A/N: and here it is. The last chapter featuring Damon and Paulina and everyone in between.
I have a few other announcements so I'll post my last ever author's note later ♥
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———

A YEAR LATER

(But to be honest, it's just been roughly ten months. I mean, it is the day before Ramadan again. Plus, unfortunately, it isn't summer this time)

"I still can't believe you're a published author," Kenneth whispers as he looks at his copy of my novel with wide eyes, "I can't believe you published our love story."

Vanessa snorts as she eats her slice of pizza. She pushes her head off Gatsby's thighs to send Kenneth a dry look. "She basically made you the second antagonist in her story. And she only mentioned bits and pieces of your time together so yeah, your love story is irrelevant."

Gatsby nods and pushes Vanessa back to her original position; his toned but skinny looking thighs. "She basically made me look like some desperate nerd that has the hots for you, though."

"But babe, you are a desperate nerd. And you do have the hots for me."

"Shut up," Gatsby grumbles and kicks his legs up. Vanessa laughs as her head bounces because of the impact. Safe to say that my ship has successfully sailed.

Venus looks up from her copy with a roll of her eyes. "I still think she made the names whack. I mean, I'm meant to be Aphrodite? Who the fuck names their kid Aphrodite?"

Ophelia chuckles as she flips her page. "Venus is the Roman form of Aphrodite, for your information."

"You shouldn't even be trying to defend her; your name is Olivia here. Where the hell is the link?" Venus huffs and Ophelia pauses her reading to nod slowly in contemplation.

Calypso chuckles from her space between Venus and Ophelia. "I like mine. Carly! And Gatsby is Gabriel. And I like Vanessa's name too! Valerie!"

"...And I'm just Ken?" Kenneth sends me a glare. "Wow. I feel so special."

Gatsby snorts. "Sorry dude."

My head moves because my pillow is suddenly active. I look up at his tan chin with a secret smile.

"At least she didn't name any of you guys after any Harry Potter character," Damon, my healthy, cancer-free boyfriend of six months raises his copy of my novel with raised eyebrows.

"Draco is cool," Vanessa points out. "She almost named you Dylan. After Dylan O'Brien."

Damon looks down at me with slight amusement. "You really love D's, don't you?"

I turn my face in order to bury my nose into his shirt. I lightly inhale his scent and grin. "That sounds so wrong."

"Thinking about it, it's almost a fanfic sort of thing," Calypso traces the title of the book; Hijabs, Hotties, and Halal. "You must have been on your Harry Potter high."

"I approve!" Ophelia chuckles as I turn around to face my group of friends. Charlie walks in with a tray of muffins and a bucket full of soft drinks and sends me a small smile.

Yeah, he was included in the book too. I sense gift baskets in the nearest future.

I sit up and I'm aware of the way Vanessa does the same. Venus passes around the tray of muffins for everyone to pick one while Kenneth does the same for the drinks.

He gives me a can of Fanta. I frown and he gives me a cheeky look. Obviously, he's still not happy about the fact that his name is Ken in the book.

Damon laughs and exchanges his Dr. Pepper with my Fanta. I murmur a quick thanks and turn away before I can let my urges take over.

I notice his frown from my peripheral vision but he doesn't say anything. I breathe a sigh of relief.

Vanessa clears her throat. "We are all gathered today, this beautiful fine Saturday, at the Valentine castle—"

"You're so fucking dramatic," Venus rolls her eyes with a fond smile. Vanessa ignores her.

"To celebrate Paulina Suarez's cheesy novel that really needs a better title," I glare at her. She ignores it. "I wish her many more years of writing sappy love stories!"

"And the creativity to give better names to her fictional characters," Kenneth adds because he thinks being sassy suits him.

"Oh, someone is sounding like an Erudite," Gatsby teases with a mocking smile on his face.

"A child of Athena," Ophelia adds with a fond giggle.

"I believe the right term you're looking for is Ravenclaw?" Damon laughs loudly and knocks his can of Fanta against my can of Dr. Pepper.

I laugh and clink cans with everyone else and I can't help but have a backward case of Deja Vu.

About three years ago; sitting in a mansion, eating sugar-free peanut butter cookies, and sipping lemonade. Wearing pink lace dresses and having artificial, blonde hair. Laughing about the mistakes of others and feeling toxic with each passing moment.

I look around my group of friends- Kenneth sulking while Calypso tries to make him feel better. Vanessa trying to convince Venus that her muffin contains a gazillion calories, hence she should pass it on to her because why not? Gatsby and Ophelia laughing along and trying to see if Venus will crack. Damon looking down at me with adoration in his eyes.

I grin and put my head against his shoulder with a soft smile.

I wouldn't trade this moment for anything.

———

"Okay, go and hug your boyfriend goodnight. I have to get home. I still have a project to do," Vanessa hollers up at me as I run up the stairs.

"Hug? Isn't it normally kiss your boyfriend or something?" Calypso's voice drifts up the stairs.

"Not in Dalina's case," Vanessa snorts and I internally stick my middle finger up to her general direction.

Ophelia is currently taking a stroll with Venus to her own home. Calypso, Gatsby, Kenneth, and Vanessa are waiting for me so that we can all drive home.

I need to talk to my boyfriend first. Considering tomorrow is his first day of Ramadan as an official Muslim, I have to see him for simply the sake of seeing him.

I'm not as whipped as before, I swear.

I knock before walking into his room. "Okay, so I'm going home—"

The sight of a well-developed stomach greets me. I blink.

Damon blinks right back at me. "...Oh, um, okay..."

I've always known Damon is endowed with a toned body but is it really legal to have a stomach that flexes with every breath?

"Y-you need a shirt," I gulp and internally curse my slight stutter.

I avert my gaze as Damon quickly snaps to action, throwing on a random shirt which was lying down on his bed.

"Sorry about that," he offers me a sheepish smile, "I thought we already said our goodbyes downstairs."

I nod and shut the door behind me slowly. "Yeah, but I just wanted to remind you of what tomorrow is."

"You could have texted me," he points out the obvious with a slight smirk. "Admit it. You were already missing me."

I ignore the blush on my cheeks. "Shut up."

He cackles loudly. "Look; we've got it all planned. Charlie makes the Iftar during weekends and Fridays. We go out to eat on weekdays. No problem."

I sigh. "I know..."

There's a moment of silence as it finally clicks to Damon's mind. "I'm healthy, Paulina."

I wince because of his tone and the use of my full name. "I know that. I know. It's just that I'm scared because Ramadan is a very stressful activity and your hair is still growing-"

"Let's leave the hair out of this?" He laughs lowly while touching the hair that manages to brush his chin.

I smile because his smile is contagious. "Okay."

He sits down on his bed and motions for me to join him. I walk over to him and sit down next to him.

"I'm okay and I plan to stay this way, okay?" he holds my hand and lightly squeezes it. "I'm going to pray with you, fast with you, read the Quran with you and eat Iftar with you."

"...And stop drooling over your poster of Selena Gomez, of course." I add. He laughs but nods in agreement. I smile.

"No problem," he winks. "Besides, I've got a beautiful girlfriend I can drool over every day."

"Your flirting sucks," I lightly slap his thigh. Ignoring the butterflies in my stomach, of course.

He shrugs with a smile and we sit in silence for a moment. I know I should be getting down to my friends downstairs but I just want to salvage this moment with him before Ramadan begins.

Damon clears his throat. "You've watched The Fault In Our Stars, right?"

I raise an eyebrow at the question. It's almost rhetorical, to be quite honest. "Read, watched, cried, repeat. Come on Steroid Pillow, I think practically every teenage girl has watched it."

Damon nods like it's a valid point. Which it is, of course. "Right. So you know how the whole cancer thing gave him a chance to live out his biggest wish?"

I nod. I'm not sure how the whole cancer-wish thing works but I get a general idea. "Yeah. Why?"

"Hypothetically, if I still had cancer," Damon laughs when I give him a suspicious look. "What do you think my greatest wish would be?"

I give him a look only someone as sarcastic as Damon Salvatore can pull off. "Kiss Selena Gomez?"

He laughs. "Nope."

"Meet Selena Gomez?" I try again.

He gives me a dry look. "Really? C'mon, my fantasies don't revolve around Selena."

I quirk an eyebrow. "Uh-huh."

He rolls his eyes with a fond smile. "Let's say this little wish involves you."

I blink. "Take me to meet Dylan O'Brien? Tom Felton? Dylan O'Brien and Tom Felton?"

His look is drier than the Sahara desert. "And make myself single? Not a chance."

I sigh in slight disappointment and defeat. "It was worth a shot."

He laughs lightly at the look on my face. "My wish would be..."

"...Yes?"

"...To kiss you."

I blink. "What?"

He avoids looking at me. His gaze is trained on our intertwined fingers. "Don't sound so surprised," he chuckles lightly, the tone strained. "You're my girlfriend and I love you and I'd like to kiss you. Even if it's just once. Really. I'm sorry but I, unfortunately, have hormones and unfortunately, you're eye candy."

I stare at him for a moment. His face is paler than usual and his grip is tight around my fingers like he doesn't know what to expect.

I grin. He is too good to be true sometimes.

I let go of his hand and he starts. "Diadem—"

"So you wish it, so shall it be," I cut him off with a wink. His mouth drops open.

"You're gonna have to close your mouth, babe," I say and I'm tempted to think that his jaw is broken because he basically just blinks at me in reply.

I take matters into my own hands.

I lean in, bridging the gap between our lips slowly. His breath fans across my face and I can tell that there's still Fanta on his tongue.

He finally gulps, Adam's apple bobbing. "Don't do what you might regret Diadem. This is your first kiss."

I look into his eyes. His lips say one thing but his half-lidded eyes say something else. Something contradictory. "I'm not going to regret anything," I say and my voice comes out in a throaty whisper. "You can trust me on that."

There's silence for a moment as we stare at each other. My heart pounds loudly in my chest.

"...I always trust you," Damon says, breaking the silence. There's a smile on his lips and I really want to kiss the smile.

So I do it.

My lips press against his softly—hesitantly. This is my first kiss and I'm clueless on how it's meant to go. Most novels I read describe how kisses are meant to go; fireworks, passion, the world fading away...and I want to have that same experience. I want Damon to be the one.

Damon sighs and applies more pressure to the kiss. He lightly cups my cheek in his palm and his lips slowly start to move against mine. I follow his motion, letting my eyes flutter shut before pouring my hormones into the kiss.

Our tongues meet. I taste Fanta—no, I can taste him on my tongue. The world behind my eyelids feels surreal and I can't see fireworks, but rather, I can feel them; exploding in the air, crackling between us and even running in my veins.

Air suddenly becomes a necessity yet again and I drop my fingers away from his cheek before slowly leaning away. His teeth find my lower lip, tugging slightly before letting go.

My eyes flutter open. My heart is basically a drum. Damon's heavy gaze meets mine and we stare at each other for a while, breathing hard.

I start to smile as my breathing becomes regular. "Your wish has been granted."

Damon blinks, looking dazed and confused. I watch as realization literally sinks in and he smirks; an almost foreign look on his ever smiling face.

"Ah, but genie, I still have two more wishes," he wiggles his eyebrows.

I play along. "Oh? Then tell me, what these wishes of yours are."

"The second one is to kiss you again," he mutters without shame this time. His eyes practically sparkle. "The third is to do it over and over again."

My hormones ache at wish number three.

"Let's try for wish number two first," I realize that our idle hands from the last kiss are still connected. I gently apply pressure to his hold and he returns it.

This time, he leans in first. I close my eyes.

"You should probably change the name of your book, Paulina. Hijabs, Hotties, and Haram. Don't you think?"

My eyes snap open with immediate effect. Dread sinks into my heart as Damon facepalms with a slight cough.

"VANESSA!"

A/N: The End.

...Or is it?

(Thank you so much for reading this guys. Took a lot of courage to repost this & I'm glad that y'all don't hate it as much as I do. Love you so much)