epilogue.

                                    

                                          
(Bonus -Quinn's POV) 
"Quinn!" she answered the phone almost immediately after I hit call. It had only been a week since our last catch up and I still missed that voice. I think I'll always miss her voice when I can't hear it.
"Ivy!" I tried to meet her enthusiasm, "well, what's the weekly update?" 
"We seen koala bears!" She was in Australia now, and all of her texts had been about how excited she was to see the koala bears. "Wait, I'm sending you a photo!"
"Got it-" my voice faded as I stared at the photo. I never got tired of looking at her travel photos. Her smile almost took up her whole face in every single one. I never told her, but I changed my lock screen with almost every one she sent. I'd have printed them out and put them on my wall if I could get away with it.
"Quinn, are you still here?"
"Yeah, yeah, V. I'm still here," her voice brought me back to earth, "that's such a good photo, you look so happy."
"I am, it's been amazing, Quinn! You should've seen how scared mark was of the little Koala bears! It was hilarious," she laughed like normal, not knowing her laugh was my favourite noise. 
"I like hearing you laugh."
"My laugh is ugly," she laughed more.
"Laughs can't be ugly," I rolled my eyes, "How is Hannah doing? Ronan won't stop asking about her?"
"Oh my God, I am so glad he's still caught up on her too! She hasn't been interested in any boys this year and she won't admit it's because of him, but I catch her smiling at her texts all the time."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Have you been interested in any boys?"
"Only the one."
"Oh really?" I was sure she could feel my smile the whole way across the world, knowing she was still talking about me all this time.
"Yeah, it sucks though, because he lives so far away."
"I'm sure he really misses you." And fuck, I really did. Not one person here compared to how I felt about Ivy. Not even on a platonic level. Ronan was probably sick of me talking about her. He'd have probably told me to shut up by now if he hadn't been feeling the same way for Hannah.
"Yeah, I really miss him," her voice broke slightly, "Quinn?"
"Yeah, V?"
"Do you know how many countries I've been to in the past 10 months?' She'd been away for 304 days, and counting, there were only another 60 to go. I knew exactly where she'd been too, exactly how many countries she'd visited and exactly how long she'd stayed in each.
"I have a rough idea," I laughed to myself, knowing she'd have no idea otherwise, "how many, though?"
"Six," she said as if I really had no clue.
"Netherlands, France, Italy, Croatia, Austria and Australia." I recited to her, like her route was mapped out in front of me. 
"You remembered?"
"The weekly updates help."
She let out a light laugh on the other end of the phone, and I could hear Olivia shouting at her in the background to come and join her. Hearing her voice was always the highlight of my week, but it got hard to ignore the loneliness I felt when she hung up.
"Anyway," she let out a breath and continued, "my point is, I've been to eight countries in the past ten months. I've worked eight different jobs in eight different foreign countries, learning languages I had never spoke before, seeing things I never thought I would."
"I know, Ivy, it's been amazing hearing all about it." 
I truly had loved hearing all about it. Especially because she seemed the happiest she'd been for a long time. Sure, sometimes it was hard too. Really hard. Like when her mums first anniversary came around. Or when she found out Connor and Alex had broken up (only to get back together a month later). It was hard for her to not be with her family for all these things. But she had a family in her friends too.
"It's been amazing living in it, sometimes I take a step back and I truly cannot believe this is my life. We all feel like we're dreaming."
"Sometimes I wish we were," I find myself selfishly saying, "I'm glad you're experiencing all of these amazing things, but I miss you, Ivy."
"I miss you too, Quinn."
"Only 60 more days to go roughly," I try to make the conversation more optimistic, "are you going anywhere else before you come home?"
"No, I don't think so." 
"Just coming home then?"
"Yeah, home is next." Fuck, I've definitely upset her, she's gone so quiet. I should never have said I missed her. 
"Any idea when? Have you got the flight booked?" I couldn't stop myself thinking about how good it would feel to pick her up at the airport. 
"That's the thing, Quinn," she paused, and my heart started racing, worried about where the conversation was going next, did she not want to see me when she came home?
"I'm ready to come home now. Because I'm in love with you."