Page 91 of What We Got Wrong

“I sure fucking did, and that essay was excellent,” Emma said with a prideful hair flip. Quinn begrudgingly nodded her agreement. She’d read the paper, and it was fantastic. “Also, is your point that sex isn’t part of the human condition? Because, counterpoint, if y’all had been able to keep your grubby little paws off each other, you wouldn’t be in this situation now.”

That earned an eye roll from Quinn. “Grubby little paws?”

“Am I wrong?” Emma asked.

“I’ve never gotten complaints about my paws,” Quinn joked, and it was Emma’s turn to roll her eyes. Quinn was quiet, then, for just a few seconds, before she huffed, “I can’t believe she’s spending the summer with her boyfriend.”

“He’s not her boyfriend,” Emma said, like it was a reflex.

“Exactly like I’m not her girlfriend,” Quinn replied, shrugging. Emma didn’t have a sufficient response to that, so she just reached for the remote, turning the movie back on.

Emma stayed the night, feeding Quinn again in the morning and making her promise that she would take another day to rest before hopping back into the pool. She offered to stay, to be there when Liv arrived, but Quinn turned down the suggestion. She didn’t want Emma as a buffer this year. She didn’t need a witness to her misery.

Liv arrived on schedule, letting herself into the apartment quietly, carrying a small travel bag. They barely acknowledged each other, the distance from their communication that summer invading the present. They’d never been uncomfortable with each other, not really, but this was painful, Quinn sitting stiffly on their couch while Liv hovered near the entrance to the room.

“Good afternoon,” Liv said finally.

“Good afternoon,” Quinn repeated, her eyebrows raised, a question in her tone. “We haven’t seen each other in months…”

“I know, obviously,” Liv replied, sounding upset. Quinn was confused because she was the one who had the right to be upset. “I just…I don’t know what you want me to say. We’ve barely talked.”

“And whose fault is that?” Quinn asked. If this was how the school year was starting, how were they going to make it eight months?

“Probably both of us,” Liv answered honestly. “But you’ve barely engaged with me all summer. You didn’t answer the last three weeks for our Saturday calls…”

“Because we weren’t saying anything,” Quinn replied, in a huff.

“Quinn, last summer you, me, Juliette, and Everlee watched an entire ocean docuseries while on a video call,” Liv responded.

Okay, that was true, Quinn could admit to herself.

“I feel like you have given up on me,” Liv said, her voice small, echoing, without knowing it, what Quinn had said to Emma.

“I would never give up on you,” Quinn replied, and Liv’s face softened slightly at her words.

Quinn wanted so badly for that to be true.

It was like they were both afraid to make the first move, but eventually Quinn stood, walking over to cup Liv’s face in her hand. Things felt better, clearer, as soon as skin met skin. “You’re more beautiful every time I see you.”

Liv sighed, pressing her cheek into Quinn’s palm, melting into the contact. When Quinn dropped her hand, Liv spoke.

“Do you want to talk about…anything?” she asked. She was chewing her lip, looking nervous, and God… What did that mean?

“You don’t owe me any explanations,” Quinn said, because it’s what she was supposed to say.

“I don’t,” she agreed simply. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t answer your questions.”

“No, no. Let’s leave it there,” Quinn replied.

“Quinn, I told him about you,” Liv huffed. “Conner. I told him about you.”

Quinn didn’t know if she’d ever been more confused in her life. “You…what?”

“I mean, not specifics, obviously,” Liv said. Obviously. “But I told him I had someone at school that I was coming back to this year. He understood. Everything with us, with him and me, it stayed on pause.”

Liv said this like she’d done Quinn a kindness, like she thought it was exactly what Quinn would want to hear. And…maybe it could be enough. Quinn closed her eyes, and she tried to feel some sense of relief, anything other than the emptiness of knowing they were almost at the end.

The relief didn’t come, but still, she reached again for Liv, for the person who’d come to feel like home, and willed herself to enjoy this, to relish this time, to appreciate it as the gift it was.