Page 29 of Northern Stars

“How can you tell?” he asked.

I respected Karl more than my own dad. When it came to being a father figure who could be soft and gentle yet stern and tough, Karl had it in tenfold. My father wouldn’t know how to be soft and gentle if his life depended on it. I really appreciated that about Karl—how balanced he was as a parent. But, at that very moment, if he didn’t get out of my way and let me go see his daughter, I was going to bum-rush past him, and I wouldn’t even care if he fell to the floor.

“Because he’s Aiden. He’s her person,” Penny said, moving out from in front of the door. She nodded toward Hailee’s doorframe and gave me a broken smile. “So go check on our daughter, all right, Aiden?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I muttered, nodding once.

Karl gave me another hard look, but he didn’t say anything. He stepped to the side, which was more confirmation than any words he could’ve given me.

I placed my hand on Hailee’s door and turned it as my heart twisted in my chest. As I opened it, I found her sitting in a floral dress, cross-legged, with her back toward me as she stared out her bedroom window.

“Jerry,” I said, closing the door behind me. She didn’t move an inch. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. Her hair wasn’t in an afro puff. It was styled with perfect loose curls. Even from only being able to see her from behind, I knew she looked beautiful.

She didn’t say anything.

I shifted around in my sneakers. “Can I sit by you?”

I waited a few seconds, and when there was no reply, I frowned. I bent down, untied my shoes, took them off, walked over to her, and sat beside her, cross-legged. Because when you were a best friend, you didn’t need an invitation to be there for your person. You just showed up and stayed.

Her makeup was ruined as tear stains left marks from their departure from her eyes. Still, she looked good. I’d seen Hailee in some of her worst states. When she had food poisoning from our favorite Chinese buffet a few years back, she looked like the walking dead. She couldn’t do anything except walk to the bathroom, where she’d thrown up nonstop.

I held her hair back during her vomiting, and then she’d crawl back to bed, and I’d sat with her talking about bullshit that didn’t matter just so she didn’t have to be alone.

Carlton being an asshole wasn’t worse than when she had food poisoning, but I knew it twisted up Hailee’s stomach just as bad. My stomach was in fucking knots, so I couldn’t imagine what hers was doing.

I stared out the window with her, looking at the big oak tree sitting in front of it. We stayed there for a few minutes, silent and still. I only knew she was still alive due to her blinks every few moments.

“I put on a dress,” she finally said.

“I know.”

“I hate dresses.”

“I know.”

“I also did my hair.”

“I know.”

“I hate doing my hair.”

“I know.”

She turned her head in my direction, and her eyes were bloodshot, and fuck, if hearts could break from moments, mine shattered right then and there.

“I thought he was my friend,” she whispered.

I sighed. “I know.”

I patted my left shoulder, and she lay her head against me. I placed my head on top of hers, and we went back to staring out the window. Her makeup smeared on my shirt, but I didn’t care at all. If she wanted to use my whole outfit as a rag, I’d let her.

“I’m going to kill him,” I told her. It’d been the only thing I’d been thinking about since I’d seen the video of Carlton being a complete shithead. When I saw him, I was going to murder him.

“No, just… let it be.” She sighed and lifted her head from my shoulder. “Don’t you have a party to be getting back to, anyway? I’m sure Princess Cara is freaking out about you being gone.”

“I don’t care what she thinks.”

“Please. She’s the only thing you’ve cared about for years. Plus, going to a party is on our high school bucket list. At least one of us can check it off.”

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