Forever August ✔️

chapter thirty-two

"finding love standing right where we are."
- lauv
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AURORA WAS BARELY through the door when Thomas came running down the stairs, yelling about Gus.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, rolling her eyes. She tugged off her sneakers, easier now that the brace was off her wrist.

"Gus told me," he breathed, bending over and panting, "to tell you—"

"You know the stairs are fourteen steps, Thom. You should not be out of breath from that."

"—to meet him at your spot," he finished, narrowing his eyes. "And fuck off."

Aurora froze with her sneakers hanging from her finger. "You were with Gus?"

"I saw him at the beach."

"You saw him or you went looking for him?" she asked.

"What does it matter?" He wouldn't meet her eyes, and he was shifting on the balls of his feet. Aurora knew he was hiding something.

"Thomas!" she yelled.

Their mother walked through the door, eyeing the two of them. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing." Aurora grabbed Thomas' wrist and dragged him outside, shutting the door behind them. "Why did you go talk to Gus?"

"Because someone has to tell me what happened between you too since you won't," he said. He sat on the steps leading to the porch, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Right. The same way you told me you're back together with Poison Ivy?"

Thomas' head snapped up. He swore under his breath, then said, "How'd you know that?"

"I didn't. But you just confirmed it."

Thomas sighed, running his hands through his messy hair. Aurora noticed that he always looked like their father when he did that.

"This isn't about Ivy and me. This is about you and Gus, Rory. You have to go meet him. You need to hear what he has to say."

Aurora nudged Thomas' leg with her foot, then took a seat beside him. "Nothing he says will change this. It won't change that I'm going to leave him behind."

"Yeah, it will."

Aurora eyed him. She knew her twin well enough to know he was keeping a secret from her. "What did you do?"

"What?"

"You're keeping something from me. What is it?"

"I told him about Jo," he said.

Aurora felt her eyes begin to burn. "You what?" she breathed. She couldn't look at her brother. She couldn't believe he would tell Gus that without her permission.

"And before you freak out, he deserves to know why you're pushing him away, Ror. But I'm telling you, go and talk to him. You need to hear this and it has to be from Gus. Not me."

"You had no right to do that!" she screamed. "That's—Jo is my story to tell, Thomas! Not yours."

"Are you sure, Rory? Because you've kept that secret for a year now. It sounds more like you're afraid. Or you're ashamed," he said, whispering the last word.

Ashamed. It hit her like a knife to the heart. She wasn't ashamed. She'd never been ashamed of the way she loved Josephine. Aurora only wished she had told Jo before she died. Her love felt like a secret now because there was no use loving a girl who was dead. All the love in the world wouldn't bring her back. So what was the point telling anyone when it was too late?