Admiral ✓ (Completed, Review In Progress)

Chapter 50 (part 1 finale)

He hugged me. "My little bloom" he said. "I missed you too".
"Where were you ?"
"I had to leave , for a business trip , and after that I needed some time alone to fix a few things close a few debts , it was stressful for me. So stressful that I didn't want to get you and your mom involved in this.I wanted to end the relationship and give all I had. I can't see my family on streets , because of all my debts my business was almost in loss. That's when I started a new branch and got into food industry , it worked. I was able to shut down my debts and finally , I came here to fix my relationship"
"All these days I thought you were cheating on mom"
"Out of everything you knew about me , you should've known that I would never do something like that"
"You were texting this woman and , I thought you had something , there were texts like "I love you , and I Care about you, blah blah".
"Who are you talking about  ?"
"Some woman named Sabrina, I don't know"
Dad started laughing. "She's , 85 years old , she's my family friend who took care of me when I was young, I was helping out with her finances she's a mother figure to me so of course I love her and care about her." He laughed. Mom joined the laughter too.
"I always tried to keep up your words dad, even though you were not here with me , I tried my best, it's just that I get too emotional sometimes"
"Its fine, you will get a hold of it overtime , your my bold little girl". I grinned.
"Okay everybody , snacks time" mom said.
"Coming" me and dad said in unision grinning at each other.
Thats how we reunited as a family , and we continued to pray together, eat together. I surprisingly got more studious. I never paid attention to James since then , he disappeard out of the blue. I couldn't even spot him during graduation day. There was no news about him. Something seemed odd but I chose to pay no attention to it. Months passed by , and just like that my school ended. Graduation day was pretty fun , for the last time , we all played music together as a school band, we missed Elissa. Veronica was singing along with nonnie and Justin while , Steve and I nailed the drums and keyboard. Justin took Elissa's spot and started playing the guitar, we played whatever songs that came to our minds , our teacher didn't mind so , we had fun and we left late. It was our last moment together as a band. I recorded it in my journal. The month was busy , as we had interviews for college admissions and finally it was time , to open my email and see if I got accepted. Steve came to my house and we decided to check our emails together.
"Juilliard" Steve grinned. I hugged him. He always wanted to be a guitarist and he's good with drums too. He didn't get the guitarist role in our school band because , Elissa already took that role. I nervously checked mine and I started jumping. "Colombia university".
"So we are moving to NYC" he said. "Yes we are" I screamed. All the hard work paid off. My dad hugged me.
"how about we go out for dinner and celebrate this moment , Steve you can bring your family along."
"Absolutely , sounds great" Steve said as we exchanged looks. After my parents left the room. Steve asked me. "Leah can I take you somewhere?".
"sure" I said.
"Hold on" He said, and ran down.
I ran down and followed him, he brought his guitar from his house.
"What's this for?"
"Ah well" He blushed. "You'll know, soon enough"
I shrugged and we got in the car.
. He drove and drove.
"Steve where are you taking me ?" I asked excited.
"You'll see" he said. He took me to a foresty area. "Just follow me" he said. I nodded and I did just the same. It was a huge lake with a broken bridge. He walked towards the bridge and there were stones stacked below Steve managed to hop and climb up and placed his guitar sitting down he looked at me, I struggled to do it. He got down . "do you trust me?" he asked and reached out for my hand. I nodded. He carried me on his back. I wrapped his neck. And managed to climb. "How are you able to carry me like that?"
"Let's say I'm a little athletic" he said , and I giggled. We Sat on the bridge. The sun was setting , it was a beautiful view.
"I, ahem" He paused "I wrote a song, and here's the lyrics if you'd like to sing it with me". He gave me the paper with his scratchy handwriting. The name of the song was Sunshine
He started to sing. Picking his guitar gracefully

"You're my daisy, and my sunflower, do you realize, you bring blooms of happiness into my life".

I kind of got hold of the tune. So I sung along.

" You show me stars I've never seen. ....

It went on till the last line.

Would you like to spend the rest of you're life together with me? "

It hit me.
"Leah there's something I need to tell you".
"Yes go ahead"
"It was me , I am the anonymous who wrote you letters". It was a huge bomb drop for me. I tucked my hair behind my ear. "So it was you ?" . That made a lot of sense , Steve had the spare key to my locker and he's my neighbor so it's pretty obvious he'd have access to my mailbox. I could recall the letters I found it a little amusing out of all the people it had to be Steve and I'm glad that it was Steve. I looked at him , looking at the sunset. He has a handsome face and a petty smile.  Maybe I do like him after all. My heart started to race.

I've been trying to suppress what I felt all this time because I didn't  want to believe that I liked him. I found it stupid to fall in love with my own best friend. But considering the letters. It showed how much he admired me. He was there for me all these days and I'd be stupid to just push him away like that. "I know it's stupid I think your probably mad at me" He said. "I'm not mad , I'm just -I don't know-" I laughed and I hugged him and I held him  tightly. He hugged back. I couldn't let go of him.
"I think I have feelings for you Steve browns". I tell him.
He pulled back and he grinned. "I love you Leah Elizabeth Lopez" he said. "I love you too Steve Browns". We held hands and watched the sun set. And just like that a new journey in life sparked up. A new season started. I wonder what's waiting for me in the days to come.