Page 58 of What If I See You

I don’t know how the hell she came up with a story so perfect for our situation and told it so effortlessly but thank God she did. I think my parents are more than convinced. But just for added sugar on top of the Layken sundae, I add, “I knew you were the one that night.”

And just like that, the odd feeling in my chest is back again.

It’s almost as if it never went away.

It lingers.

And then hits me again and again every time Layken is around.

“Hey Layken,” Gage says, standing from his stool. “Want to go make a tikky with me?”

She cocks her head. “A tikky?” Her gaze moves to me and I wink and mouth the words tik-tok.

“Ooh yes! Yeah I would love to, Gage!”

And there goes my brother stealing my wife.

As I sit in the living room with Mom and Dad, chatting about the season and my new life with Layken, I watch her interact with my brother.

She’s so damn good with him.

So patient.

Encouraging.

She treats him like the human being he is instead of the “Sped” he was teased for being as we were growing up. I lost count of the number of times I stepped in to fight for my brother over the years. Especially over the use of that derogatory word. Middle schoolers are cruel as fuck and the irony always was, Gage was smarter than all of them. We never treated him like he had Down Syndrome. To us, he was a normal kid who had a few delays here and there depending on what he was doing. He was a straight A student, but he wasn’t as fast or coordinated as me at hockey so some things we just couldn’t do together.

But I loved him fiercely growing up.

And I love him even more now.

“You know Gage has himself a girlfriend now too,” Dad says softly as we watch Gage and Layken dance in front of his cell phone.

“Does he really?” I ask. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

Dad shakes his head. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him.”

Mom bobs her head. “I think he was genuinely excited to get to meet Layken today. He had been talking about the two of you all day before you guys pulled up. Mallory may have slipped his mind.”

“Mallory is the girlfriend?”

She nods. “Mhmm.”

“And does she…” I smooth my hands down my thighs. “Is she…?”

Mom nods again. “Yes. She has Downs too. She’s a super sweet girl. Gets along very well with Gage. They’re cute together. He met her at work.”

“Good.” I nod. “That’s really good. I’m glad he has someone to keep him company. Hell, he deserves to be loved.”

“Speaking of deserving love,” Dad says, gesturing to Layken. “Son, you found a rare gem in Layken.” He’s all smiles talking about her. I can see the love and admiration in his eyes already. “She’s perfect for you.”

“She is.” I nod. I think I’m beginning to think those same thoughts myself although I know I’m just going to get hurt in the end if I continue to think that way. I want to smile and be the giddy lovesick boy that I know my parents want to see, but in reality, I know this thing between Layken and I will come to an end and I’ll have to break my parents’ hearts.

And Gage’s heart.

And there’s a very strong possibility I’ll end up breaking my own as well.

If only she were as interested in me as I am in her.

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