Epilogue Part Two

Love is Not Time's Fool

THE thing about sitting outside in our backyard during Winter was that it wasn't comfortable. Even under the huge blanket I brought outside to the gazebo, I still caught the cool breeze of the wind as it brushed by. There was really no point in being outside at the moment, as I had to be dressed and ready to leave in less than 30 minutes for the merge party, and I was still in my Christmas pajamas from the previous year.

I just couldn't bring myself to get up, to pull myself out of the state I was in where all I could do was sit in the gazebo under my blanket and, well, sulk, I guess.

After the conversation in the kitchen yesterday, I was pretty much locked in my room for the rest of the day. Nic tried to talk to me, but I didn't let anyone in. Matteo snuck through the window somehow and brought me more cinnamon rolls, but even he couldn't get through to me when it came to discussing tonight's inevitable fate of seeing Ava.

It would be so nice to see her face. Her smile. The way she glistened under the Christmas lights.

It would also probably hurt a fuck ton.

But I had to go to the merge party and that was a fact. Number one, it was important to my parents and despite not being the future of MG2 anymore, I was still a Montgomery. Number two, it was incredibly important to Nic, and he was more enthusiastic than I'd ever seen him when it came to the party. And number three, it was being held at one of my favorite places in the world:

The Met.

The Met had always been a staple from my childhood to my adulthood. And even though I had more recent memories of me and Ava, moments that I held so close to my heart, the museum still meant everything to me. I hadn't been there in a little over a year, and I wanted to return so badly.

"T."

I flinched and turned, seeing Nic standing by the entrance of the gazebo. He stepped up the two stairs, holding his own blanket around his shoulders, and came to sit beside me, nuzzling himself further into his blanket.

"Jesus fuck, it's cold out here. Are you losing your mind?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. Probably."

Nic sighed and I felt his gaze turn to me, but I didn't dare look at him. "T, you can't do this to yourself."

"Do what?" I asked.

"Do this," Nic said, gesturing towards me and the gazebo. "The thing you did when you and Ava broke up in the first place. You get down on yourself. You sulk and you sit in this goddamn gazebo even when it's literally freezing. You think lowly of yourself despite your usual ego and sureness of yourself."

"I don't need a therapy session, Nic."

"Maybe you do. Everyone needs to be therapized once in a while. God knows I know that," Nic said, muttering the last part and looking away from me. "So I am here to therapize. For the sake of leaving on time and not being late to the biggest event literally of my life."

"Go on, then," I said, sighing. "Do your thing and try to convince me that seeing Ava won't be like getting trampled by horses. And I know you hate horses."

"Well, they're creepy. And their hooves are a devilish creation," Nic said. "Not the point, though. Can I tell you why you're a fucking dumbass?"

"Damn, okay. That wasn't very therapist-y of you."

"I think if I'm going to fake your therapist right now, I have the right to be brutally honest. And the honest fact is this: you're a fucking dumbass," Nic said. "You're afraid of seeing Ava because of the break-up, because you still have love for her, which is understandable because's she's fucking amazing. And she changed you. She impacted you and that can't be reversed or thrown away."

"That and I'm not enough for her, I know that," I added. "It's why she broke up with me. Because I was leaving, and she thought that meant we were going in different directions, and clearly I wasn't enough for her to hold onto."

Nic scoffed and I looked over at him. He just shook his head at me. "This is why I'm calling you an idiot right now. Do you even hear yourself?"

"I'm being reasonable!"

"T," Nic sighed, "you'll always be you and you'll always be enough. You'll always be worthy and worthier than most. You know who I learned that from? Ava. And you know what else I know that you can't seem to get through your sometimes thick skull?"

"First, rude. Second of all, what?" I asked.

"You and Ava didn't break up because she didn't think you were good enough. Seriously, Theo? Why would she even think that? From the time you first met her, and she tried to push you away and hate you because you're a Montgomery, and she was raised to hate you, you ended up changing her mind. She loved you first, remember that," Nic pointed out. "You can't blame her for breaking up with you when you were going to a completely different country for a year. It was a reasonable break-up because you were going in different directions. But you have the chance to collide paths again. Last time you collided paths, look how it turned out: you fell the fuck in love and you fell hard, but so did she. You beat the odds or whatever. Imagine how it could turn out this time.

"You've grown, T. I've seen it. Yeah, you went to Italy on a spur-of-the-moment kind of crazy decision, but it paid off. She always supported you, believe me, I know it. And she'll see how much the past year has grown you. For fuck's sake, you wrote–"

I interrupted him, "Don't mention it. I can't tell her about what I wrote."

Nic shoved me. "Yes, you fucking can. Because you wrote it for her. Like all of those... cheesy love letters or whatever. You know she kept them all."

I looked over at Nic, eyebrows raised. "She did?"

Nic nodded. "If you seriously think that Ava doesn't still have love for you like you do for her... then you're a delusional dumbass."

Nic stood up and nodded towards the house, holding out his hand for me to grab.

"Come on, Theodore Montgomery III. I've never met someone as passionate and persistent as you," he said. "And if you're really the brother I've come to know, you won't give up so easily, and you won't let love bring you down. You'll let it raise you up instead. So are you pussying or are you going to do what you've always vowed?"

"And what have I always vowed?"

A smirk pulled up on Nic's face. "Duh," he said, "make history."

A slight smile graced my face and I reached out, clasping my hand into my brother's as he helped pull me up off the gazebo floor. If there was one thing about Nic, it was this:

He was a damn genius.

I never gave up on Ava even when she had been insistent on hating me because of our family ties. I'd almost forgotten I was an annoyingly persistent son of a bitch when it came to Ava, yet she loved me regardless. And there was one thing that she'd said to me that rung in my head now, one thing that she'd said to me long ago, one thing that I got engraved on a watch for her because I meant it with my whole heart. And if that one statement was still true, then why the fuck was I wasting time sulking?

"Fuck, we have work to do," I said. "I need to look better than this."

"Good thing I've had Matteo waiting upstairs with your ensemble for the past 30 minutes," Nic said,  a cunning smile on his face.

"Of course you did."

"What? Have you forgotten it so easily, T?" Nic winked. "Nicolas Montgomery cleans up every mess."

❥❥❥

"Maybe that guy over there. He looks wealthy," Skylar said, discreetly pointing to an older man in a black suit with a scruffy beard.

"He looks like a Jesus wannabe," Will argued. "That man over there screams wealth."

I looked over at who Will was pointing at and I slapped his hand away and glared. "Will, that's literally Richard Branson."

"Whomst?" Maverick asked.

"Richard Branson, he's a British mogul of the Virgin brand. Virgin Trains, Virgin Mobile, Virgin–"

"Say the word virgin one more time," Skylar said. "I bet he's not a virgin."

"The point is that he's a huge businessman with a 5 billion dollar fortune," I said.

"So I was right. He doesn't just scream wealth, he radiates it," Will said. "Maybe we're looking in all the wrong places. Maybe Mav doesn't need a sugar daddy, maybe he needs a sugar mommy."

"Like her!" Skylar exclaimed, pointing out Arianna Huffington from The Huffington Post. I just rolled my eyes.

"What if Mav doesn't need a sugar anything, and he just wants a normal, stable relationship when it comes to him?" I suggested.

Maverick shot me a thankful smile and leaned into my shoulder. "You get it. But apparently my sister insists I've been alone for too long," he said. "Though, it would be nice to date someone rich who could pay for my annual Just Dance Now subscription."

"You're literally so cheap. That subscription is only 25 bucks," Skylar said. "And you have been alone for too long, I'm not wrong. You're almost celibate."

"I'm not celibate!" Maverick argued. "I'm just focusing on finishing my degree and you know what? Romance can come afterwards!"

"You need a good dose of either some dick or some WAP," Skylar said, shaking her head.

"Never say WAP again. Never do it unless you are Cardi B or Meghan Thee," Maverick retorted. "Will is celibate, too."

Will shrugged. "I guess I am. I haven't met anyone since I've been at NYU."

"That's because your dick is waiting for a certain Matteo Maldonado and we all know it," Skylar said, then turned to me and smirked. "Just like Ava's WAP is waiting for Theodore the Third's peni–"

Maverick thankfully covered her mouth before she could finish. Skylar licked the palm of his hand and he pulled it away, shaking his head before wiping his hand on his jacket.

"You forget that I'm not grossed out by your repulsive sibling antics," Maverick said, shaking his head and turning. His eyes widened. "Oh-ham-gee. The Montgomery train has pulled into the station towing the Maldonado cart."

I turned around and as did Will, facing the entrance of the main hall of The Met. Walking through the tall doors, it was impossible not to immediately spot Theo in a simple black tux, his hair looked freshly cut, his smile just as vibrant as ever. He walked alongside Nic and Matteo, and when they spotted us, they were on their way over immediately.

I was overcome by a sudden anxiety to talk to Theo for the first time in a year. I wanted to see him, yeah, and thanks to the conversation with my dad (and simultaneously the similar conversations between me and Will and Skylar and Maverick prior to tonight's party), I knew how I still felt about him. I knew how badly I wanted to hug him, to feel his embrace, and to look into his eyes and tell him exactly what was on my mind when it came to us.

But of course, I didn't know what was going on in his mind. And there was the question whether Theo would be returning to Italy or not once January rolled around. Both of which mattered immensely, but I almost didn't care when he smiled directly at me as they approached.

Skylar leaned over and whispered to me, "Here comes your favorite pain in the ass."

I nudged her away and she laughed. Matteo, Nic, and Theo stopped in front of us. Already, Matteo's gaze was focused on Will. We'd had conversations about Matteo, too. It had been over a year since their break-up as well, and a lot had changed. Probably the most impactful change was the fact that Will was of age, and from the way the two smiled at each other tonight, it seemed like there was hope for them.

"Hey guys," Matteo said, then looked directly at Will. "Hey, William."

"Hey, M," Will said, then cleared his throat. "I was just gonna go get something to drink. We got amazing lemonade catered if you... want to join?"

Matteo smirked. "Would I ever."

Will and Matteo walked side by side away and Will sent me a thumbs up from over his shoulder before disappearing.

"Oh Nicolas, you little demon! How great to see you," Skylar gushed.

"Skylar. My favorite," Nic responded, smiling in a fake-bitter manner. "Have you fucked up your relationship with Hannah yet?"

Skylar laughed. "No, no I have not. Have you sold any contraband drugs lately?"

"I was actually wondering, Skylar, if you had finally dyed your hair so much that its started effecting your brain processing?" Nic retorted.

"Ooh! That reminds me," Skylar leaned forward, "have you made out with any guys in a supply closet and then completely ghosted them this year yet?"

Nic gritted his teeth, but smiled nonetheless. "Oh, it's just so great to be back to our usual banter."

"Actually, though, you know who's here tonight?" Skylar pointed and Nic turned, noticing Richard Butler across the room talking to our parents. "I bet you could find a cute little room in this museum to take him into. I always thought it would be kind of on-brand for you to make out with him in front of a statue of some sort."

Nic turned back to Skylar. "Thank you for the idea. I might take you up on that." He looked over at me and grinned genuinely. "I'll see you later so we can discuss business and actual important things. In the meantime, I'm getting the hell away from Miss Lesbian Bitch!"

"You're always so sweet, Nicolas!" Skylar exclaimed while Nic backed away.

Nic blew a kiss and then... he did jazz hands?

Skylar clapped her hands together. "I'm out, too!" she said, motioning between me and Theo. "I don't want to be in the middle of this moment, no matter how interesting and dramatic it could be."

Skylar winked at me and then disappeared into the crowd. Not sure where she was going, but she left regardless. And it was just me and Theo.

"Did Nic just do jazz hands?" I asked.

"It's kind of his thing lately," Theo said. "By the way... Hi, Juliet."

My heart fluttered hearing my name come from his voice. Stupid boy.

"Hi, Theodore," I replied.

His arms were wrapped around me in a heartbeat, and I returned the gesture, hugging him and resting my hands on his back. The familiar scent of his usual mint brought me back, and the feeling of his hands and arms holding me transported me to when we were together.

He whispered in my ear and it undid me completely.

"Did you want to hear a fun fact?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Of course you have a random fact. Sure. I'd love to hear it."

"It's so fucking amazing to see you. I've missed you," he said, then pulled away from my body. "Oh! Pythagoras, who made one of the most iconic discoveries in the mathematical realm, had a fear of beans."

I raised my eyebrows, ignoring the jolt of warmth that came from his first statement. "Beans?"

Theo nodded. "Beans. It actually caused him to die because some people tried to force him to go into a field of beans, and he denied, so they just killed him instead."

"They killed him... because of beans?" I asked.

"They killed him because of beans," Theo repeated. His smile tore into a piece of my heart I'd set aside ever since we broke up.

"Well, I have a fun fact, too. But it's not as cool as bean death."

"Enlighten me, Juliet."

I gently nudged him. "It's fucking amazing to see you, too. And I've missed you a lot."

Theo's smile grew, and that dimple I used to kiss demanded my attention. "That's just as cool as bean death."

We stood there for a few seconds, saying nothing. Our eyes wandered around The Met, and I wondered if we were both thinking of the time we'd been here together. I wanted to say something about it. Something about how we came here after he brought me to his family's party, and then we sat on the steps of The Met and talked until my mother showed up and forced me home. Aka the time before everything with my family exploded and finally, we figured out that my mother was a heartless disloyal bitch.

Sometimes thinking about what my mother did hurt more than I ever wanted to let on. Family betrayal after 19 almost 20 years wasn't a small matter, or one that came without any pain. But calling her a bitch and every terrible name I could think of was my best way of getting past it all.

Either way, my mother was the last thing on my mind. At the forefront was Theo and the fact that I wanted to talk to him and let him know what was in my heart.

I went to speak, but he beat me to it.

"If you'll excuse me, I just... I have something I need to do," Theo said. My heart did a little drop.

"Oh. Okay, yeah," I muttered. "We'll talk later, though?"

Theo was already backing away, smiling nonetheless. Maybe his heart didn't hurt like mine did right now. Maybe he went to Italy and got over it.

That would be a good thing for him, I guess. But I didn't want it at all.

"We'll talk right after I do this thing!" he exclaimed, and he ran off. I couldn't track where he went in the crowd, but I knew he had disappeared and was now gone.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and flinched, but when I turned it was just Maverick. I forced a smile, but Maverick tilted his head at me, telling me that he wasn't remotely fooled.

"Did I just witness Theodore Montgomery running away from you?" Maverick asked, his arm still wrapped around me.

"He said he needed to take care of something," I told him. "In other words, I feel like he was just trying to get away from me. Like maybe he can't even stand to be around me."

Maverick moved to stand in front of me, grasping me by the shoulders.

"Ava Cunningham," he said, shaking his head, "that's obviously bullshit. He's probably actually up to something, and you just have to let it be. Don't let it weigh you down tonight. Go... talk to some business moguls and powerful women or something. Theo never held you down before, right? Live your damn life, and if things are meant to be... he'll come back for you. Right?"

I smiled, genuinely this time. "Thank you, Mav."

"Someone's gotta hype you up. Skylar would have done it in a terrible way. She was about to come over here and tell you something very vulgar and rude," Maverick said, shuddering. "You're lucky I'm the nice sibling."

I laughed, but before I could reply, there was a terrible tapping sound and high-frequency pitch that ran through the speakers. Maverick and I both turned at the same time and caught Theo standing on the stage that had been built for tonight's event so that our family's could give their speeches later on in the night. But there was Theo fumbling with the microphone stand while people covered their ears and a nearby tech guy tried to turn the sound down.

"Sorry!" Theo yelled into the microphone, and the reverberation of his voice echoed at an ungodly frequency that made the high-pitched sound even worse.

Maverick had his ears covered and was cringing, but he leaned over to me. "Or maybe he won't come back for you. Maybe he lost his mind in Italy!"

The tech guy finally got the high-pitched sound to stop, and then he demonstrated how to use the microphone to Theo. Theo smiled and nodded the whole time before stepping back up to the mic stand and tapping the top twice.

"Hello? Is this better now?" he said, and it finally sounded normal and not terribly loud and terrifying. "Hi. I'm Theodore Montgomery III, as many of you know. I've been in Italy for the past year while my family has created this merge with the Cunningham's. And I just wanted to say a few words about my time in Italy and what I've learned."

"I have no idea what this motherfucker is doing," Matteo said, suddenly appearing at my side with my brother. "Because this wasn't a part of the plan."

"Plan?" I asked.

"You know Nicolas," Matteo said, waving me off. "Just let it happen. Even if it becomes a trainwreck. At the very least, it'll be entertaining as shit."

I turned my attention back to the stage, as did pretty much every single person in the event hall. Theo cleared his throat and began to speak:

"When I was in Italy studying, I realized something about myself that took years to uncover, years that had otherwise been spent studying business as my family's legacy intended. But, as we've all come to know, my brother Nicolas Montgomery is the businessman here. As for me? I love history. But what I love more than history that's already accumulated over thousands of years is making it myself, writing it down, recording it, and being a part of it," he said. "No matter how small a person thinks they are, they're a part of someone's personal history. And I think there's something so beautiful in the little histories like that. Not the big events like presidential elections or revolutions. The small ones that may not impact the course of a whole country's history, but they impact someone's."

His hands looked like they were shaking a little as he reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a slightly crumpled stack of papers stapled together.

"I wrote this when I was in Italy, and albeit, it's not quite finished yet. There are some parts near the end that I left open for... well, for reasons that will be understandable in a minute. But this right here is an unfinished manuscript for a book that I haven't shared with anyone. Not even my family has read what I've written in here, and only my brother and closest friend have known about this project of mine," Theo said, and his eyes searched the room until they landed right on mine. "It's called Juliet's Rebellion."

My heart stalled.

"There's always been this thing inside of me, like a rope that pulls me along my course of life. For a long time, I was being pulled in the wrong direction. And then Juliet Cunningham arrived, and she pulled my rope and tied it to her heart so I would for once go in the right direction," Theo continued. "I had to write everything down. I always wrote her letters, and anything that made me think of her, I wrote down. It's because she is such a big part of my personal history, and, well... I'd like to think I'm a big part of hers as well. So I'll read off the dedication page I wrote."

Theo took a pause before he kept his voice low and spoke softly and melodiously into the microphone, "Thisbe, love is not time's fool."

I instantly recognized it. From one of his letters, the first one where he didn't write about historical star-crossed lovers and instead quoted Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare (because duh, it had to be Shakespeare). It was the letter he gave me the night he told me he loved me.

My heart flipped. A good flip. It was like a sick back flip. It was great. My smile erupted and my heart exploded like a show of fireworks within my body.

"I cannot believe he wrote a goddamn book!" Maverick whisper-yelled. "I mean, I can believe it because it's about you and stuff, but like still! A whole book!"

"Yeah," I all but breathed out. A whole damn book.

Maybe he had gone crazy in Italy.

"I was inspired, you could say. I went to Italy because I knew it was what I needed to do. And when I left for Italy, I hardly knew what I wanted in life. All I knew was that I wanted to be with Ava. But then... that didn't work out really. I'm starting to understand it now. And so I left, almost completely clueless because I knew three things and only three things: I loved history, I loved Italy, and I loved Juliet Ava Cunningham. But I didn't know what I wanted yet. And now... It feels weird to actually say that I do know what I want."

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!" Matteo yelled with his hands cupped around his mouth. Will clapped a hand over his mouth while Matteo laughed.

"There was a time," Theo started, "when we pointed to those damn stars too close to the moon and said they were us. And I still think they are. I want to annoy you for the rest of my life, Juliet Ava Cunningham. Even though we've been apart and I've been off doing my own thing and you've been doing yours, I've never let go of what we had. I never stopped loving you, Ava. Not for one year, not for one month, not for one week, not for one hour, minute, or second. Not ever. My heart is so full of you that I don't even know if it belongs to me anymore. You own my heart, Ava, and I'm okay with that. Because once upon a time, there was a girl and a boy born into opposing families. And once upon a time, they were never supposed to happen. But once upon a time, they did happen and it was fucking epic. And people will someday read about their story and tell their friends and family members and kids about it. We had the stars, Ava Cunningham. I believe we still do. And this is my pinky promise."

He held up his pinky, even though he was so far away, but I could feel it as if he were standing right in front of me.

"You have me," he said. "You have me until the last star in the sky fades away, or until the galaxy explodes or some shit. You have me. We're not like Romeo and Juliet, we're not like them at all. We're not like Pyramus and Thisbe or Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, we're our own story. We're an epic fucking poem, Ava and it has taken me far longer than Odysseus' 10 years to make this trip, but I've made it. And I'm home. Because you are my home. You've been my home since the very beginning. The universe had a plan for us, the stars wanted to see us together. I love you to forever, Ava, I always will, and I know you love me back. I just know it. Try to unlove me, I dare you. I dare you to forget that I'm your home, too."

In a cliche world, the crowd of people would have ooh-ed and aw-ed and clapped, and I would have ran up to the stage and embraced him, then kissed him while he picked me up and spun me around under the twinkling lights of The Met.

Except we were in a museum crowded with established businessmen and women, and the only people who aw-ed were our family and friends, except for Skylar who pretended to vomit from across the room. (Which I knew just meant she was undeniably supportive.)

"Thank you very much," Theo uttered, quickly making an escape off the stage.

There was no running embrace and twirl. There was just Theo running outside of The Met, me following him, and us meeting on the steps.

"I meant what I said, Juliet," Theo said the moment he saw me and I walked over to him. "I've loved you since the moment you walked into my life, and I've never stopped since. And maybe you don't love me anymore, and maybe you moved on in a year because that would be totally normal and rational and shit, but I just–"

I cut him off, cupping his face in my hands and pulling him down towards me, our lips connecting. Something inside me took fire, and a warmth spread throughout my entire body, revelling in the memory of kissing Theo and now, the reality that he was here again, and my love for him hadn't faded either.

I breathlessly pulled away. "Pyramus," I whispered, "love is not time's fool."

And his laugh was golden, radiating warmth throughout my entire body when his lips met mine again. Love wasn't times fool, that was correct.

Because as long as the clock on my watch ticked with the engraved message of forever on my wrist, I knew loving Theodore Montgomery didn't have a time limit.

❥❥❥

Ahhh here we are, I hope I have redeemed myself from crushing your souls with the sudden break-up news.

BUT COME ON. THEY WERENT GONNA STAY APART GUYS SERIOUSLY. LOVE DOES NOT EXIST WITHOUT THEO AND AVA.

Ohhh and Will and Matteo got some hopeeee... Maverick might be searching for a sugar daddy.... and Nic and Butler... girl who even knows?

Book on Nicolas in the future....? Idk. Idk. Might be going crazy.

BUT HEY ANYWAY.

This was a long one I feel, but get ready for NEXT AND FINAL EPILOGUE PART. Yes. It will be the last epilogue, last chapter, last everything. Don't remind me or I'll cry again.

But as per my epilogues, A CERTAIN SOMEONE'S POV MIGHT BE RETURNINGGGGGG... And get ready. It's cute. When is it not, though?

Waiting commence...