After the night of the BBQ, summer went by in a blur.

Greyson and the guys got booked for events all over. Now, they were blowing up over social media with over 40k followers on Instagram in less than two months.

They were still performing at Lila's, even though Santiago always joked about no longer being able to afford them. But with Santiago as their landlord and friend, the guys wouldn't dream of not playing at the bar.

Dean said when they were a broken band, and they weren't sure where to go, Lila and Santiago always invited them to play there. They encouraged them to move forward and not give up.

The guys weren't sure how long they wanted to ride this music wave, but they all agreed that they wouldn't continue any of it if they weren't altogether.

If that wasn't the most adorable and loyal bromance, I didn't know what was.

Mom, Ella, and I, finally went on those trips. The first stop was South Korea. No surprise there. We spent a week in Seoul, and Ella was beyond excited to see her family and old friends and show me her old stomping grounds. Ella showed me where she likes to eat, play computer games, go shopping, and enjoy the sunset. I loved every minute of it.

We came back home for about a week and a half until we were off again, but this time to Tokyo, Japan.

That trip was a bit shorter than the last. We only spent four days, but somehow mom and Ella managed to squeeze everything they wanted me to experience in those days alone.

Along the way, I tried to pick up bits and pieces of the languages. Thankfully, I didn't start as terribly as mom did. Ella and Matt said that I was a natural and took a lot of pride in that.

The week before classes, we made our final trip. We revisited Japan, but this time we stayed in Osaka. It was pretty epic.

So yeah, Grey and I traveled a lot, and we missed each other like crazy. But out little reunions, well, they felt like the greatest thing ever.

Almost every other weekend, Grey and I tried to go home to see our parents. Ella had tagged along a few times too. She and Dad automatically become close. He gave her one of the spare rooms to make her own, so she didn't have to stay in the guest room whenever she visited. He said she's family, and he called her his second daughter.

I remember a few weeks ago when Grey and I sat down and told our parents the news, how happy they were. They high-fived each other, and then dad pulled out his wallet to hand Stephanie a hundred-dollar bill. Supposedly, she and my dad had made a bet about how long it would take for us to get together.

Dad had said next year because he knew I liked to be stubborn.

But Stephanie had said before Thanksgiving because she knew Greyson would have cracked and told me about his feelings after spending so much time with me.

It was pretty hilarious.

I hung out with Ella, Freya, Mari, and the boys when I wasn't traveling.

We've become a close-knit group, thick as thieves.

"Ella! If you don't hurry up, you'll be late." I shouted from the kitchen. It's the first day of school for both of us, and she's being obsessive about her hair not being perfect enough.

"Freckles! You look perfect. You don't need to change anything," Grey called out.

"You haven't even seen me yet!" Ella yelled back.

He chuckled under his breath. "I don't have to."

We waited for her to answer back, but we were met with silence.

Grey and I maneuvered around each other in the kitchen. Separately, we tried to assemble a different part of our breakfast feast.

Grey flipped the pancakes, and I scrambled the eggs, sprinkling cheddar cheese on them.

"Okay, okay." Ella stepped into the kitchen. Her long dark hair was half up, half down, and she was wearing light denim shorts that fell to her knees with a baby blue t-shirt that had these tiny white stars all over it.

"AWE!" I said because I thought she looked adorable.

Ella scrunched up her face at me. "AWE?" she repeated, "I don't wanna look 'awe,'" she frowned.

I turned off the stove and started sharing portions of the scrambled eggs onto three plates.

"Then how do you wanna look?" I asked her.

"Like...Like..." She threw her arms up with frustration. "I don't know. I give up."

"Relax, freckles. You look great," Grey told her with a warm smile.

She looked back and forth between the two of us. "You guys do know you're totally biased."

We both nodded.

"Bias and proud," Grey said, and I agreed with him before we all broke out into laughter.

Grey and I finished sharing the food for each of us and then sat down to enjoy it.

Ella told us about the classes she would have this year. She mentioned something about her guidance counselor, saying that she should pick up at least two years of a language to look good on her college applications. As much as Ella loved to learn languages, she hated that the school had limited options. She would prefer to learn Mandarin, but she said she would give French a try instead.

For our first semester, Grey and I had two gen-eds together, but that was it. From there, we had our introductory classes for our majors.

After breakfast, we threw the dishes and pans into the dishwasher then headed out the door.

Mom and Matt called us on our way to Ella's school to wish all three of us an excellent first day.

We pulled up at Ella's school 20 minutes later. She unbuckled her seatbelt then I watched her slide her leather backpack onto her shoulder before she moved forward and kissed my cheek. "Have fun at college." She grinned.

I grinned widely. Were all little sisters this sweet? Gosh, I swore I had one of the best.

"You too, Grey." She winked, lightly punching his shoulder, then proceeded to hop down from the truck and slamming the door shut.

We watched her walk up the steps, and then she waved goodbye one last time before heading.

"They grow up so fast," Grey said, pretending to sniffle and wipe away a nonexistent tear.

I erupted into giggles. "Yeah, they do."

Another 15 minutes later and we pulled up in one of the university's many parking lot spaces.

I took a deep breath before getting out after Grey. We handed him my bag from the backseat while he only grabbed a notebook and a pen that he pens, which he stuck in his back pocket.

Grey was wearing one of my favorite outfits. Okay, I liked a lot of his clothes, but honestly, this was in my top three. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a white three-quarter Henley, that hugged all his defined muscles, and then he wore his black boots.

Also, we seemed to be matching today. Grey had picked out my clothes this morning, and I was grateful I didn't have to bust my brain trying to put an outfit together. So I was wearing jeans that were pretty close to the color of his. Then I had on a flowy white top with combat boots-my style. Grey knew me well.

I watched him do a 360, admiring the place. I couldn't help but be excited about the next step in our journey: all the new experiences and the new memories.

I was glad I had Grey to share these things with.

I looked up to meet those blue eyes that I love more than anything. I reached for Grey's hand, and he interlocked our fingers, smiling down at the gesture. "We got nothing to lose, right?" I repeated his favorite phrase.

Greyson grinned, giving me one of those forehead kisses that I adored. "No," he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "Only a whole lot to gain."

THE END