Sorry I've been away... Again. I was off playing the national handball tournament in another town by the beach and I injured my arm pretty bad. Don't go to a national handball tournament in Argentina, they're gonna kick your ass, those girls are violent! I must admit I kicked some asses myself haha

This is the last chapter. Soon I'll come back with more stories, as usual. Good thing is I'm just ONE month away from my three-months-long summer holidays, so I'll have more free time to write.

Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and the support. And waiting!

Enjoy and review.

Steph's POV

My hand flew to my mouth and I tried not to make any kind of sound as I tried to hold back the tears.

Of course he wouldn't want me back! I turned him down in front of his family, I ran away from him! It'd been so stupid of me to think that he would just let me run back to his arms.

I sobbed.

But I hadn't expected him to be so cold...

I grabbed one of the suitcases from the wardrobe in the hallway, went to our room and started throwing books and clothes inside without even bothering to organize it. I just wanted to get the hell out of there as quickly as I could.

Was it really over there? Wasn't there anything that I could do? After everything Jazzie had done... Tom drove all this way for nothing...

I looked around for a moment; our bed, our pictures in the wall, some of hour clothes still laying in the sofa. Was he going to change it? Would we throw away our pictures, get rid of the clothes I left behind, bring other girls home and sleep with them in the same bed we'd share for so long?

'Stop' I told myself. I would have plenty of time to cry later, but I wasn't going to allow him to see me like this.

I grabbed the suitcase, I gave a shit about all the things I was leaving behind. I looked at Dougie as I went down the stairs. He was looking at the exact opposite way, as if he was desperately trying to avoy my eyes. And he surely was.

I walked towards the door, feeling unsure. This couldn't be it, but it was the end. What was I going to do? I'm nothing without him, and I don't mean the money, I'm talking about happyness...

I put the suitcase down for a moment, hesitating. I turned around to look at him, desperately trying not to cry. I wanted to look at him for the last time and make sure I remembered his face forever.

"Bye" I said.

He nodded, still without looking at me.

I opened the door and walked away. I saw Tom and Jazzie still waiting in the car, looking at me. I couldn't face them, so I started walking away from them too, though I had no idea where I was going. I was sure they would follow me anyway, though I didn't want them to.

Then I remembered something.

I put down the suitcase again, right there on the front garden of Dougie's house, over the snow that had started falling just a few hours ago. Then I walked towards Dougie's house again and opened the door with my key. He turned around confused again, this time tears in his eyes. He brushed them away with his hand and stared at me for a moment.

"What?" he said, half-choking.

I swallowed; God, it killed me to see him like that.

I walked towards him silently. I put my hand inside my pocket and then put my key of the house in front of him, over the wooden coffee table we'd bought together months ago. Then I took out the engagement ring from my pocket too.

"This is yours" I said in dead voice, trying not to cry.

He grabbed it without saying anything. I waited for him to say at least goodbye, prayed for it in that same moment, I wanted to listen to his voice again, one last time, I wanted to remember it as good as I possibly could... But he didn't say a thing as I walked away.

Dougie's POV

I put my hands over my face and let the tears fall.

So cold, how could she be so cold? That was a side of her I'd never known. How could she just walk away like that?

How could I let her?

I took the keys that layed in the coffee table and threw them to the other side of the room angrily. It hit a photograph, broke its glass and fell to the floor.

I looked down at the ring in my hand. How dare she come back to just give it back to me? I'd bought it for her, she could have at least kept it. What was I going to do with it? I couldn't return it! Why would I want to keep it? I had left it behind in my mother's house for a reason, I didn't wa-

'Wait a minute' I thought, I raised my head slowly. My sight was blurry because of the tears, so I rubbed sleeve against my eyes 'I did leave it there, didn't I? And she left first...'

I sobbed, confused, and ran my fingers through my head...

Could it be...?

No, she would of said something...

But maybe...

Did she go back to Corringham? Did she want to find me?

I stood up in a blink, stubling a little bit with the bottles of beer and the box of pizza. I fell once, but got on my feet quickly, though I was a bit dizzy. Stupid alcohol. I opened the door and didn't bother to close it.

There she was, just a few meters away. She leaned down to pick up her suitcase and I ran faster.

"Wait!" I shouted. She turned around inmediately. She seemed to examine me for a moment, then I noticed I was only wearing my T-shirt. Given that I had recently fallen into frozen water, it wasn't very smart from me to come out like this, but well...

"What are you-"

"I just want to ask you something" I said before she could either tell me something related to that or just tell me to fuck off.

She nodded confused.

"Did you go back?" I asked her, my heart beating fast against my chest "Did you go back to Corringham?"

"No" she answered quickly.

I just stared at her for a moment "Oh..." I said "Oh, I was just... Wondering where you got the ring" I explained awkwardly. I stepped backwards, feeling bad again.

She must have just grabbed it when I wasn't watching.

I looked at her for the last time and for what seemed forever "Well, bye"

"Jazzie gave it to me" she said quickly, like if she was trying to stop me from leaving.

I raised my had again, confused for two reasons; she wanted me to stay?

And Jazzie? Jazzie gave it to her?

"Excuse me?" I said.

"She gave it to me... She jumped off a window or something, and-" she said, looking confused.

I felt like I'd choked "What!" I said, my eyes wide opened "My sister jumped off a window! Is she alright! Oh, my God!" My hands flew to my head, horrified.

"She's fine, she's fine!" she assured me, moving her hands nervously too "She came to Manchester to find me-"

"Manchester?" I said. This is all too weird. Is she saying the truth? Is she on drugs? None of that sounded realistic or like something Jazz would do "Wait, what the hell are you talking about? Are you on drugs?"

"What?" she said, narrowing her eyes, sound a bit offended "No, of course not! Your sister came to our park in Manchester to convince me to come after you, she brought the ring with her and gave it to me."

"You went to our park?" I asked. The images of that day came to my head in that same moment. Our park, our bench, our names written on it with my silly handwritting, that day together. I can't believe that's still there. I know Steph used to visit that place when I was away on tour and she couldn't come with me, it made her feel close to me, or so she'd told me. So why was she there? Did she miss me?

And how had Jazzie known she'd be there? I didn't know she'd talked to Stephanie... Why would she go, though? Why would she do something like that, something that didn't bring her any satisfaction, on Christmas?

Stephanie's face was a mix of emotions, but she nodded "Why?" I asked softly.

"I don't really know" she said "I just wanted to be safe..."

"You should have come home if you wanted to be safe. What were you going to do if it started snowing?"

"I don't know" she said calmly.

I sighed and trembled a little bit, already cold.

"Look..." I bit my lip for a moment "I'm sorry, Stephanie... I'm sorry for ruining everything" Though you could have said yes and things would have been easier... "But you don't have to go tonight. Do you even have somewhere to go?"

She looked at me confused for a moment "You're sorry?" she said "No, Dougie... I am sorry. I thought you were angry at me"

"Angry at you?" I swallowed, feeling like crying again "How could I ever be angry at you?"

Steph half-smiled and it made me want to die inside, die right there right then so that'd be the last thing I'd see.

"You still love me?" she asked.

"Do you still love me?" hey, I wasn't going to make a fool of myself again. She'd had to say the words this time.

My sweet ex-girlfriend came closer to me and took my hand with hers. She opened it and took the ring from it. She looked at me shyly.

"Marry me, Dougie" she said.

I just stared down at her.

Was she playing me?

"What?"

"Not tonight, maybe not even next year, but... Marry me. Someday. Stay with me"

I laughed nervously "Are you serious?"

She nodded, kind of holding back nervous laughter too.

I narrowed my eyes, not really trusting in my own judge "This is real, isn't it?"

She rolled her eyes "Jeez, Dougie, how many beers did you have?"

"A couple..."

"Well, I'll ask you tomorrow too then. And the day after that day, and as many times as I have to"

I smiled and put my trembling hands around her waist.

"Oh, my God, Dougie, your breath!" she said, smiling.

"Sorry" I laughed.

Very softly, like in a movie, I leaned down to kiss her...

"Dougie, seriously, your breath..." she said, almost laughing, but without leaning away.

"We have to seal the deal, baby" I said.

"You still haven't said yes"

"Ask me again"

She rolled her eyes again, but this time she didn't mean it. She must have blushed, I know she did. She looked at me in that special way that lets me know she cares... And she asked "Will you marry me, Dougie?"

I smiled "Yes"