Chapter 25

I zipped my last suitcase closed, and I swear, the sound of the metal locking together echoed through the bedroom. I was alone down here, finishing my packing and making sure that nothing was left behind. Cory was somewhere upstairs making sure all of the windows and doors were closed and locked. I could faintly hear his footsteps.

It was just about an hour after everyone else had left. I had cried for a while, admittedly, but getting myself busy by packing and getting everything ready to go had gotten my mind off of the sadness. It had now turned into a mission just to get home. I wasn't exactly sure what was waiting for me when I got there, and I'm not exactly sure how to feel about that. Things probably won't go back to normal; I expect changes, good ones too. Maybe Cory and I were going to have to make a game plan on the drive home. Lord only knows what else we'd have to talk about.

"How's everything going down here?" Cory called out to me as he clomped down the stairs.

"Okay," I replied loudly as I dragged my bag off the bed. It hit the floor with a loud thud.

Cory entered the room and we both took a pause to just breathe. As I looked into his eyes, I knew he was ready to go. After all, his bags… well, just his one bag… was already in the car. "You need help taking those out?" he asked, nodding his head towards my small mountain of suitcases.

I laughed softly. "I think so. I'll grab my handbag."

He rolled his eyes as he picked up two of my suitcases. "That thing might as well be a suitcase in itself," he commented as I tossed my unnecessarily large handbag over my shoulder. "You crazy bag lady."

"Hey!" I exclaimed before reaching out to strike him playfully on his arm. "You never know when you need a first aide kit, a book to read, a can of hairspray, or a granola bar."

"So, point proved," he smirked before walking out of the bedroom.

I could only groan and laugh as I followed him out. He carried my bags down the stairs with ease, and I followed after him closely. He tossed my bags into the trunk of his truck, and as I found a good space for my handbag in the front seat, he jogged up the stairs and made his way into the house to gather my remaining bags. By the time I shut the door and walked around the front of the car, he was making his way back out of the house and down the stairs with the rest of my things.

"The last time I carried luggage this heavy, I was going snowboarding for a week with different pairs of boots, boards, and helmets," he groaned as he carried the bags to the back of the truck, visibly slower this time, though.

I took a quick gasp and smiled. "So this means you'll carry my ski equipment when you taking me to your favorite mountain in Vancouver?" I teased.

"You're funny today," Cory smirked before groaning as he packed my bags in the trunk. "You're schlepping your own skis and boots, little lady."

"Will you pay for my lift ticket, then?" I asked as I walked towards him, flashing him some super-adorable puppy eyes.

"Only one way," he smirked.

I laughed before wrapping my arms around his waist. "You're the funny one today."

"Am I?" he asked as he leaned his head on top of my head. "And I didn't know you could ski."

"I didn't say I could do it well," I quickly replied. "But, I could hold my own on a green."

Cory let out a deep, loud laugh that seemingly shook my bones. I moved away from his body so I could look up at him with angry eyes. "What are you laughing at?" I asked him.

"You're adorable," he laughed. "Greens?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Oh, honey," he replied before kissing me on the forehead. If he wasn't making fun of my skiing abilities, I would have totally thought this was cute. "I'm a black diamond kind of snowboarder."

"Show-off," I chuckled before stepping away from him.

"Want to come back inside and make sure everything is finished with the house? I always need another set of eyes."

I nodded. "Sure," I replied. We walked up the steps to the house for the last time, both of us knowing that the next time we'd be outside, we'd be leaving.

As soon as we stepped into the house, I set up a mental check-list in my head, sort of like a to-do list before we locked the doors and left this place. Make sure all of the closets and space underneath the beds have been checked for any forgotten belongings, make sure all of the bathrooms are clear, and shut off any and all lights that were left on. While I was doing all of this, Cory went outside to check over the pool and deck area one last time. As I walked through the house, I couldn't help but just think of all of the amazing memories we've had, what stories these walls could have told. Like, for example, Heather and Naya taking a massive bubble bath together in the Jacuzzi-tub in the master suite bathroom. Or, that drunken night that Mark went streaking. Oh, can't forget about the third night when Kevin and Amber tried to light the fireplace and nearly set the living room on fire. Instead of being sad that this was all over, surprisingly, I was beginning to smile. Maybe next summer, we'd all have to come back here for another week of amazing memories.

I walked into the kitchen to shut off the recessed lighting, and just as I flipped the switch, Cory walked in. His hands were tucked deep into the pockets of his black basketball shorts. "What do you say, Sarfati? Ready to get on the road?"

I let out a soft laugh before walking over to him and burying my face into his grey t-shirt. In this quiet house, now was the best time to bring up the future. What he was thinking about for when we get home, or quite possibly, his lack of thought. It was completely possible that this was just a one-week trial thing and when we get home, everything just goes back to normal. I wouldn't know, though, unless I asked. I inhaled deeply and muttered the words every boyfriend hates to hear. "Babe, can I ask you a question?" I asked quietly.

I felt Cory's chest tense up. "Yeah," he replied a few moments later.

"What comes next? For us?"

"Well, what do you want?" he asked. Great, thanks for flipping this on me.

"I want to spend time with you."

"I can do that."

I smiled into his shirt, but quickly afterwards, I hoped I didn't smudge my lipstick on him. "I want to do date nights, even if it's the biggest pain in the ass in the world and they get destroyed by attention or paparazzi or whatever. I want to go to the movies, grab dinner, play mini-golf, or whatever comes up. I don't even care."

Cory leaned his cheek on the top of my head as he wrapped his arms around my petite waist. "I want to take you to hockey games and concerts."

"Fine by me."

"Me too. We'll take turns, you know? Dinner and a game, or a concert and a café run afterwards… whatever," he replied, being totally fair. I didn't even understand the concept of a boyfriend being so understanding and willing to compromise. I wasn't complaining whatsoever.

It's completely incredible what one week will do to you. Your life changes from second to second, and those changes are either the best things to ever happen to you to the most catastrophic things you could imagine to completely ordinary things that keep you going. And when you are able to spend so many seconds with someone that turn into minutes, hours, and days… well, you're changed forever. I'll always look back at this week as the week that changed my life. The week that made me take a step back and realize how lucky I am to have these amazing people in my life that I consider closer to me than family sometimes. In the end, I have one person to by my side to look up to and say "I love you" to one day, and not because it's in a script. It'll be because I mean it, and he'll say it back because he'll mean it too. And when life gets too crazy and we need a chance to step away from the madness, we'll always have our spot on the beach, under that random rock formation that we used for shelter in the rain. That somewhere only we know.

"We need to go," Cory whispered, breaking my inner monologue. "If we leave any later than this, we'll hit rush hour traffic."

"I don't want to," I whispered.

"Me either, honestly," he replied before picking his head up off of my head. "But, we can only start our new journey through this crazy new life of hours if we head home."

I smiled before standing on my tip-toes and placing a small kiss on his lips. "In that case, I can't wait."

A/N: Well, this is the end of Somewhere Only We Know! I am terribly sad to have ended this one, but as with everything, good things must come to an end.

I want to thank EVERYONE for their incredible amount of support, love, and friendship since beginning this story in June. The comments and reviews kept me going when I didn't have energy left – this one is for you!

Remember that the SEQUEL to SOWK will be titled I Can't Wait and it will be posted on February 1st! Follow me on Tumblr and Twitter (links in my profile), and add me to your Author Alert list for the first notification that it is posted! Also, you can follow me on Tumblr for the sneak peak of the story cover, which will be posted in a few days.

Again, thank you all for your love and support – you mean the world to me! Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting/favoriting/subscribing/alerting/READING!

With all my love, Therese

xoxo