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" NEVER LOOK BACK. ALWAYS LOOK AHEAD. "

alexa, play TWO BIRDS by regina spektor

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"Do you realize that, like, nobody in our friend group is going to read the paragraphs that you just sent?" Wes held up his phone in my direction, referring to the layout of the three acts in every horror movie.

I shrugged and placed the empty spoon in my mouth, beginning to talk with a strongly displaced lisp for the pure purpose of annoyance. Actually, I don't know how Wes is going to react to my idiocy, but it's never a bad reaction, which is why I lov-like him so much.

"I mean, Brielle and Laina and Mindy probably are gonna read it." A beat. "Maybe Liv. If she knows how to read."

A confused smile formed on his lips and confused laughter rolled off his tongue, "I really hope you know I have absolutely no idea what you just said."

"Well, I-" I took the spoon out of my mouth and tried to maintain my composure. "You had to have at least tried to hear the names and put two and two together, right?"

"Four."

"What?"

"Four."

"Divergent?"

"Four."

"Yes, from Divergent-"

"No!" He let out a laugh that sounded like absolute music to my ears. "I mean, yes, but two plus two equals four. See? I can put two and two together."

"Oh my gosh," I let out a belly-laugh, leaning into Wes and shaking my head. "You're an idiot. And I love-" NO. "I love that about you."

"Why thank you very much. I appreciate it, I really do." Wes smiled and nodded, stroking my hair. "D'you wanna go for a run on the path we used to run on as kids?"

"Where'd that come from?" I asked, and then I didn't like how that sounded, so I added onto it: "I mean yes, but where did that come from?"

"A long thought process that I can't explain to you." He stood up and help out a dramatized hand, of which I took and couldn't stop smiling because of this.

"Shall we walk?" I asked, linking my arm with his.

"We shall indeed." And so we began our walk, first needing to head in the direction of the path at the park before going down the path itself. I noticed Brielle and Laina's car pulling out of the parking lot, and couldn't help but take special notice of Laina watching us with an expression on her blurry face that I couldn't quite discern. Eye contact was made after about five seconds of me realizing her, and she just pasted a smile on and waved, mouthing 'goodbye' and then hitting Brielle's shoulder so the blonde would do the same. I smiled back and waved goodbye before turning my attention back to the path in front of me.

Never look back. Always look ahead. That's what my mother would always say-hell, it's the one good piece of advice that Mom has ever given me. It's the only piece of advice I will allow her to provide me, because I'd like to stick to that advice the best that I can. Everything else concerning my mother? Fuck it. Fuck her. She's a fucking star with her life together, but she let my dad and myself leave and didn't even care. Whenever she comes to Woodsboro, chaos follows. And she never even stays for long.

"You wanna carve our initials into that tree?" Wes pointed to a nice looking birch tree that had an arch to it, and I cocked an eyebrow.

"Carve our initials into a tree with what?" I asked, hoping I sounded as genuine as I thought.

"Obviously, the hunting knife I have on me, because I'm Ghostface, and I brought you here to commit my next murder." Wes shrugged and made a face that prompted me to laugh, and I half-jokingly slapped him. "First off: ouch. Second: I have a swiss knife because my mother is Judy Hicks. I thought you would have a knife on you too, but I guess your dad isn't as strict with safety as my mom is?"

"Babe, nobody is as strict as your mother is with safety. But no, don't worry, my lovely father has given me a pocket knife." I pulled it from my jacket pocket, waving it around before realizing how dangerous that probably is and stopping.

"That is lovely." Wes nodded, smiling in a way that I couldn't quite describe, but it added onto the moment perfectly. "That is very lovely."

With a nod, Wes walked over to the tree, pulled out his knife, and started to carve our initials into the tree. Hands. His hands. Oh my gosh. Oh fuck. The focus. The muscles. The hand placement. The veins. The muscles. His hands. I'm down. I'm down so bad. I have fallen and I cannot get up. I refuse to get up. I'm down and I'm bleeding out with my love for him. NO. My strong like for him. My strong liking for him. I am down and I am bleeding out with my strong liking for Wes Hicks. I am thinking scandalous thoughts. I am thinking thoughts that were not appropriate to have. We should not be breaking the rules at a time like this. We should not be breaking these rules even more than we already have at a time like this. Bad Tatum. Very bad Tatum.

"Alright! It is done, come and check us out." Wes had stepped back from the tree with his very muscular looking arms crossed, a proud smile shining on his face.

I stood up and made my way over to look at the tree, my smile brightening once I saw our initials freshly carved into the trunk of the tree, complete with a little heart and the word 'forever' underneath. This is it. This is one of those moments that you strive to have in life, the perfect sort of one that you just wish could last forever and ever. This is the moment that I have been waiting for all my life, so much so that I almost began to cry because of it. But no. No. I would not cry. Not right now. He would somehow feel bad about it, and I'm not ready to handle that. Not right now, anyways. Maybe later.

"It's perfect." I turned in Wes' direction, giving him an approving nod and wrapping him in a hug.

"You're perfect," Wes complimented, which I really should've seen coming.

"You're perfect-er," I challenged, proud of myself for not using a real word.

"Only real words are valid right now, so...I win." His voice was soft, like a silk blanket made to keep you perfectly comfortable on a cozy night.

"That's okay. Good job." I mumbled, giving him a tight squeeze before pulling back from the hug. "I'm proud of you for winning-"

"Where's the but?"

"But I'll never let it happen again." I nodded, giving him a devilish grin.

"I-" A beat. Did he stop himself from saying the L word? "You're the best girlfriend ever."

"Pfft, no I'm-"

"No, no I'm...being genuine right now, really, you are. You're the best girlfriend I could ever ask for Tates, I mean it. I do. I really, really do, from the bottom of my heart, love-"

I couldn't let him. I couldn't hear that full sentence; I kissed him, cupping his cheeks with my hands and squeezing my eyes shut as he kissed back, trying to keep the tears back from release. If he loved me, he was for sure going to be the next to go. After me, of course, because that's how the killers' plan seemed to pan out, but if he loved me, a legacy character's child, he would for sure be dead. So, instead of letting us confess our love for each other, we kissed. Love was a very big word, and the fear that if he used it to describe his feelings for me would wrap him into a dangerous situation was too consuming. So a kiss would do. Words of affirmation and a kiss would have to do. I don't think I could handle anything else. I don't think either of us could handle anything else, not right now.

Maybe someday, though, because like the tree says, we have forever.

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guys the next chapter is wes dying