Summer: Day 43
Epilogue - Zach's POV:

She came. She's in my arms right now. Mackenzie Lemay is in love with me. Just as I am with her.

She traces circles on my knee as she nuzzles deeper into the hollow of my chest. It's as if she couldn't get close enough. And I was reeling her in, wanting her as close as possible.

I used to think I'd always draw the line when it came to her. That I'd tell myself to switch off my feelings and we'd be done. Over. Like a replay of burning the bridges when she came too close for comfort. But this time around, she had me wrapped around her finger.

I technically said goodbye before I walked into ninth grade. Shut her out. Didn't weigh the destruction of her feelings. But I cared. Hell, I really fucking cared. Yet every single time I saw her, I couldn't do a thing about it. As much as I wanted to, as much as I wished I could, I couldn't.

Or maybe that was my excuse.

I couldn't. Bullshit. Of course I could've.

And maybe—maybe that was my insecurity. The biggest one of all.
That loving someone so much, letting someone see you for you, is potentially the greatest risk in life.

I don't know how or when or what happened this summer to change the fact that I completely let my guard down, but I did. And I don't know who or why things had to get so complicated along the way, but we survived. And where this was going—hopefully, in the right direction. 

One day I'll put a ring on her left hand. 

Just that very thought makes me smile. 

"What's got you smiling?" Mackenzie asks, shifting so that she can look at me. Her gorgeous brown hair falls over her shoulder and I start playing with the tips of it. 

I shake my head, tugging my smile down with my teeth. "I just—I love you so much." So much my heart hurts.

She pats my knee, tilting her head up to kiss my lips. "You should've said that a long friggin' time ago, babe. A really long time ago."

Oh, the goddamn truth in that statement.

"But I love you now, right?"

"Yeah, let's perform heart surgery while you're still here," she retorts, sarcasm laced in her pretty voice. I could listen to her talk for hours on end. "Or we can just rip it right out of my chest. Either way, it's dead and you're the criminal."

I'm not thinking straight as I look into her green eyes, the ones that hold so much emotion, so much love. And our eyes dance in contact, like they were holding hands. I have a feeling our eyes have been holding hands for forever—even when we physically couldn't. All these years. Contact.

Physical contact. Eye contact. Two fine arts. One very fine line.

"Stop looking at me like you wanna stick your dingaling in me," she whisper-shouts, hitting me upside the head. Dingaling—I love her.

I chuckle, and my hands swarm her stomach. "If only you knew what goes on inside my brain, Kenz." How in my mind we're always kissing.

She grips my wrist and settles my hand on the outside of her thigh. "I'd like to know certain things. Like why you're trying to get your hand down my pants right now. And what your favorite things about me are."

"I like touching you," I reply, worded simply. Which is true, I really really like touching her. And holding her. And and and— "And I love everything about you, the good and the bad. If we're gonna fall in love together I gotta have the full package, you know."

She pokes my chest twice. "You love me."

"We've already gone over this—"

"A lot. You love me a lot." She giggles to herself with that goofy smile I love. That I love. "And you're so whipped."

I sigh, and then inhale the scent of her shampoo. Vanilla. Lavender. Just what you'd expect from someone like Mackenzie. It's then that I realize love is just a word until someone special gives it a meaning. And she gave it the deepest meaning of all.

"Proudly whipped," I whisper in a low voice, shutting my eyes and living in this moment—trying to suck up every single second of it like a sponge. When I open my eyes again, I see things through a new lens. I have everything I want in life. I'm content.

"I left everything at home," she mumbles into my chest. "My favorite books, your sweatshirts, my birth control pills—"

"We'll get those as soon as we land," I say, smirking.

She scoffs playfully. "It doesn't work like that, the prescription needs to be ready."

"It'll be ready," I assure her. I'll make sure of it—somehow. "And we'll be back to go through your things and get your stuff. And, as far as my sweatshirts go, I have a whole lot more of them you can borrow."

"Best shopping spree ever." Her hand slyly slides under my shirt and she starts tracing the lines of my abs. 

I get chills and clench my jaw. "Kenz."

She hums, leaning her head on my shoulder. "What?"

Nevermind, I want to say. But instead my stupid, impulsive, and son of a bitch mouth says, "Will you marry me?"

I freeze. And she freezes. And I swear to fucking god time stops.

"Like eventually, of course," I try to explain. "I don't know, in the future? Shit." I rake a hand through my hair. "I didn't mean to blurt that out. I was just—"

"Yes."

"What—" When? When can you walk down the aisle for me?

Damn, I'm lovesick. 

"I'll marry you. Right now, in a week, in a year, in five years." Mackenzie looks at me for a solid minute, picking apart my face, and I'm too stunned to say anything back. "Yep. You're the guy I love and wanna marry."

"Come here, you," I say, holding her tighter in my arms. "It's only ever gonna be you, Kenz." And I take her left hand and play with her ring finger. Then her free hand does the same with mine.

A girl with such a strong head on her shoulders, with dazzling green eyes and stunning brown hair, and best of all, the biggest heart of an angel. That girl, that girl is mine. Mackenzie Lemay has shook the damn universe, and the only thing she hasn't cracked is my heart.

She's my never ending thought, and the story I never want to finish.

Author's Note:

THE EPI-FREAKING-LOGUE IS HERE! AND IT'S FRIGGIN' EPIC.

I really missed these two.
That's all I gotta say.