”Of course.”Wil grabbed art supplies off her desk and carefully slid them into a canvas tote bag from their local bookstore.“And I’ll keep growing and changing right there along with you, being the best versions of ourselves in the present and not some distant future.We can be our best selves over and over again.It’s not some competition you win or lose.There’s enough love in the universe to love and celebrate yourself.”
Jo sat with Wil’s words washing over them.They gave them time to sink in, but the walls they’d built to defend themselves, the same ones that kept them from growing, made it impossible for them to stick.“That is harder to listen to and accept than you might think.”
Wil took a step forward, stopping in front of Jo.”No, I know, because I had a point where I didn’t want to hear any of that either — didn’t want to believe any of it, but things got so much better when I tried.”Wil sat down on the floor, cross-legged and looking up at Jo.“I just got so tired of not liking myself.The world wants you to not love yourself.Sometimes the most rebellious thing you can do is know that you’re worthy of love and good things.”
“I’ll do my best.”
”Because you already are.And now you have Cass to remind you, too.”
“I do,” Jo agreed, feeling something sad yet sweet in their chest.“I’m glad I let myself admit I wanted that.”
“That you deserved that.”
“That, too.”
“Can’t say it out loud?”Wil teased.
“Not yet!It’s too hard to say I deserve things!I’ll get there.Give me a few decades.”
”Heavens, I hope you don’t take that long.”
“Why?We’re werewolves.We’ve got all the time in the world.”
“Life’s too short to not like yourself.And with that wonderful line of wisdom I’m definitely keeping in my pocket to use again, I’ve got to go.”
“You’re looking a bit fancier than you usually do for some time in your studio.”
“Going to this group creating thing where we all work on our own projects and can chat and drink wine.It’s my first time, so we’ll see.Some of the artists there I love.Some of them are, well, a little bit tougher to like, but I’m going to be on my best behavior.”
“Unless you have more than two glasses of wine.Then snarky Wil comes out.I like snarky Wil.”
”Nope.We’re keeping her locked up tight tonight.She’s a hoot, but we’re being good tonight.”
They said their goodbyes, and cleaner, happier, and with a cat on their lap, Jo picked up their phone to thank Krista and tell her about what happened, but their thumb hovered over the contact list because there was someone else they wanted to tell more first.
Calling June probably would have been better, but Jo knew they would sit there and find reasons to never call so, instead, they planned to send the longest text message in human history.
Hey!Hope you’re having fun on your honeymoon and not getting sunburned
You never did learn to reapply your sunscreen
You were always red like a tomato after our beach trips.Gross.
Jo took a deep breath and let it out slowly, counting to four as they did.
Anyway, Cass and I kissed last night.
Why is that special?Well, I’ve got some stuff to tell you.
If June was going to be a part of their life again, and if Cass was going to be a big part of that life, then Jo knew that June needed to know everything.It would have been fine to pretend, after all, they ended up dating anyway, but Jo didn’t want to keep lying to their sister.
So, they started at the beginning with the almost kiss in the tent and caught June up on all the details up until last night.Somewhere in the back of their mind, Jo knew that sending a ton of messages that were incredibly long was beyond silly, but saying all this out loud would have been harder.
They pressed send on the final message and immediately went back to their list of text messages to select Krista and think about something else, but a new text popped up before they could click on her name.
You’re such a weirdo.But thanks for telling me.
Also, you two were definitely dating already, you just didn’t know it yet.I saw you two talking at dinner, off in your own little world.