“Oh,” she says.
“And you had a boyfriend, and I thought…fuck.”
“You thought fuck?”
“I thought fuck.”
“I broke up with him.”
I look at her. “The guys told me. Why?”
“Because I saw you and so many things came flooding back to me.”
I think about that for a moment.
“Have you had a girlfriend these past two years?”
I look down and smile at her.
“What?” she asks nervously.
“You asked me this on Halloween.”
She rolls her eyes. “I blacked out drunk, so pretend this is a brand new conversation. Please.”
I grin. “No, I haven’t.”
“Not even one?”
I shake my head with a big smile. “No.”
“Why?”
I shrug. “You said you were coming to Camden after two years.”
A long beat.
“You waited for me?” she asks.
I shake my head slowly as I look at her. “I wouldn’t say that, Melly. I think you’ve been waiting for me.”
She tucks her face onto her hands and smiles. “I’m happy you’re here.”
I look at her. The hoodie. The hair. The puck on the mattress between us, half on her side, half on mine.
“Yeah, me too. Should we try to sleep?”
She nods.
I get up. I cross to the wall switch and turn off the light. The room goes dark except for the streetlight coming in through the blinds in stripes. I make my way back to the bed and slip under the covers. The sheets are warm where I’ve been laying.
“Hi,” she whispers.
The puck is right next to her, against her cheek almost, and it is the cutest fucking thing I have ever seen in my life, and I think there’s no going back after tonight. I have crossed into a new territory, and this is what death feels like. I killed a piece of me tonight that needed to die years ago. I’m lying in Melly Sorcha’s bed in the dark, watching her hold the puck I gave to her against her cheek.
“Hi.”
I lie on my side, facing her. I can just make out the shape of her in the streetlight stripes.
