Page 57 of Fragile

“It’s on the pin board above your head.” I nod behind her.

I watch her reach up, exposing a sliver of perfectly freckled skin on her hip as she moves. I love her freckles; they’ve always been so perfectly her, but now I see them and all I want to do is memorize every one. She bites the inside of her lower lip as she scrolls and types on my laptop, her legs comfortably draped over one another. She’s too good to me, for me. And I definitely don’t deserve her help. But I’m too weak to push her away right now.

My phone plays the message tone I set for my dad last night, so I know to avoid it. Which is exactly what I do. I need less of Mark Cooper’s influence and more of Quinn Dawson.

“Okay,” she says, slapping her hands onto the desk. “I’ve got a plan.”

“I’m listening.”

The twinkle in her eye tells me that I’m about to get schooled Quinn style. This has always been her favorite thing to do, boss me and Seb around as kids. Hell, forget kids, she still does it now. I’m all too happy to oblige and indulge her, though, especially now.

“I have set up the shared calendar on your laptop, and you need to update your phone too. But effectively any downtime you have, I’ve taken away and given us joint study time, or if it coincides with something else when we’re apart, but there are reminders to check in.”

“I’ve signed my life over to you,” I say, more as a statement than a question.

Quinn looks up with a determined expression. “And there's one more thing we need to do.” She reaches for my phone, which is laying on the bed.

I frown, not understanding. “What are you doing?”

“I'm deleting Levi's number from your phone,” she says firmly. “What’s your code?”

I don’t even hesitate to give it to her. “0312.”

Her entire demeanor shifts from casual to frozen. It takes her a few minutes to look up at me, and when she does, the surprise in her eyes glistens. “March twelfth,” she repeats.

I nod, knowing exactly what that date is. “Your birthday.”

Her eyes flit from the phone to meet mine, as confusion and vulnerability etch on her face. “Why?” she asks, voice trembling. “Why did you use my birthday as your code?”

Suddenly feeling everything she’s not saying, I swallow roughly. “Because…” I begin, needing to clear my throat. “You’re important to me. Always have been.”

Quinn blinks rapidly. “W-what?” she stutters on a breath.

“I mean,” I pause, not entirely sure what I mean, because Quinn has always been a part of me. We grew up together and have always had each other’s backs. I’ve never questioned why I used her birthday as my code before now; it just felt right. “You’re my Queenie. And maybe now I realize I’ve been too blind to see what’s right in front of me.”

Her eyes fill with tears as she takes a shaky breath. “You really mean that?”

I nod again, my voice barely a whisper. “Yeah, Quinn. I do.”

The world around us fades, leaving only the sound of our breaths mingling in the stillness. God, I want to kiss her. To tell her that I couldn’t do this without her, but I don’t want to come on too strong here. And we haven’t actually had a conversation about what any of this is for us. Fuck, I still haven’t even taken the girl on a date. I don’t deserve her.

“Well, that’s…” She breaks our eye contact. “I mean, I didn’t expect… Your birthday isn’t mine, but I could—”

“Quinn?”

“Yeah?”

“Delete Levi’s number.”

“Right, right, that’s what I was doing. Of course.”

She unlocks my phone with a bewildered shake of her head and scrolls through the contacts. I watch as she finds his number and deletes it, and I feel a mix of relief and anxiety as a result. It’s a small step, but it’s a crucial one.

“There,” she says, handing the phone back to me. “One less temptation.”

One less temptation replaced with another temptation in the form of Quinn.

“Oh, I thought we should probably block your dad’s number on game days too. I’ll set reminders to do it each time.” She taps once more on my computer before turning back to me, and a sudden swell of gratitude has me reeling.

---