Page 141 of Learning Curve

At some point, someone is going to have to start facing the hard truth head on.

“Hey there,” Finn greets as he walks into my room. He’s carrying two bags of food and a drink carrier with four sodas. “You feel better after getting some rest?”

“A little.” I punctuate the lie with a shrug. “Where’s Wren?”

“She’s taking a phone call in the lobby. I think it was someone from her job.”

Another person who desperately needs to keep their job, but because they’re here in the hospital with me, they’re missing shifts.

“Ace texted me,” he states as he sets the bags and the drinks on top of the sofa that he, my father, and Wren have been relegated to for the past few days. “Both he and Julia are working on getting notes for any classes we’re missing. And I also called Ty when I was on my way to get food. He told me to tell you not to worry about anything. He’ll talk with your professors and the dean.”

I watch Finn as he grabs a soda, puts a straw in it, and brings it over to me. “Do the Dew?” he teases, and it takes me straight back to when he handed me a can of Mountain Dew at the Alpha Pi Halloween Party. The night we had sex for the first time.

It should be a happy memory. Finn and I got past all those demons and reached the other side despite the fact that I broke his trust and trapped him into taking my virginity.

Now, though, I’m in precarious danger of trapping him all over again. In a life with me holding him back.

“You should go back to New York,” I blurt out, and his head jerks in surprise.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you shouldn’t stay here. You need to get back on campus. You shouldn’t be missing classes to stay here in the hospital with me.”

“I disagree, Scottie,” he says and sits down on the edge of my bed. “I don’t think I should be anywhere but here. With you.”

“No, Finn,” I refute, and when he reaches out to grab my hand, I pull it away. “You need to go back to New York.”

He doesn’t understand it now, but eventually, he will. He’ll find a way to move on, and he’ll find a way to meet someone who can give him all the things I can’t anymore.

His brown eyes search mine. “I want to be here for you, Scottie. I don’t want or need to be anywhere else but here, okay?”

Finn has his entire life ahead of him. And prior to everything happening with his dad, his life enveloped him in hell and held him there. But now, he doesn’t have to worry about his mom or Reece or Jack or Travis or Willow. He’s even gained a whole new set of siblings who have shown him nothing but love and support and acceptance.

Unlike mine, his future is bright.

If he keeps doing this, sacrificing important things in his life because of his paralyzed girlfriend, one day he’s going to wake up and regret it.

One day, he’s going to realize that I was holding him back.

And I refuse to let it go that far.

I need to rip off the Band-Aid now and set him free.

Finn

“You need to go back to New York, Finn,” Scottie says for the fifth time, and I try to grab her hand, but she pulls it away again. “You should’ve never stayed back. You should’ve left with Ace and Julie and Blake on Saturday. You’re missing classes when you don’t need to.”

“I don’t give a shit about my classes,” I counter, standing over her and lifting her chin so she has to meet my gaze. Scottie is already petite, but right now, she looks so tiny lying here in this bed. She’s defeated, and because of that, she’s pushing me away. “I already told you, Ace and Julia are—”

“I know what you said, Finn, but I don’t agree with it,” she says, looking away so distinctly, it’s a dismissal. “I think you need to leave.”

“I can leave you alone for a bit. Go get some fresh air—”

“No, Finn. You need to go. I don’t want you here anymore, okay?” She shoves at me as hard as she can, getting angry when I don’t budge. “I said, leave! Go! Go back to New York and move on with your life!”

She’s made up her mind, but she’s made the wrong decision. I try to grab her arms to calm her down and Wren runs into the room in a panic, but Scottie’s too far gone to stop.

“I want him out of here! Right now! Get security if you have to,” she instructs Wren frantically.

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