Page 119 of Pierced

I realize then that I did it again.

I just let fate sort it out.

And this is what happens when you do nothing. When you choose the default option.

You get stuck with a default life.

You don’t make a friend that first year of school. You don’t take a kitten home from your summer vacation. You end up being something you’re not. And you let the only man who matters to you get hauled off in a police car for just being himself.

And himself is actually a genuine, caring, funny, quirky man who lets you drip candle wax on his balls, and puts up with your weird bullshit, and lives every day like it’s just another opportunity for a grand gesture.

He is the polar opposite of you and you love it.

It’s this realization, this witnessing of Pierce just being Pierce that wakes me up. Makes me yell, “Wait!”

But I am a lifetime of eternal moments too late.

Because he’s gone.

I think time stops again because I don’t know how I even get to the police station they took Pierce to. I don’t even remember pulling out my phone to find the nearest one or getting into a cab.

I just know that I’m standing outside when he comes through the doors hours later, shrugging on his coat with one hand while simultaneously shuffling his phone into the other as he looks down at the screen.

He’s so busy with that phone, he walks past me.

And for a second I think, Well, there you have it.

I am the wallflower after all.

But then I hear myself say, “Hey.”

Which makes him turn. Confused. “Myrtle?” he says. “What are you doing here?”

“I bailed you out.”

“Oh,” he says. “That was you? I thought it was Derek, but I should’ve known better. He was laughing when I called him earlier. Like burbling giggles. I figured I’d be in here all week.” Then he looks at me, serious, and says, “But I should’ve known it was you. Because you have always had my back. No matter what scheme I have cooking, or what ridiculous antics I get into. You’ve always been there through every single ‘too.’ Of course it was you who got me out of a cage. Thank you.”

I shrug. “Turns out… there’s room for improvement. So this is me. Improving. I said I never lied to you and that’s true. But I’m going to lie to you now and apologize for this.” I wave my hand at the police station. “Because I should’ve lied the first time and I didn’t. So… it’s all my fault. ”

“What?” He runs his fingers through his mussed-up hair. He looks uncharacteristically frazzled. His collar is crooked under his sweater, his shirt untucked, his normal clean-shaven jaw showing a hint of a shadow. “What are you talking about?”

“I said some things that… I actually love the idea of a New Year’s kiss. And I think candles are good for more than just dripping hot wax.”

He looks thoroughly confused. “You do?”

I nod. “And…” I hesitate. The same way I did when that girl told me her name in the library. But it’s a do—or-die moment for me. So I press on. “And you know what?”

He smiles at me. “What?”

“I did say I love you.” I nod my head in some random direction. “Back there at the market.”

“You did?” I nod. “But… oh. I see. You just told me you’re going to lie to me, so…”

“So, yeah. I didn’t say it. But I should’ve. So I’m going to erase that moment and ask for a do-over. That’s what this is. Myrtle’s do-over. And so… I love you. I love you, Pierce Constantine Chevalier. I absolutely do. You’re a lot, yes. You’re too much for most, in fact, but you’re just the right amount of everything for me.”

My heart is beating irrationally fast again but I don’t care. In fact, I decide to embrace it.

I decide to embrace him. Literally. I step forward, wrap my arms around his waist, press my lips into his neck and just… sigh. Like I’ve been away from home for a long, long time but now I’m back.