Page 80 of Even If the Sky is Falling
“You can’t keep asking me that,” she said.
“Technically I haven’t asked. They’ve been more declarative statements.”
Her laugh was short but real and she took my hand again, placing our linked fingers back over my heart. “You made me better, too.” She took in a breath, releasing it on a slow exhalation.
I opened my mouth to speak but she pressed a finger to my lips.
“I couldn’t afford to go to school here. I didn’t go to a fancy private school—my parents didn’t have money. I felt the need to prove myself from day one. To be the best and prove to everyone that I deserved to be here.”
I nodded and squeezed her fingers.
“And I was going to be a doctor. It was my lifelong dream, prestigious for my family, and hopefully well paying. I was going to break the cycle of poverty in my family. I wanted my community to be proud of me. So, I made sure I was the best, but then I realized it might not be what I wanted to do after all.”
“And then you got your MCAT score?” I scooted closer so I could stroke my hand over her bare knee.
“And then I got my score.” She let go of my hand again and brushed her hair off her face. “And I knew I wasn’t going to be a doctor. I switched to education the next day. But what you saw wasn’t me feeling like I failed. It was me coming to terms with my plans changing.”
“Plans...change. I thought I’d stay with my wife forever and then we divorced after six years. Now I’m here with you. Sometimes changing plans is good. Sometimes the changes take you back to what and who you wanted in the first place.”
“It is and this change was good. I don’t worry about proving myself anymore and I realized that when you hugged me in that closet. So, you made me be better, too.”
“So, mar—”
“I swear to God if you say it one more time, Edison.”
I bit my tongue harder than I meant to. “I get that...but I don’t care if you got a low MCAT score or changed your career plans, Drake. I never cared.”
“I didn’t get a low score.” Her voice was low, almost inaudible. “I got a forty-one.”
My mouth fell open; it actually fell open on its own. “Drake, that’s in, like, the top one percent of test takers.”
“Top half a percent,” she corrected because of course she did. And she was right. “And even with that score, I still didn’t want to go to medical school, so I didn’t.”
“Shit,” I said, leaning back against the couch. “Youaresmarter than me. I’ll hand you that all day long.”
“I know. But it’s a standardized test and I’ve been in education long enough to know that’s not a perfect indicator.” Piper grinned and this time, she reached for my hand. “But I’m not the same person I was in college. I’m not worried about deserving to be anywhere anymore. I’m a grown-ass woman now who makes grown-ass woman decisions. So, you can’t propose based solely on one night of, admittedly, fantastic sex.” She kissed my fingertips. “Even at the end of the world.” She looked up, her dark eyes meeting mine. “Even if there’s no one else I would have rather spent my last hours with.”
“Okay,” I said, reluctantly, tucking her against my side. The silence of the room and the ambient sounds from outside surrounded us for a couple minutes. “Forty-one?”
“Are you intimidated now?” She was so soft against me. For having so many sharp, witty, motivated edges, Piper always felt soft against me.
“Completely.”
“Will that stop you from doing that thing we did at two this morning? Because I’d really like to try that again.”
“No,” I said. “I think being intimidated by your test score might help me do that again. That and stretching first.”
Piper rose to her feet and I dragged my palm down the side of her leg. “I’m sorry I won’t marry you, Edison. No hard feelings?” She slid her fingers through my hair.
“None. But if you change your mind...”
“You’ll be the first to know.” She nodded toward the hallway and I listened to the click of her heels on the tile as she walked to the bathroom at the end of the hall. Proposing was ridiculous and, on some level, I knew she’d say no, but something about asking her to be with me felt so right. I rose to my own feet, stretching after a night on the uncomfortable bed and full of aerobic and slightly acrobatic activity. I thought I heard the birds still chirp outside the covered window and I looked at my phone, knowing service was still out.
I flipped mindlessly through the apps and then I got an idea. I scribbled a note on a Post-it and stuck it on the door to the grad suite before I walked out.
9
Piper
