31 Days of December

Epilogue: Back to School

After being home for 24 days, I was officially back on campus, ready to take on the spring semester. But first, I had to defeat my old enemy, the stairs. I had to make multiple trips up and down the stairs to get stuff out of my car. Laundry, food, Christmas presents, etc. I think I took four trips just to get all of my stuff into the apartment. Why did I have so much stuff?

I turned on some music to listen to while I unpacked my stuff. Of course, I was listening to the Jonas Brothers. How could I not?

"Nights, flying down the 10, nearly 2 am. Happiness Begins. Days lifted in a haze. We weren't just a phase. We weren't just pretend," Nick sang. This was one of my favorite songs by the Jonas Brothers. "I remember low lows and high highs. We threw our hands up, palms out to the skies."

I started singing along, "It was fun when we were young, and now we're older. Those days when we were broke in California. We were up and down and barely made it over. But I'd go back and ride that rollercoaster with you."

"It was fun when we were young, and now we're older. Those days that are the worst, they seem to glow now. We were up and down and barely made it over. But I'd go back and ride that rollercoaster with you."

I was almost finished unpacking when my phone rang, interrupting my bopping-out session. I knew exactly who it was without looking at the caller id. Considering that Ethan was the only person that ever called me, it had to be him.

"Come over?" Ethan asked right when I answered the call.

"Why should I?" I asked. I had things to do. Classes started tomorrow, and I wanted to ensure I had everything ready. "You interrupted my Jonas Brothers jam session."

"I'm sorry. If you come over, I'll make it up to you by buying you Culver's, and you can pick out what movies we watch?" I mean, how could anyone say no to that deal?

"Do you have Prime Video?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering. I'll be over in 15 minutes," I said before hanging up on Ethan. I slipped my converse on and grabbed my keys. None of my roommates were back yet, and I didn't know when they would be. So I just left and headed to Ethan's for another movie night. Who knew when I would be back at my own apartment tonight.

"Hails," Ethan shouted in excitement when I stepped out of my car. He pulled me into a hug. "I've missed you."

"How could you have missed me when we talked practically every day?" I teased. I smiled up at him, and he was smiling back.

"Because I didn't see you in person. It just isn't the same over FaceTime. I can't hug you or hold your hand over FaceTime." I just laughed in response. How cheesy was this boy? I hoped it would not be too cheesy because then it would be too annoying.

Ethan grabbed my hand, and we walked into the apartment building. I felt a moment of deja vu back to the first time I came to his apartment. It has been over a month since I first visited the boys' apartment, but it felt like it was much longer. The building felt frozen in time, even though I knew it wouldn't change over a month.

"So, what are we watching?" Ethan asked. We sat on his couch while I was scrolling through Prime Video to find what I was looking for. My back was leaning against Ethan's chest with our legs tangled together. Ethan had one arm resting on the back of the couch, and the other was wrapped around my waist.

I smiled and said, "You'll see." He had no idea what he was getting himself into. Then again, he said I could pick what we watched. He was going to have to suffer.

Once I found exactly what I was looking for, I hit play. I heard Ethan groan behind me. However, he was stuck watching Chasing Happiness because he interrupted my Jonas Brothers jam session earlier. Now, he would learn how much time, energy, and emotions I put into the Jonas Brothers.

"It was fun when we were you, and now we're older. Those days when we were broke in California. We were up and down and barely made it over. But I'd go back and ride that rollercoaster with you," The song sang. I was already tearing up, and the documentary had barely started. "It was fun when we were young, and now we're older. Those days that are the worse, they seem to glow now. We were up and down and barely made it over. But I'd go back and ride that rollercoaster with you."

As the film went on, the tearier I got. I didn't cry while watching movies, but I did get teary-eyed. The Jonas Brothers went through so much, and I was proud that they overcame it.

"Are you crying?" Ethan asked sometime in the middle of the movie.

"Let's get a few things straight," I said. He really interrupted my Jonas Brothers time again. "First, stop interrupting my Jonas Brothers. Second, I am not crying. I just have tears in my eyes. The last thing, we do not talk about me being teary-eyed. Is that clear?" Ethan just nodded, and I turned my attention back to the screen.

Towards the end, Liam popped out of his room and asked, "Is Hailey crying?" I was not crying. Were these boys dumb? Probably.

"We're watching the Jonas Brothers movie on Prime. Also, we aren't supposed to talk about how she is 'teary-eyed,'" Ethan answered. Well, at least he learned something from this experience with me.

"My sister made me watch the stupid documentary when it came out. Good luck."

"Which one is her favorite?" I asked Liam. Every girl has a favorite brother. You may like all three (or four if including Frankie), but there is always one that you like more than the rest.

"Joe, I think," He shrugged.

"I could see it," I said. From my short interaction with her over FaceTime, she looked like the type of girl to pick Joe just because he was the "hot" one when we were younger. "Nick is my favorite, but I want a relationship like Joe and Sophie Turner. They look like they are always having fun being themselves. I want that in life."

"You're too committed to the Jonas Brothers," Liam said before disappearing back into his room. I had no idea why he even came out in the first place.

Ethan smiled and asked, "Why do you want a relationship like theirs?"

"They seem like they are living their best lives. They seem like they are goofing around with one another. They had two weddings. The first one was a shotgun wedding in Vegas with an Elvis Presley impersonator conducting the wedding, and they used ring pops for the rings. That seems like a great wedding idea to me and probably cheaper than a real wedding. The second wedding was in Paris, France, but I don't know much more than that."

"Well, I hope I'm the guy you have a shotgun wedding with in Vegas, conducted by an Elvis impersonator, using ring pops as the rings."

"You have to stick around long enough for that to happen."

"That's the plan."

"Speaking of plans, I do believe you owe me Culver's," I said with a smile. He groaned but got up to go get his keys.

"I'll be back," He said, imitating Arnold Schwarzenegger. He opened the door and paused. "Hey, Hails."

"Yeah?" I asked.

He smiled and said, "I like you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go get me food," I said. Ethan just laughed and left to go get me food.

After the 31 Days of December, I liked him too.

Here is the epilogue. I have two bonus chapters for you guys, and then I'm going to start posting the sequel. Heads up, it is called 31 Days Back to You. Can you guess the plot yet? Anyway, thanks again for reading this book. It isn't the best thing ever written, but I bet it could be worse.

2023 Author's Note: This chapter did not age well and not going to lie, I'm still in denial about the divorce. Also, don't listen to whatever TMZ is saying because they just want to cause drama. Neither Joe or Sophie's teams have not told anyone a reason why. Joe and Sophie have said it's mutual and that Joe has the kids due to being on tour with his family's support. They want their privacy and I respect that.