The Bucket List (Write Affair Finalist)

Epilogue

~ Epilogue. ~

(Please read the A/N in the end!!!!!!)

“Hey.”

I looked up. Jake was looking at me, grinning.

“Hi.” I answered.

His deep brown eyes were shining with the sun.

 “You want to go grab a cup of coffee?” He proposed.

“As in a cup of coffee between friends or do you have another idea in mind?”

He smiled. “You caught me. Look, I know you’ve been through a lot with your… boyfriend/husband … being gone. But I really like you and I think we could… try? Maybe. I don’t know. What do you think?”

It had been long since I had had a cup of coffee with a friend, or anyone for that matter. I missed Damon with every fiber of my being but I had to be happy too, I had to get out of those dark days, this dark place filled with sorrow, sadness and unending pain. I had to find at least one little reason to wake up in the morning or I wouldn’t anymore. It was too much to bear on my own, I just needed someone to talk to. Someone that could get my mind in another place than the one I had been living in for the past months. I didn’t even remember what it felt like to smile. Jake was nice, Jake was always there for me when I needed to copy his notes or miss a couple days. He was there for me without waiting for anything in return and here he was, standing there, with a hopeful smile on his face. What bad could it do to just say yes?

‘You have to move on Leah, please promise me you’ll move on and find happiness with someone else, even if I wish it had been me.’ Damon had me promise. ‘I just want you to be happy Leah. You’re going to have to move on and I want you to know that’s it’s ok.’

I smiled, for the first time in so long that it felt weird. “A cup of coffee sounds good.”

                                                                     *

It took years for me to get over Damon dying. I didn’t get over it per say, more like dealt with it and learnt to live with that fact because, as he said himself, my credits hadn’t rolled out yet, and I had to live out my life. I started college in January. I had a lot of classes to catch up on but the work kept my mind busy and allowed me to focus my energy on something. I opened one little note every day from the jar Damon had left me and he was right, like he always was, it helped me go through my day and made things much better. I think it was safe to say he couldn’t have left me something more amazing and perfect than this.

College wasn’t that bad. I wouldn’t go to parties at first because I didn’t have the mind to and I wanted to have good grades so I was drowning myself in work, but after some time, I let Jenny drag me to one and actually had fun for the first time since… forever ago.

Jenny. That’s right, you don’t know. Jenny became a member of Seth’s group and they ended up being actually successful. I can still see them on MTV quite often and they went on tour. No need to say I was happy my brother’s dream had worked out. He deserved it, and so did my best friend.

Our performances on the X Factor actually aired on TV, but it was during my black-out time so Jenny had recorded it for me to watch when I’d be ready. I don’t know what went through the judges mind, I was not a good singer. But it didn’t matter, I just loved watching it again, especially Damon’s performance, even though it hurt a lot.

We also received a response to the message we had sent in the bottle we threw in Hawaii. I found an email one day, three years later, from a girl living in Italy, who told me about finding my bottle when she was walking on the beach with her best friend. We exchanged a couple emails and I could not believe someone had actually found the bottle, and even less, responded to the message. I wished I could have told Damon about it. We also received letters from Eva Longoria and David Beckham’s managers in response to the ones Damon had sent.

I had graduated college, dating Jake, who knew what I had been through and that Damon would still have a place in my heart. He accepted that and he cared about me so I was happy, I guess. I talked to Sam once after Damon died, he was asking me out again but I declined and then I never heard of him again. I kept in touch with Kara, on the other hand. It was a sad truth but we were the only two survivors out of all our friendship group and that since we were twenty. She was there for me a lot when I recovered and Jenny and her got along very well.

I wish I could have had my happy ending, the one from the fairy tales, one when Damon would have been alive and well for a very long time, one where we could have grown old together and raise kids together. But it wasn’t meant to happen this way and I had begun accepting it. Life was unfair and there was no way to change the past, so I might as well have accepted it. So that’s what I did.

I left the best news for last: I was now a published author. Laura Drance, the publisher to who Damon had sent my book, had actually called me and wanted to publish my book. So it happened. It actually happened. It was a bestseller, and I went on a book tour during the summer, so that I wouldn’t miss classes at college. I actually cried the first time I saw someone holding my book in the subway and reading it, reading my words with attention. I didn't really believe it would happen someday, but it did. And the person responsible for the most amazing thing to have happened to me, career wise, was Damon.

I didn’t even know someone was going to move in the house next to ours. I mean I knew someone would eventually, but I never thought it would be him. Damon Hollins. And, even if we didn’t get to have a happy ending, he changed my life for the better.

                                                                        THE END.

(A/N: PLEASE READ: So... This is the end. I know a lot of you wanted a happy ending, I've had messages suggesting how I could make it happen but I wanted this story to end like I had imagined, like I had planned from the start and this is it. Damon was supposed to die and he did and that's why this story works the way it does I think.

The reason I asked you to read this A/N though is not to justify my choices of making him die, it's for a whole other reason. One of you (kellyjohnson1234) suggesed something that I think is a really good idea so I did it: I posted an alternate ending on my profile (the story is called What if: alternate ending to The Bucket List). So go read that if you want a happy ending in which Damon lives :)

Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this story nonetheless, even if sometimes it was sad as hell, I know I cried while writing the last chapters! Let me know what you think in the comments or by messaging me, I always love having your feedback, even if you're mad at me for making Damon die. I'm mad at myself honestly, what got into me to write such a sad story? I guess it's not just a sad story though, I mean it was pretty funny sometimes, right? I tried to make it funny and there were happy chapters too so I guess it wasn't all depressing. I hope. And oh and the jar idea wasn't really mine, I saw a guy did that for his girlfriend on the Internet and I thought it was the cutest thing ever so I added it here. Ok, I'm talking, or writing, way too much, but thank you for reading, voting and commenting, it means the world to me and I hope you liked this story! <3)