Page 67 of Write Me For You
I thought of Emma on the bed and felt my chest cave in. “No.”
“I hate cancer,” June said.
I agreed: Cancer sucked. “I do too.”
June played with my fingers, and I dropped a kiss on her head. I had squeezed Emma’s hand as we left her room, and I was startled by how cool it had felt so quickly. As June’s body heat warmed me, I made sure to treasure it—it meant we were still alive.
“All I keep thinking is: What if we do survive? What if the antibodies work this time…only for one of us to relapse?” June’s breathing was choppy, fearful. “All the fighting just to have it happen again.”
The thought sent shivers down my spine. “If that does happen,” I said, “I want it to happen to me.”
“No, Jesse,” June said, shaking her head.
“Yes. God, Junebug, I couldn’t take it if it happened to you. I couldn’t.”
“I feel the same about you.”
I knew she did. But my decision was made. If God wanted one of us to do this all over again, it had to be me.
“I miss her already,” June said. The deep sorrow in her voice destroyed me.
I caught sight of June’s notebook on her dresser. “In our other life, the one you are bringing to reality,” I said, and tipped my chin at her notebook, “keep Emma alive.”
June stilled.
“We may have lost her in this one, but we’re living in the other one too.” I smiled sadly. “In our parallel universe.”
June tried to smile too, then nodded. “She’s alive in our happily ever after. Thriving.”
“Thriving,” I repeated, and held June close as she cried until her breathing eventually evened out, and I listened to her inhales and exhales as she slept.
She loved me and I loved her. I lifted her hand and kissed the heart that now sat on it. This girl truly did have my heart in her hands.
And I was fine with never getting it back.
CHAPTER 22
June
Jesse and June’s Happily Ever After
Isquealed when I saw Emma step out of the rideshare. After months apart, I finally got to see my best friend at my college. Emma grabbed her overnight bag and rushed toward me. Tossing her bag on the ground, she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tight.
“June!” she cried. “I’m so happy to see you!”
“You too,” I said, and stepped back to look at her.
Emma’s hair had grown to her ears. Straight, golden-blond hair. Clearly thinking the same as me, Emma touched the ends of my dark hair—my hair that was now free of extensions. In a bid to work on myself, I’d had them removed. I couldn’t change what had happened to me, so I was embracing it. I’d survived cancer and I should be proud of it. It wasn’t all I was, but it was a part of me that I shouldn’t run from.
My hair was now a similar length to Emma’s, though it was styled very differently. It was now a short, chic French bob, with bangs.
“I’m obsessed with this haircut. I loved the long extensions, but this is so stunning!” Emma said.
“You look incredible too,” I said, and hugged her one more time. Every time I saw one of my friends from Harmony, I saw them as the living miracle they were—I didn’t think it would ever change.
“Did you come here with Chris?” I asked.
Emma nodded. “He’s with Jesse now, at his dorm.” She tilted her head at me. “Jesse seemed quiet, sad, when I saw him.”
