Page 93 of Forget Me Not
“You’re going to let me go?” I ask.
My dad opens his mouth, but she takes his hand, gives it a squeeze, and throws him a look that says not to test her. And he listens.
“I know what happens if I convince you to stay, and I don’t ever want to lose you the way we almost did,” she says, her voice warbling near the end.
She takes a deep breath and swallows hard.
“So I’ll let you go for now.” She pulls me into her again, squeezing me as tightly as she can. I wrap my arms around her and dig my face into the crook of her neck, taking in the smell of her perfume.
“But it’s not forever. You come back, okay? Fall break, Thanksgiving, anytime at all. Just come back. We will always be here waiting for you…” She steps away and extends her arms past me to the side. To Nora. “Both of you,” she adds, pulling Nora into a tight hug too, making my heart practically burst.
“Thank you,” Nora says, her voice a little quivery.
“I love you guys,” I tell them, giving my dad another hug.
We all step back, clearing our throats and trying to get ourshit together, but no matter how many times I wipe them away, tears continue to leak out of the corners of my eyes.
“We’ll see you,” my dad says to Nora, giving her a closed-mouth nod. He extends his hand to her and Nora shakes it.
“You two better get going or you’re going to miss your flight,” my mom says, sadly, but still with a reassuring smile.
“Yeah, we should go,” I agree, looking between the two of them. “Well, I guess this is it.”
“I guess so,” she says. “Call me when you get in.”
“I will.” My lungs ache as they rip the Band-Aid off for all of us and begin walking toward the exit, my dad putting his arm over my mom’s shoulder and holding her close.
It takes every ounce of strength I have in me to tear my gaze away from them, but as soon as I do, I’m met with Nora’s hazel eyes.
And I’m hit with a surge of all kinds of emotions.
Sorrow for everything I’m leaving behind. For my parents. For mine and Nora’s little secret patch of woods where we fell in love, where we lost each other, and found our way back. For Wyatt and all it once meant—the good and the bad.
Relief that I’m getting out of here, but even more that I can come back. That my parents showed up for me. That I don’t have to leave my life here behind forever in order to move forward.
Hope for our future. For finding out who I want to be at UCLA, and waking up next to Nora every morning and all that we’ll tackle together.
But most of all, I feel love. Real love, knowing that wherever I go, no matter what my brain forgets, I will always haveNora looking right back at me to help me remember.
She smiles, revealing the tiny cute gap between her front teeth, and I have never been more sure of anything in my life.
I love her.
Oh my God, do I love her.
I slide my hands up her arms that I could never in a million years get tired of touching, and onto her neck, my fingers twisting around the tiny ponytail at the back of her head.
I pull her into me, and I kiss her. In public. For the first time ever.
Her lips twist around mine, and for once, I don’t care who sees. I don’t care if my parents turn around or if the TSA agent is looking or if the entire world has stopped to watch.
Because even though I still feel that pinch of shame, I remind myself that one day…
One day I won’t.
Maybe sometimes, there’s a beauty in forgetting.
