as long as you care

xviii. SMILING IN HAPPINESS

chapter eighteen,

smiling in happiness.

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epilogue.

[unedited] 18.

"zak!" i exclaimed as zak reached over my stomach and honked the horn, "clay is coming! you don't need to honk at him! his parents might be sleeping!"

zak mischievously pecked me on the lips, "yeah, but this way is more fun!"

i shook my head with a smile, planting a kiss on his cheek. he pressed the horn again, and held it long this time. i gasped, "oh my goodness! we probably just woke up his entire neighborho-"

zak cut me off again with his lips. i would've taken offense, but i'd rather kiss him instead.

it was his way of getting what he wanted, and i fell for it. what could i say? i loved him.

"break it up! break it up!" clay's voice came from behind us, shutting my car door behind him and throwing his school bag onto the ground, "my eyes! they're burning!"

"oh shush." i replied, giving zak a small kiss before bragging, "i think you're just jealous."

"nah, he wants to join in the fun. c'mon." zak said, waving him over. my jaw dropped, "oh my!" and clay's eyes widened, "i did not just hear that!"

"he's never gave a damn about what other people thinks of his words." i shrugged as zak sat back into his seat. zak nodded with another smile, "and they never gave a damn about me."

clay cleared his throat, "anyway! i was looking through boxes of random crap my mom found and i found this photo.." he started, leaning forward and showing us.

it was a photo of our younger selves. i held a large smile, while zak stuck out his tounge, and clay was laughing at him. it was the first time we all met, and the last time we all played together (when we were younger.)

there was a ten on my forehead, a zero on zak's, and an eight on clay's. it made me feel happy, "that's when we first met."

"yeah." clay replied, "it's such a nice photo."

without us knowing, zak snapped a photo, using my phone, of us three and him—as always—sticking his tongue out. i glanced up with the sound of a photo being taken, "hey!"

"wait.. look." zak grabbed his phone out of his pocket and open up his gallery, clicking a photo. it was the photo he took of me at the movie theaters, "i took this on our first date."

in the photo, i looked extremely happy, and even clay awed.

"so now you have a photo of our first date, the first time we all hung out together, and the last day of high school." zak explained, admiring the photos.

"i guess firsts aren't so bad after all, huh?" clay asked from behind me. and with my hand being held in zak's and looking at clay in the rear view mirror, i realized that endings never had to be sad or be an actual end of something; endings were only the beginning of another chapter of our lives together; another chapter where we would spend more firsts together, and create more memories—and, yeah, take more photos together.

"yeah." i agreed with his statement, smiling in happiness.

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i finished it :)

hope you all enjoyed , ilysm.

all the love