Leah had her graduation speech, the speech had been pushed back, the incident was already talked about, the head had subsided, and Mindy had gone to receive treatment; while we are already on the subject, Leah was curious as to what Mindy had shown Ethan that day, she had seemed confident, confident to break them up, to blow their reconciliation, Ethan sighed and told her, "She showed me a picture of you, and Wess, you were hugging him from behind, in the facility that day." Leah just bowed her head in exasperation, Ethan immediately added, "We were both their for treatment, we listened to you talk and it was amazing, and I wanted to say that to you, but like an idiot, I didn't, I wish I would have. I regret it now. I fought with you baselessly, and I got what I deserved. I had learnt my lesson. I know Wess too. He calls me Bro all the time, he asked me, he wanted to know whom he could go to for advice, he felt suffocated too. You were kind of supporting us all, Leah, your book, I read it, whenever you ran, I ran after you, even at a distance, I missed you. Always."
Despite the fact that Ethan had hurt her, Leah found something quite interesting, we can forgive easily, forgiving is much easier than holding onto something, keeping a vendetta, and being hell bent on getting dragged into this vortex of worry, and honestly speaking, who doesn't make mistakes, right?
"I know I hurt you before E, I should have been more attentive and observant, more or less strict with how I behaved, I am so sorry, that whole time, I was just focused on me, and us breaking up gave me the time to build the relationship with myself that I always wanted to have, and I realised that I missed you, a lot, at moments even when I was happy and flourishing, I missed you, it was in the back of my head, that we never actually broke up, I ran away and so did you, but we never told each other whether we really wanted to break up or not, and so I stayed single, I didn't touch another guy, or date anyone, I just wanted to be with you, and so when I saw you at school, you were being so cold, I was afraid, really afraid of having lost you, and not even on good terms, at the very least, I felt like shit this whole time. That day, at the cliff, I accept what you said, E, you told me that you loved me here for the first time, and I think that it's fate that I am saying it to you again, right here, the place where we started again. I don't want anything else, I wanna be by your side, all the time, give you what I couldn't give you the first time around, be the girl you can love and be proud of, not someone who is weak, rather a girl who has substance, though I won the biggest battle of my life alone, you were still there in my heart, supporting me, your quirks brought delayed smiles in my hardest times, I want you to be by my side, so that we can fight future battles together. So that we can do what lovers do. I love you, my soul, my heart and mind are all yours." She finished, and kissed him again.
Though, by now, she'd kissed him multiple times, kissed him more than multiple times, this kiss was special, it was different, better than any kiss she'd ever had, this kiss was kind of like a seal, sealing their love, the sky was shining, it was the afternoon, a special time, as the sun shone from the west, the lovers were united and though there was no moon this time, the sun did just as well, it was not the occasion for a 'proposal', they had basically promised each other their lives, dressed in hospital gowns, one broken from head to toe, and both looking like they could use a shower, yet nothing in the moment mattered more than the eyes that were desperately lost in each other, doing what they should do-- seeking and finding confidence, clarity and calm in the other's. It was the perfect time, it is always the perfect time to tell someone you love them, you will know the moment you love them, and when you should say it as well. Our hearts were designed so that we know, therefore, you don't need to worry, you have yourself, and all the support of the universe, don't despair over loneliness, there is someone for everyone.
Leah had planned a beautiful way to ask Ethan out to the dance, she wouldn't be able to play the guitar now, with her broken self and all, she looked like a ragged doll, but she still wanted to go and attend the dance, it was the first dance they would do as a 'proper' couple, their graduation speech had been postponed long enough, along with the occasion itself. After talking to Ethan, she called the principal, Mr Wilson was in a huge pickle himself, in no position to answer phone calls, graduation was in two days for the kids, now he needed to find a speaker right before the actual ceremony, how would he face the expectant kids, as he was ready to paint his hair white, and his moustache black, he turned around to see that Leah was calling him, their conversation might have been the happiest of his life, "How are you now, dear?" Mr Wilson asked, genuinely concerned, he had lost his mind when the coach called him, Mr Wilson was Leah's dad's friend, if something had really happened to Leah, then not only would he not be able to face Mr Sanders, but he wouldn't be able to do anything for the kids, Linda, her friends, they had both almost lost all sanity, until the cops found Leah, entangled on a thick cover of trees, the trees had saved her, it was truly some miracle, they had saved her.
When she was falling, all she could think about was Ethan and what this would do to him, she had remembered the time when he first tackled her, to stop her, stop her from taking her own life, how he'd pleaded, and cried with her, and laughed too; how unknowingly, for a girl whose only friends were the stars and the moon, he had become the brightest star, all she could see was him, she had barely managed to say that she loved him, gravity pulled her by force, and she unwillingly submitted, but right when her eyes snapped closed, a canopy of trees caught her, she got stuck and broken, and scratched, but she was alive, and that was what mattered.
Right after her fall, and Ethan's collapsing, the doctors had said that he had experienced severe mental trauma, depending on the situation, back then they couldn't tell why he wasn't waking up, but that gnawed at her heart, she had not given E anything but pain until now, he had always been scared of losing her, now that she had experienced it too, she didn't want to ever again. And so what she did next, though very inexplicable to others, was meaningful, brimming with love, for Ethan.