Can all my good readers/friends please help a sister out and read the author's note? Dedication in upcoming chapter goes to the most helpful person :)

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Dedicated to sweghlife for her support with the hater as well. I'm trying to dedicate and show my appreciation everywhere, because you guys went out of your way to make me feel better despite the terrible messages I was receiving. Thanks for making me smile when the chips were down.

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Soundtrack:

What You Feel by Chris Levy - when Chance and Candi are at the wedding place

A Drop In the Ocean by Ron Pope - the conversation between Chance and Candi at the log cabin.

"You must be the lovely bride and groom. You make a wonderful couple," the woman said, smiling at us over her clipboard.

I almost choked, and Chance and I exchanged an uncomfortable look. "No, we're not-" I started.

"I'm not her-" Chance said at the exact same time.

"We're just friends!" we blurted together, needing to get that admission out into the world.

I'd known things would be awkward between Chance and I when we went to check out wedding venues together, but, surprisingly, Chance had seemed calm. I had a feeling a talk with Ava had done that. She could be very good at talks and advice when she wanted to be.

"My apologies," the owner of the first venue said, throwing us a serene smile. "Will the groom be joining us today?"

I shook my head. "No. He had prior engagements."

I probably just sounded formal and official to her, but really I was just trying to be witty by adding in a few puns. My humor went unnoticed.

"Right," she told me, learning to adapt to the already unconventional turn this wedding was heading. "Well, allow me to show you around the grounds, then."

She led us over lush green lawns. There was a large white hall with carved tapestries of angels, and a glittering blue lake to the left. Through the hall were clean tables with ivory linen cloths and polished wood floors. A large bar stacked with every alcohol imaginable stood by the dance floor, and outside was a red carpet surrounded by perfect white chairs and a small gazebo for the bride and groom.

Along the way the owner who was touring us-Amanda Atkinson, I believe she said her name was-explained the history of the place, the statistics, and the services they offered. Really, as long as it looked nice, I didn't care if it had first been erected in the sixteen-hundreds by a Scottish nobleman.

Her phone buzzed, cutting her off halfway through a lengthy explanation about how the stone pillars had been imported from Brazil, and she excused herself politely to answer the call. I breathed an involuntary sigh of relief as she departed and glanced up at an angelic water feature made of expensive marble.

"This place doesn't seem like you," Chance said, running his hand over a railing and glancing around at the twisting ivy vines and freshwater lilies.

I sighed. "You're right. It's not me at all. I feel like I'd be stepping on eggshells the whole time. There's a little too much..." I gestured around and searched for the right word. "...pizzazz."

He nodded in understanding. "Look, Candice, can we talk?"

The only problem with Amanda Atkinson making her distinguished exit was that it now meant she'd left me alone with Chance, which probably wasn't the best place to be given the current circumstances.

I turned around and forced a smile. "Look, Chance, it's probably not the best idea-"

He held up a hand and smiled soothingly at me to let me know that this conversation wasn't one that was going to end with me an emotional wreck. "It's okay, Candi. I'm not going to make some heart wrenching, undying confession of my love for you. I just want to talk."

I nodded. "Okay. What's up?"

He sighed and leaned against the railing, tilting his head up and surveying the sky. "I wanted to apologize," Chance said finally. "About what I said the other day, It was out of line. I have to accept the fact that we're not together and get over it. I can't act hurt because you moved on when I didn't. I'm sorry for what I said. And I'm sorry for how I acted. And I'm sorry if it hurt you."

"It's okay."

"I also talked to Will, and I found out that he's actually a decent guy. You guys deserve to be happy, and if it's with each other, then I wish you two the best life."

I smiled reassuringly at him and stepped closer. "Thank you, Chance. And I know that the right girl is out there for you, too. You just have to find her."

He smiled. "For now, I think I'll just settle for spending the summer in a foreign country with my friends."

"That sounds like a good idea," I said laughing, as Amanda wandered back and smiled at us both.

"So, how do you like this?"

"Actually, something came up, and we have to go," I told her. "We love this place, and we'll be back for another look, I'm sure. Thanks for your help."

I took Chance's arm and dragged him away from the stuffy woman, and Chance frowned. "What came up?"

"Nothing," I said mischievously. "But I hate this place and figured we could spend the rest of the day together instead. I'm sure Jamie and Ava are having more luck than us with the florist and bakeries, so what do you say we cut our losses and do something together?"

"Sounds good," Chance told me with a grin, and I dragged him through the wrought-iron gates, ready for a day reminiscent of the past happiness we'd shared.

~ * ~

"A log cabin... in the woods," Chance said dubiously as we walked towards the rickety front stairs. "I can't tell if this is the beginning of a horror flick or an erotica."

"I know you're judging, Mr. Ryder, but this is one of my favorite places and will feature neither eroticism nor horror."

"Would you mind telling me what we're doing at a creepy cabin in the middle of the woods with no civilization in sight?"

"Believe it or not, there's a story behind this," I told Chance. "Will and I went out driving in the forest one day, and we stumbled across this thing. Believe it or not, it was more rundown than it is now. No one's lived in it for years, and so we got curious and went exploring. The place reminded me of the Donoghue cabin, so I figured why not do it up and have it as a sanctuary for when I miss my friends or got homesick?"

The door opened under my touch to reveal a somewhat musty cabin that we'd done up like a ski lodge. It had been our fun little project. We didn't know who owned the dwelling, but we knew that no one used it, and since it couldn't be tracked to us, we might as well make it nice and occasionally visit the place and keep it alive.

Chance glanced around, and I could see him taking in the features, from the old fireplace to the crocheted quilts and cute picture frames and trinkets we'd thrown around the place. We hadn't been here in a few months, so it was covered in a fine layer of dust and smelled a little musty, but it served its purpose.

"It's nice," Chance said. "And you did all this?"

I nodded. "Will fixed the stairs and added the shingles and I decorated. We don't know why. It was just this abandoned cute little place with potential, so we did it up for the hell of it..." I shrugged.

Before we'd done it up, it had been the epitome of a nightmare. Rotted wood, broken glass everywhere, dirty pots and pans and rickety old rocking chairs and dusty boxes. It looked like it had been abandoned years before, and once we'd cleared the cobwebs and vermin, it was dainty and cute.

I know it seems random, but there were just some whimsical things Will and I had done, and after a couple of months of monitoring the cabin and seeing no sign of life, we figured why not make it our sanctuary away from the metropolitan apartment buildings of London? It was like a holiday house.

"You've changed, you know that?" Chance said, running his finger along the flue of the fireplace.

"How's that?" I asked, checking the old kerosene lamp to find it had not seen use since we'd fixed it. Nothing had been touched, and I knew no one had been here since the last time Will and I trekked here for a romantic day away.

"The old Candice I knew never would've done something like this," Chance told me. "I guess you really did change in a good way when you moved to London."

There was no doubting I was a completely different girl to the one who'd cooked in America and dreamed of bigger things. I supposed I was a far cry from that scared little girl who was afraid of her own shadow.

I shrugged. "I guess I just got here and figured I had a fresh new start, so why not become whatever I wanted to? And I wanted to become an adventurous girl who knew how to have fun. I used to play by the rules so much. As weird as it sounds, doing this to the cabin was a thrill. Even if it only involved chopping up firewood and adding some decorative touches. Come on, there's this really cool thing down the back. Let me show you."

I led him out of the cabin, and we trekked down the back and past thick elm trees and leafy evergreens. We trod over mush, and soon I could hear the familiar gurgling that meant we were getting close. Finally, I stopped in front of the babbling brook, which had clear blue water running through a crevice in the ground.

"Whoa," Chance said, and knelt down and swished his fingers through the water. "How'd you find this?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. We just kind of searched and found it."

"I used to imagine you in England after you left, cooking and studying and watching shows in front of the TV... but none of those involved creeks and old cabins."

"I know," I told Chance. "But I'm happy."

He was watching me intently, and when I raised my eyes to meet his, I saw him smiling slightly. "I can see that. I don't think I've ever seen you smile as much as you have over the past week."

I kept staring at the rippling waves of water that lapped at the leaves and moss.

"Candice, can I ask you a question?"

I looked up at him over my shoulder. "Of course. You know you can ask me anything."

He knelt down, seemingly uncaring that he was probably soiling his expensive jeans. He picked up a red leaf and tore off small pieces of it, watching it drift away in the nippy winds. "How did you know when you found the one?"

It was a good question, and I supposed there's never really an answer. Maybe it's different for everyone, and we all have secret tells.

"I don't know," I whispered. "I guess when you look around you and love everything you see. When you can look at them everyday and feel like it's the first time all over again. Like you're falling in love all over again."

"And Will's the one for you?"

I smiled, thinking of all our happy memories. Rebuilding this house and messing around in the bar and laughing over coffee and kissing late at night and sharing hopes and dreams and tears and fears. I wouldn't trade those late night movies and jokes for anything in this world. And I knew if it came down to him or me, I'd jump in front of a metaphorical bullet if it meant protecting Will. Maybe that's how you knew.

When you can't think of a single bad thing you couldn't come back from.

We'd had bad times, of course; we'd fought over stupid things and gone days of silence and not talking to each other. I'd broken it off with him one or two times before, and we'd both said things to each other that we'd rather forget.

It was the exact thing I'd been scared off when I was younger; one of the reasons I'd avoided love like the bubonic plague.

But when it comes down to it, I'd take all of those happy moments if it meant a couple of unsavory fights. Because underneath the tears and heartbreak, there was laughter and the joy and the promise that we'd bounce back from our troubles and be happier than ever.

How many other people knew of my hatred of comedy movies and my love of horror? How I enjoyed caramel popcorn more than buttered? And that I preferred herbal tea to coffee? How many people knew about the fact I tugged my ear when I was nervous, and how many people would hug me in bed or hold my hand during storms because I hated loud noises? How many people were willing to chase me down in the rain after a fight and kiss me against the bricks of an apartment building while tears streaked down my face, mixing with the salty rain? And how many people would continue whispering apologies against my lips until the tears subsided?

I knew things about Will that I'd never picked up about any human being before; like how his favorite color was blue and his favorite animal was an orangutan for reasons unknown to even him. He was a speed reader whose guilty pleasure was red licorice. He kept a box of chicken noodles hidden behind the sweet chili sauce in the pantry at all times, and I'd never mentioned it because I knew he enjoyed the secrecy of the little delicacy in the cupboard. I knew of the fact he loved to be kissed on the cheek, and if he was ever upset, he didn't need to be consoled verbally. He just needed to be hugged until the sadness passed.

That's the best definition I can give of true love. It's when you know the ins and outs of people who don't even know the ins and outs of themselves. And it's accepting them for all of their strange quirks and playing their games just to see them happy. It's feeling happy when they are, and sharing the voyage of life.

I looked up at Chance and beamed, finding it strange I'd be having such a conversation with him. I'd never imagined being here discussing how in love I was with another man with my ex, but it felt right to be here. Like we were just two old friends catching up.

"Yeah," I told him. "I think he is."

And then Chance did something I'd never expect.

He smiled back at me.

~ * ~

Hi, guys, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed!

So, here's where I need your help:

For those who don't know, I am an avid TV watcher, and am constantly searching for new shows to watch.

Here's the thing: I am very interested in watching Gossip Girl, but the thing is right now I don't have the money to buy the series as I usually would.

So, do you guys know how I could possibly watch the series for free, but also legally? (I am very paranoid about being arrested, for those who don't know). If you guys know a website or an app or just a normal way to watch it that will cost me no money (and also not jail me in the process, haha), could you please spring a suggestion in the comments or PM me or write on my message board a way for me to do that?

Also, for my American readers (or those who have Netflix), can someone please tell me how it works? Since it's just only come to Australia, not many of us know how to use it. Like, if you pay the $8.99 a month, does that pay for unlimited streaming of TV shows on one device? And how much is it for two or three devices? Thanks.

Please comment your favourite shows down below so I have more options on what to watch as well. I love Smallville, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, The Mentalist, The Originals, Gilmore Girls and hundreds more. What about you guys?

Most helpful/informative commenter will get a dedication in one of the next chapters.

Uploading Friday or Saturday.

Thanks! Love you. xx