Page 111 of Avenged

“Okay,” I said with confusion. It was a scratcher and had already been scratched off. It wasn’t a winner. My confusion deepened.

“I told you once that I always had something better to spend my money on.” She paused and took a deep breath. “But then I realized there was nothing in my life better than you.”

I lost the power of speech at those words. My heart tightened with emotion. I stared into her pale eyes that seemed to be glowing as the sun rose behind us, turning the sky from gray to all sorts of colors—like the morning we’d left the ER and she’d whispered a thank you for the beautiful day.

“I was hoping I’d have beginner’s luck so I could give you my lottery winnings as an apology, but it didn’t work out,” she said quietly.

“An apology for what?” I asked.

She bit her lip, and I found it very hard not to add my own teeth to hers. I found it hard not to put her beautiful lips back where they belonged, which was against mine.

“I hurt you,” she said. She had, but I also understood why she’d done it. It hadn’t been for revenge against my hurting her; it had been what she thought she had to do.

I nodded at her. “You did, but I hurt you first.”

She moved closer. So close that the skirt of her dress weaved its way between my legs. Close enough I could reach out and put both my hands on her waist. She didn’t object, and I pushed my luck by tugging her a tiny bit closer, until our bodies were aligned in the way I liked them most.

“I have one more thing to show you,” she said, but her eyes were on my lips.

“Maybe we should make up with a kiss first.”

She smiled at me. Her real smile. The one I kept in the deep recesses of my heart. But she didn’t kiss me. Instead, she pulled another piece of paper from her pocket.

She unfolded the paper and showed it to me. It was two people in purple and red superhero suits, but they were twined together by vines not unlike the ones she had creeping up in the backyard I’d just been watering. The flowers on the vine were hearts, and in each one was a word. Words I couldn’t read yet in the semi-darkness.

“It’s us,” she whispered. “It’s us fighting the world side by side.”

My damn eyes filled up, my words from Mandy and Leena’s slamming back into my chest. The words on the flowers slowly came into focus. They said, “Love is the only real superpower.”

I didn’t think; I just reacted. I pressed my lips onto hers, one hand going to her back, the other to her head, and forced our bodies as close as they could get in the backyard with layers of clothes between us. I kissed her and let the hurt and ache wash away, hoping it was washing away from both of us. Her hands moved to the back of my neck, her lips opening, her tongue finding its way into my mouth. Joining us. Holding us together.

While our lips were still entwined, I heard the back door open, and then Vi had her arms wrapped around both of us. I groaned as my lips slipped off of Jersey’s. Vi squealed out, “I’m so glad you’re going with Truck to San Francisco, because now we’ll only be miles away again.”

Jersey and I shared a confused look.

“I’m going to UC Berkeley!” Violet said, holding on to us and yet also wiggling around with pure joy, making our bodies rotate in a drunken circle.

“What?” I asked just as Jersey laughed, eyes filling with happiness.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” she asked Violet.

“Because I wanted you to know you were doing this for you. For Truck. For the two of you. I didn’t want me to be a part of the equation.”

My heart thumped. Jersey had made this decision for her. For us. Regardless of what was happening with Violet. If I’d had any doubt that the hurt inside me was gone, I had none now.

Dawson’s voice rang out from the door, “Vi, let the two lovebirds make up the proper way while we go get breakfast…maybe that should be breakfast and lunch.”

Violet let us go and skipped toward the porch. She yelled in at my brother, “I have to be at work at ten, anyway.”

She turned back as she opened the screen door. “Have fun, you two,” she said, and she winked a wink she’d picked up from Dawson. Behind her, barely visible, Dawson added his own words to hers.

“Yeah, have fun, but you better wish me luck!” Vi hit his arm, and he fake moaned.

My heart was so damn full.

While I’d never been this happy to hear my brother leave, I was worried about how Jersey would feel about him taking Vi with him. But when I looked down into her face, the only thing there was her real smile. She wasn’t looking at the door or our siblings. Instead, she was focused on me. I didn’t know if my poor human soul could handle much more happiness and joy.

“So, I take it that means Vi is okay with all of this?” I said quietly.

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