Months had passed by quickly: Halloween passed by in a blur(I was Belle), Thanksgiving was a jumble of pumpkin pie smell and turkey, and Christmas was good food and loud family. Next stop, New Year's! I am not excited.
Ever since homecoming, Tris has been trying to get me to talk to Connor. All the boys have been texting me, actually, but I only ever respond to Tris. Whenever they're here recording, I don't drive out to see them. My heart keeps telling me that keeping my distance is wrong, but I'm afraid I'll mess up again. I just can't go through with it.
The girls, Dylan and I have all been working on a big party for New Year's. Usually we can't because someone's family is out of town over winter break, but this year we were lucky enough to convince all our parents to stay this year. So we get the big party we all wanted.
We rented out this big condo with plenty of space for people and a large enough TV for everyone to see the countdown. We all spend the afternoon putting up streamers and signs and decorations in gold and silver. As it draws closer for everyone to start coming we put out plates of food and plenty of drinks. I change into skinny jeans, a black lace peplum top, and black heels. I sweep my hair back into a ponytail and go greet the first guests. Soon the condo is filled to bursting.
"Hey Liv!"
"Yeah Lo?"
"Did you remember to put on the countdown?"
"Shit!" I knew I had forgotten something. I quickly tune into it on the TV, music blasting from the speakers. "Got it!" Lauren laughs.
"Good thing you figured it out, huh?" I thwack her arm, sending her into another fit of laughter.
"Shut up," I say, chuckling. Alli screams as Taylor Swift starts playing and drags Dylan to the center of the room to dance with him. Within seconds everyone is paired up and dancing, including Kat and Lauren, who were both approached by cute guys. I lean against the wall, grinning.
"Someone sure looks happy," a voice says beside me, and I whirl towards it.
"James!" I squeal, leaning in to hug him.
He laughs. "Hey sugarplum." James squishes me in a hug.
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"Surprised?" I raise an eyebrow at him and he laughs. "I flew over myself, I thought it'd be nice to spend New Year's with American friends."
I snort. "It's not much different than parties in England, Jem."
"Okay, okay, you caught me." He grins and throws his hands up in surrender. "I wanted an excuse to come see my bestest friend."
"Oi! What am I then?" Another boy whacks James upside the head. He chuckles and rubs the back of his head.
"Jeez Tris, abuse a guy like that and you can't expect to keep best friend title." James grins.
"Hey Trissy." I give the taller boy a hug. "Let me guess, here to see what an American party is like?" Tris' eyes widen.
"How'd you know?" he exclaims. I laugh and point to James. "Thanks for giving me away, mate."
"Isn't that my excuse?" someone else says. "And why is Kat dancing with another guy?"
"Cause you weren't here Brad, and he asked her. If you care so much, go cut in." I shove the brunet towards Kat. Tris and James wander off, and I lean against the wall again. Just one left... I feel a warm presence next to me. "Connor," I breathe.
"Yeah," he murmurs. "It's me." He pauses, unsure. "You never answered any of my calls or responded to my messages."
"I've just been really busy," I lie. "It's my last year in high school, I've been swamped with college stuff, okay?"
"I don't believe you," he says.
Connor's POV
She sighs. "It's fine if you don't believe the truth as long as it's true."
"It's not true though," I accuse. I know she's been avoiding me, I know she still talked with Tris all these months but never said a word to me. She's dropped off the face of the Earth in an attempt to cut things off with me. I'm not letting go that easy. "You know it's not true."
"Look, I'm hosting this party, I have other guests to attend to." Liv walks away, and I realize I'm tired of seeing her back, I'm tired of watching her walk away.
"Any luck?" James asks softly.
"No," I force out. "She still won't talk to me."
"Sorry mate," he says, and puts a hand on my shoulder.
"It's alright." I sigh and try to mingle with the other guests, if only to pass the time till midnight when the ball drops. Several girls flirt with me, but I shut down their advances and move on when one gets too pushy. Soon enough it's quarter to midnight and sodas are being passed around for the toast.
Liv's POV
I make sure everyone has a drink before grabbing one myself. I can see couples moving towards each other-we're five minutes out.
The hosts for the ball drop are up with the celebrities, who are all choosing who to kiss.
Two minutes out.
Boys snake arms around their girl's waist in preparation for the countdown. I can't help but think that if I hadn't messed things up with Connor we would be one of those couples. I can't take the thought of being kissed at midnight and walk outside.
One minute.
Connor's POV
I push my way through the crowd, trying to find Liv. The rest of the guys have someone for the midnight kiss, but I'm determined to find Liv.
One minute.
I'm only halfway through the crowd and I start to panic-what if I can't find her? I stand on a chair to see over the sea do heads, bit I can't find her anywhere.
Five.
I drop from the chair.
Four.
I push through the crowd to the door, I can't stand being inside.
Three.
I reach the door.
Two.
I push it open and step outside.
One.
I see her outline against the sky.
Zero.
"Happy New Year!" shouts everyone inside, and Liv raises her soda to the sky in a toast, so I toast as well. I walk up beside her.
"Connor," she starts.
"No Liv," I say, shaking my head. "Just hear me out, okay?"
She sighs. "Alright."
"Look, ever since the summer, things haven't been the same. I don't know what happened, and I still don't know whether I want to know or not, but either way I want things to go back to normal, before we left Colorado. That's the last time I remember us being happy."
Liv pauses. "So what do you propose?"
"Why don't we just start over?"
"I'd be up for that." She smiles and I take a deep breath.
"So are you the host for this party?" I ask.
"I am. Do you like it?"
"Best party I've been to for New Year's." I grin. "I'm Connor by the way, Connor Ball."
"Nice to meet you Connor, I'm Olivia Woods." She smiles and shakes my extended hand.
"That's a pretty name," I say. "Olivia."
"My parents call me Olivia," she says. "And my friends call me Liv."
"Oh?"
"So please, call me Liv." She smiles.
I know I know! I'm so late, please don't shoot me! But I present to you the last chapter of FTATV! I know it's not a solid ending where the girls make up with the boys, but Liv and Connor make up (kinda) so take that how you will.
I did purposely leave the ending open so you could decide whether or not they have a Happily Ever After, specifically because I know some people would prefer that one of the other boys dated Liv instead.
I've decided to finish the story here. In other words, no sequel. Please don't make a sequel, as some of these characters are not yours. Please don't get mad about me ending it here either, I am still a person behind all these updates.
So I present to you the last challenge of the book: if you have read all this, like and comment #thelastchapter. If you like the way it ended, add one of these "<3" to the comment. If you didn't, comment one of these "x" along with the hashtag.
Thank you so much for sticking with this crazy roller coaster of a story, and please don't be afraid to check out my other stories or message me, I will respond to your feedback.
For the last time, thanks for reading, cookie monsters, and I hope you liked the story.