Page 97 of Love at First Sighting
No, it was more than that.
Please. Let me stay with him. Iamhis family.
She’s right. There are no parents to call, and my emergency contact is probably going to be sitting in the slammer for a while. However, thereisone girl who is so many different things and makes up for so many different people missing in my life, whether she knows it or not.
Right now, just having her feels like enough.
I can get to work on healing the rest of me later.
El shifts when I do and rubs her eyes, wincing as she bumps her bandaged-up hand. She shakes off sleep like she didn’t mean to doze off. When she realizes I’m awake, her eyes fill with tears and she smiles.
“Hi,” she says with a yawn.
I tighten my grip on her uninjured hand as much as I can. “Hi.”
“How do you feel?”
I shrug, but even that hurts. There’s a tight tug where bandages are wrapped around my torso, which is numb enough that I don’t suffer the full extent of the pain, but I feel like I’m weighed down by an anchor. My head is still throbbing and the bruising along the side of my face is going to be all kinds of scary colors. “This is not going to rank highly on my list of favorite days ever.”
She shakes her head. “Not mine, either.”
El’s thumb brushes along the back of my hand, minding the space where the IV is taped. I would like to take it out and go home, but I know that is definitely against the rules.
“How about you?” I ask. “Are you okay?”
“Nine stitches in my hand isn’t so much fun. It might not be great for the optics, you know. But I guess that’s what Photoshop’s for, right?” I can’t tell if there’s a genuine sadness in her voice or just exhaustion, but if it’s anything close to what I’m feeling, I understand.
Everything I’ve done for fifteen years was to get me to exactly where I am now, and all that time, I fantasized about it. I imagined maybe a cool victory in a court case, cracking open a beer and celebrating, visiting my parents’ graves to tell them I’d finally done it. I didn’t picture this many tubes or wires, or the empty feeling in my heart that’s only abated by the girl sitting next to me.
I definitely don’t have a job anymore.
And I’m going to have a lot of medical bills.
“It’s okay. We’ll kind of match now,” I say. She blushes and gives me a sleepy smile. I dream about going home, curling up in bed, and sleeping into another day with her at my side. Then, when I’m all healed, we’ll do what we planned to do all along: start over. I don’t know how, but maybe it’ll just come to us.
El eases herself out of her chair and takes a seat on the edge of my bed. She’s wearing the same yoga pants she was wearing last night, flecks of dried blood still staining the dark fabric. However, now she’s bundled in a gaudyILAhoodie from the hospital gift shop.
I swallow. “You know, I think it’s safe to say Marcus doesn’t like me that much.”
El’s eyes soften, like she knows she has to step in and make up for all I’ve lost. She nods. “Yeah, I think you might be right about that.”
“What happened with him?” I finally ask.
“Arrested. Not sure what they plan to charge him with. I recommended assault and attempted murder—”
“Oh, I heard.”
“—and conspiracy and treason, but I don’t know if they’re going to listen to me. But…I don’t think he’s going to be seeing much outside of a jail cell for a long time. I handed over your dad’s file. Officers said they’d go over the contents with us when you were discharged and they were getting ready for the trial. But…your dad made a great point. Always have a backup.”
El slips her phone out of her hoodie pouch and shows me the photos she took of the most important pages. Then she stops at one. It’s a Post-it note at the back of the manila folder with a note left behind in my dad’s handwriting.
Mission accomplished, little agent.
“Don’t worry,” El says. “We’ll make sure to get the actual note back.”
I nod slowly, swallowing the tears building in the back of my throat. I can’t help but feel proud of myself because I did all the things everyone tried to keep me from doing. Despite all the obstacles put in my way. But the wound feels particularly present right now. I think it’s a sign that now it can finally start healing. “Good.”
“And us…Well”—she raises her eyebrows—“we’re going to have to wait and see, but the cops didn’t seem too quick tothrow either of us in handcuffs. My lawyer’s handling it. He’s good. Trust me.”
