Love Your Way - Epilogue
Acepilot

AN - And so here Book I ends. Book II will be coming soon. I hope you've gotten as much out of reading this fic as I have writing it. It hasn't always been easy, but it's been...interesting. Thank you. And I promise, the next one won't be so incessantly gloomy.

Disclaimer - the characters are KlaskyCsupo's, the song is Powderfinger's. I make no claim to either, nor do I get paid for using them. Or paid at all, for that matter.

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ring

"Hello?"

"Hey. Chuckie?"

"Phil. Hey. I've been kind of expecting you to call."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry I haven't before now. I've been getting settled and all that."

"Yeah. So...I hate to ask...what happens now?"

"Well, I'm going to give living here a try for a while, I think. Maybe get a job. Or join a band. I always wanted to be a part of a band. This seems like a great place to do it."

"Phil, I meant what happens next with all of us."

"Oh. Well, I guess that's up to you guys. I'm still around, of course. But...well, I'm here now. So if you don't invite me to Christmases and stuff, I'll understand."

"Stop avoiding the question, Phil. You tore out of here like your ass was on fire."

"I wanted to get away from everything for a while. It just wasn't a healthy environment for me."

"This, of course, has nothing to do with Kimmi?"

"It has everything to do with Kimmi."

"I thought it might. Nothing I can say is going to convince you to come back, is it?"

"Nup."

"Well...I guess I can just ask that you keep in touch."

"Yeah. I will. Look, can you send some of my stuff over? I'll pick up the tab, and stuff, I just left some things. Clothes, the like. Stuff that I don't really need to buy if you can just pop them on a plane and send 'em over here."

"Yeah, I'll get on that. You know you hurt a lot of people, leaving like this."

"I know. But a lot of people hurt me, so I don't really seem to care."

"Phil - "

"Chuckie, just...I need to deal. And I need to deal away from there."

"So you're running away from your problem."

"No, I'm not. I'm getting out of an environment that led me to attempting suicide."

"Whatever, Phil. You think you're ever going to be rid of her? Just because you're across the Atlantic? Dream on. She's always going to be there. You've got to confront her sooner or later."

"Says who? Look, Chuckie, I've got to go."

"What do I do with the piano?"

"Uh...gee. I really don't know."

"I'd promise to hold on to it for you, but it sounds like you may not be coming back."

"Put it in storage for me."

"Are you coming back, Phil?"

"Goodbye, Chuckie."

"Goodbye, Phil."

click.

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Ever since I started writing fanfiction, I've had a fascination with angst. This has been more-or-less my exploration of the genre like I have never allowed myself before. I think the vital thing about angst is that it's never just lost love or hatred or anything - it's all of those things. But angst is ultimately about love. Thus I call "Love Your Way" a love story, because that's what it is. It's about Phil's love for Kimmi. Because, after all, not all love stories are happy or even conclusive. Love comes in all shapes and forms. Obsession, romantic, erotic, platonic, yearning, needing, and countless more. Phil needs Kimmi, but Kimmi needs security.
The sequel to "Love Your Way" is coming soon. Please review.