"Every morning I walked to Royce for my cappuccino, and a glimpse at her. I had moved to this town over my school's spring break, well I guess now it's my old school, and everyday since I've seen her here at exactly 6:32 every morning. I didn't know her name, how old she was, anything. But the one thing I did know, was I wanted to know more.
It was my first day of school in Crawford, Georgia. Do you remember being the new kid? In all of the movies and shows, you see the new kids being loners, or doing the opposite and becoming the social butterfly everyone hates and loves at the same time. But I guess that's highschool, your friends are your enemies, and your enemies don't know yet. Those two things do happen actually, the loner vs. the butterfly. Can you guess what I became? You guessed it, I became the loner.
Now don't get me wrong, I made friends. I made plenty. Infact, I was there for a month and a half when they voted me Senior homecoming king. But I didn't want any of it, I was fine with people always wanting to hang out or go to parties with me, but I didn't care about it, I didn't think of them as people who actually wanted to be with me, they just wanted me for my popularity. No, I didn't care about any of it, all I wanted was to find her. I learned she was a student here while on my daily coffee run. Is that stalking? Is it wrong? Anyway, she was wearing a shirt one day that had Crawford's Mascot, the lion with wings, what is that called? Oh yeah! A griffin. That must mean she's a student, right?
Then came a talent show I was hosting, and she was there. She performed in a group act, not giving a name but still allowing me to see her, although I was focused on entertaining the audience.
'Why can't you hear a pterodactyl using the restroom?' I asked the crowd
'Because the P is silent!' they all said.
'No, because they're extinct.'
And I walked off the stage introducing the next act.
'They're extinct?" A guy in the girl's group asked on the side.
"Everyone knows the other joke, it would have been boring. And we can't bore the crowd." That last part, a little phrase I liked to say.
Then a few days later, I saw her in the hall. She was by her locker standing with her friends. God what was her name? I mustered up enough courage to walk over to her.
'You're staring at me,' she said after a few minutes of silence, 'do you want something? Or?'
I was frozen in my feet, my mouth unable to move. Finally, I found the ability to speak.
'I'm Jason,' I had meant it to sound energized and cool, but it was more of a kid who just had their tonsils removed; 'allllm JAssin'
'I beg your pardon?'
I cleared my throat, and took a breath, 'I'm Jason, I'm sort of new here.'
'I know who you are, your name is everywhere in the girls bathroom.' She said that last part with a bit of embarrassment, 'My name is Stephanie Weaver.'
I finally knew her name! My heart filled with joy as I considered the possibility with a future with this girl. 'Bathroom? Err nevermind, would you, uh, would you want to maybe, I don't know, grab some coffee?'
'Well I grab coffee every morning,' She said with a devilish smirk and a gleam in her eyes.
'With me!' I say a little too anxious, 'would you like to grab some coffee, with me?'
'Oh that's what you mean.' She toyed playfully, 'in that case, yes, Mr. Stone I would love to go get coffee with you, how is tomorrow?'
'Tomorrow is feeling a little happier than usual,' I pitch in trying to make a joke.
'Royce, 10:30 tomorrow.'
And she left.
The next day I got to Royce 30 minutes early. I was nervous and excited. As I walked to the door she was walking in at the same time. She came early for me? I felt a rush of happiness. I called her name, and she turned around, her eyes shone like nature's most amazing beauty.
We sat in a booth, opposite sides, and for awhile we stared at eachother. It wasn't awkward, it wasn't uncomfortable, we were just quiet. But it was the most fun I'd had since I got to Crawford. We got our drinks, her a chai tea latte and me a caramel frappuccino. And we drank in silence. I learned a lot from her in those 2 hours we sat there. I looked into her eyes and I saw what she felt inside, I saw she was nervous too. We stood to leave and she asked me if I wanted to do this more often. And so we became a Coffee couple. In the next few weeks we talked a lot more and well, I was falling in love with her. I learned about her dog Scout and how she always plays with Stephanie to cheer her up, she learned about how I would be getting a chinchilla since my thirty year old aunt threw a fit and argued and managed to get the baby orphan bunny we found, the one HER dogs were about to kill like they killed it's parents. Anyway, Steph gave the future Chinchilla the name Sebastian.
'Well what if it's a girl?' I asked.
'Sebastette, or maybe Madam Bastian.' she laughed, rhyming the words.
It was perfect. She was perfect. I officially asked her out, yes with roses and the whole deal. We started dating. It turns out I got Chinchilla twins, and Stephanie got her way, Sebastian for the guy, but I named the girl Octavia.
Stephanie would come over most every day after school with two drinks from Royce, a new selection everyday. As part of a little plan to go through the entire 1427 possible drinks at Royce.
She had warned me not to fall in love with her, that it was dangerous. I ignored it, how could someone so perfect be dangerous?
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and finally she gave me the answer to my question.
Stephanie was diagnosed with Stage 3 Brain cancer. The girl I had fallen hopelessly in love with had a tumor in her brain that was spreading very fast. Almost uncontrollably. I was distraught, I didn't know what to do with myself. I was with Stephanie everyday, I knew that I would stay with her for as long as possible.
Robin Williams summed it up very well:
If I asked people about love and some would probably quote me a sonnet. But they've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable, known someone that could level them with her eyes. Feeling like God put an angel on earth just for you, who could rescue you from the depths of hell. And they wouldn't know what it's like to be her angel, to have that love for her, be there forever, through anything, through cancer. And they wouldn't know about sleeping sitting up in the hospital room for months, holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes that the terms 'visiting hours' don't apply to you. Not many people know about real loss, because it only occurs when you've loved something more than you love yourself.
I'm sorry I got off track a little bit there.
Where was I? Oh, right. The hospital.
The hospital Stephanie stayed in was beautiful, her parents had made sure she got the best treatment no matter the cost. I even got my dad, Eric, to start a clothing line and a fashion show to raise money for her. But I could tell Steph was tired. Here I sat, watching the strongest girl I know fight the strongest enemy known to man, and I could do little more than sit there. Though the one thing I could do was carry out our plan. Each day I brought her a new drink from Royce. It gave me some security doing that, such a simple thing, but it made me feel better.
For a while Steph got better, and in that time I took her around the country with her family. Niagara Falls where she went ziplining. Disney world, where she could be a kid without worries of Cancer. Hollywood, where she could act as though nothing was wrong. We would mess around like old times and act like we were young and kids again. But then again we were, weren't we? We were just about to celebrate her 20th birthday. I had been born 5 months before her.
It was fun, and it almost seemed perfect. But it wasn't to last. Stephanie went critical again. She was farther gone than before, the doctors had very little hope, saying that there was a 5% chance of survival.
Once again I was losing the girl I have loved since the beginning. Once again I slept at the hospital. Once again I grieved for someone who was not yet lost.
We were almost out of drinks from the Royce menu. Though Stephanie payed no attention to them anymore. She was asleep a lot of the time.
And in that chair next to her bed is where I stayed, until the end.
Which brings me to now. I want to thank each and everyone of you for coming today, to say one more goodbye to Mrs. Stephanie Weaver.
She's such an amazing and truly gifted girl. And I have no doubt in my mind that she's watching me and thinking I'm the biggest dork in the world, coming up here, wasting all of your time with my story of how I met the most incredible girl I will ever have met, and rambling on about how I felt about everything, even to the part of Cancer... That's besides the point. Goodbye Miss Stephanie Weaver.
And hello Mrs. Stephanie Stone!"
Cheers erupted from the crowd at the wedding. Tissues flew, people laughed and cried in unison. And Jason leaned in and kissed his new wife Stephanie.
"You know there was only 100 drinks from Royce." Stephanie said to the crowd.
"Yes but that would have made it boring." Jason chimed.
"And we can't bore the crowd."
