“No, I think you got it right.” She squeezed my hand. “I think this might be the strongest I’ve ever felt for anyone, too. But if we do this, we need to build each other up. Not bring each other down.”

She was right. Relationships are about growing together, and she was someone I wanted to grow with. If that required unlearning crappy behaviour, then I was all ears. I was ready for change. I was ready for Mel. I thought about what I had said to her in her bedroom, and how toxic it was. I had to tell her it wasn’t true.

“You do care, y’know. It was wrong of me to say that. I hope you know you’re not as alone as you think,” I told her.

“I know,” she said. “I’m working on it. The whole opening myself up thing.”

“There’s no rush. Take it at your pace.” I grinned.

“It’s the only way I know how.” She grinned back.

I wrapped my arms around her, still unsure if I should say it. I was thinking it, and it was on my mind the whole time, so I just said it.

“Melody, I love you.”

The biggest smile made its way across her face, but she moved her head away in shyness.

“Shut up, beautiful boy.” She turned her head back to me and gently touched my face with both of her hands, bringing me forward. Her lips met mine as she kissed me, and I closed my eyes. Her warmth filled my chest with what felt like magic. I finally felt like I was rebuilding the broken bridge between us. Mel was the song I wanted on replay, the person I wanted to have my back, and I wanted to have hers, too. I would, I promised her that.

“I love you, too,” she said as she let go. I got closer and wrapped my arms around her waist. She laughed while she kissed my face. Mel made me feel a lot of things, but most importantly, she taught me that I’m worthy of love and happiness. Those were things that were often far away from my grasp, but now my heart felt as full as the moon.

Eventually we made our way inside the cabin. Mel had taken the keys from her dad. It wasn’t very big on the inside. There was a couch, a bed, and a giant window that overlooked the lake. Mel opened up a trunk at the edge of the bed that had pillows and blankets inside. We made ourselves comfortable, and then she began tickling me, which led to a pillow fight, which then led to cuddling and lots more laughing, which led to conversation. We spoke about how we were going to help each other out, how we could build our relationship to a better place, and how we could support each other without dragging each other down. We were both very hopeful about it. I think the most important part of that night was that for the first time in a long time, we let ourselves be happy.