"I hate you."
"I hate you."
"That's not nice."
"That's not nice."
"Stop!"
"Stop!"
"..."
"..."
"Touché, Goode."
"Touché, Morgan."
..
Dear Gallagher Girl,
I had no choice but to leave you. I know you'll hate me forever for doing this, and what I did was unforgivable. So I'm not asking you to forgive me.
I know that you're hurt by my decision. I know that I hurt you. But now you know what it was like when you left. Please don't feel any guilt for what you did. Because now we're in the same situation. We left the people we love most. We didn't run away. We left.
Gallagher Girl, don't let your tears drip onto the paper. You're still pretty, though. Even if you cry and cause the ink of this letter to spill.
I left to protect you. All Catherine, all the COC wants is you. You thought we defeated them?
They're still out there, Gallagher Girl. They're still looking for you. I left to protect you, to find them before they could find you and hurt you.
I promise I'll be back soon. I won't move on from you. Please don't move on from me.
But just in case,
I love you.
~Z
..
I threw the letter to the ground, the letter I had been reading for years since Zach left. No, I had not moved on from him. I still loved him. But I thought he was so stupid for leaving. But whenever I thought that, I thought about the time I ran away.
A stupid note. He left me a stupid note. A stupid note that was on regular paper, in his regular handwriting. He left me a stupid note.
And he put a stupid 'Just in Case' if he didn't come back. "YOU COULDN'T BOTHER TELLING ME IN PERSON, ZACHARY GOODE?!" I yelled to the air around me.
"No. I couldn't."
A pair of arms embraced me from behind and turned me around to face the subject and capture my lips in his.
"Zach..." I mumbled through the kisses. He pulled away and held me at arms length. I started to cry.
"You left me, Zach. For years and years and years... You left me," I said stubbornly. His eyes glistened. "I'm so sorry, Gallagher Girl."
I moved towards him, hugging him to me tightly.
"Don't you ever go again."
He pulled my face up to look at him in the eyes. I knew what was coming. Normal spies can't make those kinds of promises.
"I promise."
But then again, we weren't exactly normal spies.
He kissed me again passionately, and I found myself struggling to hold myself up. We broke away for air and he carried me to the bed, lying down next to me, his arm under me.
"I love you," he said.
I looked at him.
I love you too.