Page 114 of Unfix Me

Willow snickered beside West. If I’d known there were two of them, I would’ve taken adequate time to prepare. Who was I kidding? There was no way to prepare for either of them. I felt like I needed a rundown of their entire backstory. From the little I’d heard, it was a bit of a rollercoaster.

When I finally broke through the packaging, my fingers ached. I balled up the paper and threw it at West’s head while he wasn’t looking. Before a war could start, I focused on the book in my hands. The cover was a deep shade of red- my favorite- and the lettering was black with gold trim.

Seneca Taylor for Dummies.

I was torn between laughing and melting into a puddle of goo on the floor.

“What is this?” I asked.

“That’s a mystery that can easily be solved by opening it.”

When I flipped it open, I saw a dedication page.

You once told me that you didn’t understand why I like you. That replayed in my mind every day and I thought about it when I went to sleep. Now that I’ve fallen in love with you, I can make sure you never have those doubts again.

I love you, Seneca Taylor. You’re not allowed to forget it.

Apparently, goo was the only option today. As I flipped through the pages, I saw the same words from Kai’s texts while I was at my parents. All of the reasons he loved me. And there were a hell of a lot of them.

Following those pages were ones identifying his favorite moments with me. He had freaking dates attached to them. There were pictures, some of which I didn’t even know he’d taken. One was of me sleeping. I shot him a glare and he just bit his lip, unable to hide his smile.

On the last page, instead of saying The End, it said, “And more, and more, and more.”

When he’d said that the first time, it pushed me a little closer to falling in love with him. Now those words meant everything to me.

“You’re incredible, Kai. You know that, right?”

He shrugged. “Oh, there’s a keychain.”

He shifted things around under the tree until he found a tiny wrapped object. Thankfully, this one wasn’t taped to withstand a nuclear explosion. The keychain was an exact replica of the book, just much smaller and it didn’t open.

“There’s a QR code on the back,” he explained, flipping it over. “And if you scan it with your phone, it pulls up the ebook.”

My eyes got cloudy as I stared at him. “Thank you.”

With a grin, he cupped my face and leaned in to kiss me. There was a flash that made us pull apart. He glared at his mom who made an ‘oops’ face.

“I need pictures of you two. Dad will love to look at them.”

“Fine,” Kai grumbled. “You get five pictures.”

“Twenty.”

He dropped his head dramatically into my lap. “This is purgatory. I knew it.”

*****

It was our last day in Maine and the air had felt heavy since we woke up. I felt sad about it too. It had only been two and a half weeks, but I’d come to love Savannah and Eli. When he had his good days, he was funny and full of the same liveliness I saw in Kai. They told me that I always had a place there and I knew that they meant it. For these brief weeks, it felt like I had a home again. A family.

The nurse said that Eli was doing well today, which could mean a lot of things. We’d be able to say goodbye, but it was unlikely he’d know why we were leaving or what exactly was going on.

It was as cold as the ninth circle of hell outside, but it was where Eli was sitting. He was on the outdoor couch with a blanket and he was wearing a beanie. When we got closer, I realized it was a Harmon University one with the number 43 on it, but it looked old.

“Got your lucky number on,” Kai noted, pulling a chair closer so that he could sit in front of his dad.

Eli focused on him and for a moment, his brow furrowed. He blinked a couple of times, then broke into a wide smile.

“It’s your lucky number now.” He lifted his hand to show Kai a printed picture of him on the field at the university.

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