Five Years Later

    "My oh my, that ring is blinding."

Well, he isn't wrong, I thought to myself as I turned around to address whoever had been speaking. Having dated the brother of my brother's old college roommate for the past four years, it was a great change for me to actually be engaged to him.

I was currently standing in line at the grocery store, buying the weekly groceries for Lindsey and I. My wedding was scheduled for two weeks from now, and Lindsey was set to marry Jaime in a month. It was strange that my best friend and I would no longer be roommates, as we had been for the past year since graduating from the University of Maryland. Our two-bedroom apartment was pretty spacious for the two of us, and when Leslie had moved out two months ago after marrying someone she met at James Madison University, it seemed to grow even larger.

I turned to see who was standing in line behind me, and had to look up to see the person's face, as they were easily half a foot taller than me. I squinted for a second, knowing that the face was familiar, before my eyes widened and I clapped my hand over my mouth.

"Brenden?"

He looked so different. His hair was the same color, but the cut was vastly different; the last time I had seen him, he had a very 2010-Justin-Bieber-style 'do going, but he had cut that off now in favor of a shorter, Chandler-Bing-in-the-fourth-season-of-Friends style. He seemed to have grown even taller since the last time I saw him, and I realized that the past five years had treated him well. He was tan and fit, and there was nothing about him that would make the previous girlfriend in me think "Ha, I'm doing so much better."

Except for the lack of a ring on his left hand.

"Yeah, it's me." He grinned, motioning for me to move up as the line moved. "Fancy seeing you here."

"This is Virginia. You know, where I've lived for most of my life?" I replied, laughing. "What are you doing here? It's great to see you."

"You too." He nodded, "I'm here for a job interview. It's supposed to pay well and have great benefits. I need to stock up the hotel room though, so that would be why I'm here, at the supermarket."

I rolled my eyes.

"No one says supermarket anymore, and I think I remember telling you that five years ago."

Brenden laughed.

"I'm sure you did." He took my left hand to bring the ring up to his eye level. "So who's the millionaire?"

"His name is Jason Menck, and he is not a millionaire, he's just good at saving money for important things." I replied. "He's actually in law school right now, so we're also going to have to pay that off in the future."

"Menck..." Brenden rolled the name around, "As in, Connor's old college roommate?"

"No, that was Dan Menck. Jason happens to be his younger brother."

"Small world around here." Brenden nodded. "When's the big day?"

"Two weeks from tomorrow."
He nodded.

"That's great, Ar. I'm really happy for you."

"Thank you." I nodded. "I appreciate it."

We fell into an uncomfortable silence and I wished that Jason would hurry up; he was getting meat from the deli department for his own apartment, and had promised to meet me in line when he was done.

"So, any news in your love life?" I asked, figuring that it was the polite thing to do.

Brenden shook his head.

"Just got out of a three-year relationship. I screwed it up, per usual."

Once a cheater, always a cheater, a voice echoed in my head.

"I'm so sorry. That stinks."

Brenden shrugged.

"It is what it is. Hopefully something will happen for me soon. Including some better decisions on my part."

"Was it--"

"Emily?" Brenden replied, "Yes and no. She wasn't the girl in the relationship, but she was...the other woman."

I nodded, choosing to keep the fact that I thought he should get rid of Emily for good to myself.

"Hey baby!" I heard a voice calling out from behind me, and thanked my lucky stars that Jason was approaching. "I have the meat!"

"I would hope so." I winked, turning around as he came up behind me with his cart. "It took you forever."

"I know, there was a long line." He rolled his eyes, giving me a quick kiss. "Who would have thought that people would be trying to get sandwich meat the day before their 4th of July picnics?"

I laughed, forgetting for a moment that Brenden was still behind me. Jason was absolutely incredible; after he had spoken to me on the plane five years earlier, I had given him my number but ignored all calls as I grieved over my past relationship with Brenden. After four months of feeling guilty for ignoring him, I finally called him back and we set up a date. The rest was history.

"And who is this?" Jason asked, looking at Brenden. "I didn't mean to interrupt any conversation."

"Oh, right!" I nodded, "This is Brenden Sarth, we used to date in high school. We've just been catching up since I haven't seen him in, what...five years?"

"That's great! Nice to meet you Brenden, I'm Jason Menck." Jason reached out and shook Brenden's hand.

"You too." Brenden nodded politely, "Well, I'm going to get going. I have to get back to the hotel."

"You're not going to check out your groceries?" I asked.

Brenden shook his head, placing the can of Pringles and bag of jumbo marshmallows on the rack beside us. "I'll just get going."

"Alright." I shrugged, "See you around!"

Brenden nodded, walking off.

"That was the guy from California, right?" Jason asked after Brenden was out of sight, "The cheater?"

I nodded as Jason wrapped me in a hug from behind, rocking back and forth as we waited to check out our groceries.

"Well, he's clearly still hung up over you, and I can see why." Jason laughed, "I mean, look how absolutely beautiful you look today."

I rolled my eyes.

"Babe, I'm wearing sweatpants."

"And you're positively radiant." Jason replied. I could practically swoon; after almost five years of being together, he still complimented me as if he were seeing me for the first time.

"I love you so much." I whispered, turning to face him.

"And I love you so much more." He gave his signature response. "You're going to make the most beautiful, hard-working, and spectacular wife there ever was."

I could remember being annoyed beyond belief at the couples during high school and college who would kiss in public and make everyone else uncomfortable. I didn't understand why they had to profess their love right then, when they had a house they could go back to and do it there.

But when you're in love with the right person, it's always the right place. Jason leaned down and kissed me in the middle of the checkout line, surrounded by people and things dinging and making random sounds. And yet he kissed me, proud of me and of the fact that he had me.

We broke apart as the cashier called out, "Next!"

"You two are simply adorable." An elderly lady behind us said as we began to load our groceries onto the conveyor belt. "I wish that everyone could have a romance like that."

"Thank you." We both answered in unison, laughing afterwards at the exact same tone of our voices.

Everything happened for a reason. Sometimes you just have to go through the wrong relationship in order to realize how great you can truly have it. And, in the end, the universe will make things right. Good things come to those who earn them.

A/N: I'm at school so I don't have my fancy author's note and social media pictures, so whoops! But I wanted to get the update out! I hope that this satisfies you guys and that it's an ending you can enjoy. Sometimes in love stories, the main people don't end up together; and it goes to show that you shouldn't forgive everyone for everything. Sometimes something much better can be waiting for you, if you just wait for it.

I hope that you guys liked Love, Aria! Remember that TWIMC comes out on Monday, and please check it out! It's gonna be great and I can definitely promise that you won't be disappointed by the ending of that...I know that it's gonna be a rough ride but it's a great end.

So let me know your thoughts on the Epilogue, and I'll see you on another book on Monday!

-Katherine