I rose on shaky legs, syringe in hand, and strode towards Cora.
My heart nearly fell when I saw her on the ground, eyes sad and vacant. Scared more than anything.
I rushed to her side, crouching beside her, cradling her upright. I tugged the cap off with my teeth and steadied my hands.
“Squeeze my hand as hard as you need. This might hurt.”
Cora scrunched her face as the needle punctured her skin, the bones in my hand crunched under her grip, but I’d happily crush them myself if it meant she was okay. Once it was empty I tossed it away, keeping her upright, brushing hair from her face. Slowly, her eyes brightened, flecks of gold shining up at me.
Her head rested in the crook of my arm, eyes locked with mine with the last of her tears. “When’s it my turn to save you, huh?” She asked, voice still as broken as she looked. But for a moment, there was a hint of a smile.
Hello, Angel.
“You saved me the moment we met.” I pulled back slightly, noses brushing. “On the porch. I knew it right then.”
She chuckled, eyes glinting with something happier. “That I was nearly going to be the death of you?”
“That you were going to be my reason to really live.”
Until Cora, I’d been living for everyone but me. Carrying others’ weight, chasing their problems, letting their needs drown mine. She showed up, messy, stubborn, impossible to ignore, and without knowing it, taught me how to hold my scars without letting them hold me. She made me fight for something that was mine. For someone who saw me as worth saving.
Until her… I was the tide, pulled by forces I couldn’t control. She… she was the moon. She was the steady pull I couldn’t deny, the light that drew me in and taught me how to come home.
Without her, I was lost in the dark. With her, I finally understood what it meant to be whole.
Her face tugged with a smile, but it was laced with that charm that made me never want to leave her side. “I’ll have to remind you of that more often, then.”
I laughed, feeling the weight of everything melt just a little. “I’m counting on it. Keeps me on my toes.”
Her smile softened, and she tucked her hand into mine. “Good. Because you’re stuck with me now.”
“Stuck isn’t the worst fate,” I said, pulling her a little closer. “Especially when it’s you.”
Her smile softened further, and with a playful tilt of her head, she added breathlessly, “Hey… can we circle back to the whole ‘I love you’ thing?”
My chest tightened in that good way, a slow grin spreading across my face. “Yeah? What about it?”
She leaned in, eyes sparkling. “Just making sure you meant it. You know, adrenaline and all that.”
I laughed quietly, brushing her hair back from her face. “I meant every word. Because I love you.”
As if there’s a universe where I don’t.
We stayed like that for a moment, the world shrinking until it was just us. I pressed my forehead to hers, breathing her in like a vow, and whispered, “To the moon and back.”
epilogue
forever moonstruck
Was there such a thing as crying yourself to death?
I’d asked myself that a lot over the past year and a half, during which there’d been many times when I was sure I was close to finding out. But unlike those times, this one held no sadness.
“You’re lying!” I cried, literally, though my smile was the widest one in the history of smiles.
I heard Patrick laugh down the line. I don't think I'd ever actually heard him laugh before. But it was sweet, and kind, and full of joy.
I suppose that goes for most things in my life right now.
