Now she’s curled up on the tiny ER hospital bed, high as a kite and still cute as hell. Her hair’s a mess, her eyes are heavy lidded, but she’s smiling at me like none of this ever happened. Like we haven’t been strangers for nearly two months.
“You’re really nice,” she says, slurring slightly. “You’re always so nice to me. Even when I’m…you know. A blood fountain.”
My throattightens.
“You’ve always been a drama queen,” I say quietly, brushing a piece of hair away from her face.
“You love it.”
I love you.
She shifts a little, squinting at me like I’m hard to place. “You smell good. Like, unfairly good. What is that?”
“Uh…soap? I don’t know. You asked me that once in high school too.” I laugh. It’s forced and my chest aches, because even though she’s talking to me in the way Julia always used to talk to me, she’s high. She’s numbed. She’s not fully aware.
She giggles. “Did I?”
I nod. “Right before prom. You told me I smelled like confidence and bad decisions.”Simpler times. You know, when you were still my girl.
She lets out a sleepy laugh and reaches out like she’s going to grab my hand but ends up swiping at the air. “I like that. I like you. You’re warm. Stay here.”
Fuck. I wish I could. I wish I could stay here forever if it meant getting her back. The real her. The version that used to crawl into my bed when she had nightmares and fall asleep with her mouth open and her foot shoved under my thigh.
I sit beside the bed and take her hand carefully—her unstitched one—and she immediately curls her fingers around mine. Like muscle memory.
“I miss you,” I whisper.
She doesn’t answer. She’s staring at the ceiling, smiling lazily. “Can I have my phone?”
I hesitate for a second but pass it to her from where I set it down in the little bin by the bed. “I already texted your mom. She’s on her way.”
“Thanks,” she says, unlocking the screen and scrolling. I see her typing something but don’t think much of it. Probably her sister or something. Maybe she’s ordering pizza. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me.
She sets the phone down and leans her head toward me again. “Hey. Can you kiss my forehead? Just once?”
God.She’s going to ruin me.
But I can’t deny her request. I want to do it as much as she wants me to do it or more. I lean down and press my mouth to her skin, and I let my lips linger for no less than ten seconds.
She sighs like that’s all she needed in the world. “Perfect,” she says.
“Yeah,” I say hoarsely. “Perfect.”
The curtain rustles, and Julia’s mom bursts into the room. Georgia’s voice is half panicked and half relieved as she moves toward where Julia is lying in the bed. “Julia, oh my God. Are you okay?”
“I’m a hemorrhage,” Julia announces proudly. “But Ace fixed it.”
Georgia steps in, taking Julia’s face in her hands, checking her like a worried mom would. And then, my mom walks in right behind her, all energy and zero subtlety.
“What the hell happened?” my mom asks, already making a beeline for the bed. But once she gets an eye on Julia’s face and sees the dopey, adorable smile, she laughs. “Oh honey, they gave you the good shit, huh?”
“Yep.” Julia giggles. “The nurse got me high with drugs. I’m going to try to take some home. I feel goooooood.”
My mom snorts and runs her hand over the top of Julia’s hair. “Maybe the doctor will give us a twofer and I can take some home too.”
Georgia groans. “Seriously, Cass?’
“What?” my mom questions, but Georgia rolls her eyes.
