Summer Rain

Epilogue

Dedicated to Lusingando for editing both these books. I think it's only right if I dedicate the first, and the last part to you. Thank you so, so much for your help!<3 :)

Read the Author's Note at the bottom, please? :3

--

(Unedited)

They say that love is forever,

Your forever is all that I need,

Please stay as long as you need,

Can't promise that things won't be broken,

But I swear that I will never leave,

Please stay forever with me

~Scene One: James Dean & Audrey Hepburn- Sleeping With Sirens

ONE YEAR LATER



      She stepped into the cafe, letting out a quiet sigh of relief as a cold blast of air conditioning swept around her. She slipped off her sunglasses and looked around the room. He was already there, seated at one of the tables in the back, by the window. The few people in the cafe either didn't recognize her, or didn't notice her as she walked through the maze of tables and sat down across from him.

      "Vanilla Bean Frappuccino," he greeted, sliding an icy cup towards her.

      "Thanks." For a moment, she watched as he fidgeted -checking his watch and phone, tapping his fingers on the table impatiently- before deciding to comment on his presence.  "I thought you were going with her," she said, sounding amused.

      "I am. We're leaving in an hour," he paused, adjusting the watch on his wrist, then lowered his voice, even though there wasn't anyone near their table. "I'm thinking about asking her to be my girlfriend."

      "Finafreakingly," she said, grinning widely.

      It was his turn to look amused. "You were the one who suggested we should take it slow."

      "I didn't say take a year with it!" she protested, rolling her eyes. At his shrug, her eyes softened. "But good. I'm glad. You and Avril are good for each other. She likes you, she'll say yes."

      "I hope so," he grumbled. "I'm not following her to Europe for nothing, you know." Europe. They were going to Europe together for the summer because Avril had always dreamed backpacking through the foreign country. He had asked to tag along, and she had agreed. It had been unexpected, but not all the surprising when you really looked at their relationship and the way they acted around each other. He glanced at her, seeming somewhat nervous. "You approve, right?"

      She raised an eyebrow. "Blake, you're asking her to be your girlfriend. It's not an engagement or something. You don't need my approval."

      "Still," he insisted.

      She rolled her eyes again, laughing quietly. "Fine then, yes, I approve."

      He looked around the cafe again before changing the subject. "Do you know if he's coming back yet?"

      Her smile faltered then faded as she shook her head. "No idea. Don't worry about it Blake, it's not your problem." Before he could protest, she leaned over and grabbed his wrist, looking at the watch. "You said you're leaving in an hour? You know, you have to get to the airport half an hour early, even if you are taking a private jet, right? And unless you're planning on meeting Avril there..." she trailed off as he shot up from the table. As he muttered something about being informed of plans, she inwardly grinned at her successful change of subject. She would be able to talk about it easily one day. Just not today.

      "Thanks, Raine," he said. She stood up also, pulling him into a quick hug.

      "Take care, Blake." With one last wave, he walked out of the cafe. She sat down, and pulled out the latest script she had been given to consider. It was Horror, something she usually hated, but both her agent and her publicist had agreed that it might be good for her. And getting Annabelle and Perri to agree on anything was a miracle.

      Two minutes into reading, her phone buzzed against her hip, making her jump. She pulled it out of her pocket and checked the Caller ID before answering. "Hey Brett."

      "Where are you?" her friend asked. It was easy to tell by his tone that he was hiding something. But she had no idea what it was, and couldn't think of anything he would know that had to be hidden from her.

      "Starbucks. Is something wrong? Where's Kallie?"

      "Everything's fine. I was just curious." There was some muffled talking in the background, then the sound of a door slamming shut.

      She blinked in confusion. "Where are you?"

      "Your apartment. It's changed a lot since last time I've been here," he replied.

      "Well, I don't think Clark and I don't really share the same tastes," she told him, amused. A couple months ago, Bells and Clark had chosen to move in together and find a new apartment. Since it was just her in the apartment, she had decided to find a new place as well, given that the security at her old place wasn't the best. It hadn't been easy, looking for a place that had security that was willing to deal with fans and paparazzi. Finally, Clark stepped in and offered her his old place, the one he had shared with him. No one was using it. After all, he was in California. "Wait, what are you doing in my apartment?" she asked.

      "Looking for you. Kallie wanted to know when you're coming," he answered. 

      "I thought it didn't start until six. That's what she said," she said, pulling the phone away from her ear to check the time. It was two, there was still another four hours.

      "It doesn't. She just wanted to make sure you knew."

      "Do you know if he's coming?" she asked, changing the subject. It pained her to ask the question, she wasn't sure if she actually wanted to know the answer. She hadn't seen him for over half a year, he had only been able to come back once. Somehow, by some cruel twist of fate, their schedules never aligned. When she was lucky enough to be in California for a movie, he was halfway around the world, representing one of their international clients. The few times he was able to come to New York, she was in Australia, or Paris for filming.

      "I don't know, Raine," he replied hesitantly. Which meant no, he wasn't. It was already two, if they didn't know now, then it probably meant he wouldn't be there. She knew he wanted to be, but his work and his clients were demanding, and he didn't want to call his parents back so he could take a break.

       "But he'll be there for the wedding, for sure," Brett added, though it wasn't all that reassuring. The wedding that wasn't for another two months. Still, it was better than nothing, and never. Text, and phone calls, and the rare Skype sessions didn't compare to him actually being there, with her.

      "Who is coming?" she asked.

      "Bells and Clark. Rory and Perri. A couple of my friends, some of Kallie's. I don't know if you've worked with them. Uh... You. Devon and Shawn..." he trailed off, trying to remember who he had missed as she grinned at the last one. She hadn't seen them for a while. Devon had just come back from a foreign exchange program and was spending a lot of time with his boyfriend. Shawn had still been in New York, but busy with his training to be a police officer. And while they were friends, they didn't hang out often. They didn't have a lot in common, not like her and Devon, or him and Kallie.

      "Kallie's parents might be there. They were a little surprised about her possibly being pregnant." A beep came through the phone. "Shoot, I have to go, Raine, sorry. See you tonight."

      "See ya." She hung up then stared at the phone for a moment. that had been... Strange to say the least. Brett and her talked, but it had almost seemed like there hadn't really been any reason for him calling her, except to ask where she was. She shook her head, and turned back to the script she was considering. Two seconds later her phone buzzed again. This time she picked it up without bothering to check the Caller ID. "Hello?"

      "Hey." Her breath hitched and she felt a wide grin spreading across her face at the familiar voice. She could hear the sound of cars and people in the background, which was a bit of a surprise. Usually he called her from his office, or his apartment in LA, both of which were pretty silent.

      "Where are you?" she asked.

      "That, is a good question." She could almost see his infamous smirk that she knew would be on his face from his amused tone.

      She rolled her eyes, not letting her hopes get too high. "One you don't plan on answering?" she said, though she already knew his reply.

      "Nope. What script are you looking at?" he asked, changing the subject. What? How did he know? She looked up, glancing around the cafe, but he wasn't there. Just a lucky guess, she told herself, looking back down at the stack of paper in front of her.

      "I'm not sure. Something creepy." A bell chimed, signaling that someone had entered the cafe, but she didn't look up.

      "Hmm, I don't know if Horror's your style, Sunshine," he said, sounding amused. "The title's cool, though, I'll admit that."

      She grinned. "You're here, aren't you?"

      A pair of hands covered her eyes, and this time when he spoke, she could feel his lips brushing against her ear with every word he spoke. "Or you've gone insane."

      "That was romantic," she teased. He let go of her eyes and she turned to look at him. His hair was a mess, and he was still wearing one of his suits, but he was here. "Brett said you weren't coming."

      He shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets as she stood up. "It was a surprise," he told her, his mouth curving into a wide, breathtakingly beautiful smile.

      "Are you back...?" she trailed off, a hopeful expression on her face.

      His grin widened, though it should've been impossible. "Almost. One last week in LA after this. Then I'm back," he paused, and reached out a hand to brush back a strand of her hair. "Until you get sick of me. And then some."

      "I could never get sick of you." She paused. "If this is a joke, I'm going to kill you."

      He chuckled. "I wouldn't joke about something like this."

      "So, you're really, really back?" He nodded. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

      "Unlimited texts and two hour phone calls aren't enough for you?" he asked teasingly.

       She shook her head. "Can't do this." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was soft, not enough to make up for the year they had spent apart. But it was only the start. She pressed herself closer to his warmth, breathing in the familiar scent of his cologne, and him, that hadn't changed after all this time. After everything, he was still there, steady, strong, beautiful. And hers.

      After a long moment, she pulled away, noticing many stares from around the cafe. "I believe we just gave them a show," she said, before laughing quietly as they continued to look despite the fact she had noticed them.

      His fingers brushed against her cheeks, turning her attention back to him. "I don't care if the world knows," he said, pulling up her left hand and placing a quick kiss on the promise ring he had given her last summer.

      "I will always love you. No matter what."

-READ ME-

I CAN'T FREAKING BELIEVE IT'S OVER. *sobs*
-ten days later-
Okay, anyway. I'm going to start re-writing SaS. So is there anyone who's willing to do a survey for me? I need more than one person. If yeah, comment or message me something like 'I can do the survey!' It's not hard, I'm just asking your opinion on stuff in SaS.
Also, I already have a teaser up for my next story. Pretty please check it out? I put the summary in the PS.

Vote, Comment, Fan, one last time?
Question: What are you going to miss the most from this story?
Second Question: One-Shot contest or no?

About the future:
I'm still not sure if I'm going to do a one-shot contest. Would any of you guys enter? It'd be a write-about-anything.  You can write any couple (even if they didn't end up together), any genre, any character, from this book.
I will probably do a bonus, Kaden's PoV chapter. I'll let you guys pick/vote which scene. More info on that will be posted later.
And finally, I will probably write a spin-off of this story. If I do, it'll be posted around November. Kaden and Raine won't be the main characters, but they'll play a pretty big role in it.

~JJ :)

PS. Summary for my new story, Over Again:
How they met: climbing down a rope ladder fifteen stories above the ground.
How long they dated: eight months.
How much he doesn't remember: one whole year.
How they fell apart: one car accident, and one big lie.
Click the External Link if you want to read. :)