Epilogue: Times Gone By

Who says true love is a fairy tale? Thanks to Disney the story of a handsome prince sweeping in to rescue the fair maiden or damsel in distress has become the ideal romance for many young girls. But me? I never thought it was possible nor did I expect that it would happen to me. I lived my life in a shell, hiding from the outside world, too afraid to open myself up because of past experiences. But six years ago one opportune New Year’s Eve party changed all that.

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10: Eternally Grateful

Warning: The following chapter contains sensitive subject matter. Reader discretion is advised.

“Do you want something to drink?” Zach offered, watching her timidly shifting her weight between each foot and avoiding his gaze.

“No. I’m fine,” she replied softly. “I just want…I wasn’t exactly honest with you,” Abigail frowned as she fell to the bed. “Our first time…that night in the cave. It…wasn’t really…I wasn’t a…,” she sighed while she fumbled with her fingers trying to find the right words to express herself. “What I’m trying to say is it wasn’t my first time,” she finally blurted in one breath.

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09: Ugly Duckling

The phone rang again but this time, Abigail didn’t jump; she was expecting it. For the fifth time in nearly an hour it violently buzzed on top of her bedside table, begging to be picked up. But she didn’t answer. Instead she stared at it. Watching the glowing LED screen mercilessly flashing the caller’s ID and frowned. At last it went quiet. Abigail unclenched her jaw and sighed as she turned away. 

For three days she’d been going over her argument with Zach, trying to sort out her conflicted feelings. And for three nights she’d been lying in bed trying not to think about the way his hands felt on her body. She missed him. It had been too long since she could even get close to a man without completely freaking out. And there had been no one she could trust with her secret…except Zach. He was the first guy that genuinely showed interest in who she was as a person instead of snubbing her on sight.

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08: That Did Not Just Happen

“Today, we will be focusing on social psychology and how individuals relate to one another in social situations including social attitudes, social influence, and other group behavior,” Professor Singleton stood in front of his class, lecturing to a full room. Abigail sat, impatiently tapping her pen on top of her notebook as she waited for the hour to end. Lately, she found that her time in class paled in comparison to being with Zach; a fact that Jemma was all too thrilled to point out.

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07: Flowers and Candlelight

Warning: The following chapter contains sexually explicit material. Reader discretion is advised.

A rose danced around the corner where Abigail stood, inching closer and closer until she ducked her head around the side of the newspaper stand and found Zach attempting to hide. “Hey!” she nearly shouted as he stood up and innocently pecked her cheek.

“Hey yourself,” Zach grinned and handed Abigail the flower. “Where are you off to?”

“My Scholars of Tomorrow meeting. We’re discussing this year’s charity event to raise money for school supplies for students in the Philippines.”

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06: Reading by Moonlight

Morning came and Abigail awoke to find Zach pulling on his dried jeans and shirt near the back of the cave. He smiled at her as she rolled over the blanket still naked and dreamily looked up at him. Zach started towards her and fell to his knees beside the firepit. “Morning, Sleepyhead,” he leaned down and lightly brushed his lips against hers before pulling her completely beneath him and deepening the kiss.

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05: Rainstorm

Warning: The following chapter contains sexually explicit material. Reader discretion is advised.

“Abigail!” Zach shouted as he rounded the fork in the trail in the last place he saw her. Recent prints in the mud indicated someone had passed through here not too long ago. “Abigail!” Zach walked the trail in the direction of the footprints and came to a stop just before a huge drop-off into the canyon. Looking around he noticed more prints and gasped, “No.” From the looks of the tracks, Abigail had gone over the cliff and fallen into the chasm!

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04: It’s Him!

“Now we’re going to break up into groups of five. It’s very important you remain with your group whenever out in the woods. Although the trails are supervised by park rangers, remember this is a nature reserve. Meaning there are still very dangerous elements around: wild animals, toxic shrubbery, jagged boulders and even hanging cliffs. Please avoid being out past the advised curfew and remain on the designated hiking trails at all times.” Professor Jones counted the heads of the number of students on the bus as Professor Chauncey addressed them.

“Alright, I want the left half of the bus to follow Professor Jones, the other half will remain seated and I’ll give you your cabin assignments.” Abigail and Jemma slipped off the bus and lined up with the other students. Abby began taking shots as the supervising professors handed out sleeping arrangements. 

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03: The Not So Popular

“Write 230,000,000,000 in scientific notation,” Abigail read the next problem on Knox’s assigned homework. Since meeting up with him at noon as promised they’d only gotten as far as the fifth problem; five out of twenty-five. Abigail had quickly lost patience with the numerous bad jokes and sexual innuendoes continuously spouting from Knox’s mouth.

It was close to 3:00 p.m. and she was ready to get out of there and find a more constructive use of her time. “Easy, 23 x 100!”

“Actually the proper rule is ‘Ax10ⁿ’. ‘A’ represents the real number, in this case 2.3 and 10ⁿ represents the number of times you move the decimal. You count those and place them after the 10 as an exponent. The answer would be 2.3 x 10¹¹.”

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02: Ditching Practice

“And she just ditched you? Damn, Bro, and I thought I had problems,” Knox laughed, listening to Zach’s story as the two tossed around the pigskin mid-field. “Jemma’s on some tirade about me and Shana Dempsey when all I did was hand her a glass. Man she reamed me! Instead of going back to my dorm like I’d planned, she poured her drink on me and went looking for some friend of hers. Chicks!”

“At least you know her name. I didn’t even get that much. The only thing I really know about her is she’s a damn good kisser.”

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01: Auld Lang Syne

“I knew I’d find you here!” Jemma Crowe’s voice startled her best friend Abigail Carmichael and she nearly jumped down from the windowsill she sat perched upon. It was late afternoon and most students were already out for the night or preparing to tie one on the town and here she sat with her nose in a book. 

“What?” she asked and glanced over the top of her glasses towards the blonde as she made a beeline through the aisles of books. Dawning Hall was unusually quiet and the dimness from the flickering fluorescent bulbs cast eerie shadows up and down the columns of shelves. Jemma did her best to ignore the sudden goosebumps that covered her arms as she finally made it to the cubicle where Abigail hid.

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