door.'

The knock sounds again, and I walk towards the door.

'But if what we had was real then how can you be fine?' He says.

I open the door, as Luke says, 'I'm not fine at all.'

You drop your phone to the floor and look up at Luke, who had also dropped his.

Before I know it, our arms are around each other, and we are kissing again. This time, we won't let go.