Make a Wish || Rhett and Link

Chapter 63 - Tension

Ruben called me at least 14 times that night.

I couldn't bring myself to answer a single call. With every call that came, I panicked about whether this would be the call to end it all. Whether it would be the call to tell me that he didn't want to be my friend anymore. Whether this would be the call to let me know that he wasn't going to skate with me anymore.

So I sat on my bed and watched my phone ring out. Every single time he called.

I felt sick. I didn't want to eat. When Rhett gave me the daily injection, it honestly felt like I deserved the pain. I should've just told him sooner. I should never have tried to be friends in the first place.

Then maybe I wouldn't feel like this.

"Sweetheart, you have to stop torturing yourself over this boy." Jessie sat on my bed. "Answer the call, or don't. But don't sit around here feeling bad, because that's not helping anybody."

"I-I don't know Jessie..." I whispered.

When the phone started ringing again, she grabbed it and answered. I panicked tried to grab it, but she stood up and walked out of the room.

"J-Jessie!" I started crying. "N-No!"

She didn't come back for quite a while, and when she did, she held the phone to my ear.

"C-Cooper?" Ruben sounded like he'd been crying as well.

"Y-Yeah?" I whispered, almost inaudibly.

"I-I'm so sorry about this afternoon..."

"I-It's my f-fault..."

"No! No, no, it's not. It's not your fault at all. I was cruel, I never should have kicked you out like that, and I'm so sorry that I freaked out like that."

I sniffled slightly.

"I still want to be friends Coops."

"M-Me t-too..."

"Do you think we could... meet up tomorrow? Maybe go skating or something?"

"T-That'd be n-nice..."

"Your... Aunt... I don't know what her name is... but she said okay... so we're on?"

"Yeah..." I murmured.

"I'm going to make it up to you, okay?"

"Y-You don't have t-to..."

"I need to. We'll pick you up at around 3, okay?"

"A-Alright..."
"See you then Coops."

"B-Bye Rubes..."

I hung the phone up and sniffled. "H-His Mom is p-probably making him say that."

"Cooper..." Jessie sighed. "Not everyone leaves."

"Everyone leaves eventually." I mumbled.

"Then how come I'm here?"

"Pity."

"Cooper, we both know that's not true. You're practically my daughter now." She put her arm around me. "I love you."

I rested my head on her shoulder. "I-I love you too..."

She smiled slightly.

----------------------------------------------

Ruben picked me up at 3pm, just as he'd said on the phone. I was still unsure about it, but Jessie had promised to pick me up at any point if anything happened, so I just bit my lip and went along with it.

"Hey Coops." He greeted, with his signature grin.

I tried to smile. "H-Hey Rubes."

"You don't have to be nervous. Nothing's changed, remember?"

"Yeah..."

"Nothing at all." He assured. "Don't worry about a thing. Let's go skate!"

I expected lots of questions about my illness, but I didn't get a single one. Ruben mostly talked about skateboarding, and his Mom just talked about Ruben talking about me. I was mostly silent, still feeling remarkably exposed and out of place.

"You okay, Coops?"

"A l-little..." I mumbled.

He squeezed my hand. "You don't have to be like this, my view of you hasn't changed at all."

I sighed softly. "O-Okay."

I tried to push it out of my head and get into the conversation, but I still found it hard. And as much as I wanted to believe that Ruben didn't care, I couldn't help but think that this was all out of pity.

We reached the skateboarding place where the contest was being held. It was somewhere I'd wanted to for a really long time, but being here like this still felt... weird. We were given free admission, and sent to skate.

"I'm gonna give the McTwist a go."

"Okay." I sat up on the skate bowl.

He gave it a try, and was almost successful, but fell at the last second. He just laughed it off and climbed back up next to me.

"Your turn?"

"Sure..." I murmured, kicking my board up and attempting to give it a go. I almost made it, just like him, but fell. He panicked and ran down to help me.

"Are you okay?!"

I wanted to cry. "We can't keep doing this Ruben."

"What?"

"You can't pretend that nothing's changed! Everything's changed! And you're probably only doing this because your Mom made you and I know that! I know what happens when people find out! I know that you don't want to hang around because I'm going to get sick again and then I'm going to die and you don't want to have to deal with that! Ignorance is bliss, right?!"

I climbed out of the bowl and tried to storm away. Ruben chased after me. "Cooper, Cooper, no, no, not at all. I don't want to leave you. I genuinely want to be your friend." He tried to grab my hand. "Please! Stop this!"

"Y-You should g-go." I whispered harshly.

"I'm not leaving Cooper." He stated. "I don't know who you think I am, but I'm not someone who leaves a friend over something like this."

"But that's what everyone does! Not just one type of person!"

"Well, I'm not everyone." He stated. "And I'm not going anywhere."

I started crying.

"Oh, Coops." He sighed and pulled me into a hug. "Shh. It's okay."

"I-I'm s-sorry..."

"It's okay, it's fine. Don't worry. I would've done the same thing."

I really did enjoy his hug.

"C-Can we g-go skate?"

He smiled. "Course."

We skated for the rest of the day, and after my hiccup, I really did have a good time. At the end, we registered for the competition, and Ruben turned to me.

"So we're official now?"

I smiled. "Official."