Near Miss

by Haley Warren

I laugh, and he looks at me like it’s his new favourite sound.

But it’s funny and lovely and wonderful and I hope he’s my friend forever.

I don’t mean to fall in love with her. I try pretty hard not to, actually.

And I am sure that real me must be a masochist, because he’ll take any scraps she gives, and he does it with a smile.

I shrug one shoulder. Indifferent. Cool. Not hopelessly, desperately, stupidly in love.

You made me real.”

in this way that I hope tells her my heart is hers—it always has been. And I think I might have hers, at least for now.

“Thank you,” she starts, but she pauses, a tiny shake of her head. “I don’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me. You say I made you real, and maybe that’s true, but you know me. And there’s something very special and rare in knowing.

“You’re worth defending, Beckett.”