Our Little Secret | Sal Vulcano

Ch. 16

I was munching on a sandwich, waiting for Sal to pick up on Skype. It's been a month since he took me on the road trip and I haven't seen him in person since. He's been busy shooting his shows and I've been busy with treatment. I had news to tell him, big news.

He picked up and his face showed up on my screen, pixelated. "Hey!" He shouted with excitement.

"Hey! So, I have something to tell you." I was smirking and my cheeks were getting red.

"Yeah?"

"I went to see my doctor and he said that someone is gonna donate their heart to me. They wanted to keep it anonymous as of now, but isn't that great, Sal?!"

Sal's face turned bright. "That's amazing!"

"I know," my voice went soft, "we get to be together forever now."

Sal's eye went dark, his smile didn't match his eyes. "Yeah." He cleared his throat, "when's the operation?"

I swallowed the last bite of my sandwich and rubbed my hands to get the crumbs off. "I'm not sure when exactly, but I think in 3 weeks."

He widened his eyes. "3 weeks?!" I nodded my head. "Angela, I have to see you before that."

"I know. We can figure something out." It was silent for a couple of seconds. Us looking at our phone, or looking at something around us. "What if my body rejects the heart?" I said, quietly.

Sal looked onto the screen, his eyebrows scrunched. He didn't know what to say and you can tell by the look on his face it made him upset. "We'll see what happens."

We were on Skype for another hour talking about our plans and how Sal will be going on tour again with the other guys until my mom called me down to go shopping with her. I tied a purple floral bandana over my bald head and put some shoes on, heading to the car that my mother was waiting in.

"Hey, sorry." I apologized for taking too long to get the the car.

"It's okay." My mom pulled out of the driveway. "So, what do you want?"

"I don't know. I think I need some new clothes because I'm not feeling the clothes I have from a year ago,' I said as a tugged on my shirt that I bought in my sophomore year. We drove to the mall and there was silence in the car. I hated that I'm not able to tell my mom about Sal. Tell her about all the things he's done for me since I met him. Tell her about how he took me on a road trip just because it was on my bucket list. How he is the one that's been keeping me strong this whole time. It was hard to be so in love with a man more than twice your age who loves you back because you can't brag about it. You can't tell anyone how you have never felt so loved by someone until you met him. It was crazy to think that for a few years, I was in love with a man on TV, and then I met him and he fell in love with me. I got to know the side of Sal that no one else knows.

I told Shannon all about the road trip and I think she might be falling in love with him, too. "Wow, he's such an amazing guy." You got that right, Shannon. It was good to know that I had a friend like her that didn't judge, and that knew how to keep a secret. She managed to not slip anything about Sal and I's relationship in front of others.

My hands rubbed against my sweatpants, trying to dry them off from the sweat seeping through my pores. "Hey, um," I broke the silence, "did you hear that new story about this one teacher getting arrested for being in a relationship with his student?" Of course she didn't because I just made it up. If she ever found out about my relationship with Sal, I just want to know what to expect.

She looked at me, "No I didn't. Why?"

My improvisation skills were kicking in. "Well, apparently they've been together for 2 years. That's crazy, like, no one knew."

"2 years? Wow, it must've been a real relationship, then. How old is the student?" She asked as she pulled into the mall's parking lot.

"Well, she's 18 now, so that means they started the relationship when she was 16. Oh, and the teacher is 29, I think." I gulped, aware of how well my acting was going so far.

"See, I think I'm the only person who doesn't find that disgusting or wrong." She parked and turned off the car. We got out and headed into Macy's.

I looked at her, surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's different. But it's kind of the same thing as sexuality. Love is love. If two people are in love with each other, let them be."

"I'm surprised you think that." I gulped and my body felt relaxed almost.

She chuckled and hugged me over the shoulder. "Why? I'm not such a bad human after all."

I shook my head and laughed. "I didn't say that."

"I know, honey," she smiled at me,"I'm just kidding with you. But anyways, I don't see what's so wrong about an 18 year old dating a 29 year old. That's almost the same age difference between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and people think they're the world's best couple."

"Yeah, that's true," I agreed. "I guess it's just the law that makes it seem wrong." Mom, I'm in a relationship with Sal Vulcano, is what I wanted to say. But I couldn't. Not yet. It was crazy that all of that came out of my mom's mouth, but it was so relieving at the same time.

We were in the dress section and I saw a dress that looked like the one I wore in Boston with Sal. I walked over it and my hand felt the fabric. I smiled to myself looking at it, thinking of that night. Maybe there'll be more nights like that to go, I thought to myself.

"Hey, do you wanna try that dress on?" My mom popped up next to me, snapping me out of my day dream.

"No, it's okay. I have a dress like this." My mom nodded her head and went back to looking at clothes for me. Suddenly, my heart started to skip beats and jump hard. I had pains from my chest down to my arm. "Mom!" I started panicking, repeatedly calling her even though she was already there holding me.

"Angela, what's wrong?!" She took out her phone and dialled 911.

"My chest... It hurts." I shut my eyes tight and at this point I was on the floor. Next thing you know, everything went dark and I couldn't hear anything.

--

Here I was again, in a hospital bed, waking up with familiar faces around me. Except, this time I had cables and wires attached to me. I started freaking out, "What's happening?!" I shouted.

"Angela, calm down," my dad said calmly but assertively. "All of this is for your heart to stay in control and to make sure your blood is flowing through properly." I laid my head back down, but my muscles were tense. "You had a heart attack," my dad said quietly.

I rubbed my temples with one hand, my eyes closed. I had a massive migraine and the beeping of the heart monitor didn't help it. The doctor walked in with a clipboard in his hands.

"Hi, Angela. How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm okay," I lied.

"That's good." He grabbed a stool and rolled it next to my bed. "I just need to do a quick check-up." He put his stethoscope on my chest to hear my breathing and my heart beat. He took the stethoscope out of his ears and off my chest to put it around his neck. "Your heartbeat and breathing is a bit off. We have an option for you, though." I nodded my head for him to go on. "We called the organ donor and he informed us that he is willing to do the heart transplant soon."

My eyes widened, "'Soon' as in...?"

"Soon as in 2 days."

My mouth gaped open. "2 days?! I don't think I'm ready. I mean, don't you guys have to plan out the operation or-"

He shook his head. "It is your choice. But we recommend you get the heart transplant sooner than later because we don't know how the cancer will be affecting your body the next 3 weeks. Your heart attack was serious, and it affected your heart greatly."

I turned my head to the blank wall, thinking. My mom put her soft hand on top of mine. "It's your choice, sunshine," she said with her soft voice.

I turned to my doctor. "Okay."