when worlds collide [george russell]

Chapter 40

"Perfect" Willow said after they hung the last piece making the gallery ready for the opening tomorrow. 

"It really does look perfect. I can't wait for everyone to see all the work you put into this." George assured her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder while they were stood in front of the large installation on one of the walls showing several casts of faces of sexual-abuse survivors with the words "see our faces" sprayed across the whole wall over the casts with red spray paint.

It took three months to get the gallery set up, but now every wall was filled and ready to be revealed to all the friends and family of Willow as well as many of the lovely people and their friends and families she met through the making of her installation. Only one wall was still empty but Willow couldn't hang up that piece with George so she had Carmen and her boyfriend do it for her as soon as Willow had left with George.

"...It means the absolute world to me that every single one of you guys came today. And I can't thank you all enough for helping achieve this, especially George, who really encourage me since day one and helped me the whole way to make this dream come to reality..." Willow neared the end of her opening speech in front the almost 200 people that showed up to witness her gallery opening, as George completely missed that everyone was looking at him, because he was too focused on Willow.

As if she was moving in slow-motion, he had his eyes fixed on her lips parting and closing, her hands holding onto the one glass of champagne she allowed herself to drink today as an exception. He wanted to talk to her right after her speech to tell her how immensely proud he was of her but as soon as she ended her speech and said a toast she was surrounded by a crowd of people telling her how much they liked the pieces or how amazing the gallery turned out, so instead George decided to take a walk around the gallery and have a look at the pictures as if he was experiencing them for the first time.

After a while of taking everything, enjoying some of the snacks offered at the buffet and watching the people react to Willows work, how where actually seeing it for the first time, George settled in front of  one painting he hadn't seen before. "Weird" he thought to himself, "why do I not recognize this one? I hung up every single one myself".

"I see you've found the surprise" Willows voice appeared behind him. "Surprise?" he asked as he pulled her in front of him, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling his head into her neck. 

"Yes, this one- it's for you" Willow explained and turned her head so she could look at him. It showed a dark matter of which a light blue and yellow hand was pulling something dark purple out of. "It's supposed to represent you pulling me out of the dark hole I was in after- " Willow stopped, not able to let the word slip over her lips. Although she was doing much better with therapy she still didn't enjoy saying the word itself out loud.

George wrapped his arms tighter around her waist, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Its beautiful. I love it." he whispered into her ear "I love you." Willow turned around in his embrace to be able to see his whole face, his eyes slightly watery with tears. "I am so,... so so so incredibly proud of you," he continued. They shared a deep kiss until they were interrupted by Carmen. "Come on you lovebirds, you're in the middle of a gallery. Save it for later. " Carmen chuckled as they pulled her into a group hug. 

Because of the proximity and the face the last people aka Carmen and her boyfriend left the gallery at four in the morning, George and Willow decided to sleep at her place that night. But as they entered the tiny apartment, it felt weird. It was almost empty, it didn't feel like anyone had been living there for months. There was barely any of Willow stuff left besides the big inventory pieces since all of her stuff had piece by piece made their way over to Georges place because she kept taking stuff but never brought anything back to her apartment. Willow couldn't even remember the last time she had slept in her own bed. 

As they were laying in Willows bed with her on his chest while his hand was stroking through her hair, George broke the silence and said what they were both thinking. "How about you officially move in with me? You're basically already living with me, so.." he waited for a moment "I mean unless you want to keep this apartment, in case.. i don't know." he began to stutter.

Willow placed her hand on his chest in a calming manner, feeling his heart beat quicken. "I don't think I'll need this apartment anymore. I mean I'll miss it, I've lived here since I came to London, but I think its time. It's time for a new chapter." Willow pushed herself up to meet his lips. "I don't need an apartment as a backup plan. You're my only plan, George."

A/N

Its doneeeee! 

Unbelievable guys. I'm sorry I took so long for the last few chapters but it just felt kinda stuck. I hope you all enjoyed this ending. Its just a casual one but I really like it. I didn't want to do anything dramatic or some crazy stuff so here we are. 

Thank you so so much for 11,5k reads and hopefully many more to come. I literally still can't believe real people actually read what I write.

I'm currently thinking about starting another book starring Carlos so tell me if you'd be interested in that!!!

Love ya xx