Epilogue

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"Jules. Baby, wake up."

I snuggled deeper into the pillows, mumbling something incoherent as to why he was still calling me that. We had started using the pet name as a joke, but it had stuck and was now becoming a regular thing. I was still not sure how to feel about that.

A quiet laugh, a hand caressing my cheek, then: "I'm going to the store to buy ice cream." I knew what it was; an invitation, but also an offer to stay in bed.

I opened my eyes wide enough to look at the glowing digits of the alarm clock in the darkness. "At... four in the morning?" I asked, even though it really wasn't anything out of the ordinary by now.

I had known that Hunter's sleeping pattern was a mess even before we had moved in together. Still, experiencing it live and in color was an entirely different thing.

He never, without fail, went to bed before one, and often times got up in the middle of the night. A few months ago, he had used to go street racing then, but he had promised to refrain from it after I had begged him to. I already had enough to be anxious about without having to worry about my boyfriend getting into a car crash.

So, lacking anything else to do at night, he went out to do all kinds of random things until he was tired enough to actually sleep. In the beginning, he hadn't wanted to wake me up and had just snuck out, but after I had woken up to the bed empty a couple times, I had asked him to talk to me before he left.

"Mhm," Hunter muttered. "Do you want to come?"

I could hear the smile in his voice, so I turned my head a little to look at him. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but eventually I could make out his features. He was watching me, propped up on one elbow, cradling his chin in his hand while his other arm was still draped across my waist.

"Give me a second. I'm not really awake yet," I mumbled and reached blindly for his hand on my hip.

Hunter hummed approvingly and pulled me closer against his chest.

I could've easily dozed off again like this, if it hadn't been for his lips suddenly kissing over my bare shoulder. "Is this your way of persuading me to come with you?"

"This is my way of showing my boyfriend some love and affection," he answered. The he added: "So, what do you think? Are you coming or not?"

Instead of answering, I sighed and sat up on the bed, feet dangling over the edge. Hunter turned the bedside lamp on so I could see where I was going and didn't run into the wall when I rounded the bed.

There were clothes scattered all over the floor, so I just grabbed sweatpants and a hoodie. I was pretty sure they were Hunter's, but it didn't matter anymore. All of our clothes had gotten mixed up by now. I always bought my shirts a size or two too large, so they fit Hunter perfectly, and Hunter's size was a little too big for me, which I liked.

When I was done dressing, I turned around to see Hunter just pulling a shirt over his head, hair a mess but otherwise looking wide awake.

It shouldn't be allowed to look that attractive in the dead of night.

"Do you know where my keys are?" he asked.

"Your right pocket," I answered without having to look.

Hunter flashed me a grin as he fished them out of his jeans. Then he walked up to me, clasped my hand tightly and pulled me out into the dimly-lit corridor.

Seconds later, we locked the door to our apartment and started the descent to the ground-floor.

Our apartment.

It still felt weird thinking that, let alone speaking it out loud. We had moved in about a month ago, right after I had turned eighteen. Darryl was renting the flat to us at a cheaper price. It was the one he had used to live in, right above the Starbucks shop, before he had finally moved in with Red.

It was possibly one of the greatest things that had ever happened to me. Living above Starbucks meant fresh coffee all day long without even having to leave the building and being able to work shifts at pretty much any time without worrying how to get there.

It obviously wasn't open yet, but the scent of coffee was still hanging in the staircase connecting our apartment to the shop. I took a deep breath before we stepped out onto the street.

"Junkie," Hunter commented with an amused grin and opened the passenger door for me.

I pulled my hood over my head and slumped into my seat as soon as the engine rattled to life.

Hunter turned some music on at a low volume and began singing along, not hitting a single note.

Like all the other times we had done this, I dozed off and only woke up when Hunter opened my door and, leaning over me, pecked my nose. "Rise and shine, sweetheart."

"I don't wanna walk," I muttered, sleepily rubbing my eyes.

He rolled his eyes, then his face lit up as he apparently got an idea. "Wait here, I'll be right back," he said and jogged off. Seconds later, he returned with a shopping cart. "Hop in."

I chuckled and got out of the car. Climbing into the cart took some serious effort, seeing as I was about as flexible as a rock, but eventually I was sitting halfway comfortably and Hunter began steering towards the entrance of the grocery store.

Shopping was rather uneventful. Hunter maneuvered us through the aisles while he collected an obscene amount of candy and ice cream. No one was around at this time, obviously; there were people who had a good night sleep instead of going out for shopping trips at ungodly hours.

"Can we always go shopping like this?" I asked, craning my head back to look at Hunter.

"Only if you push me around next time. Can you fetch some of those chocolate bars?"

I grinned at him and retorted: "I don't know, can I?"

Hunter responded by tangling a hand in my hair to pull my head back a little further. Then he leaned down and placed a short, off-centre kiss on my lips. "Cheeky, are we?" he asked mockingly as he let go of me.

Instead of replying, I reached out of the cart and grabbed a few chocolate bars from the shelf next to me with a sweet smile.

He chuckled and continued towards the exit.

The cashier barely took any notice of me, even though she could clearly see me sitting in the cart. Her eyes were completely fixed on Hunter, who, of course, noticed.

"Well, what are you doing around here that late at night?" the girl asked. She was maybe a year older than us.

"What are people usually doing in grocery stores?" Hunter answered with a raised eyebrow while he slipped her the money.

The girl broke into obnoxiously loud, fake laughter. "Oh my god, you're so funny!" When Hunter just stared blankly at her, she cleared her throat awkwardly. "I was just wondering why your friend is sitting in the cart. Are you guys besties? That's so sweet!"

I had to look the other way so I didn't burst out laughing right there.

"Sure," Hunter answered, clearly restraining his grin. "Just two guys being bros."

"Dude, that's so gay," I exclaimed in fake indignation.

Hunter looked at me and then back at the cashier with a panicked look. "Shit, you're right. Forget I said that. I don't even know him, he's not even a friend, let me just..." he said and pushed the shopping cart away from him.

I nearly choked on my laughter as I felt myself rolling further towards the exit.

He looked back at the cashier. "There, now no one can doubt that we're... what's the word? Straight."

The cashier looked utterly confused and a tiny bit scared by now as she handed Hunter his change. "Uhm, okay... Well... Have a nice day?"

Hunter offered her a smile that could've made anyone weak before he turned around on his heel and jogged back towards me.

He started laughing uncontrollably as soon as we were out on the parking lot. "God, her face," he choked out.

"Poor girl," I chuckled, "She just wanted to flirt."

Hunter shrugged, slowly re-gaining control over himself. "We should get home. The ice cream is going to melt."

"What a tragedy that would be," I snorted. I stood up in the cart so I could climb out, but hesitated, not sure how to accomplish this.

Luckily, Hunter wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me out before I could break any bones.

"Thanks," I said with a smile, before I shuffled over to the car.

Hunter got in next to me and started the engine. When he caught me yawning for the third time in five minutes, he said: "You know you don't always have to come with me, right?"

"No, I want to. I like our little trips," I said.

"But you're always so tired," he chuckled, intertwining our fingers. "Don't you need your beauty sleep?"

"Nah, I'm pretty flawless."

"Stop being sarcastic. You are," Hunter said seriously.

A smile appeared on my face almost immediately.

If the months before had been hell, this was heaven. We were doing better than ever before, both of us.

A few weeks ago we had both started seeing a shrink, which entailed a lot of difficult, emotionally draining talks but also a feeling of having weight lifted off my chest after every appointment.

It had been Nate's idea, actually, the main goal being finally coming to terms with a lot of things that had happened over the course of the last few years; Luke's death, the role my father had played in it, those few weeks between my outing and my parents' breakup, some homophobia I had internalized without ever realizing.

Getting Hunter to go there had taken a bit of convincing, but eventually he had given in and was now seeing Mrs. Meyer at least once a week, finally having the chance to openly talk about the not-so-consensual relationship between Victoria and him. I was glad to know that he was getting better and no longer had to carry that weight on his shoulders, especially since he had done it for me above all else.

Aside from that, Hunter and I were spending almost every free minute together or with our friends.

My family... Well, things were still a little complicated. My father hadn't showed up at home again, nor had he called or texted or tried to contact me in any way. I supposed that was a good thing. Still, I was a little startled by how quickly he had vanished from my life.

But at least now, after signing the divorce papers, my mother was doing better than she ever had since Luke's death. She was re-learning how to be her own person and looked younger every time I came over for visits. She was now working full-time, which meant that someone had to look after Maya.

Not wanting my little sister to have to spend all her time with a babysitter, I had asked mom if I could take care of Maya a few days a week. At first, mom had been hesitant to agree, but then she had given her consent as she had realized that it probably was best for Maya.

So now I picked my sister up at home a few times a week to hang out with her. We usually went to playgrounds and parks, but sometimes I just took her home with me.

The first time she had met Hunter had been on one of those days. I had picked her up and brought her to the apartment. When Maya had seen him standing in the doorway, her entire face had lit up. She had stormed inside and hugged Hunter's legs as soon as I let go of her hand.

Hunter had met my eye with a slightly uncertain look, but when I smiled encouragingly at him, he had crouched down to her eye level and said in the softest voice I had ever heard him use: "Hey, Maya. It's so nice to meet you!"

Maya had stared at him in awe for a few seconds before she finally whispered: "You're so pretty!"

"Thanks," Hunter had laughed and gently tugged at strand of hair that had escaped from her pigtails. "So are you. You have the same pretty curls as your brother."

Since then, the two of them were inseparable. Hunter adored her and Maya asked about him every time I hung out with her.

As if he had read my mind, Hunter suddenly said: "By the way, I bought some Lucky Charms for Maya. She told me that's her favourite cereal but your mom never buys it because it's unhealthy. I don't think I've ever heard anything that sad."

"You know she'll expect them every time she comes over from now on, right?" I laughed.

Hunter shrugged. "So? I'll buy them for her every time now."

"Sometimes I think you're only with me so that you can see my little sister," I sighed jokingly.

"I mean, it's definitely a pro of our relationship..." Hunter trailed.

"How many pros are there?"

"Only pros. I'm still looking for cons, but it's kind of hard to find any."

I leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek.

Hunter smiled at me before he turned off the engine and got out of the car.

I followed him outside and back into our apartment. Instead of going back to bed as we usually did when we came home after trips like this one, Hunter took one of the ice cream tubes and gestured for me to come with him.

I only stopped to get two blankets before I followed him outside onto our balcony. It was barely big enough for both of us to be on and too small for chairs, but it was our very own balcony.

Hunter was already sitting on the ground, feet dangling over the abyss between the bars of the banister. He held the ice cream in his lap and was already digging into it with a spoon.

"What kind?" I asked as I stepped up behind him and draped one of the blankets over his shoulders.

"Chocolate." He waited for me to sit down next to him before he held up the spoon and asked: "Do you want some?"

Wrapping the blanket tightly around myself, I nodded.

Hunter grinned as he took a big scoop out of the ice cream and moved it closer to my face. I opened my mouth and let him feed me a few spoons.

"You got something on your face," Hunter said after a moment.

"Let me guess, you're gonna help me?" I chuckled. "You know that you don't need any excuses to kiss me, right?"

"Right," he laughed before he caught my face in one hand and leaned in.

"Got it?" I snickered when he leaned back.

Hunter made an approving noise while he shovelled some more ice cream into his mouth.

I looked down at the street beneath us. At this time, there usually weren't many cars, so everything was rather quiet. The sun was just starting to rise and painted the sky pink.

Hunter rested his head on my shoulder, apparently getting tired by now. This was how it always went; one moment he was wide awake, the next moment he crashed.

"Wanna go to sleep again?" I murmured into his ear.

He nodded, stifling a yawn, and got to his feet before he helped me up with one hand.

Once we were back in our bedroom, he immediately slipped under the covers. Before I could join him though, he said: "Baby, I'm cold, can you get me a shirt?"

I chuckled quietly. "Sure."

All of the boxes that we had brought here when we had moved were still standing by the door, since we had been too lazy to unpack them. I went to the one closest to me and opened the lid, blindly pulling the first piece of fabric that I touched out of it.

My eyes widened when I saw what it was.

"Is that... is this my hoodie? The hoodie?" I exclaimed, whipping around to look at Hunter.

He sat up in bed with a smirk. "Oh. Yeah, that's yours."

"I totally forgot about it!" I held it up in excitement, before I looked at Hunter suspiciously. "Did you do anything with it?"

I almost could've sworn he blushed when he said: "I, uh, slept in it a few times. You know, when I couldn't see you. I missed you, and that was the closest to being with you that I could get."

Tossing the hoodie at him, I laughed: "And you never even thought about giving it back?"

He pulled it over his head with a grin. "No."

"Why am I not surprised?" I muttered while I crawled into bed beside him.

"Well..." Hunter chuckled, "That's why you shouldn't lend a bad boy your clothes."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Well, there you have it! That completes this book :)

This sure was a ride- like I said, I wrote this when I was but a 15-year old baby gay going through a bit of an identity crisis, so a ton of angst translated into this story lmao. I hope you somewhat enjoyed it though! Re-uploading this honestly made me kind of nostalgic haha.

Definitely let me know your thoughts and, if you want, check out my other books!

(Also, follow me on Instagram @/phillineharms if you want!! Link in my bio hehe)

Much love,

xoxo

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