Remember Us This Way

by Sheridan Anne

Zoey lifts her hand and wipes her eyes, and I listen as her voice wavers. “Do you remember what we were talking about between Linc’s groaning?” I swallow hard, hating just how fucking well I remember it. That was the day I realized that we were so much more than just best friends. I was in love with her and knew that I was going to spend the rest of my life by her side. Don’t get me wrong, I always knew she was it for me, but there was something about the way the sun lit her face and the way she smiled at me. “I told you that you were the greatest love of my life,” I tell her, the words so hard to say out loud, but I know I meant every fucking word, maybe I still do. “That I would make you the happiest girl in the world and protect you with my life.” Zoey scoffs. “I was so foolish to believe you,” she tells me, making my chest ache with the idea that she no longer has faith in what I felt for her. “Maybe it was because I was so young, and you were all I knew. You were my whole world, Noah. I never could have dreamed that you’d be the person I’d need protecting from.” Fuck me. Her words bring me down to my knees in the middle of the sidewalk,

She thinks she can somehow save me, and you and I both know that means she’s never going to give up. You can try and keep her away from me all you like. I’ll fucking beg you to, but you can’t. I know you’re just trying to look out for your daughter. I’d do the same if I were you, but this needs to be her decision. Zoey and I . . . We’re two halves of the same whole, and no matter how much I try to pull us apart and burn that tether between us, we’ll always be forced back together. It’s inevitable.”

When you finally realize that you deserve to be happy, come back to me.