This is the last chapter of this story, but I will not stop writing about Slare. You can count on the fact that I will be writing at least one follow-up one-shot to this universe. And I'm sure some other plot will fall into my lap. I'm too in love with this crack ship, and I cannot thank those of you who have been with me since the beginning of Rhythm of Love enough. My heart goes out to you all.

This was a recipe fordisaster.

"You're sure Simpson didn't care?" I checked again with Eli, fidgeting as we gingerly unloaded Ted's sculpture from the back of Morty. It was brilliant, truly: a bunch of interlocking hands melded together to make an abstract sort of heart. Inscribed in the base of the structure were a couple sentences, written by Eli, about the project and the results. The center was a solid sheet of metal with a couple lone hands reaching out—three dimensional style—for someone, anyone. On the palms of these hands, Ted had engraved the quotes about love that Eli and I had picked.

In the very center, my handwriting—thanks to Ted's quick lesson on engraving—spelled out the special surprise. That grand gesture that was supposed to fix everything: my olive branch.

I just hoped Sav accepted.

No pressure or anything.

"Edwards, that man was so frazzled he barely even noticed I was asking him anything," Eli rolled his eyes, panting a little bit from the exertion of moving the less-than-light hunk of metal, "Much less care what I was asking."

It was Friday. Four days since I had confronted Eli—two weeks since I had technically talked to Sav. Upon hearing of my decision, Alli and I were on tentative talking terms again. I'd like to think that she would have eventually stuck with me no matter the outcome, but I couldn't exactly blame her for being friendlier considering I had picked her brother.

Things were on their way back to normal. Well, as normal as my life ever was. I knew Eli was trying very hard to pretend like nothing had ever happened between us, trying to keep our friendship in balance. But sometimes I still caught him staring wistfully at me, looking away quickly whenever he was caught.

It hurt, knowing that this was so hard on him. But he was being greater than I deserved, smoothing out all the details for my apology to Sav. Someday he would find a girl who deserved him and it kind of hurt to think that it wouldn't be me. But I had my Prince Charming—Eli deserved his Cinderella.

I cleared my throat. "So we're all set for lunch?" I checked for the millionth time.

"Got a frog in your pocket, Clare?" Eli asked, cocking an eyebrow at me. "Because I'm about as involved as I care to be. When lunch hour rolls around, it's all you."

"Right," I rolled my eyes playfully at his indignation, "but I'm good to go?"

"Yes, stop freaking out so much. Whatever will be, will be."

"Since when is that your personal philosophy?" I grumbled.

"Since you needed to hear it," Eli sighed dramatically. "Are you going to help me move this thing, or what? We only have ten minutes till the first bell," he pointed out, snarky as ever.

By the time we had found the janitor to borrow his two-wheeled dolly and moved the project to the memorial garden we were a few minutes late to first period. "Thank you again…for everything," I emphasized, grabbing Eli's hand and giving it a quick squeeze.

He took a moment to compose his face before he turned to me, "You're worth it, Edwards. I'll see you at lunch." And, just like that—maybe before he could do anything he might regret later—Eli was off to class.

Maybe it was because I was so focused on lunch, on what I intended to say, but I could not remember a single thing I was supposed to have learned that morning. Everything passed in a slow blur around me—life moving on as I was fixated on one, pivotal moment.

That also meant, though, that by the time lunch rolled around, my palms were sweating and my heart was threatening to race out of my chest. I was sure I was about to have a heart attack by the time I met Eli in the Media Immersions lab as promised. Mrs. Oh was handing him the wireless microphone, explaining something about how it worked to him. "Good luck you two," she smiled conspiratorially, apparently in on what we were about to attempt.

I nodded at her and then fixed my eyes on Eli. "I'm not sure if I can do this," I whispered hoarsely.

"Do you love him?" Eli asked, wincing. I nodded my response. "Then you can do this. Come on, Clare—if I can't have you, Sav needs to."

"Eli-," I started, but he cut me off with a violent shake of his head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say that. Seriously, though, I have not spent this entire week biting my tongue so you could chicken out."

I studied Eli's face, taking note of all the emotions shining in his eyes. Those damn, expressive eyes: they had really started this whole mess. I smiled softly, remembering how Eli and I had literally crashed into each other's lives. We were headed for disaster from the beginning, really.

A sad sigh leaving my lips, I approached Eli quickly, moving in to place a soft kiss on his cheek. "I love you. I'm sorry that's not enough," I whispered sincerely in his ear.

Eli merely shrugged, a light blush colored his cheeks. "Go get your man, Clare. You deserve it." He handed me the microphone, and I turned to leave the room. When he thought I was out of ear shot, I heard his mumble back, "I love you, too."

I spared another moment to feel horrible about what I had done to Eli, what I continued to do to Eli, before I refocused all my energy and attention of what I was going to say to Sav.

By the time I got to the lunch room and onto the makeshift stage, activity was in full swing. All around me people were being loud and obnoxious. Nervously, I scanned the chaos, making sure he was really there…

Sure enough, in the middle of everything, Sav sat with Alli, looking bored. Alli was gesturing expressively, obviously trying to keep his attention, when she caught my eye. Very quickly she winked at me, not missing a beat in whatever she was saying.

I turned on the microphone, my knees quivering with nerves, and cleared my throat. The sound echoed around the cafeteria, but very few people actually stopped what they were doing. Sav's head, though, snapped up—looking immediately in my direction. I tried to smile at him, but my face wasn't cooperating. His face was unreadable.

"Excuse me…can I have your attention?" I tried again, speaking softly into the microphone. When that didn't work, Alli whistled loudly, and everyone fell into an eerie silence. "Thanks," I nodded at Alli. "I'm sorry for interrupting your lunch hour, but I just have a quick announcement," my voice grew stronger and more confident as I continued to talk. "There has been a new addition to Degrassi's memorial garden, an art project of sorts about the power of love." There were several snickers, and someone made a very rude gesture at me. "Anyway," I ignored this, "I just wanted to publically recognize that this project has been dedicated to Sav Bhandari—because if there is anyone that embodies love and goodness, it's him." There was more giggling, but my eyes had long since locked on Sav's. He looked shocked, his skin darkening just a tad. But he didn't look away from me, so I took that as a good thing. "And I just wanted to tell him that…I'm sorry, so sorry. I love you, Sav. What happened, well, it didn't mean anything to me, but you mean everything to me. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

I started to choke up, so instead of waiting around for the inevitable teasing comments from the rest of the crowd, or the indifference I might get from Sav, I ran off the stage and out of the room. I ran away so fast, that I missed Sav standing up, calling after me. I ran away, spreading more distance between Sav and me—leaving my apology stretching to fill the space in the middle.

XXX

I was still trying to recover from the trauma of publicly laying my heart on the line by the time I got home. No one was home, so I slipped upstairs to chance into a pair of comfy sweats and a t-shirt. If I was going to sulk, I wanted to do it right.

But just as I was about to preheat the oven to bake cookies, there was an insistent knock on the door. "Go away," I grumbled, considering ignoring the intrusion. The knocking just got louder, though, so I sighed. "Coming!" I called out, annoyed at whatever Girl Scout or Jehovah's Witness might be on the other side of the door.

I was expecting just about anything other than what I got. "Hey," Sav greeted, his smile mystified. "Bad time?" I stood for a moment, shocked beyond the capabilities of speech. "Um, can you take a walk with me?"

I glanced at the empty house before grabbing a pair of my flats and fishing the spare key out of the potted plant by the door. "Yeah," I agreed, locking the front door behind me and slipping into my shoes. "Let's go."

There was a war going on inside my head. I was happy to see Sav—relieved and elated, even—but the silence stretched between us, long and uncomfortable. We had even managed to walk a few blocks before either one of us said anything. "I got in," Sav said, breaking the silence so suddenly that I jumped.

"In…where?" I asked before anything caught up with me. And when it did, I gasped and clapped my hands. Without thinking I stopped walking and threw my arms around Sav's waist. "Into the music conservatory in the States!? That's so wonderful, Sav!"

It seemed second nature—so natural—for him to wrap his arms back around me, holding me closer and closer and closer against his tall frame. "Thanks," I heard his deep voice and slow laugh rumble in my ear. "I used the song I wrote for you, you know." His voice was colored with sadness, and I pulled away slowly. I was flushed deeply, chagrined.

"It was a beautiful song," I allowed, feeling ashamed.

"I had some decent inspiration," Sav shrugged, reaching out to tuck a stray curl behind my ear. I shivered.

We started walking again in tandem, my mind working in overtime to figure out where this was going to leave us. Did this mean he forgave me? Or was this the start of a permanent goodbye?

"So, I stopped by that, uh, sculpture in the garden," Sav started again, and I looked up at his face. He was staring down at me, the open expression I had come to love and depend on clear on his features. "Thanks, by the way. It was really sweet."

Sav, I am so, so sorry," I started, figuring it was my chance to grovel.

He held up his hand, though. "I know you are. And I'm not saying that I'm totally ready to let you off the hook, but I kinda realized that neither of us handled this well." I opened my mouth to speak again, but Sav shook his head. "Look, I've done a lot of thinking in the last couple weeks. Next year, everything is going to change for me. I'll be starting university—in a different country, no less. It's going to be the first time I'll be away from my family for any long amount of time. I'll be learning and trying new things…but one thing that I don't want to be new is the girl I love. I don't want to leave you behind, Clare. I want to work this out…because I love you. And you made a mistake because you're human, but relationships are about give and take. I know for sure, though, that I need you in my life. So…what do you say?"

Sav stopped walking, rocking back on his heels as he waited anxiously for me to say something, anything, in response to his speech.

So I launched myself forward, covering his face with kisses until I reached his lips. And by that time, he was more than ready to kiss me back with an enthusiasm so potent that my heart swelled.

I had expected to grovel, to pout and cry and negotiate until I was blue in the face. I figured Sav would need more space, more time to decide if he was really ready to compromise his pride to give me another chance. But what I had found was the same sweet, caring guy I had always known—the one that was willing to recognize when things weren't perfect, but was also willing to shoulder the responsibility. "I love you, too," I promised him in between kisses. He really was the perfect counterpart to me, he completed and enriched my life in ways I had never expected could be possible. And now I knew, for certain, that he was in this with me until the very end—that we could deal with anything, come what may, he was stuck with me. And I got to keep him.

The End.