{WATTYS 2021/2022 SHORTLIST}{Editor's Pick} {Featured Story}
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One girl. Two boys. An impossible choice.
Stella LaFever, a theatre student from California, can't wait to spend a summer in Newport, Rhode I...
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Chapter Song: Sweet Creature by Harry Stiles
Spencer took a sip of hot tea before glancing at his ringing phone and silencing it for the third time since we'd sat down for breakfast.
A bolt of guilt tore through me.
"You can't keep ignoring them," I told him. Stabbing at the last strawberry on my plate. "We're sitting at the same table tonight."
Spencer leaned back in his chair. "I know. I don't know what to tell them."
There was a question tucked away in the furrow between his brows. The same question he'd asked yesterday while sitting on top of the hood of a BMW.
Come with me.
Some part of me wanted to tell him yes. The wild part. The part that didn't care about the consequences or tomorrow. The part that wanted an adventure.
"When do you need to be in Oxfordshire?"
"Labor Day."
"Labor Day?" My hand floated to my throat, fingers brushing over the stupid nodule.
Wasn't it enough that cancer was claiming my thyroid? Wasn't it enough that I'd missed playing in All That Jazz? And wasn't it enough that I'd be left with a Frankenstein scar across my throat?
No—this stupid nodule was intent on finding new ways to ruin my life.
In fact, I wasn't sure what I was in control of anymore.
I pushed eggs around on my plate. "A week after my surgery? I don't know, Spencer. I mean—I don't even have a passport. And then there's school. It's just a lot. All at once."
Spencer took the fork out of my hand, and I couldn't help it. The pull of his sea glass eyes drew me in. I swore he was waiting for me to tell him to stay. To beg him to run away with me. But I couldn't. I wouldn't.
Spencer had everything. Looks. Money. Talent. Passion. He could make me scream his name. He knew how to hold me. He made me feel like the only girl in his world.
Tears pricked in the back of my throat.
I might love Spencer, but if that love kept him from becoming who he was meant to be—our relationship would always be scarred.
I wanted more with him than guilt. And what I wanted ran deeper than the fear of being left alone.
As I stared back at his man—this amazing, beautiful man—I realized that some things in life were worth the wait. We might spend a year apart, or three, or maybe we'd be together every day until the world stopped spinning. But, for the first time in my life, I knew Spencer was worth waiting for. He was worth facing my fear.
We might not always be in the same room, but I trusted he wouldn't leave me.
"You should go," I said quietly. Wiping away a tear that suddenly escaped. "I don't want to be the reason you decline."
