“Mind if I go up?”
“Sure thing, sweetie,” Corrine flashes a warm smile before refocusing on the tea she’s making.
I hurry up the steps and stop at the top of the stairwell, my ears homing in on the sound of music softly playing. Knocking on the door to her bedroom, I poke myhead in and there’s my girl, lying on her bed with a heating pad pressed to her stomach. She looks a little pale.
“Hey,” I say quietly. “What’s going on. You sick?”
“I have the worst period of my life. I’m dying.” She curls up and whimpers. “I feel it all the way down to my toes.”
Shit. That sounds awful. Sitting on the floor next to her, I try to be sympathetic, but I have no clue how the female body works. “What can I do to make it better?”
“Kill me. Put me out of my misery.”
“What else?”
“I don’t know.” She sighs and gives me the saddest smile. “I bled out in the middle of shopping and none of the stores had a bathroom I could use so I had to do a walk of shame, buy a pair of pants I didn’t even like, and switch clothes in a restaurant restroom. Worst birthday ever.”
“That sounds like a real pain in the ass.”
“I couldn’t wait to come home and take a shower. So gross.”
I like that she tells me this stuff. She’s comfortable enough to just be whatever she is in the moment—hurt, tired, happy, mad. I love it all. Too bad I can’t fix her period problems though.
“Do you still want to go out tonight?” I ask, worried that our plans are about to go down the drain. Taylor has no idea that we’ve planned a sweet sixteen surprise party for her. She thinks we’re all meeting at the movies.
“I’m seriously hurting too bad to move right now.” She looks like she feels guilty about it. “I’m so sorry. Is Dean waiting downstairs? Did you guys come together?”
“No, it’s just me.”
Pulling out my cell, I text the group chat letting them know what’s up. Hopefully if we can get some meds in her or something she’ll be able to join the living and celebrate her special day later. If not, we can have the party nextweekend instead.
Taylor looks so small and fragile curled up. “Wanna skip the movies and watch one on my laptop with me?”
“Sure.”
I set it all up, so she doesn’t have to move and then I kick off my boots and climb into bed with her. The door’s cracked open, so hopefully her parents won’t get mad about me being in here like this with her. Mr. Larson has a strict no boys in the bedroom policy.
I’m the only exception to that rule.
“What a crappy birthday,” she mumbles.
Not knowing what to say, I nervously pull her present out of my pocket. Shit, I didn’t even wrap it and now wish I had. I’m such an idiot. “Here.”
I hold my hand out, and she puts hers under it. The ring falls lightly into her palm. “It looked like something you’d like,” I say awkwardly.
My heart’s thumping in my throat and my palms are suddenly sweaty. Is she going to see that I love her with this ring? Can she tell I had to work extra to be able to buy it and still cover my portion of the bills at home? Am I being way too obvious with my heart?
“Wow, Conner. It’s beautiful.” She tries the ring on two different fingers to find the best fit. It glides over her index finger, and she leaves it there. “This is incredible of you.”
She hugs me quickly and then stares at her ring with a tired smile. “Did you know my favorite stone is amethyst?”
No. I just know her favorite color is purple. “What’s that gem supposed to do again?”
“It’s for grounding.” She settles against me and hits the play button on the screen, starting up a slasher movie. “I call it the everything stone because it should fix most problems.”
Does it fix a fucked-up heart?
I don’t know how to love someone right because I don’t think I’ve ever been shown how to. My parents just use me and the girls at school do too. Not that I care about that since none of them are Taylor. Why can’t I be better at expressing my feelings? I want to say so much but all my words jam in my throat until I swallow them back down.
