Learning Curve

Finn

“You have me, Scottie. You have all of me. And there isn’t a single fucking thing that will ever change that.” I grab her hand and put it right above my heart. “You’re special, Scottie. You were before, and you are now,” I say, and more tears stream down her cheeks. “And fuck, I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to be a man who deserves you.”

“You don’t mean that.”

I yank down the neckline of my soaked t-shirt, lift her hand up, and purposefully take her index finger to trace over the black ink that sits above my heart. Scottie. In her handwriting. From that first note she passed to me in English Lit class all those months ago.

“Finn?”

“When I say I love you, I mean it. When I say you have me, I mean it,” I whisper. “Nothing has changed for me. Nothing will change for me. Because, Scottie, to me, you’re not defined by that fucking wheelchair. It’s a part of you now, but it’s not you any more than my dad’s bullshit is me. We’re kindred. Meant to be. And I refuse to move forward without you. You have me. Period. End of story.”

“I can’t believe you did that,” she says, and her eyes well with more tears. “Tell me it’s fake. Tell me it’s like the silly temporary tattoo I did for you that one night.”

“It’s permanent. It’s forever. Because it’s how I see you and me.”

“We’re young. There’s no way you can know that.”

“Scottie, that day in Daytona, when I saw you fall, when I saw you get injured, I feared the worst. I feared I’d lost you. I feared that I would never get to hold you. That I would never get to kiss you. That I would never get to see your smiles or hear your laughs or see how fucking cute you look when you get all flustered and your cheeks are stained red.”

I lean forward to press my lips to hers, and I feel tears in my eyes when she actually lets me do it.

“When you fear you’ve lost the person you love, it puts a hell of a lot of things into perspective,” I whisper against her mouth and lean back to meet her eyes. “Sure, we’re young. Sure, we have a lot of growing up to do. I agree with all of that. But I know with every ounce of my soul that you’re the girl I want to grow old with. The girl I want to one day marry. You’re the only girl I want to be by my side for the rest of my life, and nothing will ever change that.”