Page 219 of While You Were Trending

Declan ignores her.

The rest of my family of friends ignores her too.

“What are you doing here?” I whisper into Declan’s neck.

“Fuck hockey. You’re number one.Mynumber one. Always.”

Seeing is suddenly impossible.

So is breathing.

Neither work when a flood of tears attacks me.

I’m his number one.

“Flow—closet—scared,” I sob.

He kisses my head and carries me upstairs to my room, grunting a little as we go.

Mynumber one.

My one and only.

“Didn’t—have to—come,” I sob.

“You’re number one,” he repeats softly.

He sets me gently on my bed, and I pull him down with me.

He’s here.

For me.

The missing piece of my heart.

Everything I never thought I could have.

More than I still think I deserve.

“I love you,” I say as he holds me to his chest, stroking my hair and pressing kisses to the top of my head, Flow jumping all around us until she settles on top of both of us too.

He hugs me tighter. “Love you forever and always.”

44

FORGIVENESS DAY

Declan

Nothing makesme smile more than Ginny giving me a piece of her mind.

“I love you, and I’m so mad at you right now,” she says as we lie in her bed with my dog on top of us.

She’s still sniffling even as she’s laying into me.

I wipe a tear off her cheek. “I love when you’re mad at me.”

“You can’t give up your dreams just because I might’ve had a bad day.”