Atlas let his hand close over hers, running a thumb deliberately, shockingly, over her knuckles. The touch of his skin gave Avery the confidence she needed.
“I love Atlas,” she said simply and watched the dawning horror on both of her parents’ faces.
Atlas’s hand was laced tight in hers. “And I love Avery.”
It sounded to Avery as if an alarm had gone off, but it was just the silence echoing throughout the apartment.
“You don’t mean that,” Avery’s mom said weakly.
“Yes, we do. Avery and I have been in love for years. And the photo is real. A paparazzi zetta took it when we were together last night.”
“Mom—” Avery’s voice broke. She wanted to explain all the reasons that this wasn’t as bad as her parents thought: that she and Atlas weren’t physically, genetically related. That adoptive siblings could have relationships, could get married, in all fifty states; she had looked it up a long time ago. The law only prevented adoptive parents from marrying their own children.
More, though, she wished her parents could understand how perfect she and Atlas were together, that theirs was a love that could—and had—overcome anything in its way. That no matter how many times the world tried to destroy it, their love kept emerging again, battered and bruised but still stubbornly there.
This was her forever love. The kind of love that someone would have written a novel about, a century ago. It was her and Atlas against the world, no matter what; and Avery knew that if she couldn’t have Atlas then she would have no one, for all the days of her life.
From the revulsion on her parents’ faces, she knew none of those arguments would make a difference.
She started to take a step forward, but her mom recoiled, her features twisted into a mask of pain. Avery realized that her mom was silently crying. “Stop. Please, just stop!”
Avery felt tears slide down her own cheeks. “I tried to stop, don’t you get it? Sometimes you can’t pick who you love. Sometimes love chooses you.” She bit her lip. “Don’t you remember what it felt like to fall in love and know this was the person you were meant to be with?”
For a half second, Avery saw a flicker on her mom’s face, aqueous and uncertain, and then just as quickly it was gone. “You don’t know half of what you’re saying. It’s a hormonal mistake; you’re still children, for god’s sake—”
“We’re both adults, actually,” Atlas interrupted. Didn’t their parents remember that they had both voted in the election?
“What’s wrong with you?” Pierson cut in. “Why would you do this to us? Our only daughter and our only son? You’re disgusting.”
We aren’t doing it to you, Avery wanted to cry out, trying not to wince at his stinging words. This wasn’t about her parents at all. If anything, it existed in spite of them.
“We love each other,” Atlas said softly. “I know it seems unlikely, and maybe even selfish, but it’s happened. It’s real.”
Then, to Avery’s surprise, he sank down onto one knee before their dad. He looked curiously as if he were about to propose. It took a moment for Avery to realize what he was doing.
He was begging their dad for help.
“Please,” Atlas implored him. “I know this is upsetting, because it caught you off guard, but it isn’t disgusting at all. It’s true love, which makes it the most rare and beautiful thing in the world. Avery and I can survive this—our family can survive this, I swear it—but only as long as you support us.”
Avery was stunned at his boldness. Was he really asking their parents for their blessing?
“This is New York,” Atlas went on, undaunted. “You just need to give people enough time to get over it, which we all know they’ll do, sooner than you think. We can figure it out. I’ll move out of the apartment; I’ll change my name; I’ll do anything you ask. Please,” he said again, his breath ragged. “You’re Pierson Fuller. You know how easy it is to sway public opinion! New York will follow your lead in this, the way they do in everything! If you reject us, then the world will too. But if you stand by us, and publicly accept us, I know the world will come around.”
Avery was stunned. She had never even considered the possibility that they might stay in New York and actually be together. But as Atlas spoke, she realized the truth of his words, and a sharp hope began to snag in her chest. It just might work.
This was New York, where the pockmarked surface of society was riddled with scandals. Everyone had secrets, everyone had done something shocking. Was it really all that bad, for two unrelated young people to fall in love?
“What are you saying, Atlas? You want me to condone this—this”—her father spluttered—“this abomination?”
Atlas flinched. “I’m saying that if you can overcome your initial reaction, and think about our happiness—”
Pierson reached down to brutally haul his son to his feet. “Your happiness is what I’m thinking about! I love you too much to let you make this kind of mistake. Your mother is right; you clearly have no idea what you’re saying.”
Elizabeth was crying in earnest now, her frame racked with great ugly hiccups. No, Avery realized, she was retching. Her mother was so repulsed by the thought of Avery and Atlas together that she literally wanted to vomit.