Between the Lines | ✓

Epilogue: Story Ends, Forever Begins

Elias walked over to me, water from the lake sliding off his caramel skin which glowed under the summer sun. Some water droplets bouncing from his dark curls splashed onto my face when he plopped himself down onto my lap where I sat under the shade. Slinging his arms over my shoulders, I couldn't care less that he was making my T-shirt damp again after I had just dried off after swimming, not when he was so warm and happy on top of me.

"Well, hello, there," I laughed as I draped his towel over his shoulders for him. Elias grinned and kissed me briefly before roughly towelling off his hair, still resting heavily on my lap.

It has been a few months since the formal, and exams were freshly finished, giving us time to finally relax instead of having our heads buried in our books. Now with the budding of summer, we decided to go on a trip with Amber and Aubrey to celebrate finishing high school.

Well, for Amber and I, finishing high school a second time - but details, details.

My attention slipped from the boy in my lap when Aubrey suddenly squawked like a dying bird from where she and Amber were still swimming in the lake, making Elias and I look towards the sparkling mass of water in amusement. My sister was cackling as she splashed the ex-protagonist relentlessly, Aubrey eventually giving up and running clumsily through the water to escape Amber's attacks, before suddenly doubling back and splashing Amber in the face in revenge.

"They seem to be having fun," I snorted, Elias laughing and pulling my gaze back from our friends by kissing the curve of my jaw.

"This is much better than going to one of those big schoolies events," Elias murmured, throwing his towel off to the side and pressing his palm down on my chest until we were lying down on the towel beneath us. 

It didn't take long for Elias to kiss me again, the two of us getting lost in our own world beneath the shaded trees and summer sun. Elias and I had been together for a few months, but his kisses still made my toes curl and stomach flip. We hadn't gone all the way yet, because between exams and the... difficulty of having something shoved up my butt, we hadn't been able to find the right time, but I was happy with where our relationship was. Just because Xander had his 8-inch finger stuck in every pie, my pie had never been stuffed so I was comfortable taking things slow. 

So yes, everything was perfect... Except for this one, niggling thing at the back of my mind.

The fact that, at the end of the day, I was essentially an imposter wearing Xander's meat sack and swinging around his (massive) meat sword. That I wasn't the real Xander.

Taking a pause in our kiss, lips bruised and breathing laboured, I gently pushed up on Elias's chest, the boy merely raising a brow.

"Elias, I, uh... There's something I wanted to talk to you about. Something I need to get off my chest if we're going to be together..." I said. Elias frowned slightly at that, and I quickly kissed him before shaking my head. "Ah, it's nothing related to how I feel about you. I love you, don't you dare think otherwise. It's about something else... Ugh, I'm just worried... Because... I mean, it would be totally normal for you to be weirded out, or think I'm crazy when I tell you... God, I've been stressing over it for a while now, but you deserve to know..."

I continued to ramble, Elias just sitting there patiently and letting me try to get my words out, before realising I was getting nowhere. My boyfriend let out a soft laugh, shutting me up with another kiss on my mouth.

"Slowly, Alex. There's no rush, I'm listening," Elias said, making me sigh and run my fingers through my hair, dropping my head onto the boy's shoulder and breathing in the comforting scent of him, sweet yet fresh with the slight tang of sunlit water.