LOVELORNED

LOVELORNED CHAPTER THIRTEEN

LOVELORNED

Chapter 13: The Locker

We didn’t talk on the drive to the high school.

Caleb drove. I stared at the key.

Rain on the windshield. Same as 4 years ago.

The school was closed.

But the night janitor knew Caleb.

“Mr. Reed. You’re back,” he said. “She said you’d come.”

“She?” I asked.

“Lily,” he said. “She used to bring me coffee when I worked nights. Told me to keep her locker open. Said her sister would come for it one day.”

My chest caved in.

Locker 214.

The same one Lily and I shared freshman year.

The sticker was still there. Half-peeled.

Team Maya + Lily 4ever

Caleb handed me the key.

“You do it,” he said.

My hands shook.

Click.

Inside:

* A folded hoodie. Mine. The one I lost the day of the accident.

* A Polaroid. Me and Lily at the beach. Sticking our tongues out.

* A notebook. New. With “For Maya” on the cover.

* And a letter. In Lily’s handwriting.

I opened the letter first.

Maya,

_If you’re reading this, it means you came. And it means you met him.

I know you’re probably mad. At him. At me. At the world.

Don’t be.

I asked him to watch you. Because you’re my person and I was scared.

He’s a good guy. Annoying, but good.

He cried when I told him about you. Like, actual tears.

So give him a chance, okay? For me.

And for you.

You deserve to laugh at dumb movies again.

You deserve hot chocolate and bad dates and someone who brings you an umbrella.

Don’t be mad at the boy with green eyes.

Be mad at me for leaving.

Love you to the moon and back.

Always your sister,

L_

I was crying before I finished.

Not the quiet kind. The ugly, gasping kind.

Caleb didn’t touch me.

He just sat on the floor next to the lockers and let me.

When I could breathe again, I opened the notebook.

The first page:

_“Things I want Maya to do when I’m gone:

* Eat cake for breakfast

* Watch that stupid romcom she hates

* Let someone bring her an umbrella

* Forgive the boy with green eyes

* Live.”_

Number 5 was underlined 3 times.

I closed the notebook.

Looked at Caleb.

He looked wrecked.

“I’m not mad at you,” I said. Voice hoarse. “I’m mad at this.”

I gestured to the empty locker. To everything.

“I know,” he said.

We sat there for an hour.

Just us. And Lily.

When we left, he walked me to my car.

“Can I... can I call you tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “But no more secrets.”

“No more secrets,” he promised.

I drove home.

Kayla was asleep on my couch.

I crawled in next to her and slept for the first time in 4 years without nightmares.

The next morning I woke up to a text.

From Caleb.

A photo.

Hot chocolate. Two cups.

Caption: “Diner on 5th. 7 PM. No pressure. Just cake for breakfast?”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Chapter 14: Cake for Breakfast