One More Minute

Part Four: Quentin

All I thought since I was fourteen was, "I'm never gonna fall in love." It's an easy thought when you have cancer. I believed that thought until I was sixteen. Until I met Quentin.

I was back in the hospital for the millioneth time when I heard the rumors of the new boy. Apparently, he had causing a lot of trouble already. He was always trying to sneak out of the hospital at night. I was not too keen on meeting this bad boy trouble maker. I avoided places that I knew he was going to be at just so I didn't have to introduce myself. I was doing good at avoiding him for a month. Then he caught wind that there was a girl his age that he hadn't met yet.

I was watching Breakfast at Tiffany's late one night when I heard my door open. I tried to see who it was in the dark, but I couldn't make out anything but a shape. I paused my movie and turned on my lamp. I turned to look at who had come in my room and found a very good looking boy standing by the door watching me. I squeaked in surprise. I didn't expect a boy my age to be standing there. I thought maybe it was a nurse coming to make sure my vitals were okay.

"Who are you?" I whispered at the boy. He didn't answer me. Instead he sat on the side of my bed and smirked at me, "What are you doing?"

"I like Breakfast at Tiffany's. Can I watch it with you?" He asked as he ushered me to scoot over. I just looked at him with wide eyes. This had to be the bad boy that everyone was talking about, "I'm Quentin, by the way."

"Naomi." I stated. He nodded his head at me like he already knew. He then reached over me and grabbed the remote before turning off my lamp. We didn't say anything to each other as we watched the rest of the movie. Every once in a while, he would laugh at a part and I would feel his arm rub against mine.

I fell asleep before the movie ended and when I woke up that next morning, he was gone. I got out of bed and walked around the hospital hoping to run into the bad boy. It was funny how I had spent a month trying to avoid him, and now I was trying to run into him. When I didn't run into him in the halls, I decided to visit the little kids in the next ward. I always went there to try and forget about my pain and problems. I would read to them and admire how strong they were for such little kids. I was only a little older than them when I first came here.

I was reading Little Red Riding Hood to a couple of the kids when I saw Quentin leaning against the door. I acted like I didn't see him and finished the book. When I was done, I expected him to come over to me, but he didn't. I was disappointed at first, then I saw him playing with the kids. He was letting them 'beat him up'. I laughed when he acted like the punch he just got hurt him. He looked over at me and winked. I could feel my cheeks turning red. 

A nurse came in the playroom and told the parents it was lunch. The parents then ushered all of their kids back into their rooms. I was alone with Quentin. He came over to me and took my hand in his. He then lead me out of the room and down to the first floor. 

"Where are we going?" I asked him as he lead down an empty hall.

"You ask too many questions." He shook his head at me, though he had a smile on his face. I shut my mouth and let him lead me to where ever it was he wanted.He opened a door that lead outside to a patio. It was bare except for a blanket that had a picnic basket on it. My eyes went wide when I realized that he just took me here to have lunch with me. 

"I asked one of the nurses if you ever go out and she said that you were a hermit. So I bribed her to let me take you here." He smiled at me. Even though I had only heard about the babd boy side of him, I didn't see that side.Every day at lunch, we would go to that patio and eat our lunch together. He told me it was his way of taking me out on a date. One day I asked him why he was interested in me.

"Remember the first night when I snuck in your room and we watched Breakfast at Tiffany's together? Well, when the movie ended, I looked over at you to tell you I was leaving and you were sound asleep. I just sat there and watched you sleep. Wow. That sounds creepy." He laughed as he rubbed his neck, "I couldn't understand how you could be so beautiful. I was told that you were very sick and I expected you to look like you were sick, but you didn't. You glowed. I was so taken with you. I honestly sat there for an hour and watched you sleep. The next day, I went to your room to take you here and you weren't there. I asked the nurse where you were and she told me to check the kids ward. 

"When I got there, you were reading to the kids. You looked so happy. I wanted to be close to you. To always see you smiling. To make me smile. I watched you read until you noticed me. I saw you act like you didn't see me, but I knew you did. It made my heart pound when you looked up at me for that small second. You took my heart in under 24 hours."

After he said that, I kissed him for the first time. I knew I was in love with him then. Quentin became my new rock. He was my best friend and my lover. He was always there when I was really sick. He was there when I started to lose my hair again. He held me and told me I was beautiful without hair. He told me he always thought that bald women were sexy. He would bring me chocolates from the gift shop when I was having a really bad day. He was my everything.

I told Quentin I loved him on the patio while we laid on a blanket and looked at the stars. He was talking about how the stars were namedand why. I was watching his jaw move as he talked and I just blurted it out. He stopped talking and looked at me. 

"You do?" He asked. He didn't let me answer before he kissed me. I could feel him smiling into the kiss.

"I love you so much, Naomi." He whispered when he pulled away. The night was perfect. A few days later, Quentin and I made love to each other for the first time. (Sorry Mom.) 

The perfectness didn't last long though. Only two weeks later, Quentin found out that he only had a little while longer to live. He told me he wasn't going to tell me, but then thought about if I didn't tell him. For the next two weeks, I stayed in his room with him. I slept next to him every night. I saw him slowly dying. One night we went to sleep and during the night I heard the beeping. He was dead. I watched the doctors and nurses try to bring him back, but it didn't work. Watching someone you love die is the worst pain in the world.