483It has been a very long time since I visited this story. I have had comments about the ending and I thought an Epilogue might just do the trick of tying everything together. Hope you guys like it!
Epilogue
I slowly awoke to the soft strumming of a guitar. I sleepily opened my eyes, not surprised to see Armando resting near my head, strumming his guitar as he stared intently at me. "Don't you ever sleep?" I grumbled, burrowing my head in the pillow.
"With you by my side," he replied, "Never."
He began playing the guitar once again and I stiffened. It was a new song of Serendipity. He probably thought I forgot that I heard the song before. He had written this when he had been dating Lena. The six months that we had been together flew from my mind as I immediately doubted his feelings for me. "Do you have to play this song?" I asked, getting out of bed.
Armando frowned, his strumming stopped. "You do hate this song. I knew it," he said dejectedly. "Blake told me I was imagining it, but you can't stand it."
I put my hands on my hips as I turned back around to face him. "Of course I can't stand it!" I replied furiously. "Why would I want to hear a song about your ex? Are you just sitting around moping over her? I saw she called you here the other day. Did you call her back? Should I start packing up my things?" I yelled.
Armando stared at me bewildered. "What the fuck are you screaming about? You'll wake your brother. Lena can call all she wants. I don't want her. Only you." He then smiled. "Wait, you're jealous. Of that song."
"What? Are you kidding me? I wouldn't want to have something so cliché as a song written about me. It would be a constant reminder of our relationship when we break up."
Armando put his guitar down angrily, getting out of bed as well. "I hate when you say that. Why do you always say that?"
"Because sooner or later we will. Alexis and Blake did. We're not any different. People always leave."
Armando crossed the room to me. He gripped my arms. "Not me. I tried to avoid you but now that I'm here, it's going to take a hell of a lot more than this to get rid of, Stella. You're my girl. You always have been."
I rolled my eyes, attempting to pull away from him. "Did you tell Lena that, right before you slept with me behind her back?"
Armando flinched but he didn't back down. "You can be so mean. You're going to regret this later and I'm going to love having you make it up to me. I've had some kinky sex plans I've wanted to try out with you. Plus, there is that sexy lingerie store I've wanted to go to."
"I don't think I'm going to regret anything." I was about to say another stinging comment, when I stopped myself. He was right. I was saying all of this because I was jealous. I didn't like to remember he had chosen her over me for a while. It made me feel he could change his mind and go back to her at any moment. "Okay, so I'm being a bitch. I still don't want a song written for me."
"You wrote me a song," Armando countered.
I blushed, biting my lip as he pulled me back towards his bed. "How long did it take for you to figure it out?"
"Halloween night. You couldn't take your eyes off me. I was looking pretty sexy though, so I understand how you would find me irresistible." He smirked and I pushed him. He fell back on the bed with a laugh. He reached up grabbing my hips and pulling me forward to straddle him. "That song isn't about Lena, you know."
"You don't have to lie," I said in exasperation. I leaned down, kissing him softly on the lips. "It's sweet of you, but you don't have. I get it. You were in love with her."
He rolled over, pinning me beneath him. "No, I thought I was but I was never in love with her." He's big brown eyes stared intensely at me. "You. I wrote it for you." He shook his head. "You about ripped my heart out with your dismissal of it when I first played it for you, you know."
I stared at him in shock. "Me? It is about me?"
Armando smiled, kissing me tenderly. "Of course it is your song. I wrote it before we got together actually. I started it that night you stayed over and slept in my bed."
"Thank God," I said, grabbing Armando and kissing him passionately. I wrapped my legs around his, pulling him closer to me. "I couldn't stand that that wonderful song was about that dumb bitch."
"You like it?" he asked shyly.
"Are you kidding me? It's beautiful." I ran a hand through his curly hair. "Wait, you wrote this before we even got together!"
Armando shrugged. "I've been in love with you for years, Stell," he replied, as if it was common knowledge.
I tried to sit up, though his body on top of mine prevented me from doing so. "What? You never told me that."
Armando attempted to kiss me again, but his lips hit my cheek as I turned my head away. "I thought we've been through this. I told you I loved you."
I squirmed out from beneath him so I could properly stare at him. "You said you loved me. You never said for how long. I assumed it just started."
Armando nervously grinned. "Well, I didn't want to freak you out by telling you I've been in love with you for years. It's kind of stalkerish."
"Years? How many years?"
He tried to sneak away but I grabbed his hands and pulled him back to the bed. "I don't want to freak you out. I know you think we're going to break up so if you do decide to break up with me, it would probably be better if we didn't have this conversation. We might not be able to go back to being friends."
"Armando," I said, caressing his cheek as I stared deep into his eyes. "Please?"
He sighed. "Since your father's funeral. I know, we were kids and what a day to realize you are in love, but what could I do? I just remember holding your hand that day and knowing I never wanted to hold anyone else's hand again. You were the one I wanted to protect and keep safe. You were the one I had to take care of. So I did that, though I guess I did a little too good of a job. You just saw me as your brother's best friend."
"My brother's very attractive, sexy, lady's man best friend," I interjected, kneeling on his bed as I wrapped my arms around his neck. My heart seemed to be bursting with love for him, despite my attempts at keeping him away from it.
"Well, you did break my heart dating that ass Adam. I wanted to kill him when I heard him talking about the two of you together." He sighed, shaking his head in disgust. "I still could kick his ass for the way he treated you. Why do you think I couldn't tell you about him? I wanted to, I really wanted to, but I felt too vulnerable. I was afraid if I did you would figure it out and laugh at me. I was your friend the reject back then."
"Hey," I said crossly. "I told you I don't want to hear you talk about yourself like that. You never have been a reject, then or now." I kissed him suddenly, my hands disappearing beneath his tee. "I would never have dated Adam if I knew you were the slightest bit interested in me. I thought he was the best I could get. Now I know I could have had better," I murmured, pulling away to pull his shirt over his head.
He smirked. "Much better."
"I adore you," I blurted out, pulling him back towards me. "Ever since I realized how I felt about you, you're all I ever think about."
"Good," Armando said huskily. He pushed me back against the bed, picking up his guitar. "Do you believe me about Lena yet?"
I leaned on my elbow, staring up at him. "I'm almost one hundred percent comfortable with the mention of her name. We're probably at ninety-five percent."
Armando grinned. "Well, it's better than last month's seventy." He started to strum the guitar, softly singing to me. "When the sun comes up, in the early day, I want to be there holding your hand. Talk to me in the moonlight, your beautiful voice wraps around me twice. Men have tried to claim you before, but baby drink one more glass and make this your last. I will be there when you fall. You will run like before. Just stay the night with me. Just stay here and you can rest your head on me."
I sat up, kneeling in between his legs and ignoring the guitar between us as I passionately kissed him. "Ninety-nine percent. I lied. It's not cliché and I love the song. You win."
Armando put his guitar to the side, a naughty gleam in his eyes. "I want to go lingerie shopping. Right now."
"I have something I'd rather do first," I said, my mouth moving to his as I caressed his smooth skin.
"We can do that. In the naughty lingerie shop."
"Armando!" I exclaimed.
"Fine," he said, pulling me onto his lap. "But afterwards, we're going to the lingerie shop and you're trying it all on for me."
I giggled. "You have a show tonight."
"I'll just have to be late."
He kissed me and I sighed happily. "One hundred percent," I murmured against his mouth. His arms tightened around me as my earlier worries disappeared. My heart was truly lost to him and I knew it would be okay. He would take care of it and me.