Chapter Text
Lara Jean spends almost the entire weekend in her room, just lying in bed, trying to distract herself by reading a new book she had picked up last week. She finally gives up Sunday at noon when she realizes that she has read half the book but still has no idea what the name of the protagonist is, let alone what the story is about.
"Look who's finally out of bed!" Dan says warmly as Lara Jean enters the kitchen.
"Hi, Dad. What are you making?"
"I thought I'd try my hands at Chuncheon Dakgalbi. It won't be ready for a while but you can keep me company if you want."
Lara Jean takes a seat at the kitchen island and watches her dad cut vegetables.
"How was the party?" He asks.
"Oh.. it was a party."
"And Carlos? Was he nice?"
Lara Jean's expression sours. "I don't think you'll be seeing him around here much."
"No? Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really. How's work?"
Dan grins proudly. "Delivered a baby boy this morning. His parents had been trying for a long time and were very scared the entire pregnancy that something would go wrong. But he was healthy as they come."
"What did they name him?"
"Kent. After his grandfather. I saw Peter too."
"Peter? Where?"
"In the hospital. I had some time after the delivery so I thought I'd go check on him."
Dread starts creeping inside Lara Jean. "Peter is in the hospital?!"
"Yeah. He's been in a car accident. You didn't hear?"
Lara Jean shakes her head.
"He seems to have run a red light and a car from a side street hit him. It looked like he was coming from that party you went to so they thought alcohol might have been involved—"
"Peter doesn't drink and drive!" Lara Jean interrupts him, looking offended at the implication.
Dan eyes her curiously. "Yeah. The blood test showed that."
"How is he?"
"Luckily, neither car was driving fast. Everyone got away with minor injuries. The driver in the other car had few broken ribs and Peter got a small fracture in the ulna bone in his forearm. I don't think he'll be playing for few weeks though."
"Where was the accident?"
"Uhh.. a couple of blocks from here."
Her dad keeps talking but Lara Jean is not listening. The night of the party he drove her home. The accident must have happened right after. Did she cause that accident? Was she being unfair to him? It's not like him to not stop at red lights, was her refusal to hear him out the reason why he wasn't paying attention? She hadn't meant to say all the things she ended up saying in his car, but once she started, she couldn't stop. Having him this close and hearing him trying to justify his actions, it was too much. The wound was simply too raw and too deep to not have it bleed in front of him. She doesn't know what she wanted him to say, or if there was anything he could have said, but when he didn't even try, all she could do was go to her room and cry herself to sleep. Should she have stayed? Could she have prevented him getting hurt?
"Is he still in the hospital?" Lara Jean asks, not even registering that Dan is in the middle of a story about his co-worker.
"Dr. Malard?"
"No. Peter."
"Oh, I don't think so. He was suppose to be discharged this morning."
"Can I go see him?"
"I thought you weren't friends anymore."
Lara Jean doesn't respond to that but her resolve is obvious. Dan nods to her to go and she jumps out of her chair and runs out.
Peter is reclining on the couch in the living room, watching something on his laptop. From the kitchen, his mom calls out, "Peter! You have a visitor."
He groans. He's really not in the mood to see anyone, preferring to drown in his own misery.
"You really didn't have to c— Lara Jean!" He sits up quickly. For a split second, he forgets their situation and tries to go hug her, but then he remembers the last time he saw her. He takes a cautious stance but can't help feeling a little optimistic. He thought she would never speak to him again, yet here she is.
Lara Jean tentatively walks in. "Dad just told me about the accident."
"Oh."
"How are you?"
He gestures with his arm in the cast. "Oh that's nothing. These kinds of stuff happen all the time."
She rolls her eyes impatiently. "If I wanted the macho version, I would've checked your Instagram! How are you really doing?"
He keeps his expression neutral but on the inside, he's so happy to know that she still cares. "My arm hurt yesterday but it's largely fine now. I have bruises on my right side but nothing few bottles of pineapple juice won't take care of. The fracture is very small so the cast should come off in no more than two weeks."
"When are you suppose to see the doctor again?"
"I have an appointment next week for a new x-ray to see if the bone is healed yet."
"And lacrosse?"
"I won't be playing for two weeks after the cast is off."
"But you'll be back as usual after that?"
"'Good as new."
"How about recruiters and scholarships?"
"I'm still a junior. Recruiters probably won't look to me until next year. By then, this would all be history." She still looks concerned though, so he adds. "It's really nothing Lara Jean. I will be fine and back to normal in no time."
After every question, Peter edges closer and feels more confident. She's worried about him. She still cares about him and his future. He screwed up majorly, but maybe it's not all lost. Maybe... maybe...
When Lara Jean is satisfied with his state, she lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. But that only gives room for her anger to rise.
She suddenly reaches for the closest throw-pillow and starts hitting him everywhere except the injured arm.
"You stupid, stupid boy! Why did you do that?! You could've died! You could've gotten really hurt! You could've injured your brain and couldn't graduate!"
"Ow! Ow! Hey, stop! Ow!" He grabs the pillow and takes it away from her. "I thought you would be happy if I stopped going to school!"
Lara Jean is glaring at him, breathing heavily and her face is still furious. "Why on earth would that make me happy?!"
"Because you hate me, because of how I hurt you." He really doesn't want to remind her, preferring to stay on the receiving end of her outburst, but the elephant in the room is still there.
Lara Jean lets out an infuriated scream, snatches the pillow back and starts a new round of attack. "You idiot! This is not how it works! You don't stop loving someone just because they broke your heart!"
Peter's eyes open wide and he stops trying to block her hits. When Lara Jean notices his sudden passivity, she realizes what she just said and jumps back several steps, both her hands flying to smack her mouth shut.
"You love me?" Peter repeats in disbelief. When she doesn't answer, he takes a hesitant step forward. "Lara Jean? Please?"
She slowly lowers her hands and averts her eyes. She mumbles, "I got into the hot tub, didn't I?"
He covers the rest of the distance between them in two large steps and speaks in imploring, eager voice. "I'm sorry, Lara Jean. I screwed up. I should've told you about the video. I shouldn't have let Gen play me. Please give me another chance. I love you so much. More than anything. Please let me prove it to you."
Lara Jean looks away, then back at him. "What if she tries to threaten you again? Or take advantage of something else? You do have a lot of history together."
"The first thing I would do is call you to tell you. I promise."
Lara Jean's eyes are sad, but her resolve is wavering. "You said horrible things about me, Peter. You made me feel like I wasn't worth it."
He takes her hands in both of his. "You are! You're worth everything! I was stupid and thought I couldn't tell anyone what was going on. I didn't mean any of it. Everything I said made me sick to my stomach and I hated myself for saying it, but I didn't know what to do. I thought I was protecting you but I was just a chauvinistic asshole. I know now that you don't need that kind of protection, from me or anyone else. I'll never act that way again, I promise."
Lara Jean just looks back at him, but it gives him the confidence to push this. "You can break my heart, Covey; break it into a thousands pieces and I wouldn't care. Because it's yours anyway. Because I love you."
Lara Jean shrugs and mumbles shyly, "I don't want to break your heart."
He smirks a little. "Because you love me too?"
She has to laugh. The next thing she knows is his lips on hers, and she's melting in his arms, feeling like she's come home.
Epilogue
This Math test is a real pain in the ass. Peter and Lara Jean have been hunkered in his room with their text books and notes spread all around them. They're both so stressed out about it that they even manged to stop making out to study.
Peter throws his pen away and lets himself topple sideways on the floor. "Urgg.. this is hopeless!"
"It's not hopeless! Derivation equations are intuitive." Lara Jean tells him encouragingly.
"Easy for you to say. You just get these things."
"You do too. You just haven't spent enough time trying to learn it." She doesn't want to say that he's probably having trouble now because he had skipped many Math classes because he had them with Gen. He knows that already. "Here, I'll show you..." She looks around for something. "Do you have any highlight pens?"
Peter sits up and points at the foot of the bed. "My backpack. The small pocket."
Lara Jean goes to get the pens. She rummages a little before she finds what she's looking for, but that's not the only thing she finds.
"Uhh... Peter! Is this my scrunchie?" She turns around to show him the scrunchie she had last seen in Gen's hair.
Peter blushes and looks guilty. He nods.
"How long has it been in your backpack?"
"Since I made her delete the video," he says as he makes his way to her.
"What were you planing to do with it?" She's not really accusing him of anything. She's just confused, not knowing what to make of this.
"I.. umm.. I've been trying to give it back to you. That's why it's still in my backpack. But every time I try to take it out to return it, I just can't."
"Why not?"
"I kind of want to keep it, but I didn't know if you would let me."
"What would you do with it?"
He silently takes it from her hand and puts it around his wrist, then snaps it in place just like he did on the first party where they showed up together all those months ago.
She gives him an eye roll. "And how long do you want to keep it there?"
He takes a breath and releases it. Gazing at her intently, he says, "I don't want to take it off. I want everyone to see that I'm taken."
She tries not to smile but fails. She says flirtatiously, "I don't want to seem like the possessive type."
Smirking, Peter says, "Too bad. 'Cause I think I'd be into it."
Lara Jean's smile gets wider. This is going to be fun.