epilogue.

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July 15th, 2024

   Georgette Hayley Styles.

   That is my full name. Everyone calls me Hayley or Hails, my boys call me Georgia Rose, my sister calls me Bender – after our favourite '80s film; only my husband calls me Georgette.

   During the summer of 2010, I saw my best friend for the first time in two years. Liam Payne. He introduced me to four boys, but the one with emerald green eyes and a dimpled smirk tugged at my heart strings.

    I was sixteen when I found him, seventeen when I became infatuated, eighteen when I started falling, and nineteen when I fully fell. He cushioned the landing, claiming he fell first.

   The girl who thought love was a fairytale got proven wrong by the guy who believed all fairytales are meant to come true.

   Ten years ago, on this very day, Zayn, Louis, Liam, Niall, Harry, Emma, and myself buried a time capsule in the backyard of my Beachwood Canyon home. We were so young, our lives were so different... Although we've really had some shit to deal with since then, we made it through. All of us are here.

   It's always been us – the seven of us – I finally found my family.

   None of us know what anyone else put into this time capsule, but we get to find out today once we dig it up. Or rather, once Harry and Zayn dig it up.

   As it's just the seven of us, we've made an entire day of this. Everyone is in swimsuits – Louis and Niall are in the pool as we speak – and there's not a single cloud in the sky, meaning the boys are shirtless and shiny in all their glory.

"Can you calm down?" Emma proceeds to throw a cube of ice at my chest.

"Ow! What the fuck is your problem?" I throw it back at her and it hits the dead centre of her chest.

"I can practically smell how aroused you are right now by watching Harry."

"I think you've been reading too many fantasy books, Em." Liam speaks up. I swore he was sleeping with that towel over his face.

Emma looks down at her copy of A Court of Mist and Fury. If I had a dollar for every time I've seen her reread this book, I'd be richer than Rihanna. "I'm going to push you off this chair, Payne."

   Liam scoffs but he stays silent. His head is in Emma's lap and his feet are in mine as we all share the sectional. I don't really know why we chose to sit over here and not in the shade, but it's not for much longer as Harry and Zayn come over to us, covered in dirt, with the time capsule.

Emma shrieks as Harry wipes his dirty hands down her back. It's the catalyst to Liam falling to the floor, Louis and Niall laughing while Zayn and I try to muffle ours, and Harry having to run for his life. "You fucking cunt!"

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