Love at Last Breath

*****ONE SHOT******

"W-what?" I stuttered, not believing what I just heard.

"I'm so sorry Jay. . .I wish there was something I could do but I just. . .can't," Kelsey whispered with tears streaming down her face.

I stood in front of her, motionless and stunned. "How long?"

"What?" She took a step closer to me.

"How much time do you have left?" I said barely above a whisper.

She hesitated to answer, "I have a little more than a month, Jay." I clenched my fist, I looked down and forced myself not to cry.

"I'm not going to lose you like this, Kelsey," I finally looked her in the eyes. "You're my best friend."

"Jay, I don't want to lose you either, but I have cancer. Losing me is just something you'll have to understand. There's nothing you can do. I'm going to die." More tears fell from her eyes. I reached up and wiped the tears away.

"I don't want to think about that right now. I just want to be with you," Our faces were a mere breath away. "I'll keep you happy until your final breath, I promise," and with that I hugged her tightly.

"Thank you." I head Kelsey whisper in my ear. That day, I made a promise to myself: our friendship will be infinite.

The next few weeks came and went. With each day that passed, Kelsey and I both knew that everything was slowly ripping apart at the seams. We spent each everyday together and pretended like nothing was wrong but we both knew how it will end. I always wished for this to be a dream and that I will actually be with her forever; the problem is forever isn't real. It will never be real no matter how much we wish for it to be true.

During the recent week Kelsey has gotten worse, but I guess we all knew it would happen eventually. For an entire week I spent my time with her, never leaving her side.

The days turned to hours and it's just a moment before they go. Tonight was just like a countdown till the day she's not around. We were out of time.

"Um, Mr. and Mrs. Chow?" I opened the door to Kelsey's room in the hospital.

They all looked over to me, "Hello Jay." Kelsey's mom said with a forced smile.

"Hi Mrs.Nguyen." I stepped into the room and closed the door. "Do you mind if I talk to Kelsey for a bit?" I say making my way over to the hospital bed.

"Of course sweetie, we'll just be right outside." She gave Kelsey a quick kiss on her forehead before leaving the room with Kelsey's dad. After taking a seat next to Kelsey, I thought about everything we've been through.

"Hey, I got you something." I grabbed a small box from my pocket and handed it to her.

She laughed a little, "That's sweet, Jay, but why?" Kelsey said while opening then royal blue box. "Oh my gosh! Jay, it's gorgeous." The smile on her face was worth every cent I paid. Inside the box was a white-gold infinity ring that had her name engraved on it. "Thank you so much." after she slipped the ring on her finger I took her hand in mine and entwined our fingers.

"It's no problem. I remember you telling me how much you wanted one. So I thought it would be appropriate to get you one for our 10th year of being friends." I smiled thinking back to when we first met.

"Oh gosh I forgot! I'm so sorry." Kelsey coughed a little bit.

"Hey, it's alright. I really don't mind." I cupped her cheek with my hand. "Being here with you is honestly everything I need." I looked at the ring now on her finger. "Everything about you just makes me forget about everything around me. I can never have this feeling around anyone else; I don't even know what it is. But I do know one thing; it's in your eyes. It's in your smile. It's the way you laugh. And all the times we had. I never want this to end. You're everything that my life has been missing. Now I can't believe that this is happening to me. Through all of the memories we've made, good, bad, happy, or even sad. I promise, with this ring, to never forget any of the memories we've made."