Page 89 of 16 Forever

“It is.” Another torturous pause. “So I guess I’m gonna go now. Unless you have other questions?”

“Yeah, no, sounds good. Thanks again for doing this.”

“My pleasure. And thanks for the apology. I release you!” She makes an almost magical gesture with her hands when she says that, and I get a full-body chill, almost as if those specific words have just unstuck me. Can that be? Am I going to turn seventeen now? From this six-minute conversation? Much of which was spent watching Layla kiss a dog?

“Thanks.”

“Great to see you, Carter. And nice to meet you, Maggie!”

I clumsily flip the camera toward Maggie again.

She waves. “You too!”

“Ohmigod,” Layla says. “I just put it together who you look like. You’re Vivian Spear’s younger sister, aren’t you?”

Maggie doesn’t respond. Then she starts coughing.

“Do you want water?” I ask, turning the phone back toward myself.

“No, I’m okay,” she says. “I’ve just been... fighting this cold thing. Sorry. I am Vivian Spear’s younger sister, but I actually should go. Probably need more cold medicine.”

“No problem,” Layla says. “Tell Vivian I said hi, though. Haven’t seen her in a while. I assume, Carter, that you’ve—”

“Oh!” Maggie says, coughing again so hard that she bumps into me, and I drop the phone. “I’m sorry, so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I say, picking up the phone. “Thanks again, Layla, I’m gonna go help Maggie.”

“Of course. Good luck and be well!”

“You too!” I end the call.

Maggie is still coughing away into her elbow. I fill up my water glass in the bathroom and bring it to her. She chugs the whole thing in one go.

“You all right?” I ask.

“Yeah, this cough comes and goes,” Maggie says. “I feel so stupid.”

“Don’t,” I say. “Everybody coughs sometimes. And that went really well! She totally accepted my apology!”

“Uh-huh.” Even though Maggie is sort of smiling, she also looks like she wants to throw up.

“Oh man, you seem pretty sick. Want me to go get cough medicine?”

“No. No. Could you... Could you sit down with me for a second?”

“Sure. Absolutely.” I slowly lower myself onto the bed next to Maggie. I’m instantly aware that there are only a few inches separating us. And, again, my eyes are drawn to her lips—her glossy, glittery lips—even now, when she’s liable to cough phlegm into my face at any moment.

Maggie doesn’t speak, so I do. “I appreciate you sticking around. That was helpful to have you here.”

“You did a good job.”

“Thanks. It feels nice.”

Maggie nods.

“Do you want to say what you came over here to say?”

“It’s just...” Maggie takes a deep breath and rubs one of her closed eyes. “I feel like a bad person. For... reasons. And I hate this feeling.”