This chapter is dedicated to my grandma, Telesflora Hernandez. I will always love you Gram. You always believed in me. I learned how to tell stories from you, although you probably never knew it.
Telesflora Hernandez 1935-2009
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Keith's POV:
That girl was gonna be the death of me. I swear if it wasn't one thing it was another.
But I love her for it. All her little quirks and hang ups. We'd grown up together in a way. We'd matured together. Become adults pushing at the other to grow up. Yes, I know I often made things harder than they had to be for her but I like to think of it as enlivening her life. Really I wonder how she survived without me at all. I know I wouldn't have survived without her. All those months of chemo and tests. I woulda just rolled over and not cared. I had tried to be callous. That was the whole reason I started hanging out with her in the first place. I wanted to make her life miserable. Because I wanted someone else to be in as much pain as I was. I'd tried to convince myself I was callous to everything around me. I was going to leave it soon why should I care, right? But Natalie made me care. She wouldn't take no for an answer. She pushed me to fight all those months during chemo when I thought giving up would be better than the hell I was going through. But she wouldn't let me. Natalie gave me something to live for. She demanded that I live. As soon as she found out that there was a chance I would make it she fought harder for my life than I did. Not only did she fight for my life but she fought me for my life. She fought my bad attitudes and hurtful sarcasm.
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I knew I was being irrational. I could feel it in my aching bones. But for the life of me I couldn't make my tongue stay still. It seemed that everything I'd said to her for the past three hours had had some sort of back handed comment attached to it. I was waiting for her famous temper to appear. I wanted her to snap at me to put me in my place. She was always the one who told me when I was being a jerk and expected me to change.
"Natalie. My drink is too warm."
It was really just fine. I was anxious for a fight I suppose. Why else would I be tempting fate in such a manner?
She just got up and went into the kitchen. I heard the freezer door open and ice being moved around. Then she appeared in the doorway. "Here ya go. Anything else, Keith?"
Yes, stop treating me like an invalid. "No, I'm ok. Thanks Partner."
Was that it then? I was upset cause she was giving me special treatment cause of well, my treatments? Oh hell. How am I gonna explain that one? I needed to get out of here. I needed my truck. My keys were in my jacket pocket. My jacket was on the table by the door. If I could just get to the door I'd be home free. I'd been feeling much better this past week. I needed to get out of here.
"I'll be back soon."
I got up and walked out.
To my utter surprise, she let me. She didn't put up a fuss about me being sick or needing to rest. She just let me. I was shocked. Happily shocked, but still shocked.
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I laugh to myself to think about that night. I'd gone to our "place" and fallen asleep in my truck bed pondering Natalie's behavior. When I woke up the next morning, Natalie was curled into my side and a blanket was covering the two of us. I smiled at the memory. She was always so cute when she first woke up. Today she'd been absolutely trying every last ounce of self-control I had. Really. If she kept this up..well I might just have to do something about it. We were currently driving down an old two lane highway with nothing but open fields on either side of us. The most boring landscape in existence. But Natalie seemed fascinated with it. This did not bode well for my self-control. If there was one area Natalie had never grown up in, it was torturing me.
"Stop it."
She looked over at me. "I'm sorry. Did you say something?"
"Stop plotting my downfall."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"You know very well what I mean you're just shocked that I caught you. Don't lie to me babe. I know you were thinking up ways to make my life a pleasurable hell."
"Keith, I would never try to make your life hell."
"That's not what I meant and you know it."
"Aw Keith's upset. Gonna go and sleep in your truck again?"
She knew I was thinking about that night. I swear sometimes she's psychic. And yes, I'm fully away that you can't have a 6th sense only some of the time. It's either all or nothing right? "Yes. I'm going to pull over and take a nap in the bed. Wanna join me? Cause I seem to remember that from last time."
"I'm not the one who ran away like a little boy."
"Well I sure hope not cause I thought you were a girl all this time. Man is Pop gonna be upset when he hears about this."
"Don't try to change the subject with some slightly off-base remark, Keith."
"Well ok Natalie how about you change the subject. What would you like to talk about?"
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"Partner, what are you doing here?"
"Keith?"
Oh god I loved waking up next to this girl. We hadn't even done anything the night before and still the feeling of tremendous peace and contentment permeated the air. "Rise and shine babe."
"No." She resolutely buried her face in my chest.
"Hey since when am I the one who's awake first? Aren't you the one who's always annoyingly perky in the morning?" Self control. Self control. Self control.
"Perky sucks."
"Well that's never stopped you before."
"Go back to sleep Keith."
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"Do you ever wonder about what we'd talk about if we didn't argue?"
Well that was completely unexpected.
"Uh..no?"
"Cause really that's the majority of what we talk about."
"No it's not and you know it. And we don't argue that often. We banter. There is a difference. Check your dictionary. Besides, what would we be without our banter?" I took her hand. "Two crazy kids in love that barely spoke to one another. and I'm no Dr. Phil but I don't think that's how it works."
"I love you Keith."
"I love you back, babe"
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Ok so now you've gotta review. It's basically required. So I want to see a whole lot more reviews for this chapter than for the last one. As in all you people who are reading my story and not reviewing…shame on you! See that little beige box with green writing at the bottom? Click that and try to redeem yourselves! (please).