It All Started With A Deal

Chapter 28

Epilogue
Athena brushed my cheeks with blush.

Eight years since high school and she's still the one who does my makeup for any major event.

It's been a long eight years, ups and downs everywhere.

"You look beautiful," Athena took a step back to examine her work.

Taylor nodded in agreement, still sitting in the same spot she had been for an hour, glass in hand.

"She looks like a princess," Athena's little boy sighed.

I couldn't fight the smile that spread across my face at the comment.

Athena's boy definitely had his father's looks, the same bright green eyes, scruffy brown hair but he got his mother's face; same cheek bones, same nose, same little span of freckles. The resemblance was clear.

Athena gave her baby boy a loving smile, "She does, doesn't she?"

Athena got pregnant our sophomore year of college, entirely accidental. She was an absolute wreck when she found out. She didn't even tell Sam for the two month, not entirely sure if she even wanted to have the child. He managed to calm her down, entirely ready to take on the fatherly role, reassuring her that they would be great parents, that she would be an amazing mother. He was right, Athena made a great mom. She loved her little boy more than anything.

Her little boy nodded furiously, picking up the tiara from the side table. He handed it to me, his big green eyes wide.

I happily accepted the tiara, passing it back to Lilly so she could place it on my head.

Her face was worn, wrinkles already forming. Lilly was nothing like the girl she was in high school, I rarely saw her smile anymore, her eyes always seemed so dim.

Her and Taylor broke up the summer after our senior year. They were off and on for another year before Taylor went off to the army.

It was a shame, to see the two part. They had always seemed so perfect for each but Taylor never could get over her fear of ruining Lilly, which in the end was exactly what she did. Her own fears and insecurities ruined what could have been something great.

Taylor will never admit it but we all know she went into the army in an attempt to run away from her problems, to run away from Lilly. I think that's what really broke Lilly, the thought that the love of her life would just leave without saying goodbye.

This was the first time we had seen Taylor in over a year.

Lilly rested the tiara on my head, being sure not to ruin my hair.

Taylor avoided Lilly's eyes. I'm sure if she didn't, she was going to start crying.

Her hair had been cut short, buzzed on the sides and longer on the top. She cut it off right before she left. Taylor hadn't even changed out her uniform, I told her she didn't have to. I knew she wouldn't match with the other girls but in honesty, I really didn't mind. I was never one who was strict on the whole matching thing.

The door to the room swung open as Lanabeth stumbled in, carrying a small baskets of belonging, "I got it!" She cheered.

We all clapped.

Lanabeth Hunter. The story of how we met was quite an adventure. I had been at the store, just trying to get some basic supplies when a random girl zoomed by me in a shopping cart, tossing a pregnancy test at me. I, completely started and confused, ran over to help the poor deranged girl. She got out of the shopping cart, giggling hysterically and apologizing profusely, stating that her husband dared her to do it. Sure enough, when I turned around, her husband was standing at the end of the aisle laughing so hard I wasn't sure if he was breathing. We've been best friends ever since.