Chapter Seventeen

Chase

Amos and I walked into the dining hall for what would be our final breakfast filming day.

I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

"Where were you two last night?" Jess asked us. "Noticeably absent, I see."

Tucker pulled my shirt collar. "Noticeable hickey, I see."

I rubbed my neck and Amos cleared his throat, his cheeks pink. The fact he'd left a love bite on my neck was one of my proudest moments. "That's not even the best one," I said, beginning to lift my shirt. "Wanna see the crowning glory?"

Amos grabbed my hand. "No, they don't."

They all laughed, and I fell into my seat, then regretted the sting in my ass. No one noticed, thank god. Well, no one but Amos. "I'll get you breakfast," he said quietly, disappearing.

"So, what did everyone get up to last night?" I asked .

"Not as much fun as you two, clearly," Didi said with a smile.

"Speak for yourselves," Max said. Jenna gasped and whacked his arm, making everyone laugh.

"Uh, yeah," Phoebe said. "Speak for yourselves."

Then she lifted hers and Jess's hands. They were holding hands?

"Oh my god," I said. "For real?"

They both nodded, shy and giggly. "Last night." We all clapped and cheered. I was so happy for them.

"That is so amazing!" Didi said, looking at them fondly. And when she realized people were all looking at her, then at Tucker, she scoffed. "Uh, no."

Tucker snorted. "Yeah, no."

Then Holly put her hands up. "Don't look at me. Read my shirt."

She stood up and pulled the front of her shirt flat so we could read it. In bright purple and orange groovy font, it read My own self-worth is my HEA . "I made it last night. One plain T-shirt and two Sharpies. That was how I spent my night."

Everyone smiled at her, especially Jenna and Max. "It's perfect," Jenna said softly.

Holly smiled with a sigh. "You know, for as not-fun as this whole project was, I'm gonna miss this." She looked at each of us. "Hanging out, doing breakfast, or meeting for coffee, all of us together."

"I was thinking that too," I admitted. "And yeah, while it had it's not-fun moments, I'm still glad we got to do it."

"Same," Tucker agreed.

"Same," Jess said, holding up her and Phoebe's hands .

We laughed again.

"We can still do this," Didi said. "Like The Breakfast Club , but for real."

Amos slid a tray onto the table. "I love that movie," he said. "What are we talking about?"

"Being The Breakfast Club instead of a reality TV version of 90210 ," I said, snagging a piece of his toast. "Thanks."

"But no cameras," Max said.

"Definitely no cameras," Phoebe said.

"You know," I said, an idea forming in my head. "We should totally set up a projector and show movies, like once a month or something. Our favorite films, take it in turn to choose, and make a night of it." The more I thought of it, the more I liked it. "We could show them on the lawn at Liberty Court, open invitation. Bring a blanket and a picnic kinda thing. Whaddya think?"

"I like it," Jess said.

"Sounds awesome," Max agreed, and everyone nodded.

I grinned, excited. It was gonna be so much fun. I even caught Amos smiling at me. I bit into my toast and wiggled, quickly regretting the sting in my ass again.

Amos caught on, smirking sipped his coffee. "So has anyone seen the rehearsal hall? Looks just like a graduation party. It looks pretty cool."

"They did a good job," I added. "We snuck a look on the way here this morning."

"I can't wait for this to be over," Tucker said with a groan. Then he winced at Didi. "No offense."

She laughed. "None taken." Then she looked at me and Amos. "Hurry up and eat so we can get this over with."

We spent the morning rehearsing. This would be filmed and livestreamed, and with the crowd watching live at the outdoor theater and this being the final scene, there was extra pressure to get it right.

As we got dressed for the final scene, we also took turns having candid interviews. Together with our on-screen partner, and then just by ourselves.

Deirdre planned on releasing a whole bunch of interviews and bloopers after the livestream ended. And we'd get to watch it on the big theater screen on the beach with the whole campus.

No pressure at all.

And most of the student body were coming if the hype around school was anything to go by.

The final scene itself was the graduation after-party. The rehearsal hall had streamers, balloons, disco lights, and terrible music. There was a long table of drinks and snacks, and they'd kinda made it an actual party for the end of filming.

It was perfect.

The editing team, the production, and the sound guys all got to play extras, and it was fun!

And I got to dress in my suit pants, button down shirt and tie, and I could admit that I looked good. Amos wore suit pants and a vest, and fuck me, when he came out of the fitting room, he smiled at me, and I couldn't even speak.

He looked so damn good.

Holly nudged me in the ribs. "Close your mouth."

"New rule to the boyfriend clause," I said. "You need to wear this outfit every day."

Amos laughed. "You wish."

"Yes, that's why I said it."

He took my hand and lifted it, getting a proper look at me. "You look great. Those pants..."

"Tailored just for me."

He raised an eyebrow, appreciating the view. "I can tell."

Deirdre stuck her head in. "Okay, curtain up in five."

Curtain up. I snorted. This wasn't theater, but we knew what she meant.

We made our way out to find Holly fixing Jenna's hair. I was glad they were friends at the end of all this. Jenna wore a pretty dress that matched Max's tie.

"Oh man," I said, "we should have totally worn something that matched. Why didn't we think of that?"

"Because we're new to this, remember?" Amos replied.

"Well, for our real graduation, we're totally matching."

He sighed, just as Holly came over. She wore brown suit pants, her shirt with My own self-worth is my HEA on it, and orange suspenders. She looked amazing. "Well, don't you two make a fine couple," she said, giving us a bump with her hip. Then she looked around the hall. "This looks fun, don't you think?"

"It does," I agreed. "And Jess and Phoebe? That was unexpected."

Holly gave me a side-eye. "Are you kidding? It was the most obvious thing ever. Were you even watching them? "

I made a face. "Well, no," I said. "To be fair, I've been distracted..." I gestured to Amos.

Holly nodded. "Fair."

"Okay," Deirdre yelled, getting our attention. "Places, everyone."

And so filming began.

All I cared about was getting to slow dance with Amos. Sure, we had some lines and dialogue with the others and between ourselves. We laughed and we danced, and in a way, we said goodbye to these characters for the last time.

But for me, it was all about Amos and me slow dancing.

And when Deirdre yelled, "Cut! And that's a wrap!"

Everyone cheered. Everyone. All the cast and crew. But Amos just pressed his forehead to mine. "Goodbye, Dominic and Elijah."

"And hello, Chase and Amos," I replied, kissing him softly.

He laughed as we were pulled apart and dragged into the celebrations, but there was no time to waste.

"Okay," Deirdre said, cutting the music. "Let's go down to the outdoor theater. Can you hear the crowd?"

"There's a lot of people down there," Alex said.

Relief became nerves again. Live audiences were always a rollercoaster. "Let's go."

We made our way down toward the beach, toward the outdoor theater. Toward the few hundred people.

"Oh my god," Amos mumbled.

I grabbed his hand and dragged him along. "Come on. It'll be fun."

When people saw us coming, they started to clap and cheer, which made everyone look... and then there was more clapping and cheering.

We stood in a curtain-call line, raised our joined hands, and took a bow.

It was a rush.

And for all the crap and stress over the last few weeks, this moment made it worth it.

Deirdre went to the front and asked for quiet.

She thanked us, the cast, but also everyone who worked in production, the camera crews, the sound and editing team. Then she thanked the students for being cooperative and enthusiastic, and the faculty and staff for forgiving any minor inconveniences.

The views for the series overall were huge.

It was hailed as a Blair Witch 's filming approach to a 90210 -esque reality series. The amateur nature of it all was its charm, it's what made it a hit.

"Now what you've all been waiting for," Deirdre said. "Some interviews, and the all-important blooper reel."

Oh great.

We stood at the side, watching with everyone else. The interviews were thankfully snippets and short, interspersed with clips of behind-the-scenes stuff. Given there was eight of us, it was a lot to get through.

There was footage of Amos and me on day one or two of preproduction, right back in the beginning. We were sitting on the floor, Amos had his back to the wall, and I was propped up between his legs, my back to his chest, and we were reading the script outline.

Then it cut to my interview. "Your character and Amos's character needed to get comfortable with each other right from the beginning. How did you manage that?"

I grinned on the screen. "By annoying him a lot."

The audience laughed and Amos chuckled beside me. He slung his arm around my shoulder. "So true."

"Method acting is an intense insight into the character you're portraying," the interviewer said. "Amos, how did you prepare for becoming a character twenty-four seven? And a boyfriend at that."

On-screen, Amos smirked, his cheeks pink. "Easy. We were never acting."

The audience cheered, and I leaned into his side, holding his hand at my shoulder. My cheeks were starting to hurt from grinning.

Then the video cut to snippets of us over the last two weeks. Walking, holding hands, laughing, sitting with his arms around me, with my arm around him. All the times I had no clue the cameras were even on us. In the dining hall, in the corridors, walking to his place, leaving his work, leaving the bar.

Then it cut to him frowning at me, scowling at me, and me grinning at him every time.

It was funny as hell.

Then it showed me whipping my swimming trunks off and him barely covering me with a towel just in time. The footage of us in my room, lying on my bed, courtesy of Jimmy. And footage of Amos running down to my house...

That must have been when I'd had my melodramatic meltdown.

I looked up at him. "You ran? "

He replied with a sigh. "Of course I did."

"Aww. You're so sweet."

"Don't push your luck."

The footage showed snippets of the others, all funny and dramatic and awesome.

Then it cut to the final scene, that'd just aired tonight. To Amos and me slow dancing, kissing. And the audience cheered. And then when Jess and Phoebe were dancing, foreheads pressed together and holding hands, they cheered again.

They cheered for Max and Jenna, and then for Didi and Tucker.

But they cheered loudest for Holly, as she danced by herself, holding a red solo cup in the air.

It was so awesome.

Then Holly's interview showed on-screen. She was wearing the shirt she had on now. "Not everyone's happy ever after has to end with being in love."

It cut to footage of Max and Jenna, and then to footage of Amos and me.

And then it showed us all together, the eight of us, laughing at our usual breakfast meetings, with Holly's voiceover. "Sometimes it's learning about yourself. It's about loving yourself and knowing your own self-worth and finding people to call friends. Sometimes that's the best happy ever after."

And that was how it ended.

Perfectly.

Had I found my happy ever after? With Amos? With knowing more about myself, about how I loved and needed to be loved? I was pretty sure I had .

Sure, we were young and we had our whole lives ahead of us, but I knew one thing for certain.

I wanted to start a life with Amos. He was the calm to my chaos, and I wanted that safe harbor forever.

Now that the filming was done, we could concentrate on just us, on graduating, and on maybe moving to LA together like I'd dreamed about.

Big dreams, big goals.

Big love.

Sounded about right.