Chapter 10: The Long Awaited Phrase (Drew's POV) *FINALE*

Flashback:

Jake is the Houdini of love. One minute you have a 3 of hearts in your hands and suddenly it's in his instead. With him it's more like you think you know what your heart wants until suddenly he does something and you're back at square one.

I feel like I'm at square one. We were finally getting somewhere and I had to mess it all up by having a stupid withdrawal, by trying to kill myself in a blank rage. I love him so much I just couldn't process how to keep it to myself and suddenly there I was on the bathroom floor, bloody and weak. As soon as I did that it became square one. Square one out of what feels likes 62,000 squares. While I'm only deteriorating, he's getting higher on the chain and suddenly, where am I?

~Present Time (a week later)~

I maneuver the rubber bands over my index and middle fingers, a pattern appearing, a nice braid almost. I smile at the little chain of rubber bands I've spent the past hour making, this is okay, I am okay.

"Hey Andrew!" I turn my head around to a now familiar voice that I know belongs to Meghan. I send a wave toward her, the rubber bands still lingering on my fingers. "Hey, Meg!" I say cheerfully as I return my attention back to my awaited bracelet. A sly grin is plastered across her face as she raises and lowers her brows in a pattern. "Has your booooooyfriend called you today yet?" She asks in a knowing tone that I wish she'd shove right up her ass. I sigh in playful frustration as I glance over at her, her smirk still resting on her smug face. "No, Meg, he can't call today." Her grin slowly morphs into a pouty face as she rests her arms over my shoulders. "Aww, poor little Andy!" She exclaims while throwing her hand over her forehead in a dramatic tone. "You're an asshole," I state watching as her face goes blank before we both burst into aggressive laughter.

"No, but seriously, why can't Jakie call?" She asks as she pokes out her lip in sorrow. I flash a soft smile as I think about my lovely most perfect boyfriend, Jake Sterling. It feels like forever since I've last seen his perfect face and it's making me kinda sad that I can't kiss him or hug him or just see his perfect smile, but I still know when he is smiling because I can almost feel his happiness radiating off of him and onto me whenever he calls. Before I know it, my smile has turned into an endearing frown, one of sadness and pain, but I'm not disappointed as usual, but instead glad that he's stayed by me this whole time and has seen this through for me, god do I love him.

"Uh... Dodo, wipe that derpy smile off of your face, you're making me feel single!" Meg whines at me, her arms still rested across my shoulders and her face right up against mine. "Hey, Rye!" She whips her head around to see a rather tall boy appear at the end of the hall. Her face lights up as she sees the mysterious boy that I've only heard his name as "Bubs" which I highly doubt is his actual name. She immediately snatches her arms away from my shoulders and instead sprints over to him, laughing and giggling while skipping frantically across the living space. "Bubs! I was worried that you'd never show. What, did therapy run a little late?" He smiles at her charmingly as he pats her on the head softly and lets out a wholehearted laugh, one that's open-mouthed and teeth-showing.

"RJ, Ms. Roi wants to see you real quick, something about the Limes files?" He shakes his head in frustration as he bids Meghan farewell with a frown and a vein popping out of his forehead in anger. I should probably mention that he's one of the therapists here and also happens to work on therapy with Meghan.

Meghan comes over in a sad waltz as she pokes out her lip in frustration. "This is what happens when you're besties with your therapist," I retort, snapping one of the three rubber bands back over my finger. As I begin to move one of the rubber bands, I hear a flick and then feel a pinch at my neck. I flinch before tilting my head downwards to see a light pink rubber band at my feet. I sigh. "Really, a rubber band?" I ask in frustration. If I'm being honest, right now all I wanna do is be by myself. No, I wanna be by myself... with him.

I pull the rubber bands off of my fingers, not even caring that I'm not finished and just cleaning everything up. I just can't deal with the world right now and it's hard to be here without Jake by my side. I'm aware that I never leave Jake Sterling's mind and I'm completely aware that he never leaves mine, but whether or not I'm on his mind doesn't change that we're not at home together watching movies and snuggling up in his huge ass bed contemplating turning off the movie and just making out just like usual, but no, here I am in the mental hospital, and there he is at home, patiently waiting for my return.

I begin to walk away toward my room as I'm stopped by a staff member, one that I know all too well. "Drew, you know you have to ask first." I huff out a loud sigh before not so politely asking if I can go back to my room to which I'm granted with a very reluctant 'yes'. I step into my room, taking in the beige walls and white sheets along with the oak wood desk that kinda makes me wanna punch something (preferably the ugly beige walls).

I hear a knock on the door and then the sound of a knob twisting and the door being let open inward. "Andrew, some people are here to visit you. They say that they are your friends." I smile at this. I haven't seen some of them in quite a long time and quite frankly I'm very excited to spend this moment with them.

I slowly creep myself up off of the firm bed, quickly pacing up to the door and walking out toward the visitation area. As I'm walking down the hallway, I notice Meg still in the social area, now talking to another patient who she seems to be well acquainted with. I contemplate going over to her, not really sure if I want her to meet my friends, to which I hesitantly decide to go get her. I turn right and begin walking toward Meg. Her face lights up as she sees me before she begins to make a rather confused expression.

"Uh, that was quick." I smile. "Some of my friends have came to visit me and I was thinking that maybe you'd like to meet them?" She smiles widely, now noticing that the person she was talking to has left and is now listening to music in the corner of the room. "Of course, Andrew! I've always wondered what your friends were like!" I smile and begin to walk toward the visitation area, her light footsteps being heard from behind me. As I open the big push-in door, I wonder who all is here. Usually it's a limit of 5 people at a time but sometimes there's exceptions (mostly depending on the person being visited). I look around to see Hailey, Zander, Jake, Daisy, and Milly. I smile widely, my eyes lighting up with excitement as we make our way over to them.

Jake stands up and begins to walk toward me, smiling widely as well. He goes up and wraps his arms around my waist, nuzzling his head into the crook of my neck, just taking in my scent as I do the same. "I missed you," he mumbles softly into my neck as I retort a laugh. "I missed you too, so much more than you will ever know." He laughs.

I can feel Meg's eyes on me, watching silently as she smirks with evil intent. We soon let go of each other and sit down at the round table, me next to Jake, Jake next to Milly, Milly next to Hailey, Hailey next to Daisy, and Daisy next to Zander. Everyone looks at Meg, questioning why she's just standing there and staring at them. I smile. "Guys, this is Meghan. She's my friend." Hailey smiles as she chuckles a little bit. "Hi, Meghan, I'm Hailey. It's nice to meet you!" Meg laughs. "There's no need for formalities, just call me Meg. It's great to meet you all. I know how much you all mean to Andrew, so it's a pleasure to meet all of you." Everyone raises their eyebrows, soon realizing that I am Andrew.

"How did I just completely forget that Drew's name is really Andrew?" Milly asks. "Because you're an idiot," retorts Zander. Milly lowers her eyebrows in faux anger. "You can't be talking, you simp!" He rolls his eyes, fueling Milly's anger even more. Meg laughs as I pat the space next to me. "So, what have I missed over the past week?" I ask out of curiosity. "Well, Sidney Hammond got a new boyfriend (as usual), Alex Lauren got into another fight and was arrested (thankfully), and Lewis Mitchell knocked up the head of the cheerleading team." My mouth falls agape as I listen to Hailey fill me in on the juicy details of our small town drama.

It feels like I've missed so much in the span of a week, but I'm fully aware that I haven't. Jake pats my leg with a smile on his face as he turns to look at me with a gleeful expression. I smile back. I love him too much to show him that I'm very much not okay, but it's fine because he's already well aware. I look at the table seeing that Daisy and Meg switched places at the table, Daisy now being directly next to me. With love, comes hardships, but I know that it's okay because I have all I need with these people.

~2 Months Later~

I throw my bags into the back of the trunk, my arm hurting from all of the heavy lifting I've been doing over the past few days. About a week ago, I got out of rehab, where I then went back to live with Jake for a week and am now going to go live with my Grandma and her dipshit husband.

Jake diligently chucks his luggage into the trunk as well, fiddling with the latch before slamming the trunk door shut. "That's all of it!" He exclaims as he places his hands on his hips and kisses me on the forehead. "America is gonna be dope as shit!"

"Boys, mind your language, please." Jake laughs, a chuckle also arising out of me as I walk to the left side of the car and clamber into the back seat. When I get in, I notice that "Carry on my Wayward Son" by Kansas was playing on the radio to which I laughed at given I never really was a fan of older music. I look over to see Jake playing the air guitar and singing, his eyes squeezed shut and his mouth wide open which makes me laugh. "You look ridiculous." He scoffs. "You just don't have good taste!" He says dramatically whilst crossing his arms before we both burst out in laughter.

"Everyone buckled up?" Ms. Sterling asks as my mother puts the car in drive. We both nod as we realize that that this really is just the beginning of our story.

A/N: Hey everyone, this has been the longest time I've went without posting (3.5 months) and I'm really sorry 😞. I decided that this chapter would be the best to end the story with and I hope that you all are okay with that! I really have been unmotivated to write and find it hard to continue this story.

I have many new books in the works that won't be posted until all chapters are done so that you all aren't waiting on me to finish and there isn't pressure on me. I hope you enjoyed this story and I hope you all stay tuned for my next stories.

Q1: Would you all want a separate story for Meg?

Q2: Would you all like a book 2 where they're adults or is this fine?