LAST CHAPTER. TIME TO CRY NOW 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
* FOUR YEARS LATER *
Beth's POV
I can't believe tomorrow I will officially be a graduate.. This entire class is graduating with me and it's so surreal to look at how far I have come. Taking in at each individual in this large art room, thinking about how amazingly talented they are and thinking of their future as well as mine. I remember coming into this classroom on the first day, most of freshman just starting that day. And now, just looking at all of it made me realize how fast life goes on. Things change, all of the time. Whether isn't you personally, or the people around you, things will start to change and you just have to learn to accept those changes.
As I pack all of my supplies and deciding to leave some for my favorite arts teacher, professor Morris. Fellow classmates and some friends I have encountered over the years tell me that they'll see me tomorrow morning at the gradation ceremony. I finally get to swing the shoulder bag over my head to get ready to leave the classroom but before I can leave, I hear professor Morris speak.
"Collins." He refers to my last name. I always wondered why he never called any of his classmates by their first name. For some reason, it sort of stuck and I eventually got used to it. He leans back into his short podium that is just tall enough for his small height.
"Yes, professor Morris." I say as soon as I reach to where he is standing. Instead of continuing his talking, he looks through papers for something before pulling one out and handing it over to me. "What is it?" I ask him as my eyes just scan over the words not really reading them.
"I want your permission to put an artwork of yours up. Perhaps in the entrance of the building?" He suggests and My jaw drops a little.
"Seriously?" I gush. "Wow. Um, y- yes that would be amazing!" I can't believe that he would want to put up one of my works onto the building for display.
"Great!" He smiles. "You just have to sign at the bottom," he points to the long line at the bottom right hand corner of the page. "You seriously are talented, Bethany." He compliments, using my first name for the first time ever.
I smile at him politely and nod my head with a small thank you coming from me. "That means a lot coming from you, thank you so much. And thank you for wanted to show my work to the school; that's an incredible opportunity that I can't just not accept." I laugh.
"I wouldn't choose any other classmate if I'm being honest." He laughs and I just smile along.
I wonder what piece of art he wants to put up. "Which piece did you have in mind?"
"Oh," he goes back into his papers before pulling one out that was looks to be photocopied. "I was thinking this one. It holds so much, I think all of the other students will love it."
I take a look at the black and white piece in front of me. It's a little hard to see due to the faded lines of the copy machine but I can tell enough to know exactly what it is. It's a picture of the stone heart right in the center of two character like faces on the side.
Symbolizing me and him .
"I- I don't understand." I try not to sound too uncomfortable. "Why this one?" I question.
It's not that I don't like his choice. It's just that, it means a lot to me. You can see the dark shadows over Harry, symbolizing that he is dark and mysterious as times but the Angel wings behind his back show how much a persons looks can completely contradict who they truly are as a person.
Harry was and still is an incredible person to me. He will still have that affect on me and I don't think I would change it for anything.
Harry literally is an Angel. My Angel.
"Well, I know this is Styles, am I correct?" Professor Morris raises an eyebrow as he patiently waits for my answer. I give him a nod and look away from the paper.
"Yes it is." I clarify again.
"This has a lot of meaning behind it. I can feel the energy just by looking at each and every detail on this piece of art. It lets people know how you can't judge someone by just their traits. That people need to realize that it may take time, effort and love to bring out the true characteristics of a person. That one little small act can open something deep Inside of someone who feels trapped." He explains.
He doesn't explain the stones heart in between the both of us on the drawing but that's only because he doesn't understand how much that stone means. But everything that he has explained to me is exactly how I felt as I sat down at two in the morning just to start sketching that. I do feel like Harry needed love and a lot of time to bring out his good side. To look back at how he was so upset, and so angry at every small aspect of life until now, he's still the same harry, but just more happy.
"Thank you again," I smile sweetly. I don't feel like there is much more that I can say. "It's an honor and I can't thank you enough." I go to reach for his hand to shake but he laughs and pulls me in towards a tight hug.
"You're going far, kid." He mumbles into my hair and I thank him for what seems like the thousandth time. "I'll see you tomorrow morning." He adds right before I leave the classroom.
I can't hide the smile off of my face as I walk out of the building. All of the students seem to have scattered away from the building and back to their dorms probably rushing to get packed and ready to leave tomorrow after the ceremony. I turn around to face the building one last time just to say goodbye. This one building is where I have spent the last four years. I've improved my work, I've accomplished many things that I haven't thought I would have been able to do before.
I look up high at the top of the building where the brick wall is blank. In just a few weeks, my art will be on that wall for everyone to see. Before I can reminisce even more, I feel two hands place over my eyes, making me jump a little. Cold fingertips gently places over my eyelids somehow make me feel warm inside letting me know exactly who it is.
I giggle and shake my head slightly as his hands still cover my eyes. "Guess who" the beautiful deep voice finally speaks.
"Justin Bieber" I joke and I hear him chuckle behind me.
"Someone hotter."
"Are you saying Justin Bieber is hot?" I hear him make a shivering noise behind me and I laugh as he tells me to shut you. "Hey, you said it not me." I point out and he removes his hand a from my eyes and I turn around to look at him. He shakes his head with a smirk plastered onto his face before he leans down and kisses me quickly on the lips.
"Justin Bieber, really? Out of all people.." He smirks and I just smile. "Since when did you become a belover or whatever the fuck he calls his fans."
"It's beliebers I think." I correct him. "But I'm not really a fan." I clarify. "How was your day?"
He grabs my hand and intertwines our fingers together as we walk away from the building. "I just can't wait to get back to the apartment." He throws his head back.
Once we get into the car, I decided to tell him about the art work being on the front of the building. "Professor Morris wants my art on the school"
"What?"
"He said that he wants it..on the school. Is that okay with you?" I ask.
"Why are you asking me? That's incredible, babe." He keeps looking back and forth between me and road.
He still looks the same. Well, to me he does. He has a little more stubble on his jawline that still tickles me when he kisses me. But he is still the most beautiful person I have ever seen, flaws and all.
"You're staring again" he says when I haven't answered. He laughs and continues to speak. "For someone that's twenty two, you sure do act like your still seeing your high school crush."
"You are my high school crush. Just because it's four years later doesn't mean that I won't look at you the same" I tell him and he lifts my hand up and kisses my knuckles.
"I love you." He says into my hand before putting it back down onto the console.
"I love you"
Harry's POV
It's the next morning and I'm exhausted. Beth and I had to wake up at six in the damn morning and of course she didn't mind. Me, on the other hand, Had to be dragged out of bed but all she kept saying was "graduation day! Get up get up get up." She hopped up and down onto the mattress before I finally gave in.
She looks beautiful wearing that white strapless dress. Her hair is curled and lays perfectly down her back no matter how many times she tugs at the strands that she thinks look weird.
When she told me last night about her work being on the school I was so proud of her; still am proud of her. I'm happy that even everything that I've put her through, she still managed to live her dream without letting any arrogant fucker get to her head. If it wasn't for her, I don't think I would have majored in anything in my life. Doing those literature classes for the past few years was something that I never thought I could have achieved. Apparently, i'm quite a good writer my professors say. I have her to thank for everything.
Even to this day, there isn't a time where I don't think about how shitty I am for what I did to her. Sometimes, it makes me feel so sick to my stomach that I have to get out of my car and pull over on the side of the road to throw all of my emotions up. She always tells me that she's happy, completely and utterly happy to still be with me after almost five years.
"You're wearing that?" She looks at my appearance as she hooks the charm bracelet around her wrist. I check to make sure I'm still wearing the watch she gave me; of course I am.
"Yeah" I tell her. I know she didn't really expect me to wear a suit to this thing. It's only an hour and half long anyway; a pair of black jeans. Black converse and a black button down will be just fine.
"I like it." She smiles and Tousles her hair back for the fifth time This morning.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Its you." She smiles.
"You look beautiful. Like always," I compliment her and she still gets that little pink in her cheeks. She thanks me before placing a kiss onto my cheek.
"Alright, ready to graduate?" She takes my hand and practically drags me out of the apartment. "I don't know if I tell you enough but I'm proud of you. I'm proud of us." She looks over at me from the passenger seat.
"Only a thousand times, Beth." I tease. "But thank you, I couldn't have done all of this if it wasn't for you though."
"Harry, I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you."
"You deserve to be here." I end the conversation with that.
When we get to the area where the graduated and family and friends will be seated, I start to feel a bit nervous. The butterflies in my stomach aren't going away no matter how many times I try to breath deeply. I don't know if it's the actually graduation that I'm afraid of or the fact that I am about to-
"Bethany! Harry!" My mum finds us through the crowd. She wraps her arms around the both of us together and kisses both of our cheeks. "How are you? Nervous?" She Asks the both of us.
"Very. But we will be fine." Beth answers for the both of us and mum just keeps smiling creepily at me as I roll my eyes.
Dammit mum don't make this too fucking obvious.
"Okay, I will take my seats. Harry, you have to put that on!" She points to the dark purple robe and cap that I still have held in my hand. Beth has hers on, I just feel like these are so fucking dumb. It's a million degrees and they want us wearing these robe and caps and shit. "And don't forget to wrap the gold rope around your neck!" She screams as she leaves where we stand.
"Your mother is amazing," Beth says.
"Loud. Is what she is, everyone's staring at me now as I put this shit on." I tell her and I make eye contact with an old woman who keeps looking. I give her a look and she looks away fast.
"Don't be rude." Beth nudges my side. "And they're staring you because you're beautiful."
"Starting that shit again, I see."
"Always."
When Beth sees her parents walking towards us, she runs up to the both of them, giving them hugs. I wave to her mother knowing that she won't be coming over towards me because she needs to distract Beth. Her father, on the other hand, walks over to me with an amused look on his face.
"Are out ready, son?" He puts his hand on my shoulder and turns us around so that Beth won't be able to ready our lips.
"Yeah," I breath out. "Are you both sure this is okay?" I nod my head back to motion to the mum.
"Absolutely." He waves his hand. "Got my camera ready." He shows the big black video camera in his hand. "Do you have it?" He asks. I nod and tap my pocket to make sure it's in there.
"Yeah." I breath out again.
"Calm down." He laughs. "It'll be fine."
"You think she'll mind that I'm doing it in front of the whole campus?" I ask and he shakes his head 'no'.
The next hour we listen to boring ass speeches from people from the board. Blah blah blah, no one gives a flying fuck. Just give me my damn degree and let me leave this school with my soon to be-
"Sorry," the person next to me accidentally stepped on my foot. I just smile a little, letting the short girl know that it's no big deal.
They start calling names and my heart starts to race faster. Her last name is in the beginning of the alphabet which means I need to get the fuck up there. I look over at the person that's ahead of the board, Wilson, and he nods to me telling me that it's almost time.
"Bethany Jane Collins" Wilson calls through the loud microphone and I make this my cue to get out of my seat and running up from behind her. She grabs her portfolio from Wilson and he points behind her to motion he to turn around.
"Harry,"she whispers but in sure all of our classmates and everyone on stage can still hear her. "What you are doing? Get back in your seat!" She continues.
"I have to do something first." I tell her. "Remember when you were telling me everything you wanted in life? Like how you had all of those steps and accomplishments that you wanted to achieve ?" I ask her and she nods slowly. "You said you wanted to graduate high school, fall in love, go to college with the person you love and then graduate that college with that same person. Am I right so far?" She nods. "Then you said after all of that you would eventually get married, right?" My voice is shaking.
She nods slowly again. I can see that her eyes are watering up as I kneel down on one knee if front her and she brings her hand over her mouth. I dig into my pocket and take out the ring I had in my pocket.
"It's time for this accomplishment now. Will you marry me?" The words finally fall from my mouth. I can hear the gasps and 'awwww' coming from the classmates around us.
She stares down at me, hand still over her mouth as a single tear falls from her eye. She shakes as she places her hand in front of me and nods quickly.
Everyone stands up and claps and I let out a breath that I haven't realized I have held in and smile widely. I kneel up to kiss her before she wraps her arms around my neck and nuzzles her face into my neck and sniffles as she starts to speak.
"You're just so tempting."
THE END.
( OMFG I CANT BELIEVE TEMPTATION IS OVER! I started this story over a year ago and enjoyed every second writing it. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read it and comment and vote!
I hope you all liked the ending. HETH ARE GOING TO GET MARRIED OKAY IM CRYING!
Also!, the first chapter of 'woods' will be up next week :) I love you all and thank you for reading and taking this incredibly long journey with me! 💜 )