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3.28 Day Nineteen: Lizzie/Parker

FRIDAY

DAY NINETEEN

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LIZZIE

I debated giving Parker her jacket early. Not with the note or anything declaring my feelings for her, but just the jacket might be enough to lift Parker from her doom and gloom. It might have the power to part the rain clouds and bring back a small sliver of sunshine. No way did I think it was enough to fix all her problems, but it might sit like a nice band-aid over at least one of the wounds.

My stomach wouldn't stop aching as I drove to her workplace. I knew it wasn't my responsibility to fix all of Parker's grocery list of problems, but that didn't mean I never wanted to help. It didn't mean I never wanted to be the person that saved her, like the gallant knight that slays the dragon to get the girl.

By the end of this, I wanted to get the girl.

Even if I wasn't the one who could help her. Ian was wrong at the auditorium. It wasn't about fixing each other. We were supposed to help each other and make each other's lives better. Whatever it took...

Sighing, I pulled into the Frugal Finds grocery store parking lot, feeling like a total cheeseball and if Parker could hear my thoughts, she'd probably hurl me into the next dimension from laughing so hard. If Camille's eye roll didn't kill me first.

Camille had been texting me nonstop, asking how Parker was doing.

I told her to just ask Parker herself.

That earned me a keyboard smash of letters and a link to the Glee cover of You Can't Always Get What You Want, so I sent her a link to Forget You.

I drove up the hill to find a parking spot, when my eyes pinned on Parker sitting on top of one of the park benches outside the store. All alone. The space inside the car suddenly shrunk and my space to move and breathe lessened. An overwhelming sense of dread barreled into my stomach like one swift kick.

I let out a shaky breath and grabbed the paper bag holding Parker's jacket. "Let's do this."

#

PARKER

Ever since yesterday, I haven't been able to get comfortable. Like there wasn't quite an easy sitting position. Even my clothes hug my body awkwardly, like my sleeves were too tight and my socks kept slipping down my heels and burrowing inside my shoe. I've been out of breath. With the same headache from yesterday.

I couldn't remember what feeling normal was like and I wondered if I would ever stop feeling like this.

Debbie noticed something about my mood, but I just shrugged it off and lied about it being period cramps. She made me some hot chocolate and left me alone. That made me cry like a big baby for at least twenty minutes. God dammit. Lizzie's crying thing was infectious. Now that I started crying, I didn't think I was ever going to stop.

So lame.

I sat outside during my break at work, freezing my fingers and toes off. Nobody cool was working today and the only other person in the breakroom was a lady named Theresa who ate chips with her mouth open and I didn't feel like getting a misdemeanor for punching an old lady out, so I sequestered myself outside to die of hypothermia.

Everything changed.

I wished there was a way I could find something more permanent. Something that wouldn't change no matter what. Sounded like I needed a pet rock.