Time Travelling

Chapter 2 -

"No, Rick, please! No!"

Rick had picked me up - I was hanging over his shoulder, with my face on his adorable bum - and was almost throwing me in the pool in his garden even though it was the dead of winter and snowing.

"I'll do everything for you!" This made him freeze.

"Everything?"

"Yeah, I promise. Just put me down, babe." I told him as I smiled.

Then, when he had put me down, I saw the worry and the fear on his face. I kept staring into his normally sparkling brown eyes, but they weren't sparkling. I suddenly imagined so many bad things that could have happened to him which made him so scared, worried and frustrated.

"Rick, what's wrong?" I asked as I took a grip of his hand.

"I-I... Vanessa... Do you love me? Be honest." He said, surprising me. It took me so long to realise he just asked me if I loved him or not.

"I do. I love you. I really love you." I rambled nodding and smiling. Those words were filling my mind for the past three weeks already and I couldn't be happier because I finally said them out loud.

"You can't." He answered quickly and strictly.

"What? Rick, what are you actually trying to say?" I asked confused and a bit shocked.

"Don't love me. You won't... be able to deal with it." He whispered vaguely. He faced to ground as I saw the tears coming up in his eyes. With two cold fingers I lifted his chin a bit so he was looking straight into my eyes again. For the first time since I met him, tears streamed down his face and I wiped them away.

"Darling, with what?" I asked carefully.

"Me." His voice trembled.

"I don't understand, Rick. There's nothing wrong with you. And I love you. So what's the problem?"

"Let's go inside." He kept a tight grip on my hand while leading me inside. His parents weren't home at the moment so we stayed downstairs, sitting on the couch. I was waiting patiently for him to talk. When he sort of stopped crying and only sobbed now and then, he started talking quietly:

"I don't think you'll be able to cope with losing someone else than your dad." I was on the edge to stop him from talking about my dad. He knew I didn't want to talk about him, he knew my story. But he cut me off before I could even start; "I don't want you to cry over me when I'm gone."

"What?" I frowned. I didn't understand why he said all these depressing things. He was talking like he was going to die.

"I have a brain tumor, Vanessa."

My hand covered my mouth as I gasped loudly. Instantly, the tears welled up in my eyes. I started shaking my head. I threw my arms around his neck as I burst into tears.

"This can't be happening..." I whined while crying. "You won't die, right, Rick?" I questioned after pulling back a little. "Right?" I added as he didn't replied. He was crying as well, shaking his head, disagreeing with me. I shook my head hysterically, "You can't die, Rick!"

We hugged each other for like an hour before we talked again. I was looking at our entangled fingers.

"So... S-Since when do you know it?" I asked stuttering.

"Two days ago."

"The huge headache yesterday... Was it because of this?" He nodded.