A Fabrication of the Truth (17 page)

I decided to send Dalton a text. I had tried several times before, calling too, but got no response. I even went as far as calling his lola, but all she said was that Dalton wasn’t there.

Home yet
? I texted.

At my regular house.

His text made me a little sad. I just assumed he’d go back to his lola’s, next to me again, where he belonged. Maybe he never belonged there in the first place. If his mom was staying in town, there was no reason for him to be at his lola’s, really.

How are you doing?

All right. Back to school soon.

That’s good. Which school?

My old one.

Oh.

I miss you.

I miss you, too.

Talk later?

Okay.

Then the texts stopped. I guess it was a start. At night, I sat at my sewing machine, finishing a shirt I was making out of an old pillow case. I’d made lots of clothes over the past couple of weeks. After a week of being under my covers and sad – don’t get me wrong, I was still sad, but now sad and functioning – I had to do something to keep myself busy, keep my mind from wandering to Dalton because if I let it, that’s all my mind would think about. I would have to start selling some of the clothes because there was no way I’d wear it all. I thought about asking Jess if she wanted to buy another shirt. As I sewed, I kept wondering if Dalton would text or maybe even call. He did say talk to you later, but as I went to bed that night, I had heard nothing back.

***

I sat down at the lunch table and as I started to eat my burger, Caroline sat down across from me.

“Once again, I will say you don’t have lunch this period.”

“We need to delve further into this Dalton thing,” Caroline said, pulling a rubber band off her wrist.

“He said we would talk later, but we didn’t. End of story.” I put my burger down on my tray and stared at my fries.

“How much later did he mean? Maybe he meant later in the week. The next day maybe,” Caroline said, putting her hair in a ponytail and helping herself to the fries that I couldn’t bring myself to eat. I couldn’t eat much when I felt sad, and having that conversation with Caroline was, well, making me sad.

“He didn’t specify. It was safe to assume later that evening or the next day.”

“Hmmm.”

“I was so excited, but maybe I just need to tell myself it’s over. If he was actually my boyfriend, he’d…”

“He’d what?”

“He’d frickin talk to me! Ask for my help. Ask me just to be there for him. Something. So even if he decided to start talking to me again, I don’t think it would be as boyfriend and girlfriend. I think I’d tell him we are officially just friends.” I knew I said I would try to stop lying, but I stressed the word
try
.

Caroline sucked on her bottom lip and smiled.

“What?”

“Would you tell him that to his face?”

“Huh?”

Caroline’s smile grew.

“What is your problem?”

Caroline put her hands up in an I-don’t-know manner, and shrugged her shoulders. At that exact moment, I realized many people sitting around us in the cafeteria were staring at me. They’d look at me and then glance at the back of the cafeteria. That was when I saw Dalton, wobbling down the middle aisle of tables on crutches with his electric guitar slung across his back. His bandmate, Matt, carried in an amp behind him. I was shocked, but so happy to see Dalton, and so happy to see him up and around. I wanted to run up and hug him, but was reluctant. He wanted his space and time, so why would I throw myself at him? Besides, it seemed he wasn’t coming for me. He stopped walking down the aisle, took his crutches out from under his arms, and leaned them against a table. He then limped the couple of feet back to the middle of the aisle, found where I sat, and locked eyes with me.

“Um, hey,” he started. He wasn’t talking very loud, but everybody in the cafeteria was curious, so a quiet fell over the lunchroom with only Dalton’s deep voice resonating. Two school security guards made their way across the cafeteria toward him. “A lot of you might not know me. I was at this school for only about a month when I got hit by a car. Haven’t been back since, and I won’t be back again. I’m going back to my old school. But that’s not why I’m here, and you guys don’t have to listen to me. I only want one person to hear what I have to say, and if she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t have to listen, either.” Dalton took in a breath and licked his lips while Matt walked over and plugged in Dalton’s guitar. Matt had set up the amp to Dalton’s side and a bit behind him, with an extension cord. One of the security guards made his way over to Matt and bent over. It looked like he was going to grab the amp. The other guard stood in front of Dalton with his arms crossed. I couldn’t hear what the security guard said, but I could hear Dalton say, “Please, just give me a minute.” The two security guards looked at each other and the one near Matt nodded. “One minute,” the one security guard said to Dalton.

“Thank you,” Dalton said, finding my eyes again. “Okay, I’m sorry, Lexie. I pushed you away, and I shouldn’t have. I know that. I let myself get sucked into self-pity, and it took me a bit to crawl out of that dark hole. I was scared. I love you, Lexie. I wrote this for you.”

Tears rolled down my face and I didn’t attempt to wipe them away. Dalton was there for me, and I couldn’t be happier. I didn’t care that he didn’t talk to me for weeks, or that he had a short life sentence – that he was officially sick now, or any of those things he said. All I cared about was our love. I tried to suppress it, prepare myself for life without him, but the second I saw him standing there, all that love boiled over and it didn’t want to be ignored anymore.

Dalton sang with such conviction, I knew every word that came out of his mouth was true. It came from his heart. His physical heart might have been broken, but his emotional heart loved more than anyone I had ever known. All eyes were on him as he sang and played his guitar. Nobody looked at me. Dalton was too mesmerizing. The security guards even seemed to relax some. The song started out slow, a ballad of sorts. As it went on, it picked up like it gained hope, growing into something wonderful. It exuded love – his voice and the electric guitar reverberating off the walls as the tempo picked up even more. Security didn’t even escort him out after a minute – they let him play his whole song. They seemed just as entranced as everybody else. When he finished, tears glistened in his eyes, and my breath stuck in my chest. Everybody was still quiet because it seemed the moment called for it, to take in what they just saw and heard. Then the moment passed. Everybody started cheering and clapping.

Dalton slowly wobbled toward me, but security grabbed his elbow – it was time for him to go.

“Crutches,” Dalton said as the security guards tried to lead him away. Matt grabbed them for him along with the guitar and amp, and security escorted them both toward the exit of the cafeteria. Dalton looked over his shoulder at me and jerked his head to the side. I knew what he was getting at. Boos rang out as they dragged Dalton away.

I looked over at Caroline, who had this huge smile on her face. She gave me two thumbs up. “Go,” she whispered.

I listened, and while everybody was busy watching Dalton, I slunk along the back wall of the cafeteria to the set of doors that led out to the back of the school. I slipped out the doors, ran alongside the baseball fields, and turned a corner, running up the other side of the school and around to the front. My heart pounded in my chest, partially from the exertion of running, but more from knowing that Dalton would be out front waiting for me. I got to the main doors of the building and looked around for Dalton, not seeing him anywhere. Then my eye caught movement on the sidewalk in front of the school.

I should have run down the sidewalk into his arms, kissing him all over, but I was still a little overcome by it all. He started walking toward me and I stood there watching him make his way to me on his crutches. He stopped part-way up the front of the school’s walkway.

I nodded and slowly started making my way to him, picking up my pace until I stood a couple of feet in front of him. “Dalton,” I said.

“I’m going to explain myself. Okay?” he asked, his eyes brimming with tears.

I nodded. Dalton stood taller and threw his crutches to the side. He took a step closer to me and let out a deep breath. “So, I know I didn’t fully explain how much my body and heart dislike each other, especially lately. After I got hit, when I was in the hospital, they did a biopsy and then an ultrasound on my heart and saw the extent of that war. Even though they upped my meds not too long ago, the docs pretty much said they aren’t doing their job, so I have to start a new treatment. They take my blood and expose it to ultraviolet light, and it somehow tricks my body. Not going to go into specifics now, but it should keep me going. But this scared me.

Not that I get to keep living, but that my meds aren’t working. After this, there’s only one other real treatment, and I’m on the bottom of a waiting list again for a new heart. Since I already had a transplant, my chance of rejection goes up another twenty percent or something. Anyway, I haven’t gotten there yet. Hopefully this treatment will help delay that, but I was scared. Who wants to be in love with a guy who might not be here in a few years? Then I realized, that’s not my decision to make. I needed to stop wallowing in my sorrows and be happy that I’m even here, and that I’m more than what I think of myself or what people perceive of me.

I’m more than the kid who got shot during a botched drug raid. I’m more than the kid who got a heart transplant. And recently, more than that guy who got hit by a car. I’m also a voracious reader of corny novels. I’m a musician. I’m loved deeply by family and friends, and I love deeply, too. Especially one certain someone. Lexie, I’m so sorry.” The tears that brimmed his eyes before now ran down his cheeks.

I sucked on my bottom lip and nodded.

“Lexie?”

I closed the space between us, wrapping my arms around him, lying my head on his chest. I just held him – I didn’t say anything. I just needed to feel him, touch and hold him and make sure he was there. He kissed the top of my head.

“You can’t ever do that again, just ignore me for all that time.”

“I promise I never will.”

“Time with you is precious, Dalton,” I said, taking a breath, his scent so familiar and comforting.

“I know, and that’s why I’m so sorry, and I’m sorry if I made you feel like…,” he trailed off, running his hand down my hair.

“Ignored, like I didn’t matter to you anymore, like you didn’t love me.”

“God, I do, and so much, Lexie. That’s why I tried to push you away. I have a disease called CAV, cardiac allograft vasculopathy. It’s ruining my heart. I’m not going to have a long, happy life, but I want you to have one. Be happy and not sad that you had some boyfriend—”

“Dalton, stop. I know your reasons, and I actually understand, but it still hurt me.”

“And now you don’t want to be with me.”

“No, no, I never want to be without you.”

“But—”

“I know, one day I will be. But that’s when that day comes. Dalton, you’re going to have a wonderful, happy life. However long or short it may be.”

Dalton nodded.

“I love you,” I said.

Dalton swallowed and wiped tears away from his eyes with the heel of his hand. “I love you, too.”

***

I used to tell this story about a prince and a princess, but that story wasn’t true. But my new story — the only one I like to tell now — is true. It’s about a sixteen-year-old boy who loves a sixteen-year-old girl. A love so grand it would be around for years upon years after they were gone, when they were just mere specks in the wind. After everybody had said good-bye, the woodland creatures left, the flowers and trees continued being flowers and trees, and the unicorns went back to frolicking. The love this boy and girl had would still be there, filling people’s hearts. Even if these people didn’t know them or weren’t aware that this boy and girl had a love, some speck of it would remain in everyone because everyone had a possibility of that love in them. They just had to find it and set it free.

I would like to thank my writing squad for all of the support and encouragement they have given me. Major thanks to Vera, Christy, Grace, and Annie. You ladies are always there when I have a question or need an opinion or need someone to gripe to. You all are great. And thanks to my husband, who goes along with all of the schemes I dream up.

Katie Kaleski writes books for young adults.
A Fabrication of the Truth
is her debut novel.

When she isn’t writing, she enjoys designing book covers, drawing, and reading.

Breakfast cereal with milk is her ultimate meal, and she loves all things cute and fuzzy.

And

Coming Winter 2016

More secrets, bands, and kisses

With Phoebe and Gage in

A Fabrication of Forever