Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card

BETTER SIGNAL

JESS

The night was still, the sky stretched wide above me, thick with stars. It should have been peaceful, but my heart was

hammering so hard I could barely hear anything else.

My hands clenched around my phone as I paced on top of this goddamn hill, willing for better reception.

Static crackled in my ear, followed by Luke's voice-choppy but urgent.

"Something happened... Germany... this morning-well, their morning, our evening, or whatever..." He was talking fast, words breaking apart, stitched together by interference.

I stopped moving. "Luke, what? I can barely hear you."

A rush of static, then-

"Her heart stopped, Jess."

The words punched through me, ripping the air from my lungs.

It felt like something had slammed into my chest. I staggered, my knees giving out, and I dropped onto the cold, damp grass.

No.

No, no, no.

My mind reeled, scrambling, trying to make sense of what that

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13:27

BETTER SIGNAL

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meant.

Her heart stopped.

That meant...

That meant-

asked Josh to sign the DNR papers. They'd told him this would happen eventually. And if her heart

pressed my fist against my mouth, barely suppressing the sob

She was gone.

Laura was gone.

voice cut through the silence again, breaking apart,

to attempt-resuscitation-Josh was

hard, my breath hitching. "What?" I croaked. "Babe. What the hell are

my ears as I climbed higher

come on, come

clear as day, Luke's voice

"She woke up, Jess."

13:270

BETTER SIGNAL

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Everything stopped.

around me blurred, the night sky stretching,

No. That wasn't possible.

talking, his words almost breathless, like even

"Babe, she woke up."

breath

but to resuscitate her. The professor said a lot of things that could have happened to have her wake up, but I couldn't

Laura wasn't gone.

She was alive.

think.

could control. Rocks and dirt slipped under my boots, and for a second, I was sure I was going