A/N: The pictures by the side....the likeness for Aaron's character is uncanny o___o. Anyway, enjoy! x

*

Epilogue – “Blue.”

“Everyone is on YouTube; she has to see it no matter where she is,” Dalton was saying, his words coming out jumbled because he was eating from a big bag of chips.

“Yeah, that’s only if my video gets enough views to reach her – wherever she is.”

“You need to start acting more positive, Aaron. You’ve been talking about this girl for what, the past year? Hell it’s all I’ve heard come out of your lips since you moved in,” Howard added.

Aaron shifted uncomfortably on the couch, staring at his flatmates like they’d all simultaneously grown two heads. The four of them were in the sitting room of their flat, Dalton and Howard were on the bar stools and Aaron was on the couch while Jenny was sitting on the kitchen counter like the reckless girl that she was.

Aaron licked is lips, “do you really believe YouTube is going to work?”

“Okay, this is going to sound totally gay, but you write amazing songs,” Dalton said, emphasizing on the word ‘amazing’ by waving his hands in the air, “and you work hard, it’s your passion and I’m truly gobsmacked with how much dedication you give to your music.”

“GAY!” Jennifer or more popularly known as Jenny sang, cupping her hands over her mouth for emphasis.

Dalton rolled his eyes at her but ignored her, “and I bet with enough publicity, we can get this show on the road.”

What if…what if she doesn’t care anymore? Aaron wanted to say those words but he still had trouble expressing himself and besides, he didn’t want his flatmates to regret doing this with him.

A lot had happened during the past year – well, seven months and two weeks if he wanted to be exact; Aaron was now just finishing his second term in University and during the months, he’d sort of become good friends with his flatmates. He still found it hard to talk to people because they thought he was either boring or not interested just because he didn’t say much. But his flatmates were used to his not talking all the time and any time they invited him out, he tried to be outgoing and have fun as much as he could – that is until they told him to stop and just be himself.

And somehow, during the time period, he must have it let slip once or twice that he couldn’t stop thinking about this one girl. Well, maybe he’d let it slip more than once that he met the most amazing girl and had lost contact with her.

So maybe he kind of lied and told them he met Jamie at a carnival – which wasn’t totally a lie by the way – and they clicked and since then he’s been smitten. And just like that, his flatmates used every opportunity to bug him and ask him if he’s found her yet and because he wouldn’t stop whining about her and writing goddamn songs about her, they told him to do something about it.

He was uncomfortable about that. He knew he promised Jamie that he was going to find her, but it’s been a bloody year and he’s had no progress. He’d tried going online but, really, he should have known his efforts would be futile. All he knew was Jamie’s first name and description and even then, that wasn’t anything to go by.

She could be anywhere.

Aaron wanted to give up. Seven months was a very long time and it was sad to admit but Jamie was a very outgoing person, she had an amazing personality and she was beautiful – there was no guarantee that she hadn’t met someone new during the time apart, she probably had a boyfriend now.

The thought made Aaron’s throat fill with bile but he knew he had to be realistic now. He was no longer in his fantasy and he really couldn’t keep pining over someone who’s probably forgotten he existed. There were some times he didn’t believe she was even out there, some days he felt like everything that happened during those two weeks of his life was nothing but a silly dream, a boy hallucinating about life.

A hand landed on his thigh, bringing him out of his thoughts and his eyes met with the cool hazel of his flatmate Jenny, who was smiling brightly at him.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said, “and you said that you and this girl shared a connection. I reckon if you really did, then she would be waiting for you too. At least give this a shot. If it fails, we’ll come up with something new and we won’t stop trying until at least you get tired.”

“Why are you guys even helping me?” Aaron couldn’t help blurting, sure that his confusion was clear on his face.

“I think it’s romantic,” Jenny replied, “and if this works, imagine the stories you’ll tell your children!”

Despite himself, Aaron blushed a furious red.

“I’m doing this because I have nothing better to do during the break and the summer and hey, a music video that might go viral? Count me in!”

Dalton laughed at that and he shrugged, “my reason is almost the same as Howard’s, I think making the video is going to be fun.”

“Now first, I think before we release a music video, we need to start publicising Aaron – make lyric videos; album covers that sort of shit.”

Aaron stared at his flatmates and only friends as they seriously thought about this, discussing making him a website and a page on Facebook and twitter and he just felt so damn lucky he couldn’t believe it.

*

“How about this one?”

“Too flashy.”

“This one?”

“Too blue.”

“Oh my God, Aaron make up your mind.”

Aaron blushed just as Howard clicked for the next design of fliers, “wait!”

The flier was simple, not too flashy and was just the perfect shade of blue, “that one.”

“And we have our fliers!” Howard yelled and Aaron could vaguely hear Jenny and Dalton hooting and clapping from their rooms.

“I’ve raised enough money from working shifts at the stadium so that should cover the fliers,” Aaron was saying quietly and Howard nodded.

“I can chip in too, if you want. I mean, with the expenses.”

“Oh, well, that’s okay. I mean, if I’m short of funds, I’ll let you know.”

“Guys!”

Howard and Aaron turned towards the door of Howard’s room and Dalton and Jenny were just making their way inside the room, Dalton holding his laptop in his hands.

“Guess what?” he said excitedly.

“What?” Aaron asked a little anxiously.

“I’ve finished the lyric video!” he grinned, turning his laptop around, “I used your music sheets to get the lyrics right and I worked really hard on this okay so please love it.”

He pressed play and Aaron watched eyes wide with amazement at the lyric video. It had the perfect amount of flash and zest, it wasn’t too overbearing and at least he could read and kind of murmur along with the song almost perfectly. When it was over, his jaw was slightly hanging open.

“I…it’s…wow, Dalton.”

“Yes!” Dalton hissed but it kind of came out sounding like ‘yiss’ as he turned to give Jenny a high five.

“I’m so excited!” Jenny giggled as she brought out the clipboard she’d been using to keep tabs on their progress, “So, Facebook page?”

“Check.”

“Twitter page?”

“Check.”

“Running website with possible merchandise?”

“Oh yes, right, Aaron and I were thinking maybe a website is a bit too much for an artist just starting out?” Howard said as he adjusted his glasses on his nose, “He’s barely got the album out and we thought it was just a tad cocky for him to assume he was going to get a large fan base so soon, so we scratched the merchandise and website off the list. Until the video is out and we gather an audience at least.”

“Hm,” Jenny said with a shrug as she crossed that off the list with a neat line across, “okay, we’ll leave that out then. So, do we have all the songs ready for the album?”

“Yes,” Aaron said.

“Lyric video?”

“Check.”

“Fliers?”

“Check.”

“I think we’re about ready!” Jenny said excitedly, “so, all we need to do now is upload the video on YouTube and start building you a fan base. It’s going to be hard and we can’t assume it’s going to be positive, but good luck to us all.”

They all high-fived each other and left the room.

When Aaron got to his room, he called his mum.

“Hey you,” she answered cheerfully, “what’s going on?”

“I’m doing it mum.”

There was a brief silence and then his mother was saying, barely hiding her excitement, “really?”

“Yes,” he replied a tad shyly, shuffling his feet and resting against his room door, “my flatmates have been a big help of course. I’ll let you know when I put the video up.”

“And how are you going to handle the shipping of the CDs when it’s out? Oh, and you should definitely invite your flatmates for a barbeque when you come home this summer.”

Aaron managed a small laugh, “I’m sure they’d like that. Anyway, the song is just a teaser mum, I’m self-producing for now so the CDs are going to be print on demand. If I get enough attention, I might look for an agent.”

“Oh sweetie, I’m so proud of you.”

Aaron blushed, “thanks mum.”

“You know if you need anything, anything at all; extra funds, that sort of thing, you make sure you let either me or your father know, okay?”

“I will, thanks a lot mum.”

“Post up the link on Facebook when it’s up and I’ll try and publicise for you as well. I’m so excited for you.”

“I’m excited too. Tell Alex and Lizzy I say hi. I’ll call Katherine to let her know too. I’m gonna need as much of the publicising as I can get.”

“You do that. Have a nice night.”

“You too.”

He ended the call with a click, sinking against his door. That was another thing that had changed during the time he’d been away from home in Uni. The phrase ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ was definitely true because Aaron was now even closer to his family than he’d ever been before. He felt like they just needed space away from each other to breathe and just like that, things fell into place. His mother had stopped trying to be so overprotective all the time and was letting him make his own decisions and mistakes, hell, she wasn’t just letting him, she was encouraging him and she would never have any idea how much that boosted his confidence.

The past few weeks have been crazy as hell – with finals coming up and his working for his music video, there was no time to spare.

*

“Oh my God.”

The number of people that turned up to help him with the video was astonishing. Aaron felt not a lot of people might show up, after all he wasn’t exactly popular or well-liked in school but he was pleasantly surprised. He guessed that the fun of making a video was what brought them all here and thank God; it was still sunny and bright so they had it all good.

“Okay, listen up!” Dalton bellowed to the small crowd that had gathered outside his hall for the video.

They were dressed lightly in shorts and tank tops in neon colours, flashing pinks, lime greens and wearing sunshades.

“We’ve never done this before –”

“Obviously.”

That sent everyone cracking up and Dalton laughed before clapping his hands to again get their attention, “this video is probably going to be crappy as hell but we’re all excited yes?”

“Yes!”

“Whoop!”

“Let’s do this!”

Filming ended up taking the entire day. They stopped for lunch at a small restaurant opposite the university, ended probably giving the people there money they’d never dream of seeing in a month before they continued filming.

All in all, it was amazing. The rush, it was exhilarating and making a video was so much fun. There were times when the people didn’t take it serious and it got frustrating to put them back on track, but in a whole, it was one of the best days of Aaron’s life.

*

“What are you doing Joan, I need some help here,” Jamie groaned as she shuffled into the room, dropping the box she was carrying carelessly on the floor. It was marked ‘you can throw this around, it’s safe’ so she could handle it as carelessly as she wished. Joan was one of the best friends she’d made during the year and their parents had sponsored a trip for them to stay and have fun at a resort for the weekend for Joan’s birthday.

“Apparently, there’s this video going viral online,” Joan replied, sucking obscenely on her lollipop before turning to face Jamie. She was sprawled out on the bed, laptop in front of her and earphones plugged to her ears, “and the guy’s kinda cute too,” she winked.

“Ugh, I don’t have time for this,” Jamie groaned as she left the room, calling from outside, “Come and help me with this stuff! If you aren’t going to get your shit then you really should stop ordering stuff online.”

“Online shopping is the new thing, get with the times girl,” Joan rolled her eyes, “I’m going to leave this song on replay because it’s kind of catchy – in that weird pop song kind of way. And the lyrics are gender fluid so I can sing them to a future potential boyfriend.”

“They’ll dump you before you see the light of day.”

“Ever the enthusiast,” Joan joked, popping her lollipop in her mouth as she unplugged her headphones and restarted the song, turning up the volume to the loudest.

The sound of a piano playing filled the room and then a guitar and then drums and Jamie’s eyebrows rose at how the song went from soft and sweet to rocking in just a few seconds. Jamie was carrying the next box into the room but nearly dropped it when a familiar voice suddenly filled the room. She froze and quickly made her way to Joan’s laptop, staring with her mouth open at the video playing.

“Say it’s true,

There’s nothing like me and you,

I don’t wanna be alone,

Please tell me you feel it too.

It might sound wrong,

But ever since you my world was blue.”

There were lots of people dressed in jean shorts and colourful tank tops running around on busy streets and sidewalks, carrying fliers. Her hands gripped the box she was holding when the camera zoomed in on the flier – it was a picture of a blue girl with wild curls.

“Bluer than the sky,

Bluer than the seas,

Blue was your hair,

Curls ruffling beautifully in the breeze.”

The video was sort of a hot mess but it was so entertaining and it was obvious everyone in it was having mad fun. There were breaks with the people licking ice-cream and playing in the park before continuing out on sticking the fliers to poles, getting reprimanded by the police and all this while, Aaron’s voice was singing in her apartment. The name of the song was ‘Blue’ and the lyrics talked about how he lost something precious and needed help finding his precious gem.

It was kind of contradictory because when people say they felt blue, they normally meant they felt sad but Aaron managed to twist the phrase, making sounding blue sound like being the happiest person on the planet. Those lyrics made her heart race and cheeks hurt with how hard she was grinning because even though it was catchy, it was still as cheesy as hell.

And she knew the fliers were of her – blue, with the curls – her ghost form in Aethereus. God, she hadn’t even thought about that place in so long!

It wasn’t until the video was coming to an end that Aaron appeared, looking more handsome than she remembered, smiling softly into the camera. The sun was blaring on his face so he looked sort of angelic, a soft breeze ruffling his curls which were now much longer than she remembered.

“I promised I’ll find you because without you, my world is no longer blue.”

She laughed a little, the sound coming out like a sob, “Aaron that is so damn cheesy.”

“I know right!” Joan called from outside and Jamie felt panicked for a second, about to ask just how she knew Aaron but the video ended showing that his album and the single ‘Blue’ would be on sale very soon. It also advertised his websites – saying to follow him on twitter and Facebook.

God, she couldn’t believe it. Of course, she’d tried to look for him during the first few weeks when she returned back home but it was useless. All she had was his name and even though she could vaguely remember Aaron talking to Macy about where he lived when they were in Aethereus, she refused to believe it because that would mean that Aaron lived miles away from her across the ocean.

She’d wanted to give up. She thought of him constantly, pining uselessly and sometimes getting extremely depressed about it but forced herself to forget about him. She told herself that he probably met some girl just like her and had forgotten about her. She even managed to convince herself that Aethereus wasn’t real because despite how hard she’d tried, she couldn’t visit it anymore and as the days passed, it felt more and more like a dream.

It was all lies though, lies to help her sleep better at night as funny as that statement was, but it was true. And now, Aaron was actually trying to find her. It was obviously a long shot but her she was, watching the video.

I promise I’ll find you.

It was at that second that it truly hit Jamie what was happening and she dropped the box with a loud thud.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, hands cupping her mouth, “Oh my God.”

“No, it’s just Joan but I’ll accept the nickname,” Joan replied as she walked into the room, “sup?”

“It’s…I…” Jamie licked her lips and smacked her forehead, “I know him. Oh my God, I can’t believe it.”

She began to pace the room, looking mad, “do I add him on Facebook? Where is he exactly? How do I contact him? Oh my God, I thought I was never going to see him again.”

And then to her surprise and dismay, she started crying.

“Whoa, whoa, are you okay?” Joan asked walking up to her. Joan wasn’t really one to show or accept affection so she just kind of looked at Jamie awkwardly with her arms raised in the air, “uhm, you know him,” she stated blankly.

Jamie nodded, knowing that if she spoke, she was going to burst out sobbing.

“And you lost contact is what I’m guessing.”

Jamie nodded again.

“And you were kind of…in love maybe?”

Jamie burst out sobbing at that and Joan grimaced but moved up to her to pat her awkwardly on the back, “uhm, well, this is…okay, so he’s…uhm, this video is for you, I suppose?”

“In not so straight terms, yes,” she managed to reply, trying to stop the tears.

“Jamie, he lives across the ocean,” Joan stated matter of factly, “I kind of stalked his pages and he lives in England.”

“Wow, thanks Joan, that made me feel so much better.”

“Oh you know me, ever the realist,” Joan joked feebly and Jamie managed a small smile.

Jamie stalked over to the laptop and pulled it across her lap.

“Three hundred thousand views, oh my God,” she mumbled, “that’s a lot of views.”

“The song has been up for like a month or two now.”

“But still…that’s…he must be so proud,” she started to cry again but forced herself to stop, “God, I miss him.”

“So…are you going to contact him?”

Jamie tried to imagine it. Adding him on Facebook or messaging him on twitter but…it just…it didn’t feel right.

She looked up at Jamie, a secret smile on her face, “you know what, I’m going to do something even better.”

*

Four months.

Four months and nothing has happened. Aaron wanted to tell himself ‘I told you so’ but he wasn’t even that strong to do it. So yes, he’d sort of got a small reputation on campus and he’d actually had a few fan girls stop him on the street on occasion. He’d yet to be noticed by an agent though but Aaron was patient. So far, a few number of people had actually bought his CD so that was saying something and the video on YouTube had nearly a million views and it made Aaron feel so good inside, so happy and proud of what he’d accomplished. More than ninety per cent of the comments were positive, there were a few spouting hate but that was just normal. He still found it extremely weird when he was recognized on the street and people asked for a picture. He even had a fan page dedicated to him.

It was just…absolutely amazing. He still couldn’t believe it. Jenny told him that it was because he was cute and Aaron just grimaced at her. He could barely talk to girls in his Uni and there were girls out there that thought he was cute? It was baffling.

Dalton’s explanation sounded better though. He’d said combine a cute face and a talent like singing or playing an instrument and the girls will be all over you.

Aaron had laughed at that. It was all nice and dandy except that he didn’t want any of those girls.

The one girl he wanted hadn’t contacted him yet. She probably never even saw the video, despite it going viral on Tumblr for a few days.

If she didn’t see it, then how was he going to get to her?

Or was he being delusional? Did Jamie really exist? Was Aethereus all some horrible realistic dream to mess up with his mind for the rest of his life?

Aaron was having a cup of hot chocolate. It was the first day back at school after the summer, the first day of his second year at Uni and it was already horrible. It was cold and raining every five minutes outside – perfect British weather to welcome everyone back to school. He hated it.

All he could think about was spending another year without Jamie. Another year hopelessly pining and it made him feel so depressed he wanted to cry and wail like a dying banshee. The sound of soft giggles and whispers reached his ears and Aaron groaned, stiffening a little in his chair. His back was to the entrance of the school café so people wouldn’t recognize him but tough luck for that.

“Ugh not now,” he mumbled under his breath and then looked up at the sound of the voices.

“Hi, you’re Aaron, right?” one of the girls asked boldly and her friends continued to giggle behind her.

Aaron hated confrontations like these because you never knew if they were giggling because they secretly thought you looked stupid or giggling because they were nervous or just giggling for no obvious reason. It put him on edge.

He smiled despite his inner turmoil, “hi.”

One of the girls swooned and he actually had the grace to blush at that, shifting a bit on his seat.

“Do you mind if we take some pictures with you?”

“Of course not.”

The girls beamed and he spent five minutes taking pictures with them and talking. He kept his answers short, trying in no words to tell them that he really needed some time alone but they didn’t get the hint so he ended up spending one of his free periods during the day with them talking and laughing while he just smiled and nodded his head at them.

They reluctantly had to leave later because they had class but Aaron still had an extra period so he watched them go, finally heaving a sigh of relief. He got up to order another cup of chocolate, fumbling in his pockets for his wallet and not watching where he was going when he bumped into someone.

“Oh, my bad…I’m –” he froze as he looked up.

“What’s your problem man?” the person he’d bumped into asked in a rude tone before shoving out of the way but Aaron couldn’t hear him anymore.

His gaze was locked on the girl at the counter, staring at the pastries and looking for which one to order. She looked so familiar that it sent a punch to his gut.

Jamie.

But that couldn’t be true. She didn’t have the curls on her head like he so remembered, instead her dark brown hair was now flowing down over her shoulders in beautiful waves. Her beautiful ebony skin was as flawless as ever and Aaron couldn’t move – couldn’t find the strength in his legs.

It couldn’t be her. It was impossible. It was crazy. He was being delusional.

The girl finally made up her mind and said to the woman behind the counter, “I’ll just have the jam doughnut please.”

Aaron’s breath stopped. Even if you drowned him in cement and shoved sticks in his ears, he would recognize that voice anywhere.

She finally noticed that someone was staring at her and glanced at him. Aaron suddenly felt lightheaded and heaved in a quick breath. He could see her mouth open with shock as she stared at him.

Oh God. He wasn’t ready.

“I don’t know if you’re looking at me or right through me…eh, eh?”

And that was what broke the tension and they were instantly rushing into each other’s arms, hugging so tightly they couldn’t breathe. Aaron clenched his eyes shut tightly to prevent the tears of emotion from sliding free but it didn’t work and the hot tears slid down his cheeks.

He pulled back to stare at her, noticing that her eyelashes were wet with tears too.

“Your hair.”

“Not the first thing I thought you would say to me but yes, your hair too.”

Aaron laughed and sobbed at the same time, “I can’t…how are you here?”

“Uhm, excuse me?” the woman behind the counter called, “sorry about breaking it up but that’ll be three fifty please.”

*

It was weird and horribly awkward. They couldn’t even look at each other without Aaron blushing the shade of a ripe tomato and Jamie grinning so hard her cheeks hurt.

“So, how on earth…?” Aaron asked.

Jamie shrugged and licked her lips, stirring her hot chocolate, “I kind of…saw your video a few months ago.”

Aaron’s eyebrows shot up incredulously and he felt his heart sink. She saw his video and she didn’t contact him or anything?

“No, no, no,” she quickly amended, “I mean, I saw it and I wanted to talk to you – so many times, you have no idea. But I thought…I thought this might be better. I just didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

“I’m confused right now.”

She stared at her drink. “I know it’s crazy and I’m going to sound like a stalker but…after seeing the video and learning where you lived, I kind of…applied to go to do my GCSEs here so that I could be closer and we could…you know, hang out or something. It’s totally insane and I feel so damn stupid for doing that because that really is a big deal and I totally get if that freaks you out or something and –”

“It doesn’t,” he replied. No, in fact, it made him happy. Really and truly happy.

She giggled, finally looking up at him so that their eyes met, “I’ve…” I’ve missed you, was what she wanted to say but she cleared her throat, wondering if it was too early to say that and if it would make things even more awkward, “I haven’t thought about…us…this for a long time. It all feels so surreal doesn’t it?”

Aaron nodded.

“And you still don’t talk much, do you?”

“And do you ever stop talking?”

They both laughed and then stared at their drinks, the brief silence deafening.

“Well, this has been great,” Jamie said as she stood up. Her stomach was heavy with disappointment and she was trying so hard to keep from crying. She’d thought that after all this time, Aaron would swoop her into his arms and proclaim his long lost love but how stupid could she be? A lot of time has passed, he probably saw her as some sort of special friend or something. So they’d managed to catch up but once again, Jamie was reminded that reality was a lot different than fantasy.

“I still dream of it sometimes,” Aaron said randomly.

She looked at him questioningly and he shrugged, “Aethereus I mean. I wake up and it’s all hazy and in a few hours, I completely forget exactly what the dream was about but yeah…”

“Me too,” Jamie replied quietly, “I uhm…I have class now though. So I’ll…see you around?”

At least ask for my number, she begged in her mind but he just looked up at her, smiling and nodding and she took that as her cue to leave.

Aaron could feel his heart pounding in his chest as Jamie walked out of the shop and into the rain. He’d known of course that their reunion wasn’t going to be sunshine and roses but…

He shot out of his chair and ran out of the shop, finding her not so far away. He ran up to her and grabbed her arm, pulling her back so that she slammed against his chest.

She stared up at him, her eyes wide and it was the desperate hope in their dark depths that made him blurt out the next thing.

“I want to kiss you.”

He heard her breath hitch and she licked her lips slowly, whispering huskily, almost pleadingly, “kiss me.”

“Jamie,” he whispered brokenly, just like the first time as their lips met, soft at first and then hard and needy. And suddenly, the months spent apart seemed to fade like nothing, and it felt like only yesterday he was holding her hands and promising to find her. The kiss was wet because of the rain and salty from tears, his or hers, he wasn’t sure which.

He pulled away, resting his forehead against hers, his voice choked as he whispered, “I’ve missed you, so fucking much.”

She laughed and shivered on a shaky sob, “I’ve missed you too. Are you at least going to ask for my number now?”

Aaron chuckled and leaned down to kiss her again, moulding their lips together with soft desperation, his hands moving up to cup her face. Aaron was just a little bit scared that this was a dream and he was going to wake up. But the firm pressure of Jamie’s soft lips, the wetness of the rain and the pure love in the way she kissed him told him otherwise.

It still felt weird, seeing her here in the real world but at the same time it was absolutely perfect.

THE END.

A/N: OH MY GOD.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S FINALLY OVER.

I had so much fun writing this you have no idea and I'm so bloody proud of it. I mean, under one month I think I've accomplished something great T_T

To all of you who read, voted and commented along the ride, thank you so much for your support!

I'm still doing the QnA thing so if you have any questions, leave them in the comments below :D

I'm going to miss these characters dearly...Lord, help me to recover xD Thank you once again <3