“Destiny.”
“I’m serious.” I straightened. “I’m asking charge to keep me off his care team. Nate too if I can manage it, because Nate will say something and I don’t have the emotional bandwidth to survive him being charming while punctured.”
“That’s fair.”
“If Dylan crashes and they need hands, I’ll be there. I’m not cruel. I’m not careless. But I’m not going into that room because my heart wants one more look.”
Lily nodded slowly.
“Good,” she said.
I blinked.
“You’re agreeing?”
“I’m your best friend, not your chaos goblin.”
“Debatable.”
“I am sometimes your chaos goblin,” she amended. “But not tonight.”
I breathed out, and the breath broke at the end.
Lily stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me.
I stood stiff for half a second.
Then I folded.
Not dramatically.
Not sobbing into the ceiling.
Just folded into my best friend in a supply room full of saline, gauze, and the smell of antiseptic.
Lily held on tight.
“I hate this,” I whispered.
“I know.”
“I hate that I saved him and somehow lost him again.”
“I know.”
“I hate that she seems nice.”
“That is deeply inconvenient.”
A wet laugh escaped me.
Lily’s hand moved up and down my back.
“I hate that I still want him to choose me,” I said, quieter.
There it was.
The ugly truth beneath all the noble speeches.
