Epilogue

Later in the day I found myself swaying with Eliza once again. We were in my room this time, the boys were downstairs but I had needed a bit of space.

To find happiness you must pursue love

Hm. It was fitting. Pursuing Eliza had helped release old emotions. Things that were hurting me before were gone. I had told my mother what I thought. I had told Hiro about Peter. I had told Liam about Peter. I knew the older brother wouldn’t be coming anywhere near me again and it made me smile.

I tilted my head to the side, staring into Eliza’s eyes. I hadn’t noticed before the depths of the blue, some parts were dark as the ocean and others light as the sky. She had a little scar under her right eye, a patch of dark skin on her neck that she tended to cover with a scarf. Her pinky finger bent slightly to the right because she had held her fist wrong when punching out a boys lights for making fun of her brother.

“Hey, El?” She blinked and tilted her head in question, I smiled and continued, “How do you say ‘kiss me’ in French?”

This time she blinked in surprise, but the way she quickly bit her lip, a blush rushing her cheeks, let me know it wasn’t a bad surprise. For a moment her eyes fluttered between my eyes and my lips, then she answered, “Embrasse moi.”

I put my hand on her cheek carefully, giving her space to move away, she didn’t. I don’t know which one of us moved next but her lips were against mine and I couldn’t stop a grin.

We kissed again, and again, until Eliza lurched back with a dark blush as she averted her gaze from the door. On cue I turned to see what she had heard to see my brother’s blush, in response I raised an eyebrow, “What? I’m just doing what the fortune cookie told me. Who am I to stand in the way of fate?”

. . .

I was happy. With my head on Eliza’s shoulder and my feet in Hiro’s lap, with my brother curled up on Liam’s lax form on the couch, with Mathias bringing in pizza. I was happy.

And it had taken damn long enough.