Chapter Fifteen (Epilogue)

The next Thursday found me in Susan's studio, happily preparing my sketchbook. I was smiling a lot nowadays. I woke up smiling, took a shower smiling, patted Rebecca on her head smiling (though this produced a scowl on Rebecca), and even smiled at the dinner table.

"Gosh, you are going through, like, anti-PMS," Lucy had teased.

As I clipped my sketchbook to the easel, Bryan plopped down into the stool beside me. He glared at me and gave a small sneer. The region beneath his left eye was still a bit purple from last week.

I simply gave him a huge grin and laughed inwardly as he narrowed his eyes in confusion and turned his face away, muttering under his breath.

A minute later, David strode in, wearing a zipped-up brown jacket despite the 85º heat outside.

"Isn't it a bit warm for a jacket, Romeo?" Bryan asked snidely.

David grinned at him.

Bryan was probably wondering why David an I, the couple whose paradise he had ruined like a hurricane, were both grinning whenever he gave a nasty remark.

David produced an awfully familiar bag out of nowhere and handed it to Bryan. "This may seem awfully corny and first-grade, but never mind that. What it says is a heartfelt message from me," he gestured to himself, "to you," he finished by opening his arms wide toward Bryan as if he was about to give him a brotherly embrace.

"Is this some kind of religious, "love your enemies" session?" Bryan muttered as he opened the bag and drew out its content.

It was a t-shirt.

It was a black t-shirt.

It was a black t-shirt with a message on it.

It was the same black t-shirt I had given to David on his birthday present.

Roses are red, violets are blue. My girlfriend loves me… well, you should get one too!

My questioning at whether David had given my present to Bryan was instantly replaced by laughter at seeing Bryan's dark expression.

It was as satisfying as seeing him go sprawling across the stairs all over again.

"Haha, very funny. I'll use it as a smock," he replied.

Then he simply stuffed the t-shirt into a bag leaning on his stool. He didn't rip it or chuck it back at David. Maybe he was being a bit decent for once.

I went back to my question of whether that was the exact shirt I had given to David. "David, where is your t-shirt? Is that the exact same one I…"

At that moment, David unzipped his jacket to reveal a black t-shirt inside. Except this t-shirt was a bit different from the one I had bought for him. The words "Well, you should get one," David had been covered by black duct tape that bore the words David had written with white-out.

It now read: Roses are red, violets are blue. My girlfriend loves me… and I love her too.

There it went. Frisson all over again. I stood on my tiptoes and gave David a big smooch, ignoring Bryan's "Oh, get a room!"

Soon enough, we heard Susan's claps signaling for us to sit down. As she unveiled what we would be drawing today, David leaned over and whispered, "Hey Sam, Avia invited me to come watch her at a small runway show at nine tonight."

"Yeah, Lucy invited our family too. My parents and Rebecca are going. Are you going?"

"Only if you are. Actually, I don't think I have a choice. I owe Avia for what happened on Tuesday. But you know I need a shoulder to sleep on when the music starts playing and the heels start strutting." He started to poke me.

"So bring a pillow." I playfully swatted his poking hand away.

"Please? I promise I won't drool."

"I'll think about it, snoozer." Then I turned to my sketchbook, picked up my pencil, and began to sketch, wondering what I should wear to that runway show tonight.

The End

A/N

I'd like to thank all my readers and especially those who left wonderful reviews. I don't know what I'll write next. I have a lot of stories I have started, but they are not works based off an existing one and I cannot post them on Perhaps I'll go to Anyway, thanks for sticking with Sam until the end, and look out for more stories!