Chapter 49 Fletcher
forty-nine
Fletcher
Hi.” My mouth is dry, the word sounding more like a croak than actual English. I don’t think I was expecting to see her so soon.
I thought we’d at least get back down to campus before I saw her again. We’d tell all of our friends we broke up and that things would be fine because it ended amicably. So, then, the first time I’d see her, we’d be surrounded by other people.
But instead, she’s at my front door.
As sadistic as it might sound, I like that she’s still wearing her clothes from last night. Sure, she added a pair of sweatpants under her red dress, but it shows that she was just as messed up over the whole thing as I was.
Hell, I’ve only been in new clothes for about an hour, and if Chase didn’t come into my room when he did, I might still be in them.
“This is weird, isn’t it?” She rocks back on her heels. “I shouldn’t have come over. I almost didn’t, but I thought, well, we’re friends. But maybe it’s too soon. It’s probably too soon, right?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug.
And I honestly don’t.
Is there a standard timeline for something like this?
“Tate?”
Tate’s gaze goes from me to over my shoulder, a nervous smile filling her face.
“Hey, Chase.” Her eyes meet mine again, and by the look in them, she’s asking if he knows. I just nod. “I was just stopping by, and now I’ve realized how stupid it is that I even came over here. So, I’m going to go.” She points toward her house. “I’ll see you back at school?”
It's not a statement; it’s a question.
She’s not sure if I’ll be down for us just being friends. She promised me she wasn’t going anywhere, but I didn’t make that same promise, and she’s worried she’s going to lose me.
“Tate.” Chase’s hand falls onto my shoulder. “You know you’re always welcome here. Come in.”
“No, really, I—”
“Tate,” I cut her off. I don’t say anything else; I just step out of the way to give her enough space to enter.
“Thanks.”
“I’m going to go check on my lovely wife and make sure she doesn’t need anything.” Chase’s eyes bounce between us. “You two should talk.”
He pats me on the back and then disappears down the hallway.
“I don’t know why I thought I could just come over here.” Her eyes are glued to her feet. “It was silly to think we could just—”
“Act like nothing happened?”
“I guess.”
“Why did you come over here?”
Her eyes meet mine, but there’s a sadness in them I’ve never seen. Not even when our friendship was falling apart earlier this year.
“I just wanted to see my best friend.” Her tongue runs against her lips, and her eyes glaze over with tears.
“I got some amazing news, and the first thing I wanted to do was tell you. And a part of me thought coming over here after what happened last night would be stupid, but you’ve always been the first person I go to when I have big news, and I guess I was hoping that wouldn’t have to change. ”
She brushes her hand under her nose, hiding a sniffle.
“But if it does, I understand. Whether it needs to change for now...” Tate’s eyes meet the ground again, “or forever. I’d rather have you in my life in some capacity, no matter how small, than not at all.”
It hurts me to see her like this.
I suppose when I got home last night, I assumed she had gone home and just moved on with her life while I was left to pick up the pieces of mine.
But she’s trying to piece everything back together, too.
Just because she ended things doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about me.
Perhaps she cares about me so much that she felt it was the only thing she could do.
“What’s your news?” I try to keep my voice steady.
“Gracie Dunn.”
It’s all she says, and my face twists with confusion.
“That country singer you’re obsessed with?”
She was all Tate listened to in high school.
Okay, maybe not all she listened to, but she definitely inspired her writing.
“Pop-country,” she corrects, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth for the first time since she got here. “And yeah, that Gracie Dunn.”
“What about her?”
“She wants me to go on tour with her.”
Tate’s eyes light up as she finishes her sentence.
“Tour?” My eyes widen. “Like, to perform?”
The smile is small but so genuine, so beautiful.
She nods.
“Oh my god!” I can’t help myself; I wrap my arms around her and spin her around the hallway. “You’re going on tour? But how, I mean, obviously, I’m so proud of you, but—”
As her feet meet the ground again, our eyes lock, taking me out of my previous thoughts. My arms fall to my sides, but her smile doesn’t falter. She continues as if nothing happened.
“She saw my videos on Instagram or maybe another one of my platforms, but she reached out to me on Instagram. According to her Instagram, I’ll be touring with both her and Colson Young this summer. If I accept, that is. It’s a lot to think about.”
“You’re going to accept, Tate. This is everything you’ve ever wanted and more. You were looking for internships to work behind the scenes at top record labels with the hope of finally getting your big shot.” I find her hand and give it a squeeze. “This could be that shot.”
“What if everything changes while I’m gone?” Her bottom lip tucks between her teeth.
She’s talking about us.
I don’t know what else could change.
Maybe she thinks I’ll take the time that she’s gone to remove myself from the equation. That I won’t be there for her when she gets back.
But the truth is, she couldn’t get rid of me if she tried. No matter what happens, we’ll always be connected. She’ll always have a piece of my heart, and I’ll always have a piece of hers.
“It won’t.” My hands rest on her shoulders. I tilt my head down just far enough for our eyes to lock so she knows what I’m telling her is the truth. “All that’s going to change is that we’ll have to get you a security guard for senior year because you’re going to be all famous and shit.”
She laughs, the tears that were already in her eyes falling with her laughter instead of her sadness.
“I think I know a few hockey players who could help me with that.” She grins.
“Hell, yeah, you do.”
“Are we going to be okay?” Her words are shaky. “I want us to be okay.”
“We’re okay,” I promise. “It’ll hurt for a while, but it won’t feel like this forever. We’ll just take it one day at a time.”
She nods aggressively, taking in my words.
“When I told you I’d always love you,” my tongue runs along my bottom lip, “that didn’t only mean if we were together. I loved you long before we were in a relationship, and I’ll love you long after. And who knows, maybe one day we’ll find our way back to each other, just like you said.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Then we don’t.” I pause. “And that will be okay.”
“Okay.” Her words are soft.
“I’m really proud of you, Tate.”
“Thank you.”
“You do realize Brinley is going to take credit for this, right?”
“Oh, yeah, that was my first thought.” Her smile broadens as I chuckle.
“I thought I heard you out here.” Stella wraps her arms around my shoulder. “Are you two joining us for game night?”
“Reed family game nights always end in disaster,” Tate smirks. “Obviously, I’m in.” Her eyes meet mine, and the smirk fades. “If that’s okay with you.”
“Of course it is.”
Stella squeezes my shoulders before letting me go and wrapping an arm around Tate.
“Have you thought any more about the whole Godmother thing?”
“Oh, um, I guess you don’t know, but—”
Stella shakes her head. “I know. Tate, I told you once that we wanted you to be Theo’s Godmother because we loved you. That didn’t change just because you guys broke up. You’re a very important person to us.”
“Won’t it be weird?”
“Only if you let it,” I interject. My way of letting Tate know that if she wants to take on this role, it’s perfectly fine with me.
She gives Stella a small nod and then looks at me over her shoulder.
“Now, does the Godmother card trump the Godfather card?” she asks, her eyes meeting Stella’s again. “I just want to know if I can use it against Fletcher anytime he’s holding Theo.”
I say, “Don’t you even think about it.” At the same time, Stella says, “Obviously.”
I glare in her direction, but she just hugs Tate a little tighter.
We arrive in the living room, where a stack of games sits on the floor near the television, with Uno cards already in the middle of the floor, still in a single stack.
“Tate, so happy you could join us.” My mom smiles, reaching for the deck of Uno cards.
“Happy to be here.”
Kassidy scoots over before patting the floor next to her, letting Tate know to sit down next to her. I sit down next to Chase. He doesn’t say anything; he just shoots me a subtle wink.
It’s like nothing happened. Nothing’s changed between her and them. They’re just as much her family as they are mine.
And that won’t ever change.