My name is Arianna. I lived in Aspen Creek until I was 15. Then, my mom moved us to a small town in Texas to be closer to my grams but that wasn't the only reason. My dad left us for someone else. That's when I met Joey.
That was 3 years ago. We started dating 2 years ago.
"What are you doing after your cross country meet?" my mom asked.
"Meeting Joey. He said he needed to talk to me about something." I said grabbing a dew out of the fridge.
"Wonder what he wants to talk about?" she said raising an eyebrow.
"Don't know guess I will find out." I said shaking my head and laughing.
"Well good luck at the meet." she said as she looked for her keys.
"Mom I don't really think I need it. I an the fastest girl in our conference." I said dangling her keys off my index finger.
"Yes I know but you don't want to be to cocky." she said grabbing her keys off my finger.
"Yeah, yeah, I bet you a hundred I will be across the finish line 30 minutes before anyone else." I told her getting in the car
"I'll take that bet," she said pulling out of the drive way.
She dropped me off at the meet and went to work. I got ready and went to find Abby to give her my phone. I went to the starting line and did my stretches.
Just like I said, I was across the finish line before everyone by 40 minutes. I showered and got dressed the found Abby for my phone. I called Joey as I walked through the to the tables that were set up outside.
"How did you do?" he asked.
"First again." I said with a hint of smugness.
"Well of course." He said laughing.
"Where are you?" I asked as I walked by the tables at the concession stand.
"I'll give you a hint." he said.
"What's the hint?" I said smiling.
"I love it when you wear my shirt." he said smiling as he hung up the phone.
"Well then you'll love this." I said as I walked past him trailing my hand across his chest and abs as I went.
"Your right I do love this view." he said grabbing my hand and spinning me around. He pulled me close to him and kissed me "I love you."
"I love you too. Are you ready to go?" I asked leading him out to the parking lot.
"Yeah let's go." he said as he got in the car.
"What did you want to talk about?" I asked turning down the radio.
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be out of town for a couple of days." he said as he pulled into his driveway.
"Okay when are you leaving?" I asked as I walked into the living room.
"Early tomorrow morning." He said sitting down on the couch.
We spent the rest of the night watching movies on the couch. He took me home around midnight. I didn't talk to him the whole time he was gone. Monday at school everyone was looking at me like I was going to burst into tears at any moment. They kept asking me if I was okay.
"How are you holding up dear? I'm here if you need to talk." said Mrs. Boltin my guidance counselor.
"I'm fine. Why does everyone keep asking me that?" I yelled looking around.
"Joey hasn't told you?" asked his best friend Taylor.
"Told me what!" I screamed at him.
"You'll have to ask him." he said as the bell rang.
"Fine I will. I'm going over there right now!" I said slamming my locker shut
I got in my car and started thinking. What if he doesn't want to be with me anymore. What am I going to do. I pulled into his driveway and took a couple of deep breathes to calm myself down. Once I was as calm as I was going to get, I went up to the door and knocked. His mom answered the door.
"Hey is Joey here? I need to talk to him?" I asked trying to sound calm.
"Yeah just a minute," she said closing the door.
I stood on the porch. I could hear then talking.
"Joe, Arianna is here." his mom said.
"Tell her I don't want to talk to her." said Joe.
"Joe, you need to tell her. Do you want her to find out from someone else?" she asked I could feel my eyes fill with tears.
"No, I don't." He said.
I heard him open the door and I quickly blinked away the tears in my eyes. I had my back to the door so he couldn't see my face.
"If you don't want to be with me just tell me." I said my voice cracking as I fought back the tears.
"What would make you think that? Of course I want to be with you." He said putting his arms around me and laying his head on my shoulder. "I love you more than you'll ever know."
"Well, everyone has been asking if I'm okay. Then Taylor said 'Joe didn't tell you'. Then I heard you and your mom talking. What was I supposed to think? You leave for two days and don't call then you don't talk to me when you get home." I said turning around to look at him "There's something you aren't telling me."
"Yeah there is, but not because I don't want to. I just don't know how." he said sitting on the front steps.
"Why not start at the beginning." I said, sitting beside him.
"Well my mom was starting to get worried about my headaches so she took me to the doctor. They did a scan of my head. He thought he saw something abnormal so he set us up with a specialist. That's were we went. They did a bunch of tests." he said looking away from me with tears in his eyes.
"Well this can't be good." I whispered taking his hand.
"I have a brain tumor. They said that it's inoperable." he said a tear falling down his cheek.
"So what there's nothing they can do!" I said shocked.
"Nope." he said hugging me.
"How long do we have?" I asked burying my head in his neck and crying.
"They don't know." He said his voice cracking.
"So what I'm just supposed to sit here and watch you die!" I cried into his shoulder.
"It's okay. It'll be okay." he said into my hair.
We sat on the steps holding each other until I had to go home.