Kevin tightened his arms to hug Sarah, then loosened them to turn her around when her body no longer struggled against his. "I love you," he repeated.
        Sarah sighed and looked into his eyes.
        He is never going to give up on me, is he? The realization caused to her to open her mouth without thinking.
        "I made a confession to Brian ages ago...about, wow, one and a half years ago...though it was more so to myself than to him...but then, I tried as hard as I could to ignore it...I wanted what was best for you. I always have."
       "But--" She put a finger on his mouth. He needed to know. And she would try her hardest to explain.
        "No one was ever supposed to love me, Kevin...I convinced myself that of that 'fact' years ago... But then you came along, and turned my world upside down." Sarah looked at the collar of his shirt as she traced it with the finger with which she had used to silence him. "I was able to hide it, but when those feelings were coupled with my amnesia, I was so confused...That day you first told me that," she had troubled saying it and her voice turned into a whisper, "that, that you, you l-loved me... I blew up at you and then shut down because the impossible had come true and I couldn't bring myself to believe it...So I closed you off..." She still hadn't returned her eyes to his.  "But our friendship meant too much to me." She finally looked back up at him. "And I thank you for being so assertive to salvage it." Her hand moved to play with the hair on the back of his neck. Kevin was getting worried. Where was this going? Sarah could see the angst on his face. "...and for never giving up, in general...Part of me wanted you to just concede and stop your tiring pursuit...but you didn't... You cared, s-so much," her voice cracked, "that no matter what I did, no matter how hard I fought you or tried to avoid it, no matter how much I hurt you...you never gave up; you were always beside me, no matter what I did to you; you were still around," she smiled. "And I never thanked you for any of it... I'm so sorry for what I've done to you..."
        Kevin could see that tears had formed in her eyes but had yet to spill over. Her monologue seemed to have ended; she placed her head on his chest, though keeping their embrace.         She closed her eyes, the liquid finally spilling over, silently trailing down her cheeks.
        Like he had been so many times before with her, Kevin found himself speechless. But this time, she was still in his arms. She hadn't run away again. Well, maybe she had tried, but this time, when he had run after her, she had stayed. She was there, all of her, mind, body, and spirit, standing in his embrace, not making any attempt to leave. Kevin resolved that if this was all he could ever get, he didn't care. This was more than enough. She was there with him. He just wanted to freeze that moment in time...

        "I'M WET AND I'M COLD!!" Cathy complained, running around, as if trying to dry off.
        "It's all your fault!" Hannah pointed an accusing finger at the guys.
        "Whose idea was it to do this ride after dark??" Julie's teeth were chattered. Nick tried to envelope her in a hug, but she pushed him away because he was more soaked than she was.

        Sarah hadn't planned any of those words...she never thought she could or would say anything like that to him...but it had finally come so easily. She could hear Kevin's soothing heartbeat in her thoughts as she realized that there was something different in her. It was as if after all the fumbling and fighting, something had been let loose. Something had changed, something had been opened...Yes, she was afraid, scared out of her mind, but her heart was no longer locked. And that was okay.

        "We're never gonna find them," Chin stated, flopping on a bench. She was still shivering. AJ tried to pull her up.
        "They could be ANYwhere...and we don't have a freakin map!" Jenny bit her lip.
        "It's too crowded to try and find them," AJ pointed out.
        "Stupid parades," Nick muttered.
        "How's about we watch the rest of the parade and then look?" Howie suggested, laughing as Cathy jumped on him for a piggyback ride so she could see past all the people.
        "What about trying their cell phones?" Lance suggested.
        "Sarah left hers at home," Hannah remembered. Brian popped out his cell and tried to call his oldest bandmate.
        "And Kevin's is off for some reason," Brian muttered, hearing Kevin's voicemail. He looked up to noticed that all their bodyguards were near by, even Kevin's...Brian smiled, somehow knowing that there was a good reason; Kevin must have done some impressive convincing for his bodyguard to remain with the group and not follow him.

        One of Sarah's hands dug into her pockets, fishing for something she hoped would be in there. She picked her head up off of Kevin's chest as her hand pulled out two one-dollar bills. "I never did get to pay you back," she said, looking at him. She knew he was about to object, but she wouldn't let him. "I know I can never repay you for what you've done for me, Kevin, but let me do this." She pulled away from him a bit, his arms still loosely around her waist, her hands dealing with the money. She took one of his hands in hers and gave him the two dollars, closing his palm over them, letting her hand remain enclosed around his. "One dollar from the arcade six years ago...and one dollar from the picnic a year ago." She grinned when he still tried to give it back. "No you don't, Richardson." She looked at him... her playful face became a little serious. Her mind was screaming at her, but for once, her heart was in charge. "But I have to ask you--do you expect interest on it?"
        Kevin raised an eyebrow. What was she talking about?
        She shyly looked at her shoes. Her mind was still yelling at her. What was she doing?
        The light bulb went off in Kevin's head. He slowly pulled her closer, causing her to look up, somewhat surprised. "Only if you want to give it," he whispered.
        "In the beginning, I didn't." Her voice was small. She took a deep breath. "...But now it's all yours." She gave a timid smile.
        They hesitantly looked at each other. Kevin couldn't believe his ears...she was his? He was hers... He returned the smile. His eyes searched for any wavering or uncertainties, yet found none.
        So he leaned in slowly, as did she, to share their first kiss.
        ...her first kiss. Ever.

[an hour later, leaving the park once the group has been united]
        "Uhhh..." Jenny was speechless and mindlessly pointing at something.
        "No way..." Hannah breathed.
        "Well... we know they didn't kill each other," Nick chuckled, ducking as Julie tried to smack his arm.
        "Sarah? Kevin?" Chin pointed back and forth to them. "Y-you're holding hands..."
        "Good eyes, Chin..." Kevin joked as the new couple joined their friends.
        "Hey!" she pouted and curled into AJ, whimpering. Sarah smacked Kevin.
        "It's okay, Chin. I got him for you..." Sarah laughed as Kevin started whimpering.
       "Yeah, you did..." Jenny finally spoke up. "But it's more like got him for yoooooooooouuuuu..." she teased and jumped the two with a big hug. "Finally!"
        "Congratulations," Howie and Kevin shared a manly hug. The rest of the group joined in, oohhing and ahhing and celebrating and teasing the new couple on their newfound accepted love. Sarah didn't think her face could get any redder.
        "So..." Cathy wiggled her eyebrows.
        "Well?" AJ pressed, raising an eyebrow.
        "What happened?!" Everyone asked Sarah and Kevin. Both laughed and looked at each other. Sarah looked at the ground, still blushing, and mumbled something about telling everyone once they were home.
   
[almost midnight, back at the house]
        The girls and guys had informally split for Sarah and Kevin to tell stories in different rooms...
[with the girls]
        "Interest?" Chin pressed, trying to stifle her giggles.
        "What!" Sarah exclaimed, looking down, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.
        "'Interest on it'?" Hannah wrinkled her nose.
        "Interesting..." Jenny nodded, trying to be serious.
        "You guys!" Sarah sighed and flopped down on her bed.
        "Hey, come on guys... She got the message out somehow..."Julie patted Sarah's back.
        "Just teasin'," Cathy assured Sarah.
        "Ok, so maybe it was a little dorky, corny, whatever..." Sarah trailed off, trying to explain. The girls shut up and listened. "It's just, I don’t know. The money is what started all of this, remember?" Sarah pointed out, looking at Jenny.
        "I still never beat that video game," she giggled, but then turned serious. "Go on..."
        "Well, I don’t know what I was thinking...but I didn't want to be scared anymore...I wanted to finally take some freaking initiative instead of being the dumbass dear-in-headlights like always, you know? I dunno...the interest thing was the only thing that my brain could come up with..." she trailed off, still playing with the hem of her shirt.
        The girls looked at each other, then engulfed Sarah in a group hug.
        "It was perfect," they assured her.
 [with the guys]
        "So what'd you guys do since then?" Howie asked.
        "It took us like an hour to meet back up with you guys!" Nick said, biting into his slice of cheese pizza.
        "Just walked around together, looking for you guys..." Kevin smiled. He hadn't stopped smiling since he and Sarah had kissed.
        "We have cell phones..." Brian nudged his cousin. "You could have turned yours on."
        "You could've called us." AJ raised an eyebrow knowingly and reached for his drink.
        "What's the rush?" Kevin shrugged, grinning like an idiot.

[The final night of the reunion]
        The family room was emitting loud noises, considering it was well past midnight. Sarah had found her old game of Taboo and everyone was having a blast playing it, boys against girls, of course.
        "Brad Pitt!" Jenny screamed trying to give her teammates a clue about what word they had to guess.
        "HOT MEN!" Hannah dissolved into a fit of giggles. Lance rolled his eyes and caught her as she almost fell off the chair.
        "Umm, umm...Tom Cruise!" Jenny tried again.
        "Like she said, HOT MEN!" Chin giggled.
        "No, no! AHH Matt Damon??"
        "JENNY! This is not working!!" Julie laughed. Nick shook his head, smiling, keeping an eye on the hourglass, checking how much time Jenny had left.
        "No no no! Think! Who does stuff in MOVIES?!" Jenny screeched, pressed for time.
        BZZZZ
        Brian hit the buzzer, making Jenny jump. "Nuh-huh, missy. Can't say 'movie!'" he chucked, poking her.
        "Time's up, too. Nick, what's up with your time-keeping skills, man??" AJ reached over Chin to smack the blond boy over the head.
        "OWW!"
        "You GUYS! It was 'Actor.' Stupid taboo words." Jenny complained, passing the cards to Howie for his turn. Cathy grabbed the buzzer from Brian and Chin glued her eyes to the mini hourglass.
        "Well, you were the one naming fine-ass men!" Chin giggled, patting AJ when he pretended to pout.
        "Hold up, you guys...I need a break. How long have we been playing for? It started with me, so it's ok if we pause for a sec," Howie suggested. Stretching and yawning, everyone agreed, making their way to the kitchen.
        As they got up, Sarah grabbed Kevin's hand. True, they had held hands when leaving the arcade days ago, and had continued to do so at peppered times since, but it still took Kevin by surprise to have her do the action so easily. Caught off guard for a moment, he found himself being led in the opposite direction in which the group was headed. Sarah pulled Kevin inside the downstairs guestroom and closed the door behind them, looking outside just to check if anyone was in the vicinity; the others had just begun an icecube-cookies-and-chips fight in the kitchen. She smiled and turned, his hand still in hers, him raising an eyebrow at her. She smiled shyly and led him to the bed. He was silently beginning to panic. She noticed him tense and swatted him for what he was thinking. She sat cross-legged on the blanket and beckoned for him to sit facing her. He did so, this time all four hands being held together. His green eyes were questioning. She took a deep breath.
        "You once asked me in a dream why I kept running away from you," she began. His eyes widened in shock. Was it possible...? "Well, I thought I'd answer your inquiry. It felt weird just to say it all to you down there...I mean, it took a lot of thinking to find you an explanation you deserved, trying to give you something better than what I incoherently rambled about in the arcade... but I think I finally figured it out...and I just wanted to tell you..."
        "Sarah, you don't have to. It's ok. I understand you were just sca--"
        "Let me tell you...please." She cut him off. "As corny as it sounds, relationships have to include honesty. Maybe I'm just new to this, and maybe you don't care to know why because we seem to be past all the drama, but I want you to know...I don’t know why, but you should know. We should share things, right? Well, I know you were hurt when I used to run to Brian. I know you were frustrated that I never fully opened up with you...Well, here's a step. A big step. If you want my heart, Kevin, you need to take all of it; scarred or not. And that includes what I'm going to tell you..."
        "Ok," Kevin whispered, nodding.
        "When I was little, I never dwelt on my future. But then again, most children don't...I would play with the idea of fate and destiny, and liked believing in both for fun. I never worried about the little things like my career...or my future soul-mate, for that matter. 'Mr. Right' had no real meaning to me--I would just end up with someone; when I was small, I knew that...it was a given. There was someone out there for me and he would find me when the time came. Plain and simple...But as the years rolled by, Destiny seemed to overlook one increasingly important aspect in my life. My heart grew more and more lonely every day. Now older, I began to re-examine my childish thinking. Was "he" really out there? ...Did "he" even exist?...I wanted someone to love, someone who could love me back...to care for me like no one else ever had. I wanted that special connection with someone. That bond. Somebody to love me for me...someone to be more than just a friend....But that someone had never come into my life, and there was nothing I could see to do about it. Though I hated it, I had no control over the one thing that I wanted the most...something that everyone else had...something that Fate had seemed to have forgotten about...and all I could do was wait...alone. And that scared me...Over time, however, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't be loved. It wasn't possible. No one would ever be able to love me, no one could ever love me...and I just had to accept that..." she seemed to trail off. Kevin's thumbs slowly ran over her hands. He didn't know how to respond.
         "I was depressed, Kevin," she finally continued after some silence. "I was depressed even before the accident, but I pushed it away. I was unhappy, but tried to ignore it. That's what never let me let you in. I was too afraid you'd see that side of me and either get worried, or turn away. And then the accident happened...I got so confused. My depressed feelings resurfaced and I didn't know what to do. You all thought it was just me dealing with the amnesia and injuries. In a way, it was, I guess...and my feelings for you. When they came rushing back, I didn't know what to do. When you first told me you loved me, I couldn't stand it. I didn't want you to...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for all of it." She hugged him, ending her monologue. Kevin didn't speak, but now that it was all out in the open, he knew they could finally get past it.

-----
[Four months later: July 2005]

        It was hard to believe that it had been four years since Brian had proposed the idea of having reunions every four months. And the reunions were still going strong.
        On this particular night, everyone except Kevin and Sarah had left for a walk on the beach. Sarah had been taking a nap in the upstairs guestroom and no one wanted to wake her, so Kevin opted to stay with her. He said he had some business to take care of, anyway.
        It was getting late; everyone had been gone for about an hour and there hadn't been any discussion about dinner. Kevin saved his document on the computer and turned around in the swivel chair. Sarah was still fast asleep, a light smile on her lips. He watched her for a moment, wondering what she was dreaming about. He figured he'd take a break from typing and try to find something for them to eat in the kitchen. Even if the others did get something while they were out and ended up bringing food back for them, he didn't have a clue about what time that would be. He went downstairs, headed for the kitchen. He missed seeing Sarah open one eye to check if he was still in the room.

[on the walk]
        Nick was lying down peacefully in the sand. He had been freezing, until Julie had suggested that she bury his feet in the sand; it was summer, and the sand would be warm well after dark. So by now he was almost asleep, content with his warm feet. He faintly registered more sand being piled on him, but in his half-asleep state, he figured that it was just Julie making touch-ups to the present pile on his legs.
        "AHHH!! HELLLLLP USSS!!" Nick shot his eyes open and tried to get up, but couldn't. He turned his head to the side to see Howie and Cathy wriggling, laughing, and screaming; Howie had been holding Kezia's leash, Cathy had Darwin's, and both dogs had taken the liberty to tie the couple up, very tightly.
        Everyone else rushed over, either to laugh with the couple or to try to help unwind them. Roky, seeming to like the situation, skillfully added Brian and Jenny to the wound-up duo. Everyone was up trying to help...except Nick.
        While he had slept, the others had buried the rest of his body in the sand, even completing the mound with a sandcastle, whose grains of sand shimmered mockingly in the moonlight.
        "Guys? GUYS???"
       "Hold on, Nicky. The others need help," Julie innocently giggled, running towards the four people bound by the dog's leashes.

[back at the house]
        Kevin trudged up the stairs with the two bowls of Instant Noodles, headed for the guestroom. He found Sarah still asleep and left her bowl on the nightstand. "Sarah?" he shook her lightly, "I made some noodles for us..." he whispered in her ear. She stirred and he kissed her cheek.
        "Morning..." she giggled softly as she rubbed her eyes and stretched.
        "Evening, Sleeping Beauty." Kevin smiled and gestured to the bowl. "Eat up. I'm just going to finish up some work and I'll be free, okay?" Sarah nodded and reached for her bowl. Kevin turned to the desk and sat in front of the computer. He took a mouthful of food from the bowl and placed it next to the keyboard. He tapped the mouse to exit the sleep mode and found three large words across the screen in place of what he had been working on.
                           I love you.
        It took a second for Kevin to realize just what exactly he was looking at. He almost choked on his food. He swallowed and turned to look at Sarah, who was trying to hide a shy smile behind her noodles.
        "Y-you what?" Kevin stuttered. She had never said that to him before. Granted, she hadn't actually just verbally told him...he knew that she had never felt comfortable enough to do so, and rarely even said it to her parents...but this was such a big step; this simple gesture had left him in a state of shock.
        "Can't read, Mr.Richardson?" Sarah smiled shyly. She patted the spot next to her and sincerely, though at the same time, teasingly, mouthed 'I love you.' Kevin crawled up to her, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "What are you so happy about?" Sarah laughed. "I only mouthed 'Olive Juice'..." She smiled, shyly biting her lip.
        "Oh, hush..." Kevin placed Sarah's bowl back on the nightstand and enveloped her in his arms.
        "Kevin, I'm sorry it took so long for me to say it," Sarah sighed in his embrace, resting her head on his chest. "I love you...I love you, I love you, I love you," she whispered, lifting her head up to look into his eyes.
        "I love you, too..." he whispered and kissed her.


>>Epilogue