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“I’m serious. How are you after everything?” I’m not going to let this one go. She might be pretty as heck, but it is obvious she’s been crying.
“I’m doing okay. Another week, and I’ll be out of your hair for good.”
“I don’t want that.” The words fly out, surprising both of us. I run my hand through my hair. The strands are catching a bit. “Don’t leave because of me.”
Sally’s eyes focus on my still-bruised knuckle from punching Dalton.
“How’s your hand?”
“Never been better.”
Her eyes trail from my fingers all the way up my arm. Instinctually, my bicep flexes and her breath hitches. At least I know she still finds me hot.
But there’s one question hanging in the air that needs to be laid out.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sally closes her eyes like that was the question she was dreading. “There are a lot of things I didn’t tell you.”
“That’s an understatement. I wish you had trusted me enough to tell me that douche was in the same town as us, and he was the one that attacked you.”
“I didn’t want you to try anything.”
My jaw clenches. The worst part is, I know she didn’t hide it for his sake, but mine. She knew if I found out, the piece of shit would be in the hospital for even looking in her direction.
“Why didn’t you tell me who you are?” There it is. The question that’s hung over me since finding out.
“Were.”
I shake my head. “Sally, you were everything. Do you realize how much I tortured myself after they took you? How much it hurt thinking you had moved on without me? Even if I wanted you to be happy, it still hurt. These past two months, I felt that void finally fill, and it felt like I was leaving my friend behind, my hero.”
Oh, fuck, I can’t cry right now.
But the tears start to well.
“You were right here the whole time. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I knew the minute it was out, everything would change. I would no longer be just Sally. I would remind you of someone I no longer am. You proved me right when you almost dead-named me!”
“Sally, I’m so sorry.” I step forward but stop when she holds her hand up.
“I knew. I fucking knew the minute you found out it wouldn’t matter how much time we had spent together. Our past would overwrite it. I’m sorry I lied to you, Oliver, but he’s dead. I killed him when I started this journey, and I don’t regret that one bit. I was saved the day CPS took me away. You saved me, Oliver, but we can’t go back to being the scared kids who were clinging to each other on the roof with a foolish dream of running away.”
“Don’t call our dream foolish, Sally.” My jaw hurts from how much my teeth are grinding together. “I don’t want this to be the end.”
“You don’t even know what you want.”
“That’s bullshit!”
Her jaw clenches and she grimaces like she hates the words that are about to leave her mouth. “You don’t even know if you want to stay here or leave.”
Her words feel like a slap to the face.
Sally brings her arms around herself, closing in and making her whole body smaller. She’s building her walls again, and I’m not sure breaking them down again will even help.
Finally, her hazel eyes find mine, and she gives me a soft but sad smile. A flicker of hope pulls at my heart.
“I’m leaving and never coming back. I think we should forget each other.”
