Happy Endings

Happy Endings by jennycraig10
"It doesn't work that way. Sometimes you just don't get the happy ending," she said. He looked at her, then with a small smile, he said,"You always get the happy ending. It always comes eventually. You just have to have faith."
Banner Credit: Melissa

Annie Thinks: There's not all that much I can say about this one-shot. It's amazing, but it's very straightforward as well and sort of the same all the way through. That doesn't make it bad; it's almost refreshing in a world of one-shots that are quirky and crazy and very alive. It was nice to read a normal story with a quiet, slow romance.

It's about Paige and Wyatt. The pair can't be any more opposite: Paige is stoic and cautious while Wyatt is adventurous and unfailingly happy. Paige finds him one night inside a phone booth, and, after the phone is stolen from both of them, she offers to give him a ride to his girlfriend's apartment. When that takes a turn for the much worse, he (platonically) spends the night at Paige's place, which eventually leads to him unofficially moving in... for five years. How it plays out is sort of obvious.

Happy Endings is over 17,000 words yet never seemed to drag on. There is a lot more narration than dialogue, but it didn't get boring or hard to understand. It was really beautifully written; some lines were surprisingly insightful.

It was very easy to understand how both Paige and Wyatt felt, as well as the other characters who were simply observing their relationship. Despite the wonderful descriptions of and reasoning behind their emotions, I found myself wanting to slap Paige very much for hurting Wyatt, but I also wanted to slap Wyatt for not understanding Paige. It was easy to relate to both the characters, though: to Paige for being afraid of love and losing her independence, and to Wyatt for his constant optimism and general happy-go-lucky attitude.

The ending was a little hard for me to read, but that was probably just because of my strong dislike for drama. There were some grammar mistakes, but definitely not enough to distract from the story, especially considering the fact that it's 17,000 words long! It seemed like you never really got to know the characters, which sort of made it hard to care about them or their budding romance.

In spite of that, I 100% recommend Happy Endings. The timing is a thing of beauty; the characters, while not wholly realistic, were easy to understand; the plot is original and well-executed. If you find yourself bored at home with nothing to do, then read this one-shot. Just make sure you have a lot of time and a lot of pillows/punching bags!