e p i l o g u e

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A S P E N ' S P O V

I did everything I could to try and ease my nerves for today as I realized what was happening.

I was graduating.

For the last time.

This was it. No more long nights, study breaks, college parties, no more anything.

We were graduating.

I was currently in my room, Livi sitting on my bed as I fiddled with any and everything. I finally got rid of my crutches and could slightly walk with my boot now.

"What's wrong, Aspy?" She frowned, sitting on my bed and rubbing her belly.

"I'm scared," I told her, picking at my fresh set of nails. "I'm about to have to become an actual adult."

"It's gonna be okay, Ens. I'll be here with you every step of the way." She smiled, fixing my pillow behind her.

"But you're pregnant and you're about to have a family now. We're only gonna talk at family events and when you need someone to babysit-" I rambled, playing with my hair.

"Aspen." She sternly said, making me stop my rambling. She struggled to stand up a little bit but eventually got it and waddled over to me. She was holding her belly as she put one hand on my shoulder.

"I am not going to stop talking to you just because I'm having a baby. We're still gonna text and call every day and see each other all the time. You're my little sister, how could I ever just abandon you like that?" She pouted, looking at me sympathetically.

"What if she takes up all your time? What am I gonna do? I'm gonna miss you so much, Livi." I frowned, feeling my eyes line with tears.

"It's gonna be okay, Aspen. I'll make time for you, I promise. Stop acting like we're barely gonna see each other again." Livi told me, smoothing my hair down. "Come on. Let's go get your hair done."

"Mom's friend is already here?" I asked, looking in the mirror on my wall to see my messy curls.

"Yeah, Mom is helping her set up right now." She told me, putting her arm around my shoulder and steadying herself before we went downstairs.

We went downstairs, having to go slow as Livi couldn't really go fast. We went into the living room to see Cole talking to Dad and we heard Mom and her friend in the kitchen.

"Livi, you really found a keeper," Dad told her, making her smile as she stopped leaning on me.

"That's my husband." She smiled, still not over saying that. "You should see the nursery. He won't stop buying her toys and clothes."

"On top of everything you got at the baby shower? Yeah, she's gonna be spoiled." I laughed, moving to sit on the couch and adjusting my boot.

"Trust me, I know." Livi sighed just as Mom walked into the room.

"Come on, Ens. She's ready to do your hair. We don't have that much time until you need to get dressed and we have to leave." Mom stated as everyone knew they were about to be given a task.

Yeah, Mom was like this at Livi's graduation. Both of them.

She is a stickler for organization and is making sure this day goes perfectly. She keeps giving everyone specific things to do to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

"Coming Mom." I sighed, getting up and making my way into the kitchen.

♤♤♤

"I am so ready to walk across that stage," Vita said as we stood backstage in the lounge in the auditorium where our graduation was.

"You and me both." Rosa sighed, leaning back against the couch as she tapped away on her phone. "I wanna see Ayden all dressed up in his little suit."

"Are we talking about Ayden? He's my favorite." Hunter grinned, walking into the room with Luka and Dalton.

He sat down beside Rosa, putting his arm behind her as she scooted closer to him. Luka sat down on Hunter's other side as Dalton came and stood next to me.

"Didn't they say we have to leave our phones with our parents?" Luka asked, eyeing the phone in Rosa's hand.

"Well, yeah but we've been planning this all senior year. When Aspy goes up she's gonna take a picture of all of us. We have to have at least one picture like that." Rosa explained, smiling as the boys nodded in agreement.

"I'm nervous. At the same time, I expect my family to be the loudest out there." I smirked, giving Vita a knowing look as she raised a brow at me.

"Uh, my family don't play. They're going to be the loudest." Vita told me, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

We were all in our graduation outfits, not having our caps and gowns on yet. It was nice for all of us to come together one last time before we graduated.

"I'm gonna miss you guys. Senior year was by far the best." I pouted, leaning into Dalton as he hugged my waist.

"Why are you talking like we aren't gonna see each other anymore?" Hunter asked as I felt Dalton slightly tense against me.

"What if we all grow distant after college? My life is gonna be so boring." I groaned, tossing my head back as they all laughed.

"Don't worry, peaches. We won't let that happen. You guys are stuck with me for life." Vita reassured me as everybody laughed again.

We checked the time and realized we had to start getting ready for our graduation soon. We all grabbed our caps and gowns, putting them on as we took a bunch of selfies.

Us girls got together and made the boys take tons of pictures. We could tell they were getting annoyed as we kept taking hundreds of pictures.

"Are you guys done yet? We're gonna take more pictures later." Luka groaned, handing me back my phone.

"Attention, all graduates must report to backstage. The ceremony will begin in 10 minutes." We all heard over the intercom.

"Looks like it's now or never." I said, brushing my straightened hair behind my shoulder.

♤♤♤

We were all sitting in our chairs, looking nice in our caps and gowns. I saw how many people were here, feeling nervous as my moment to walk across the stage grew closer.

My row was next and Luka was somewhere down the row, Vita and Hunter were in a row together and already went up to receive honors awards and their degrees, and Rosa and Dalton were in separate rows.

Our row suddenly stood up and we walked to the side of the stage. People started going up and I grew more nervous as it got closer to me.

I had my phone ready in my hand, the camera app open already. I was ready to take this picture and couldn't stop smiling.

I looked out in the crowd to see my family all together, smiling at me as they had their cameras ready. I just knew they were about to be extra.

"Aspen Michaels." I grinned as I began to walk across the stage but stopped halfway and took a selfie, seeing my friends pose in the background.

I continued walking, mentally laughing my ass off as I continued walking across the stage. I smiled at the dean as I grabbed my degree out of her hands, she smiled back at me.

I walked down the stairs on the other side and made my way back to my seat. I saw my friends smiling at me as I sat back down, tucking my phone under my leg.

We all cheered super loud when Luka's name was called, seeing the smile spread across his face as he walked across the stage. He made his way down the stage and back to his seat after grabbing his degree.

After everyone had received their degrees, our valedictorian was giving a final speech before we threw our caps. Rosa, Vita, and I had decorated our caps the night before as we didn't want the basic ones.

"Let's give it up for our 2022 graduates!" She spoke into the mic as we all stood up and threw our caps in the air.

We were all smiles as our caps flew up in the air and came back down on us. Everyone moved to find their friends and families, hugs and cheers went around as we all celebrated our new step in the world.

I moved out of the aisle, trying to make it to where I saw my family sitting. Suddenly, I was lifted up and spun in the air as arms circled around my waist.

I was turned around and held up in the air to see Dalton smiling up at me. He had the biggest grin on his face as he held me tightly against him.

"Hey, angel." He softly spoke, his eyes flickering down to my lips.

"Hey." I whispered, my hand coming up to hold his jaw.

We didn't say anything else as I leaned down and pressed my lips against his. I heard people moving around us but I was only focused on him.

On us.

He held my tighter, not letting me go like this was our last moment together and I would leave at any moment. I pulled away slowly, smiling at him as he smiled at me.

"Are you guys done having your little moment now?" I heard Vita say behind us as Dalton slowly put me down.

I turned around as I had to lean against Dalton, my boot getting kind of uncomfortable. I saw my family making their way over as my mother was talking to Rosa's mom.

Rosa was holding Ayden's hand as he smiled, showing off his missing tooth. Vita moved to the side as she gave me a small hug.

"I'm so proud of you, peaches." She spoke in my ear as I hugged her back.

"I'm more proud of you. You got your drama degree and you're gonna be a bomb ass actor." I told her, seeing her grin widely.

"And you're gonna be a bomb ass model. Fuck that stupid car accident because you still look gorgeous as ever." She told me, pulling back as she placed her hands on my shoulders.

"Let me hug my sister." We heard Livi say as Cole had his arm around her waist and her hand was on her belly.

We all laughed as Vita moved away from me and Livi waddled over to me. She wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly as I hugged her back.

"You graduated!" Livi cheered, squealing in my ear as everyone else went to go speak to their families.

All who was left was Me, Mom, Dad, Livi, Cole, Rosa, her mom, and Ayden. After Livi was done congratulating me, I bent down and hugged Ayden.

He hugged me back as I smiled and held him tightly. I always considered Ayden to be like my little brother as I had known him for so long and we just hit it off.

I stood up and looked around the auditorium, seeing all my close friends and family. This was it.

We've graduated.

All that's left now is for us to decide where we're going from here.

This is a new chapter of our lives and it just needs to be written.

guys, I've really been stalling writing this last chapter but can you believe it's been almost a year since I started writing this book?

I'm so so so soooo proud of all the attention it has received and I've been seeing all of your comments, votes, even just simply adding them to your reading lists!

even if you didn't finish the book and just forgot about it i'm still so happy you even read one chapter <3

i'm gonna miss you guys and all the characters in this book but don't worry..i am going to be writing Livi's book next!

thank you for everyone who decided to stick around and read crossing paths all the way through! trust me- this is not the end of these lovely characters ;)

i hope you guys enjoyed the book! make sure to vote and share if you can <3 thanks sooooooo much for reading and I'll see you all soon :)


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