His last thought

15| listen.

The five of us sat down at the table; I sat next to Caleb, our moms sat by each other and Adam sat at the head of the table.

"How's school going Adam?" Kate asks and he mumbles 'good'. Caleb looks down at his food, and never looks up.

"How's school for you, Caleb?" Adam asks.

"Fine."

"That's it?"

Caleb doesn't respond, and just keeps eating.

"Caleb." I say and he doesn't move.

"Come on, Caleb. Is there something you want to say?" Kate asks.

"No." He says without looking up.

"Caleb."

"I said no."

"Cale-" Kate starts again but Caleb intervenes.

"I'm doing chemo again, okay? Happy?" He yells and the room goes quiet. "Happy?!" He yells even louder.

"Chemo? After radiation a few months ago a-and you already did chemo; what?" Adam says with a nervous laugh. "Chemo?"

I grab Caleb's hand under the table before looking over to him. His eyes were getting glossy.

"It's the last time. I'm trying one more time." Caleb says and my heart skips a beat.

It goes quiet again, and the rest of dinner is quiet. After we all finish, the moms work on dishes, Caleb and Adam go upstairs and I sit in the living room.

"Morgan, can you get the boys?" Kate asks. I go upstairs and follow the sound of them talking into Caleb's room.

"Are you serious?" I hear Caleb say.

"Yeah- I just don't get it." Adam tells him.

"There's nothing for you to get! I don't even get all this. I'm trying it one more time, and I already started it." Caleb says.

"How come you haven't told me?" Adam asks.

"Because it's cancer? It's not like a new car or anything exiting. You didn't even ask."

Before anyone could say anything else, I turn around and knock on the doorframe.

"Hey, Kate wants us downstairs, I don't know why; she just asked me to get you." I  tell them.

Adam walks out of the room, but Caleb falls backwards on his bed.

"I don't know why he thinks this is my fault." Caleb says as he's looking up at the  ceiling. "I can't do shit to change what's happening."

"You can start taking your meds?" I tell him.

"I do." He says and sits up. "I try to."

I sit behind him on his bed and start to rub his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" He asks but doesn't move.

"Massage." I tell him. "Helps with stress, knots, anxiety."

"I know." He says and drops his shoulders a bit. "But why?" Caleb asks.

"I can tell that you don't like that Adam is here."

"Nope." He says and rolls out his shoulders. "He told me that he doesn't like that I'm doing chemo again; I don't know why."

"He doesn't have a choice." I say and stand up. "Your mom wanted me to get you downstairs."

we both walk downstairs and sit at the table where everyone else was sitting.

"What's going on?" I ask them as I sit down.

"It's Saturday, would you guys like to go to the movies?" My mom asks.

"Movies? Why?" I ask.

"Just because. And it's a nice small thing to do."

We all agree and drive there together. When we get to our seats, I sit next to Caleb and he sits next to Adam. About halfway through the movie, my phone starts ringing- thankfully it's on silent. I let it stop, then it starts ringing again. I finally get up and walk out of the room to answer it.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Morgan, I have a question."

"Ash? How come your number didn't show?"

"I'm using another phone." She tells me. "When's the next time Caleb's doing chemo?"

I just hang up on her and walk back into the theater.

"What was that?" Caleb asks.

"Nothing. It's no big deal." I say and sit back down.

When the movie ends, I quickly run over to my mom.  

"I'm going to grab an Uber- I need to talk to Ashley about something." I tell her before running out. The ride to her house took forever but when I get there I see her sitting on her driveway. I sit down next to her, and we sit in silence for a while.

"I'm sorry I told. I'm jealous if Caleb." Ashley tells me.

"He has stage three brain cancer. It's going downhill, I'm just trying to help him through it, if I can. You had no right telling anyone about any of this."

"I know." She says. "How do you think he's going to do?"

I don't respond and stand back up. "I'll pick you up for school on Monday."

(Sorry short chapter)