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“Zane’s kids, again long story, I stayed at his place, and he got me drunk or I got me drunk and his kids have loads of energy.”
“Gotcha.” I nod. “And did the drunkenness help?”
“Ask the toilet, I dropped all my secrets there.” He groaned and flipped onto his back, opened up one shot, downed it, stared up and the ceiling. “So?”
“When I found out what she did, which yes was that next morning, I was going to tell you. I was embarrassed, and I didn’t want to scare you away, and on top of that, after you left, she threatened to tell you about my illness if I told you it was her, not me. Ever since I was diagnosed, she’s been on this rampage, slowly getting more and more mean. She’s basically stolen all my friends, the only boyfriends I’ve had left when it was too “hard” to deal with my being sick all the time. The amount of times I was told to just get better is outrageous.”
Quinn snorts out a disgusted laugh. “Wow, just get better? Like it’s that easy? You aren’t Harry Potter, you can’t just magic spell yourself into health.”
He was always a good one. I was just too afraid to believe it. “I know that, and it helps that you do too.”
He turns on his side. “What do you take me for? Seriously. I’m not a monster, you heard what—“
“—What you said in the hospital was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard spoken out loud, the best sort of confession.”
Quinn’s blue eyes soften, his hair’s coming out of the bun he always has it in, his sharp jaw clenches. I want to kiss him so badly. I want him to hold me even more. “I meant every word.”
A tear slides down my cheek, he catches it with his finger and wraps his hand around my neck and pulls my mouth down to his. I don’t think I realize how much I need his touch until I’m finally in his arms, more tears stream down my face colliding with our fused mouths. He pulls me onto him, then tears his mouth away and holds me tight. I rest my head against his chest. “I know we have more to talk about, more to work through, thank you for telling me.”
I sniffle. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”
“I’m sorry I hurt you back.”
I sigh. “You should know what happened, also why were you so convinced it was me?”
“Zane sent me a picture of her wearing the bracelet I left.”
Understanding dawns. “Oh, well that makes sense, when I last saw her she grabbed your Amex, the note, and the bracelet, said she was doing me a favor.”
“Listen, nobody deserves to be in a coma, least of all family but, that’s a real bitch move, Chloe, you have to know that.”
“I do.” I hold back the tears. “She was gone for a few hours, I think the idea was a pool party, she’d been drinking and decided it would be a good idea to use the paddle board, she was showing off apparently, and fell at pretty much the perfect angle to hit her head, she was kind of out of it so decided to go home but everyone was still partying, so she decided to sober up then drive back. Her alcohol level wasn’t over when she drove, so that’s good, but the person who hit her car…” My voice shakes. “Was another guy at the party, he was drunk, tried to miss her, while she tried to miss him, he nicked the car just enough for her to go spinning into a brick wall. Thankfully, she wasn’t going very fast, and neither was he, but she’d already had internal bleeding the doctors think from the paddle board and she just happened to hit her head in the same spot, her brain was swelling rapidly and they needed to life flight her, she’s bruised up but really the only thing that is damaged other than a few cuts and bruises, is her brain.”
“Will she wake up?”
I shudder. “I don’t know. The doctors said to give it time, the trauma’s pretty big, but she’s young, right, so…” I swallow and look away. “I just… I don’t know anything anymore.”
He holds me tight. “What do you know right now?”
“What?”
“What do you know?”
“About Sophie?”
“About life? Because every day you learn something new, most days the future is daunting and we can go crazy thinking about the what ifs, so rather than feed into something you can’t control—which believe me, I struggle with this—why don’t you just change the narrative? Today, I know Sophie’s in the hospital. I know she’s strong. Today I know that I’m going to kiss Quinn and he’s going to hold me. I know that I’m strong. I know that I can only do so much. Those are the things I know. And tomorrow will bring worries of its own, but I’ll always know that I know I need to live today with my eyes wide open, accepting of the things existing around me, and using my energy to focus on those things, rather than using my energy to toss fear into the future.”
Hot tears stream down my face. “Pretty smart for a nineteen-year-old.”
“I’m an old soul, what can I say?”
He pulls me up into his arms. “Have you eaten?”
I shake my head.
“Have you showered?”
I laugh through my tears and shake my head again. “All right, first things first, let’s order some food, then we’ll get you in that shower.”
