Page 144 of When the Stars Rise
“Noah. You shouldn’t have to give up something you love just to be with the person you love. I was wrong to ask. If you gave it all up for me, you’d end up resenting me for it.”
“No. I wouldn’t. I’m going to give it all up. I’m ready to walk away.” I am. Or at least I’d like to believe that I am.
After what happened out there in the ocean, it was like a wakeup call. The things I’m doing might actually kill me and even though I knew that all along, and maybe it was part of the appeal, I’m not ready to go. I still have a lot of things I want to do and dying isn’t one of them.
“If you do give it up, it has to be what you want,” Hayley says. “You can’t give it up for me. After you left, I did a lot of thinking. Remember when I told you that you don’t always have to be the hero? I meant it. You’ve spent your whole life trying to protect me and that’s amazing. That’s honorable. But at what cost? You were always trying to be so strong for me. And I never stopped to think that maybe it was one of your coping mechanisms. That maybe you needed me to need you.”
“You make it sound like a bad thing.”
“It’s not. Until it stops you from allowing yourself to be vulnerable. With me, you never have to pretend to be fine when you’re not.”
“Same goes for you.” I can’t resist getting that in.
“No more pretending,” she agrees, and I wait for her to ask why I was so far out in the ocean, but she doesn’t.
“How did you know where to find me?”
She’s quiet for a moment. “I saw it in my dream last week and when you didn’t come back for hours, I just had a feeling you’d be here.”
“What happened in the dream?”
“You were drowning, and I rescued you,” she says simply.
Yeah, I guess she did. In more ways than she could ever know. But since we’re getting it all out, I might as well extract a promise from her. “Don’t push me away again.”
“I’ll never push you away again.” She links her pinkie with mine. “Swear on my life.”
“Oh wow. We’re making pinkie promises again? What are we, six?” I tease.
“When have we ever broken a pinkie promise?” she counters.
I cast around in my mind, but I don’t really have to think that hard. “Never.”
Her smile is triumphant. “Don’t lie to me again.” She pokes my chest. “Ever.”
“I won’t.” She clears her throat and raises her brows. I laugh, linking my pinkie with hers. “Swear on my life.” It’s an easy promise to make. I have nothing to hide anymore but I feel her tense up and I know what she’s thinking without her even saying the words. “Hayley?”
“Yeah?”
“I love this life so I’m planning to stick around for a long time.” And this time I really mean it, so I hope she heard the truth in my voice.
I find her eyes and for a moment, I swear they’re filled with stars.
Which is crazy, but so is life, and so is our love.
I stand, still a bit shaky but stronger now, and hold out my hand to her. “Let’s go home.”
She smiles. I smile back.
And we walk home hand in hand.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Noah
Two MonthsLater
“Oh my god, youstolethem?” Isla says, staring at Everly holding a white ceramic canister that says COFFEE.
