Hiya, my lovelys! Kind of short chapter, but I don't want it any other way. To me it's long enough to get the message! Enjoy!

Chapter 25 – Those three words

Hazel's POV

"Hazel, sweetheart" Her dad whispered, trying to wake her up. "Wake up!"

"No" Hazel groaned. "Leave me alone!" She turned her back towards her dad and pulled the quilt over her head.

"Trust me, sweetheart, you want to see this." Hazel pulled the quilt back enough to reveal her eyes and saw that her dad held an envelope in his hands.

"What's that?"

"See for yourself."

Hazel took the envelope from her dad and looked at it. At first it just looked like your normal letter, but then Hazel noticed a sigil in the top left corner. She nearly lost her breath as she understood where it came from.

"Dad it's-" Hazel started, but she couldn't finish the sentence.

"From college" her dad finished for her. "Open it!"

"I can't. What if it's bad?"

"Sweetheart, open it. You'll never know if you don't. You have to open it."

Hazel slowly ripped the envelope open with shaky fingers. She paused for a moment just to take a breath and gather her courage. What was the worst that could happen? That she didn't get in. But she had to, there wasn't really any other alternative. Hazel took out the paper and read it.

She didn't know how to express her feelings. Everything in her mind went crazy. And at the same time her mind was blank.

"What does it say?" her dad asked carefully.

"Dear miss Haskett" Hazel recited. "Congratulations, you have successfully earned a place among our school." Her dad's face cracked open in a big smile.

"Hazel!" He said loudly. "Congratulations! That's amazing! You did it! Why aren't you happy? Are you not happy?"

"Just give me a few seconds to process this…" Hazel stepped out of bed, pacing back and forth around her dad who looked at her with a half worried, half excited expression on his face. It was like he couldn't decide if he should be worried about her for joyful. "I uh… I, I got in…" Her dad grabbed her hand.

"Hazel. Look at me." Hazel turned her blank face towards him. "You did it. It's alright now. You got in."

Hazel nodded and feelings finally started to show. A smile bigger than her father's broke out on her face, tears filled her eyes and she did nothing to stop them. She had never been so overwhelmed in her life. Hazel threw herself in her father's open arms and sobbed loudly. Laughter was mixed with her tears when she realized which doors this opened up for her. She would go to college with Sawyer, the same school not a different one like she first thought, like she had dreamed of for months.

"Call Sawyer now, Hazel!" her dad said. "He needs to know!"

"You're right!" Her father walked out to give her some privacy as she quickly dialed Sawyer's phone number.

"Hello?" A groggy Sawyer answered. "Hazel?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. What's up?"

"How soon can you get here?"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"No! The opposite, actually! I have news!"

"Okay, give me half an hour to change and eat breakfast."

"No, let's go out for breakfast instead. We have something to celebrate!"

"What have I missed?"

"I'll tell you soon. Ihop?"

"Perfect. In thirty minutes?"

"Alright I'll see you! Bye!"

"Bye, Haze!"

XXX

Sawyer's POV

Hazel was already standing outside Ihop when he got there, in one of her favorite purple and pink tops and white shorts. She was literally jumping up and down with excitement. Her eyes were enough to tell him that she was bursting with news that almost made her happier than she had ever been before.

She happily pulled him down for a kiss before he could even say 'hi'. When they released each other they just stood there for a moment with their arms around one another. Sawyer stared into her beautiful brown eyes that sparkled with joy. He could count every freckle on her cheeks. She traced her knuckles over his cheek.

"Tell me" Sawyer whispered. "What's going on?"

"Come on" Hazel answered. "Let's sit down for a minute and I'll tell you." He followed her with his hand in hers to the nearest bench. She opened her mouth to speak but for the first second, all she could do was smile. "I got in" she finally managed to get out. Sawyer's mouth flew open, and then Hazel's smile rubbed off.

"Oh my god! Hazel!" Sawyer pulled her in for a tight hug. "That's so great!"

"It's amazing! Now I can go with you to college! Sawyer, I've been hoping for this for months, and it happened!"

"I know!" She kissed him again. "Let's eat that celebration breakfast!"

Sawyer watched Hazel as she ate the pancakes she ordered. Love. There was no other way to describe what he felt for her. It was scary, yet a feeling he never wanted to lose. He loved her. He'd always known deep inside, but now it came bubbling to the surface. And he wanted to tell her.

He had the perfect opportunity too. Hazel was so happy, it seemed like the perfect time to let her know how he felt.

"Hazel?"

"Yeah?" she answered.

"I…"

"What?"

"I… I'm really happy for you." Hazel smiled.

"I'm happy for us."

"Me too." He mentally hit himself. Why couldn't he say it? It shouldn't be this hard to express his feelings! He knew what he felt was right! So why couldn't he just say it?!

XXX

They lay cuddling in Sawyer's bed. Lorraine was on a meeting, so they were alone for a couple of hours. A rare occurrence. It didn't happen often since they were always at the CMA and both he and Hazel wanted to be close to Winter, Hope and the other animals just in case anything happened.

Sawyer pressed his lips to the top of Hazel's head. They had a movie on, but Sawyer didn't pay much attention to it, and he had a feeling Hazel didn't either. His mind was somewhere else. He was thinking about his feelings again. He had to tell her. And again, he wanted to.

"I have to tell you something" Sawyer said. Hazel turned slightly and leaned her chin on his chest.

"What?" she asked. She took his hand and playfully entwined their fingers.

"I love you" he blurted out.

Something flashed across Hazel's face. She bent her head down, nuzzling his shirt for a moment. Then she sat up, Sawyer did too. She slowly cupped his face and leaned in, but not all the way.

"I love you too" she whispered.

Sawyer closed the small distance between them and kissed her tenderly. His arms came around her, one on her back and the other pulling his fingers through her hair. Hazel broke the kiss first and let their foreheads touch. Sawyer enjoyed the feeling of having her close.

He loved Hazel. He loved her.

Fluffity fluff! Liked it? Let me know, please! We're starting to lack in the review department, so everybody, *double clap* get those reviews coming! ;) I really enjoyed writing this chapter so give me some criticism! What was good? What can I do better?

Oh! And if there's anything else fanfic related that you want written, PM me! I really want to write something that I've developed with you guys!

One more thing before I stop blabbing. If you ship Gendrya (Game of Thrones) (I do way too much) and can stand my writing, check out my modern Gendrya AU "No matter what"!

Simple Swedish of the chapter: Kärlek - Love