E P I L O G U E
I'm starting to think one day I'll tell the story of us
How I was losing my mind when I saw you here
THEY WERE BREAKING THE INTERNET.
"Have you heard that Sunset Curve are apart?"
"Sunset Curve!"
"Are they still together?"
"Are you saying that Sunset Curve is no longer in LA?"
"Where's Sunset Curve?"
Luke kicked the door open carrying two boxes on each arm.
"We are here!" Exclaimed the guy as he tried to walk into the apartment, but the boxes not letting him. "Well... it was a nice try."
"Get in!" Yelled Alex, pushing Luke inside and him tripping, almost falling. "You should go to the gym, Patterson, you look like Captain America before the steroids."
"Leave me alone. I live in New York, everything is expensive."
"Says the guy with a four bedroom loft in the middle of Manhattan," claimed Julie as she walked in, looking around. "Look at those glorious windows. We could have a greenhouse here."
"I use those window as a whiteboard. Here I brainstorm for songs," he explained, pointing at the lose markers on the floor and the big brainstorm in unreadable handwriting that was on the window. "I bet you could see it when we were on FaceTime."
"I scroll through instagram while I talk to you if I'm being honest," admitted Julie as Reggie kicked the last box in. "Hey! Those are my stuff!"
"If it is your stuff then why do I have to carry it?"
"It's called being a gentleman."
"I call it being lazy and making other people do the stuff you are supposed to do," argued Reggie and both looked at each other seriously.
"If my Behind the Music doesn't show this I'll sue." He whispered to himself before looking at his bandmates. "Guys, Peyton will arrive soon, and if she sees you fighting when you don't even have your entire body inside the apartment," he grabbed Reggie by the shoulders and pushed him inside, "she'd kill me. Or worse, she'd break up with me."
"You need to sort your priorities, man," commented Alex as he arrived to the kitchen. "How is it possible that you can survive eating only milk, waffles, a slice of ham and a single orange?"
"Those are all the foods in the food pyramid, try to argue with me on that, I dare you."
"I won't," said Alex, "I know you'll find some stupid way to save your ass."
"Our fans are asking us where we are," let them know Julie. "They still think we are separated."
"Let's take a picture with Luke so they know Sunset Curve is still alive and together."
The whole band stood next to the other and smiled to the camera. She took the phone and immediately posted it on Instagram, receiving likes every millisecond.
"A black coffee. The biggest cup you have. Just fifteen shots of expresso and maybe one tablespoon of sugar." Peyton ordered to the barista, receiving a weird look from them.
The girl payed and then moved aside, her phone sounding. She took it off her pocket to see that Julie had posted a picture.
With Luke. They are in his apartment.
She was quick to call them by FaceTime, which they answered quickly.
"How's my band?" Asked Peyton as she waited in line for her coffee. The boys were quick to say hi to her as Luke held the phone.
"Everything good! How's our manager?" Asked Reggie and Luke chuckled.
"Waiting here for my coffee. My afternoon class got cancelled so I'll arrive soon and we can all hang out and unpack."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about unpacking, babe, we got it."
Peyton grabbed her coffee with a smile and then walked away from the coffee shop. It was cold in New York. She was wearing a warm jacket and one of Luke's beanies, yet she was still cold. Luckily, she had her hot coffee.
"Are you sure? I'm happy to help."
"No, hey, I know you are in midterms right now so go study, drink your coffee and we'll see you in the afternoon for a movie. I was thinking Pretty Woman, what do you say?"
"Ugh, I love that movie! Count me in."
"Okay, perfect, I'll meet you here in a couple of hours, and everything will be ready. You don't have to worry about a single thing."
"I love you!"
"Love you too, byeeee..." Luke hung up the phone before looking up at his three bandmates, who did not have a happy look on their faces. "We need to hurry the hell up."
"Why didn't you let her help us unpack?" Asked Alex as the four started to open boxes quickly. "She could've been a lot of help."
"Because she is in midterms right now, her favorite teacher is in maternity leave and she's stuck with this sub that sucks, she is our manager which is punishment enough and Ella's flight from London got delayed because of the storm and she won't make it for Christmas. She has a lot on her plate and we don't have to add unpacking all these boxes, okay?"
"I know you are right but still, we aren't going to make it."
"Yes we are," he said, looking at his Power Ranger clock and pressing the timer. "We have five hours at least until Peyton comes home and we have to unpack, clean, organize and fill three different rooms. We can definitely do it."
"No we can—"
"Yes. We. Can." Alex, Reggie and Julie looked at him as he breathed in deeply. "Ok, each one of you will have a knife. I'll use my hockey stick to slide them towards each room so movement reduces to minimum. Each one of you is in charge of their own room. As soon as you get a box, you open it and start unpacking. When Peyton gets here, I want three perfectly organized rooms like you've been living here since high school. Got it?"
"I guess..."
"Why not?"
"Your hockey stick?"
They divided into their rooms quickly. Luke finished entering all of the boxes into the apartment, stocking them one on top of the other until all of them where inside.
"Looks like a freaking maze! Where is Dylan O'Brien so he can run this thing?" He exclaimed as he put on his helmet and grabbed his hockey stick. "Let's do this! Sunset Curve!"
"Sunset Curve!" Exclaimed the other three as Luke started to place the boxes in front of him.
"Reggie!" He yelled before sliding it towards the bassist door, who received it and was quick to open it.
"These are bed covers! I don't have a bed!"
"I don't control that. Alex!" Screamed Luke before sliding the box towards Alex, who as soon as received it he opened it. "What is it?"
"Clothes! I can work with this! I don't have hangers though."
"Uhm... Why did you label your boxes with your name instead of what's inside?"
"So that way Reggie couldn't be able to steal anything without opening it first and being extremely obvious."
Reggie opened his mouth, looking at him. "That's so offensive. You have no trust in me. And that's also very smart, I didn't even try. But if it had what it was I would have." Alex nodded.
"Julie! Stuffed animals!" Yelled Luke as he slide the box, the girl catching it. "How many stuffed animals do you have?"
"A lot," the girl answered.
Luke proceeded to slide the rest of the guys's boxes until only the unassembled beds and mattresses were left. The four looked at the three boxes with the pieces on silence, not knowing what to do now.
"I can sleep on the box of the bed. I really have no issue," commented Reggie.
"Can't we call someone to assemble it for us?" Questioned Alex. "I mean, we are celebrities, isn't that what celebrities do?"
"We don't have time," answered Luke, "and if Peyton sees these boxes she'll want to assemble them herself. And that's a no. We'll have to assemble them with our own hands. And it will be quicker if each of us do one bed."
"But there's three beds and four of us."
"You aren't coming near a hammer, Reginald," answered Alex before they grabbed the boxes and walked each one of them to one bedroom.
By the end of the day, they were ready. The mattresses were in place, and the room were done.
Luke went to the market and bought food to fill the fridge and Alex and Julie cleaned the living room. Reggie proceeded to organize the movie shelf, where Luke kept his VHSs.
"I'm here!" Exclaimed Peyton as she walked into the apartment. She was received with a hug from part of Alex and then Julie. "I've missed you guys! I haven't seen you in so long, feels like and eternity."
She then proceeded to hug Reggie before walking into the kitchen, where Luke was waiting for her.
"Hi," she said, kissing him softly on the lips before looking at the guys. "Where are all the boxes?"
"We already unpacked!"
"Ta-Da!" Exclaimed Alex as they pointed to the apartment. "It was easy."
"Super easy."
"Yep..."
"Oh... well, then... but you have to have something left."
She walked towards the room, opening each door quickly. Everything was in its place, there was nothing left to do.
"Are you telling me you did all of this in one day?"
"One day," Alex replied. "You don't have to do anything!"
"Just relax and enjoy Pretty Woman," Luke told her as he sat her on the couch while Reggie turned on the TV. "You don't have to worry about anything today."
"There has to be something else to do—"
"Just relax," Luke insisted. "You earned it."
Peyton accommodated herself on the couch, looking towards the TV and exhaling. She hasn't relaxed since... High School, definitely.
As soon as the intro song of the movie finished, someone bursted through the door, carrying two suitcases and a big hat. Peyton and the band turned around to look at them.
"Well, aren't you going to help me?" Asked Ella, and Peyton screamed.
"You are here!"
"Of course I'm here. I texted Luke a thousand times that my flight got rescheduled and he obviously didn't pick up. I had to sit on the back of a New York cab hearing the driver recite Harrison Ford's monologue in The Fugitive before I even planned to pull a Taxi Driver act on him. You were supposed to pick me up from the airport."
"Let me help you!" Exclaimed Peyton, but Luke stopped her.
"Let us handle it. You are supposed to relax."
"You know I can't relax! Ella needs to tell me everything about London!"
"Where's your room, Reg?" Reggie pointed at the room and she nodded, both sisters walking towards Reggie's room.
"I can't get her to relax! Ever!" Said Luke defeated, letting himself fall on the couch. "She's always moving. She looks like Wall-E just moving to one side to the other fast and cleaning. I'm gonna have nightmares."
"Hey," mumbled Julie sitting next to him. "You know how she is... she can't stay still."
"She's gonna die from exhaustion and then she'll kill me from not stopping her."
After a few hours, Ella had finally finished telling everyone about every London anecdote she has. She's been doing well studying English over there and Peyton was so happy for her, really happy.
"Oh, don't worry, Luke," she whispered to him after everyone left to their bedrooms. "We'll... find a time to relax one day."
"But this was thee day. We've been living in New York for a year and a half and you haven't sat down once. You are always moving." She chuckled. "Let's... go to your apartment and just... relax."
"My apartment is a mess, I'll have to clean it first."
"Please don't say cleaning. I've done enough cleaning for one century." He caressed her leg over her jean as she placed them on his lap, both staring at the credits of the finished movie. "I talked to my parents yesterday."
"How are they?" She asked and he shrugged.
"They wouldn't say. I don't think we'll ever be alright again."
"Hey..." she whispered, making him look at her. "I promise you... everything we'll be alright. We still have a lot of life left. You've been doing good in college, I've been doing good in college. The band has been doing great, let me tell you. They'll... come around, promise..."
He smiled at her before kissing her softly.
"I love you, Peyton Swan."
"And I love you, Luke Patterson." He smiled. "Do you want to see It's A Wonderful Life?"
"It'll be my pleasure."
check next part for final note, fun facts and pop culture references guide