Then
“Stay here,” Violet says.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get a first-aid kit, so I can clean up your wound before it gets infected.”
I smile at her. “You’re amazing. You know that, right?”
She looks at me tenderly. “I’ll be right back.”
She runs off, and I realize I’m in total pain.
It’s not her fault this happened. The look on her face when I fell and when she was making sure I was okay nearly destroyed me.
I hate that she’s blaming herself. I would’ve had to hide in the closet if I didn’t climb down the vine.
Although, I wouldn’t have injured myself if either one of us thought of that.
Oh, well.
Clumsiness has been a part of my DNA since I was a kid. I’m practically a regular patient at Sunset Cove Hospital. It’s not something I’m proud of either. I don’t know what happened when I was in the womb, but I have a good feeling it’s my dad’s fault. He has to be the reason why I’m so screwed up.
Ten minutes later, Violet makes it back to me with a first-aid kit in her hand.
I’m so in love with this girl.
She opens the first-aid kit, pulling out a tube of antibiotic ointment and a Q-tip. “How are you doing?” She grabs a damp washcloth and dabs it onto my arm.
I shiver from the rush of chills shooting up and down my body. “I’m alive, but I think my arm is about to fall off my body.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.” She shakes her head, grinning.
I scoff. “Am I amusing you with my pain?”
“You’re such a drama queen. Give me your arm please.” She’s sitting criss-cross applesauce and reaching out for my arm, so she can put the antibiotic ointment on my wound.
Resting my arm in her lap, she applies the ointment onto the cut. I immediately flinch from the contact.
“I know it hurts, but I need you to hold still for me. Can you do that?”
I nod, giving her a silent response.
It takes Violet around five minutes to bandage me up.
Studying the Band-Aid for a minute, I laugh. “A superhero Band-Aid, how fitting.”
“I saw a box of them in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom on the first floor. I knew I had to bring it with me.”
“I’m guessing they’re your brother’s bandages.”
“Yeah, they are.” She pivots to a different subject. “Hey, are you looking forward to playing varsity after this year?”
“Yeah, I am.”
When I got picked for Sunset Cove High’s junior varsity team this past school year, I texted Violet to tell her I made it on the team. I was at Noah’s house when I told her the news. She drove over to his house to congratulate me.
I’d be losing my goddamn mind if this beautiful girl wasn’t in my life.
She helps me escape the shitty aspects of my life and loves all the broken parts of me.
She loves me for who I am. Sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve her, and I know I don’t.
For some unknown reason, the universe believes I do, and I’m grateful it does.
The universe also believes I was born to play basketball. The sport has been a constant in my life since I was a kid. It helped me relieve stress, and it helped me escape the chaos I experienced in my life. It still helps me with those things. Basketball isn’t just a sport to me, it’s a lifeline.
“Can I be honest with you?”
“Always,” she whispers.
“There was a part of me that was worried you weren’t going to come back for me.”
“Aw, I don’t know why you’d think that. I’ll always come back for you, Grayson Becker. You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”