Final Chapter: Moving Day

[Barry]

It was official. Well, as official as it would get, I suppose. Rick was out of my life for good. Even when he's released from jail, which I hope won't be a long time from now, he's not allowed anywhere near me. I made that absolutely clear and I have no intention of changing my mind about it anytime soon. With all that being said, I thought my panic attacks and weaknesses were behind me, yet here I am crying myself to the point of throwing up every night.

I put on a straight face and a strong demeanor for Lucas' sake. I don't want to make things more difficult than they already are. But when I'm alone, I allow my emotions to vent out. So much for thinking I was a stronger person now. I could hardly even look at Lucas these days. I wouldn't be surprised if he thought I hated him now or something. It's like a knife to the stomach. I don't want to think about Lucas knowing that I'll be leaving him tomorrow.

My parents were lucky to get me to so much as glance in their direction lately. I don't care about any of their bullshit lines on how one day I would thank them. Maybe one day when I'm not a seething furnace of rage towards them, I would understand why they thought it was a good idea to get me out of a town where we had all earned notoriety, but taking me away from Lucas will never ever be justified.

Lucas is the one I'm meant to be with. He saved my life more times than I can count, whether he knows it or not. My parents should be on their fucking knees and worshiping the very ground that Lucas walks on. If it weren't for him, I honestly would have killed myself. He protected me from my asshole of a brother and inspired me to be more independent. Now after all that, they want me to be without him. How fucked up are they? I don't want a new beginning without Lucas. The entire city could chase me with torches everyday for all I care. I'd rather deal with that with Lucas there than be safe in another town where I'm all alone.

The worst part about it was there was not a single fucking thing I could do about it. I'm still a minor.

Almost every day since my parents announced they were planning on ruining my life, I was pestering them to allow me to stay behind. Each attempt was more futile than the last, but I kept at it. If nothing else, maybe they'd let me stay if I annoyed them enough.

When I wasn't trying my best to sell the idea to them, I was with Lucas, as heartbreaking as it was for me to be anywhere near him. I felt like such a jerk; he was busting his ass to make me happy during our last days together, but I wasn't having much fun. I couldn't be happy knowing we're going to be separated and I didn't want to show him how upset I was, so I chose to feel nothing and pretend I was having a blast. I just hope that if my feigned happiness was obvious, that he doesn't think he's the reason why I'm sad.

They say time flies when you're having fun, so why did I all of a sudden find myself on the eve of moving day? I sure as hell wasn't having any fun lately. Maybe pretending I was having fun was good enough to make time hurry along.

Everything that had littered my room for so many years was now packed up in boxes all around. My walls were a bare pasty white, devoid of anything that used to hang there. I never thought I'd see my room like this.

A sudden knock at the door startled me out of my thoughts.

"Just a second!" I frantically wiped the tears from my eyes and tried to make myself presentable before opening the door.

"Sorry, I forgot my bag in your room!" Lucas smiled as he briskly walked in to retrieve his bag.

"No problem." I could kick myself for not making a better attempt at disguising my mood.

Lucas immediately picked up on it. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." There was no way that would convince him. It was virtually impossible to hide my misery at this point. The fact that I was doing my best to avoid looking at him probably didn't help the cause, either.

He frowned at me, "Come on. We both know I'm not going to buy that." Heh. He knows me too well.

"I know." I took in a deep breath and exhaled.

I felt his hands gently rub against my back. I tried so hard to be strong, but it all came crashing down in one instant. I immediately spun around and buried my face into his shoulder, sobbing unabashedly.

"I can't do this! I can't fucking do this!" I shouted in between muffled sobs.

"Everything's gonna be alright, Barry. Trust me." Lucas said, running his hands along my back and attempting to calm me down.

"How! How the hell is everything going to be alright? This is so unfair!"

"I know it is, but this is the way things have to be." He said in a calming voice. I simply stood there, locking him in my hold while tears streamed down my face.

"You're the strongest guy I ever met and I'm not just saying that because of the bear hug you're giving me right now!" He joked. Had the mood been a little lighter, I would've chuckled along with him, but I just couldn't.

"You stood up to your biggest enemy on more than one occasion this summer, something you never thought you'd be able to do. That's something a lot of people can't say they've done. If you can handle that, I know you're going to be fine when you're on your own. You don't need me there with you to be strong. You're already there."

What he said made me smile. "Nobody's ever going to replace you, you know." I admitted, "Not that anyone else would want to be with me anyway."

"You're insane. All the cute guys are gonna be after you and I'm gonna be jealous of every one of them."

"Well, even if that's the case, you're still the only guy I wanna be with." I pulled away from him and we sat on the edge of my mattress, Lucas sat next to me. A somewhat awkward silence followed for a few minutes. I could practically hear the both of us racing through our thoughts, trying to figure out what to say next.

"You know, I always wanted to be with you, but I was scared. I was afraid of so many things, mostly that admitting that I liked you would put you off or that if our relationship didn't work out, it would ruin our friendship and everything we already had." I admitted, staring down at my lap.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder, "Even if I wasn't interested in you like that, which I am, I wouldn't let something like you liking me as more than a friend ruin our friendship. And even if our relationship didn't work out, you'll always be my best friend. That's never going to change."

I fought back more tears, "Will you come visit me?"

He pulled me back against tightly him, "Every chance I get."

[Lucas]

I woke up without realizing I'd even fallen asleep to begin with. If the stacks of boxes around me wasn't enough evidence I was in Barry's room, the boy himself sleeping peacefully on top of me was.

I stared down at him and ran my fingers through his soft blond locks. Poor guy was trying his best to keep me in the dark about how badly he was suffering. He didn't know that I wasn't taking this so well myself. He wouldn't find out if I could help it, I needed to be strong and not make things worse for him. I just had to wait for him to leave today and I could be as miserable as I pleased.

He began to stir, "Good morning, Barry."

"Good morning, Lucas." He replied, voice thick with sleep. He pulled himself up and laid next to me.

"This is it." He stated morosely, arms folded on his stomach.

"You're going to be fine." I reassured him again, "I'm going to come visit you whenever I can. I promise."

"Yeah.." He sighed, staring down at his feet.

Barry's mom knocked on the door and entered the room, "Barry, we're leaving in.. Oh, sorry! I didn't know you were here, Lucas!" His mom smiled and blushed before finishing what she came to say, "We're leaving in an hour. The movers will be in here to load your things into the truck shortly."

Barry didn't bother to answer as she left.

"I'm sorry, Lucas."

I was a little confused, "For what?"

"For being such a downer lately. I'm not making these last few moments very enjoyable for everyone, including you."

"You can't help it. Nobody blames you, especially not me. I hate this shit just as much as you do." I grabbed his hand, "For the record, you're not making our last moments together any less enjoyable. I love being around you no matter what."

"You're the best." A wide grin spread across his face, probably the most genuine one he's had since he found out he was moving. It gave me a really nice feeling to see him smiling through all of this. "I'm not going to be bitter about it anymore. Everything that I.. we.. have been through with Rick has taught me to be thankful for the good things in life and it's made me into a stronger person. I'm not going to let those lessons go to waste."

"I'm so proud of you, Barry." I honestly couldn't be more proud of him. He's grown up so much. Whoever he ends up with will be the luckiest guy.

Our last intimate moments together ended abruptly when a couple guys suddenly walked in to move Barry's boxes into the truck. They shot us an awkward look when they saw us together on his bed. I didn't care. We're in love and about to be separated. Who cares what anyone else thinks?

As Barry's house became emptier, my stomach began to hurt and my heart pounded faster in my chest. Time was conspiring to separate us as fast as possible, it seems. We stood outside watching the movers load the last boxes into the back of the truck.

My parents and sister had since joined us at Barry's house to say goodbye to everyone. Barry and I stayed outside by ourselves most of the time, up until the dreaded moment when everyone else stepped outside, too. That could only mean that we'd ultimately have to face the reality of separation for real.

"Barry, it's time for us to go!" His mom chimed in. My heart dropped knowing this was it. I really didn't even know what I was going to say or if I could say it without bursting into tears.

"I'm going to miss you." He said, smiling and staring into my eyes. I nearly lost it, but I stayed strong.

"I'm going to miss you, too." I gave him a big, long hug before kissing him. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will! Don't worry about me!" He smiled, but I could tell he was trying his best to remain composed, too.

He gave my sister a hug, "I'll miss you too, Melissa!"

"Me too, Barry. And don't worry, I'll make sure Lucas stays out of trouble!"

He chuckled, "Thanks, I appreciate that!"

I stood back watching everyone else say their goodbyes and Barry's parents telling mine that I'm welcome to visit whenever I wanted.

They headed for the car. I could barely manage to lift a smile when Barry waved at me before climbing into the back seat and shutting the door. I bit my lip as they pulled out of the driveway. Barry turned back to watch me while they drove off down the road. I started waving as they left, then ran out into the road and continued to wave as the car drove further away. Barry's gaze never shifted as long as I could see him. I stood there until I couldn't see them anymore.

I felt a lump form in my throat and it became difficult to breathe. My eyes burned as tears threatened to spill down my cheeks.

"Goodbye, Barry."

I silently dragged myself back to my room, hoping no one would bother talking to me. I wasn't in any mood to talk to anyone right now. Who knows? Maybe I wouldn't want to talk to anyone ever again.

I passed out for a few hours after having a much needed sob session.

"Lucas? Lucas! Wake up already!" Melissa was frantically trying to shake me awake.

"What do you want? Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?" I groaned, tossing the blanket over my head.

"Mom wanted me to tell you dinner will be ready soon." She explained.

"I'm not hungry."

"Is this about Barry?"

I threw the blankets off myself, "How did you know?"

"I just know these things!" She said matter-of-factly.

I sat up on the bed, "I don't know what I'm going to do without him. He probably thinks I'm perfectly fine, but I might be hurting worse than he is."

"You'll see him again, won't you?"

"I don't know. If I do, it probably won't be the same. Won't be as often, either. He was the best thing to ever happen to me and now that we were finally making the most of it, he's gone." I cupped my face in my hands and ran them roughly through my hair.

"Don't say that! I'm sure things will be fine." She was trying her best to lighten my mood. It was sweet, but it wasn't doing much to help me.

"For our friendship, hopefully. But our relationship will probably never be the same."

"At least you'll still have your friendship, though. And maybe if you're lucky, there will be another cute guy moving in next door who'll need you to save him." She smiled at me.

I just laughed, "Maybe you're right." My expression soured after a second, though, "I'm really going to miss him. It's going to take me a long time to get past that."

"So will I. He was fun.. and cute, too! You have great taste!" She said cheerfully.

"Well I'm glad my taste gets your approval!" I chuckled, thankful I was in a little bit of a better mood now. "Thanks, Melissa."

"Don't mention it!" She gave me a hug before leaving the room. Maybe everything will be alright for all of us. I guess it was just going to take time.

I was on my way downstairs when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" I shouted.

I pulled the door open and nearly had the wind knocked out of me. For a second, I thought I was hallucinating, maybe even dreaming as I opened the door and saw who was waiting on the other side.

"Barry! What are you doing here?" I was full of shock and glee and I'm sure my face reflected that in the dorkiest way. "Did your parents' car break down or something?"

"Actually, I was wondering if your offer still stood. You know, about me living here?" He smiled brightly. "My parents changed their mind!"

"Yes, of course my offer still stands!" I nearly knocked him down as I ran out to hug him. "Tell me this is real!"

"This is definitely real. You're practically crushing my ribcage!" He laughed and groaned at the same time.

I set him down and called my parents to the door, "It's still okay for Barry to stay with us, right?"

"Of course it is! We have a room ready and everything! Your parents changed their mind?" My mom asked him.

"Yeah, they realized how much happier I would be here."

"Well, we're glad to have you here, Barry. Make yourself at home!" My mom welcomed him warmly before she and my dad retreated back into the house to give us some alone time.

"I only have a few things with me right now. My parents will be sending the rest to me later." Barry explained.

"Well, let me help you with your stuff. I'll show you to your room!" I can't tell you how good it felt to be able to say that.

For the first time in my life, I could say with confidence that everything was perfect. I was the luckiest guy in the world. It didn't matter that school was starting soon. Everything was going too well to let something irrelevant like that ruin it. Nothing was going to tear us apart ever again.

"We can share my bed until you get yours back." I told him, a sly grin on my face.

"I don't think that'll be a problem!" He said before giving me a kiss.

Author's Note: Well, that's it! I really hope you guys enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is quite a feat for me as this is the first full-length story that I've actually completed. That, and I've never written a story this long before. I want to say a big THANK YOU to those of you that took the time to review, especially my very good friend, the upward glance! I'll be writing her more often. My next story will probably not be about Lucas and Barry, but you can probably count on seeing a sequel to this story! Thanks again!