Epilogue

Andrew

“ W hat’s this?”

I shifted as I scratched at my arm after handing over the envelope to Sophie.

“I, uh—I appreciate all that you’ve done for me over the last few months...”

Sophie stood from her seat and walked over, placing a hand on my shoulder. “There’s no hope of you taking this back? Pretending like this conversation didn’t happen?”

I wanted to laugh. As it was, it had taken a lot of courage to take this step. I had no back-up plan. I’d started applying for jobs again and after I’d had to miss two interviews because of working at the pharmacy, I had to make a decision. Brandon’s parents had offered to let me work part time at the store while I pursued something using my degree and made it a point that it would never be a problem if I needed to leave for an interview.

“I think it’s for the best at this point.”

There was a frown that marred Sophie’s face as she opened the envelope and read over the page. “I’m disappointed. You’ re one of the most promising techs we’ve had come through here in a long time.”

That made me feel good. I hadn’t been a complete failure of an employee while I’d worked there, even if I still felt like I had no clue what I was doing most days. “Again, I appreciate everything, but it is time for me to move on.”

When Sophie dropped her hand, her smile was back. “Andrew, you were meant for greatness,” she said. “Places like this will hold people like you back. And at least I still have you for two more weeks, so in the meantime, let’s kick some ass.”

I fought back a choke. In the months I’d been here, I’d never heard the woman curse once.

A ten-ton weight lifted off my chest as I made my way back to the front of the store. I remained scared as hell because there was no guarantee I’d find anything once I left here. In a year, I could be back when I couldn’t find anything. It was part of the reason I was doing my best to leave on the best foot possible.

“You’re really leaving me?”

I chuckled as I put my smock back on as I entered the pharmacy. Rebecca pouted as she stocked another bottle of pills on the shelf.

“Don’t act like you’re surprised. You knew the day would come, eventually.”

She huffed, crossing her arms. “I did, doesn’t mean that it sucks any less. I’m just glad things are better with you and the boyfriend. ”

That got me to smile. It tugged at the corner of my lips until my cheeks burned. Things had been going very well since Brandon and I had made up. In fact, things had been going so well that it seemed nothing bad had happened between us.

Did our friends tease us? It was relentless, but it didn’t bother either of us as much as we thought it would.

I finally unpacked my things, and Brandon’s place became a great merging.

“I like that smile. No wonder that boy is so smitten with you.” Rebecca shoulder-bumped me before she went back to work. There was a light at the end of the tunnel and while I’d miss working with her, I knew that I’d always have a friend in her no matter what.

“ W hen is your birthday again?”

I stopped. In the apartment’s doorway, my friends crowded around, with poor Aiden trapped in the middle of the group of guys while Shawn dangled the bottle of tequila over his head .

“The end of December and it never seemed to be a problem before today. Why are you being an ass now?”

“He’s always an ass,” Daniel called out over the crowd, which only caused Shawn to turn and scowl at him. It was enough of a distraction that Aiden jumped up and grabbed the bottle from him before he ran and hid behind Joe.

Shawn looked off in the direction Aiden had run before turning to the rest of us. “One of these days we’re all going to get busted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.”

I laughed as I entered and shut the door behind me. “Don’t act like you didn’t know he was eighteen this entire time. And not that his birthday will help, he’ll only be nineteen.”

Shawn rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. “At least he’d be more of an adult than freshly legal.”

Nathan fished his brother out from behind Joe and took the bottle of hard liquor away, replacing it with a bottle of water. Aiden gave him a pathetic pout that had everyone in the room laughing. “Forget it, kid. It’s one thing to let you have a beer every once in a while, but Mom would have my ass if I brought you home drunk off your ass.”

Aiden chuckled. “You said ass twice.”

The room was chaotic, and I slipped through the apartment, noticing that the most important person was missing. Where the hell was Brandon ?

He was in our bedroom, tucked in close to the headboard with his legs crossed and a book in his lap.

“You’re quite the party host.”

His head snapped up, and he grinned at me. “They all wanted to come congratulate you on turning in your notice. Weird thing to celebrate if you ask me, but whatever. I hung out for a bit. I think they broke into our fancy tequila.”

I shrugged my shoulders and slid deeper into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed. Brandon extended his leg, and I rubbed his foot. “They can have the tequila. We’ll just get another one.”

Brandon set his book to the side and pulled his foot from my hold. He crawled across the bed to me and placed a kiss against my lips. “We have some weird friends.”

“And you two sneak off to fuck like bunnies.”

I shot back too fast and fell off the bed. My ass stung from making contact with the ground.

“God damn, Joe. What the hell are you doing back here?”

He laughed, looking over his shoulder before turning back to us. “Wondering where the hell our hosts went. If I’d been a minute or two later, I might have caught a hot show.”

“Oh, fuck you, man.” I scrambled to my feet, chasing Joe back down the hall to the living room.

Things were never boring, and Brandon and I had the rest of our lives with our friends to celebrate moments like this.

The End