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“I can’t d-do this anymore.”
“Claire, stop. Please. I won’t look at her again. I swear.” He closed the space between us and tried to pull me in for a hug. I resisted because I knew if I didn’t it would be the end of me. I was losing myself in this boy deeper by the day, and if I didn’t push the brakes now that there were huge red flags blowing around, then I was screwed. Because love was dangerous. It was wild. It was reckless with the human heart, and I was determined to protect myself from it. “Please don’t do this. You’re my best friend. I need you.”
“I’m not being your fallback anymore.”
“You have never been my fallback anything.”
“Yeah, I have, and I’m done with it!”
“Claire.”
“Just go, Gerard!”
_______________
“I’m so sad.”
“Don’t be. You had a narrow escape.”
“Liz!”
“What? It’s true. She did.”
“It’ll be okay, Claire,” Shannon coaxed, smoothing a hand over my curls when she and Lizzie came over later that evening to cheer me up. Well, Shannon came over to cheer me up. Lizzie came over to give me the I-told-you-so lecture. “You two will figure it out.”
“They better not,” Lizzie growled, leaning back on my desk chair. “He’s a dog.”
“Liz!”
“What?” She shrugged unapologetically. “It’s true.”
“Hey, how’s Hugh doing?” Shannon asked then. “Is he feeling better?”
“He’s been locked away in his room all day.”
“Did he say what’s wrong?” Lizzie asked.
“Nope,” I replied. “He’s really out of it, though, so it must be pretty serious. I think Mam’s making an appointment for him at the doctor for later in the week, which is abnormal when you have a mother who’s a nurse. If Mam can’t fix him, it’s scary.”
“He’ll be fine,” Shannon hurried to soothe, setting her hand down on my forearm. “It might be mumps or something random like that.”
“Oh crap, for his sake, I hope not,” I sniffled.
“Why?”
“Because the mumps can make men infertile.”
“What?” Lizzie pulled herself up on her elbows and gaped at me. “Where in the name of God did you hear that?”
“From my mam,” I explained, blowing my nose. “So gross.”
“He sat next to Johnny at lunch today,” Shannon said, worrying her lip. “Do you think…”
“Aw,” I half laughed, half wailed. “Aren’t you cute worrying about your boyfriend’s reproductive organs.”
“Johnny’s grand.” Lizzie cut her off with a sigh. “Because Hugh doesn’t have the mumps.”
“He might.”
