By Your Side

Chapter 34: Epilogue

The next morning, the young couple laid in the bed. James was wrapped around Clare and held her close, as he was the first to wake up and stealthily moved to the edge of the bed. Trying to be as quiet as possible he opened up the fridge door and pulled out the box of cold pizza, and tore a couple of pieces of paper towel off and looked back at Clare who was now waiting for him with a smile.

"Morning."

"Good morning beautiful."

Picking up the piece of paper towel, he walked back over to the bed and sat on the edge of it, while Clare crawled up beside him. He handed her one of the pieces of paper towel and kissed her good morning as she took it from him, and the two of them began to eat as James looked over at the time.

"Nathan should be here soon."

"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?"

"We have a day of travel of our own to worry about. It'll be best for everyone."

They finished the slices of pizza, just as there was a knock on the hotel room's door. James got up and opened it only to be happily greeted by the man of the hour. Nathan.

"Morning."

"Morning."

"So how'd last night go?"

"Fine, I finished unloading her stuff, and she cooled down. I was surprised though to see her best friend Emily show up this morning and get greeted with a pretty passionate kiss, pretty sure there was some tongue."

"Sorry man."

"It's all good, you saved me last night."

"I was just doing the right thing."

From behind James, Clare got off the bed and walked to the door as the dress shirt James lent her fell just above her knees. She joined the two of them and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and looked at her ex with a smile. Nathan smiled back at her as well seeing that the girl was still alive and well.

"Good morning Clare."

"Morning, Nathan."

"So are you guys sure about this?"

"Absolutely, it's the least we can do."

"Thanks, man, I'll say hi to the flight crew for you. Oh and here's my end of the bargain."

Nathan extended a hand to James and presented him with a temporary credit card and two plane tickets that James happily took from him since it was the next step in their whole adventure.

"Alright well, thanks again. I'll see you guys when you get back. I mean if you'll have me around."

"For sure, Nathan. You're an original member of the group, so you're always welcome."

"Thanks, see you around bro."

"See ya bud."

Nathan and James have a quick brotherly hug before Nathan turned to give Clare a hug as well before waving goodbye to them as they closed the door. The two of them then walked back over to the bed and sat down beside each other.

"So this is it?"

"Yep better start packing, because we are about to start our next chapter in Hawaii."

"You sure, you still want to do this with...me."

"I mean we don't have to tell our parents right away, but we've been best friends for like seven years now, I think I'm ready for you to be my real girlfriend."

"Can't say I ever expected this to be our second date."

"Me neither but I'm glad it is, now c'mon let's go."

"But what do we tell our parents when we don't come back for three weeks."

"We got time to figure all that out."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

The two finished packing their bags and rolled them out to the hallway, with both of them taking one last look into the room where all of it started before closing the door and heading back to the elevator. When they got to the main lobby and finally checked out they headed for the door; however, Clare looked back at the hall one last time and remembered the fountain in the corner and tugged on James' arm. Her movement stopped him in his tracks as he was dragged along by her to the fountain.

"What are you doing?"

"Making a wish."

Clare pulled off the ring on her finger and gave it a kiss before throwing it into the fountain and watched as it created a subtle splash when it collided with the surface of the water.

"Does that actually work, if it's not a coin?"

"I don't know, why not try right? Since that's what we did."

"Can't argue that."

James slid off the ring on his finger and followed Clare's lead by throwing it into the fountain as well, which luckily caused it to land perfectly with hers, and the two rings leaned on each other under the water. With one last look at them and the hotel, the young couple grabbed their bags and Clare took James' hand as they left the building together. The car was already waiting for them outside as they loaded their bags into the trunk and James started the engine with his best friend turned girlfriend beside him before pulling out of the parking lot and straight for their new life together. Knowing that no matter what happened they'd always be there by each other's side. 

The End