2.6 | Forget Me Not ✓

+8 || calluna vulgaris

A/N

Hello my loves, and welcome to yet another Forget Me Not update! This is the fifth to last chapter, so we're definitely winding down. Quick question: if there's a story (from universe one or two) you'd like to see from me next, which would it be?

I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please @ me on discord (link in my bio) or instagram (hepburnetteswp) if you need a quick way to reach me.

Much love, x Noelle

 

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+ 8

c a l l u n a   v u l g a r i s

For protection.

  

(now: +8)

  

THE DAISIES ON the windowsill are the only things left in the otherwise empty study. Briefly, she considers taking it along with her, but—no, she won't. That once belonged to him. What's hers she'll take, what's his she'll leave behind, and what's theirs...

Those things, like their future, are still left hanging in the air.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" A voice breaks her out from her thoughts, and she glances up. Scout is standing by the doorway of the study, with the last of Emma's boxes in her arms. "He'll be disappointed if he comes back and finds that you're not here."

Emma smiles a little. In the past twelve hours since she's left the hospital, she's had plenty of time to think. And this, she's certain, is the right decision. "It's not like I'm leaving the country. Not even the state. It's just really hard being alone in this house without him. If he ever wants to find me, his family knows that I'm moving in with you and Dave."

"Actually, you're moving in with the baby," Scout says, with a teasing smile. "I hope you're prepared to wake up at three in the middle of the night to do a diaper change."

"Somehow, I feel like you're secretly happy that I'm moving in," Emma remarks. Scout grins, and she knows that she's hit the nail on the head. Her best friend will shamelessly use her as a babysitter, and Emma, as godmother, will only be happy to be made use of. Emma closes the door to the study and follows Scout back to the living room, where the rest of the boxes are.

"Anyway," Emma continues, as they start taping up the boxes, "if there's one thing that Dylan's taught me, it's to never settle for anything less than I deserve. And, right now, I don't deserve to have to put my life on hold. I've done that for almost a month now—I'm on sabbatical from work, I don't eat properly, I don't sleep well. Every day, I worry about him; and every night, I think about him. I'm not going to stop loving him but... I have to move on, somehow, right? I can't put 'pause' on my life forever, because everything else is still in 'play'."

Scout nods slowly. "You're right, of course," she says, before she frowns in thought. "But, you know, if you'd fought Flo a little bit more, maybe you could've gotten him back."

"Maybe. But then, even if I did, I don't think it would be real," Emma says quietly. "Whether he remembers me or not, he has to choose me because he wants to. Not because he feels obligated by our past, or because he doesn't have Flo or anyone else. It has to be because it's me."

Scout offers her an understanding smile. "I can assure you, he'd be an idiot not to." She picks up another box, only for a stack of books to tumble out. "My bad," she says, as they start to shove the books back into the box again. "Are those our old textbooks?"

"Yes, from high school, I think."

"I haven't seen them in forever. Why do you even keep those?"

"Sentimental value?" Emma suggests. She's actually not even very sure. "I think I have a habit of keeping way too many things."

"Yes, but sentimentality towards textbooks? Have you forgotten how horrifying exams used to be?"

"I actually really liked exams. They were the best part of school."

"Boo, you nerd." Scout rolls her eyes and throws one of the books at Emma, who catches it with a grin. A piece of paper slips out of the book and flutters to the floor, and Scout reaches for it. "What's this?"

"Not sure. Is that one of my notes?"

"Emma, meet me by the benches after school," Scout reads aloud, before handing the note back to Emma. "Who's it from? Dylan?"

She shakes her head. "No, my ex. I must've left it in the textbook by accident—I didn't think I kept anything from him." She starts to rip the note down the middle and—

Wait.

A sudden thought occurs to her, and she opens the note again. Something about it seems terribly familiar. But what...? She reads it once, then twice, and then she realizes what it is. "Where's my phone?"

"Your phone?" Scout glances around, then grabs it from the coffee table. "Here."

Emma unlocks her phone and goes straight to her photos. Just a few weeks ago, she'd taken a picture of the slip of paper—the one that the police had found with Dylan.

She holds them up side by side: the note that had been slotted into her textbook back in high school, and the other that had been with Dylan the day of the accident.

"The handwriting," breathes Scout, as she peers over Emma's shoulder to get a better look.

It's exactly the same.