Page 108 of The Lucky One

I looked up to find Madison standing in front of me, her hand placed protectively over her stomach. Natalia shrugged from the cash register.

“Is your mom here?” I asked Madison. I wasn’t in the mood to get yelled at right now.

“No, she’s at a meeting with people from church,” she said meekly.

I nodded, and we walked to the back entrance of the building, where she thanked me countless times for saving me from her mother. She’d heard that I had slapped Jackson at school. “Seriously, I’m so sorry,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “You’re such a great friend. I should’ve been there for you when you needed me.”

I pulled her in and patted her back as she cried on my shoulder.

“Could you... could you help me tell my mom?” Madison sniffled into my neck.

That was going too far. I had enough to deal with myself. I didn’t need Mrs. Stone blaming me for her precious Madison being the pregnant one. I pushed her away and got some distance between us. “That’s something you should do on your own, don’t you think? Anyway, I’m too involved. Maybe a neutral person for support would be better.”

“I understand...” She seemed baffled, but I didn’t let her persuade me. We said our goodbyes. I figured this would probably be the last time we talked. It felt good to finally say no to someone.

“Maybe it’s in the very back?”

I got down on my belly and groped under the bed in a desperate attempt to find what I had lost. I stretched my arm as far as I could but my fingers encountered only dust and dirt.

“I think it’s time to give up,” said Danielle, lounging in my chair. “You probably forgot it on the bus or something.”

“No, I didn’t. I’ve written everything in it. He has to read it!” I got up and went over to my closet.

“Ugh, fine. But I still think he has a reason why he fell off the face of the earth, and that reason is—” She bit her lip. “He’s an addict, Emily.”

“He didn’t relapse!”

I was calling him every night, sending him texts every other hour, waving at him at school before he turned to walk the other away. I knew I looked pathetic on the outside. But screw what everyone thought! I knew what the truth was: he loved me. This was just him thinking he was doing something right.

“Oh, Emily...” Danielle pinched her mouth, but then pulled me into a hug.

“I can’t give up on him, Danielle,” I mumbled into her chest.

“I know.” She patted my hair. “I’m sure your little black book will turn up again.”

I pulled out of her embrace and took a steadying breath. “I hope so.”

Sleepless

Jon

She smiles at me with a daisy behind her ear, and I give her a kiss on the forehead, inhaling her apple-scented shampoo. Wrapped around me, she says, In the after, we’re with whoever we want to be, forever.

Forever is a long time, I say.

Not when you found the one person who makes you the luckiest.

The room flooded with light. I winced into my pillow as the glare invaded my eyes.

“Time to wake up, Jon,” Dad announced.

Groaning, I rolled away, keeping my eyes tightly shut. “I literally just fell asleep.”

Dad chuckled. “It’s 1pm.”

“Yeah, and I just fell asleep, so would you let me be?”

He let out a deep exhale and took a seat beside me. His hand landed on my shoulder. “I still don’t know how to deal with it myself, but seeing you like this... Don’t you want to call her?”

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