You guys probably were not expecting this chapter ever, but for those of you who have been patiently waiting, just know that I GREATLY apologize for my absence here! I've been working a lot on my original writing over on Wattpad (check me out: shespokewithmagic). I am so extremely sorry, but I won't make this intro any longer because here, after a very long wait I'm sure, is the final chapter of Ask Me Why I Love You.

Austin

The baseball team was jogging its way across the field, and the crowd in the bleachers was going wild. I looked around, adjusting my cap and swiping my clammy palms against my pants. I still couldn't believe that I was a part of the team again; I was a part of the crowd's chanting and the adrenaline running through my veins. The prospect of winning a game, the rush of holding a bat in my hand... They were actually thrills I had missed. My eyes scanned the bleachers for Ally, but still there was no sight of her. Despite everything I had done, despite the complete and out of control jerk I had been to her indirectly, I had still collected a bundle of hope in my heart that she would come out and watch me play, now that she knew the truth. But I guess the truth only made things worse. I guess sometimes the truth didn't really set everything free.

"Yo, you alright?" Elliot asked me, nudging my elbow. He followed my gaze towards the bleachers and smirked. "Ah. Looking for Dawson. You're hopeless."

"I'm hopeful. That's the problem," I corrected, running my hands frustratingly through the hair sticking on my forehead. I lifted the cap from my head for a minute and rested my head in between my knees. Elliot took a seat on the bench beside me. We both looked up at the same time, watching the other guys doing warm ups and practicing batting and pitching. The opposing team was on the other side of the field doing the exact same thing, only they were shooting us pretty nasty glares. They were a competitive school, and they're baseball team lived to beat us. Only we beat them every year, and I was certain that this year there would be no exception, no matter how many nasty glares they shot in our direction. It wasn't like those glares could physically do anything to any of us.

"Then stop hoping, Moon. You know, there are a ton of other girls in our school that would kill to be with you. Even before you pulled your little stunt," he said, shaking his head and laughing. "Everyone still thinks you're a bit of a nut job, but I heard some freshmen near the water fountain saying it was rather heroic and romantic of you." He punched my arm. "I hate you."

I laughed, surprised that for a couple of minutes Elliot and I were actually getting along, and that he was trying to give me advice. Not that I'd actually take it, since Ally was the only girl on my mind that I wanted on my mind.

"I was stupid," I said, frowning. "She hates me."

He shrugged his shoulders. "If she hates you, then she wouldn't be here."

"What?" I yelled, whirling around. He pointed her out in the crowd, and there she was. She stood out among everyone; she was like a light, an angel. I grinned. She stared at me, her expression blank. My smile faded, and I turned back around to Elliot. "She hates me."

"Give her time, dude," he said. "She came, didn't she? Maybe she has something to say."

I thought back to the last letter I had given her. I had asked her to meet me at our spot, by the tree where we had first met, once she was ready. So had she come here to tell me that she wouldn't be going? That she was too pissed off at me to even give me a chance to apologize to her in person and to beg her to give me another chance?

Coach blew his whistle and ordered us to come in for a team huddle. How could I play a game in this current state of mind?

"Alright, boys, we've been practicing hard, harder than we ever have," Coach stated. "I'm proud of you. You've put in your time and effort into these practices, and now this is your chance to play the game for real. Most importantly, we've gained back an old player." He eyed me, smiling. "An old friend. Mr. Austin Moon."

The boys whooped, slapping their hands on my back and grinning and whistling.

"Austin, we're happy to have you back. You haven't been with us in recent practices, but I know you've still got the fighting baseball spirit in you to kick some ass tonight, am I right?" Coach asked.

"Right!" I roared, putting my hand in. "One, two, three..."

"Manatees!" the entire team roared, and I decided to give Ally the space she needed, at least just for this game. After the game, whatever she had to say to me... I would accept it, whether good or bad. I just wanted her to be happy.

"Strike two!" the umpire yelled from behind me, and I swiped at the bead of sweat dripping down my temple. Coach and the boys were yelling encouragements at me, and I couldn't focus properly with everyone around me yelling and screaming. I could smell someone's popcorn in the bleachers wafting through the air, and I could hear the umpire behind me slapping his glove unnervingly against his knee purposely to get to me. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"Come on, son!" a voice exclaimed from behind me. My eyes shot open, and my neck nearly snapped as I turned around. My eyes searched for the bleachers until they landed on him. On them, actually. My mom and my dad. Dad made eye contact with me, sending me a thumbs up. He wasn't in office attire. He wasn't even holding a brief case. He was wearing a T-shirt I remember buying him for his birthday, and mom was looking at him like he was her knight in shining armor. I tried to imagine what they must have looked like to one another when they first met. I wondered how they'd fallen in love. And I wondered if they had gone through something as difficult as Ally and I were going through.

I turned back to the pitcher, taking another deep breath and shaking my head, clearing all thoughts from my head. The only image I couldn't erase was that burning red kite in the air, floating freely in the cloudless blue sky that summer many years ago. The ball came whooshing at me, almost as if I were in slow motion, and then I felt my arms swinging with all the power I could muster.

thwack!

The ball went soaring through the air, hitting the fence, and I felt my feet pounding against the dirt as I stomped onto each and every base. The crowd was roaring, and Coach was screaming "Go, go, go!" I felt like I was flying, flying through the sky like that kite. I dove for the last base, and a referee yelled, "Safe!" I let out a whoop, jumping up and pumping my fist into the air. I was being lifted off the ground, onto the shoulders of my team mates, and I reached my fingertips upwards, practically touching the sky. Or at least it felt like it.

I looked straight ahead and there were my parents, clapping and grinning. Dad had an arm around Mom's shoulders, and he was pulling her in, hugging her. He looked up and mouthed something I couldn't quite make out, although I was pretty sure the words were "I'm proud of you."

I mouthed the same words back. I was proud of him, too. I was proud of him for finally coming out to see his son's game.

Then my eyes were scanning the bleachers for her. It was an automatic instinct. I had won. Had she seen that I won? Only I couldn't find her. Not in the spot that she'd originally been in, and not by the gate running towards me like in all those cliche movie trailers I'd seen on TV. She was nowhere to be seen. But then I saw Trish. She stood by the gate, jabbing her thumb towards it. She was sending me a small smile, her eyebrows raised.

She was mind reading "What are you waiting for?"

Ally

"Are you positive about this?" Trish had asked me as we stood outside by the concession stand. I nodded, the letter I had written to Austin burning a hole in the back of my pocket. I had thought long and hard about this. Kennedy and I had talked until the crack of dawn, wondering and debating about the possible consequences I could face by doing this. But at the end of the day, it was all or nothing. I didn't have much to lose, except my heart. But my heart was my own to keep, I had come to learn. If you really loved someone, you weren't giving your heart to them. You were simply letting them into it.

This was what I wanted to do with Austin.

"I am one hundred percent positive," I breathed, taking a step into the bleachers. They were packed, filled with a combination of students and faculty and parents and even just people in the neighborhood. I squeezed by two students, a boy and a girl, who were smiling at each other and sending each other googly eyes. I wondered what that must feel like: a plain high school romance. Austin and I had something else, something a little more tangled and deeper. It was why I wanted to do this. I felt like I was ready.

"We're just in time," Trish squealed, clapping her hands excitedly. Our school's team was still doing some warm ups, and I instantly spotted Austin speaking with Elliot, both in their baseball uniforms. Austin looked a bit distraught. "Austin in a baseball uniform, whew."

"Trish!" I gasped, narrowing my eyes at her.

"Sorry, sorry, he's all yours," she giggled, covering her mouth at an attempt to stop the giggles. I smiled, shaking my head at her.

"That's not it. I'm just saying... he looks sad."

She cocked her head to the side, tapping her chin as she observed Austin. "Yeah, you're right. He looks pretty worn out, and the game hasn't even started- oh! He's looking at you, Ally!" She elbowed me in the ribs, but I found myself frozen in my spot. His eyes were locked with mine, and I felt my face turning hot. I didn't wave or smile or send him a thumbs up, even though I was dying to do all of those things. Austin was back on the baseball team. The coach had even let him play in this game. He was making really big, good changes in his life, and I was happy for him for that. I was.

"The game is starting," Trish said, smiling. I looked at her, laughing. I wrapped an arm around her. She shot her eyebrows up at me. "What is this for?"

"I wouldn't have made it through this school year without you, Trish," I said. "You've been such an amazing friend to me. I just..."

"Don't go tearing up on me, Ally! I'm wearing good mascara tonight!" she warned, and I saw her eyes were also filling up a bit. We both let out watery laughs, hugging each other as we watched the boys on the field batting and throwing, the sound of bats making contact with the baseball. I wished, deep down, that it could be as simple as this: two high school girls watching a high school baseball game. Only it wasn't. So much and more had led up to this very moment, to me deciding that I wanted to come here and make things right with Austin.

The score between our school and our opponent stayed head to head at first. Trish and I started to get nervous when the score became five to five. Austin kept getting nervous. He couldn't seem to focus, and he had already been called out on two strikes. I interlocked my fingers together, bringing them just beneath my chin.

"Come on, Austin," I whispered. "You can do this."

As if he had heard me, he heaved his shoulders and swung his bat. I cheered when the ball soared, smacking straight into the fence. There was no way the other team would be able to reach the ball in time. Everyone in the bleachers, including Trish and I, were cheering like mad men. I was jumping up down, laughing in a way I hadn't for a long time. Then I stopped jumping, and slowly turned to Trish. She did the same, her face falling.

"Is it time?" she asked.

I nodded, biting my lip and slowly smiling. "I think so," I said. "You know what to do."

I fumbled with the string of the yellow kite I was holding, my back leaning against the bark of the tree. I had purchased it the day before at a toy shop. It was getting cold out, and I had forgotten to bring a sweater. In all of my nervousness, I had forgotten about how cold it got at night here, especially on a night after a baseball game. The breeze was blowing right through my thin blouse. I hoped he came soon.

I closed my eyes, taking a seat on the grass and letting my mind wander. It was crazy, once I thought about it. How everything connected at the end of the day, how so many events led to one thing and another. If I had never moved here, I never would have seen Austin again. If my parents had never decided to move here, I never would have met Trish. If my dad had never slept with another woman at one point in his life, I never would have Kennedy as my sister. And if Austin ahd never pretended to be gay...

Well. Then I guess I never would have noticed him, much less fallen in love with him, would I have? Was it right of him to do what he did? God, no. Not in a million years. Not even a millenium down the road, when we were lying dead in our graves, would I think that him pretending to be something he wasn't was justified in any way. But it happened. Shit happens. Only this shit unknowingly happened to create something brokenly beautiful.

Footsteps rustled against the grass, and my eyes flew open. A figure was making its way up to me, and it didn't take me long to figure out just who that figure was. That blonde hair. Those brown eyes. That baseball uniform. Trish was right. Boys in baseball uniforms... whew.

"Ally," Austin said, breathing hard. His cheeks were a little flushed, and his cap was on the grass. His hair was sticking up a bit; I could tell he had been running. He took tentative steps towards me, and I was glad. I was glad that he was being slow and careful, because even though I had come here for a reconciliation, the thought of reconciling with him still frightened me. The thought of being in love with someone... with giving someone the opportunity to step inside my heart... that was a difficult thing for a girl like me to do.

"Hi," I mumbled, sounding shaky for the first time in years. I cleared my throat. It was as if he had stripped away my tough armor. I felt naked without it, but I knew I was better off this way, bare. Honest.

"You came to watch the game," he said softly. His eyes seemed just as afraid, just as scared.

I nodded, staring down at a patch of uneven grass. "I did. Congratulations on the win."

He sighed, opening his mouth, then closing it, resembling a flopping fish. Instead, his eyes gravitated up at the tree, and he smiled fondly. "This damn tree," he laughed. I laughed too, my eyes tearing up.

"This damn tree, indeed," I said, shaking my head. His eyes fell upon the kite in my hand.

"A new one?" he asked. I nodded, handing it to him shyly. I felt like that little girl again, only this time a little more softened, not as edgy. He took it, his fingers brushing against my knuckles. I shivered. "I have something for you, too."

"You do?" I asked, dumbfounded. I watched as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a white strip. He handed it to me. "What is this?"

"Open it," he said, grinning mischievously at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously before deciding to let curiosity get the best of me. I unraveled the strip of paper, letting my hand fly to my mouth. I laughed. "A band aid?" I asked. "But I'm not bleeding anywhere."

"Then give it to me and let me place it somewhere for you," he said. He took a step closer to me, taking it from me. I swallowed as he stuck it right on my chest, just over my pounding heart, over my shirt. "I'm so sorry that I hurt you, Ally. What I did... it was inexcusable."

"It was," I mumbled, reaching for my back pocket before I lost the nerve, for the letter. I handed it to him. "One more thing."

He looked away from my face, down at my letter. He took it before placing it into his back pocket.

"What are you doing? You're not going to read it?" I asked, frowning. He brushed a loose strand of hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear.

"I already know what it says," he replied. I laughed, raising my eyebrows at him and placing my hands on his chest.

"Do you now?" I asked, amused. "Someone's a little confident."

He shrugged my shoulders, winking at me. "I've always been confident," he said, taking both of my hands in his. They felt so small in his, and his palms were warming up my fingertips. "I've always been confident that you and I belong together. Even before you knew it, I knew it." He pressed his forehead against mine, and I smiled, closing my eyes.

"Why do you love me?" I murmured, and his eyes flew open, and they were so close; I could see the brown in his irises.

He looked up, as if he had to think about it for a minute. I scoffed, playfully slapping him on the shoulder. He laughed, and I could feel his chest shaking. "I love you because I love you."

"What?" I asked, blinking. He shook his head, smiling.

"I love you because I will never love anyone else, Ally."

I felt my eyes welling up. This love was something else. This love was something beyond us. It was supposed to exist. I never thought I would ever find a love like this, here, beneath an oak tree with a blonde boy from my childhood. He used to be a memory, yet now here we were, the only two people in the park. He was the only boy I could ever imagine loving, too. He was the only boy I wanted to love, who I was afraid to love but would take that leap of faith anyway. Because I loved him. I loved him because I loved him, and I understood what that meant now.

So I stood up on my tiptoes and met him halfway as he leaned down to press his lips against mine for the first time. The first time was the sweetest. But I knew every other time we kissed, I would feel just as much love from his lips as I did at this very moment, with the string of a new kite in my hand and a band aid finally placed somewhere it belonged.

I finished this while listening to The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack, so special thanks to John Green for fueling the emotional dialogue in this very last chapter! Guys... thank you so much. I know I've been away, and I haven't written a fanfic in a long time. But if there's something I can't do, it's abandon a story. I loved writing this story for you guys, and I appreciated every single comment you all left me. They made me smile, laugh, and most importantly-they made my day. :)

I was very hesitant about publicly posting this kind of plot line because I definitely didn't want to offend anyone reading who may be of the LGBT community; this story definitely did not hold that kind of intention. But I'm relieved to see that it didn't hit anyone in the wrong spot like that, so thank you for understanding that this is just a fictional plot line, and of course just a fanfiction. I really wanted to write something different from Just Another Cliche; I wanted really drastic and visible character development for Ally in terms of her opening up more and believing in love again and patching up her relationship with her parents. Thank you for loving that/being patient with her and her angry moments with Kennedy.

Thank you so much to each and every one of you that have left a review, favorited a chapter, or spread this around anywhere. This story and Just Another Cliche are my pride and joy; I'm glad they've made so many people laugh and cry.

*Update: I have been working a lot on my original writing over on a website (in case you haven't heard of it) called . You can find me on there under the username shespokewithmagic. You have all inspired me to pursue my writing career, so that is what I have been majoring in for college. Feel free to check out any of my original stories on Wattpad; currently I'm working on a Wattys 2015 project called Am I Pretty Yet? LEt me know what you think of that one in particular!*

I'm unsure about when the next time will be in terms of me writing another A&A fanfiction story, but do not think of this as good bye! I will always still be writing; I didn't forget about this story, right? Thank you again for all the love and support for this story. I love you guys to the moon and more, you are all very beautiful inside and out.

Love always,
Charlene