An Abundance of White Blood Cells // [WATTYS 2017]

EIGHTEEN

I took a very long shower the next morning. It'd slept in my dress and all my makeup so I was still somewhat done up, minus some smudges. The shower helped wake me up too. When I was finished I noticed that Mom and Dad had left me a note saying they were at the hospital making arrangements for my stay there. I rushed up stairs to change.

I was going to baptize a car today.

I decided on jeans and a t-shirt. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and put some converse on.

I decided to go wait on my front porch for Nate to come over. It was warmer outside than it was in my house anyways. Out of boredom, I started tapping beats on my knees and stuff. I smiled as I saw Nate's car pull up. I hopped up from where I was sitting and padded over to the car. I pulled the passenger door open and ducked inside.

"Mom, I told you, I'm spending the day with Sloane and some friends." Nate said, he sounded irritated. There was a pause before he continued. "Yeah, I know I've been spending time with her a lot, and I'm going to continue to....Yeah, I know, but I don't care....look, Mom, I have to go, I'll call you when I'm heading home." Nate hung up and set his phone down.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

Nate rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yeah," He nodded. "My mom's just being...difficult." He leaned forward and kissed my cheek, regaining his smile."Let's go."

***

We decided to stop by the gas station to get some snacks and drinks, considering we had along ride ahead of us. If I was going to drive a car over a hundred miles an hour, I'd need a long, empty, road to drive on. So we were going to the country side. It would take us a couple hours to get there. I grabbed some Gatorades and chip bags(I know, super healthy) and paid. Then we were on the road!

Lena and Rose were going to come with us, but their parents wanted them to be home once this week. Since it was a teacher work day for Bear River High, they wanted to spend time with their kids. I didn't say anything to them, but I was glad it was just me and Nate. I loved my friends, but I wanted time alone with him.

We talked about our favorite movies, his being The Man of Steel and mine being Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The radio was on so we sang to a few songs, mostly off tune, tying to be funny. I ate some chips, and fed Nate some occasionally too.

Nate started telling me a story about when he was on a family vacation two of his cousins had a bet about who could jump off a swing set the highest. The first cousin jumped off his swing with no problems, but the second cousin jumped off and broke both his arms. According to the nurses who were trying to keep him down for the doctor, he'd been dreaming he was swimming and kept smacking them with his arms. The second cousin's family had to help him do everything! Eat, write, do homework, even shower. Nate said it wasn't finny then, but now it was something that they could joke about.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked after I'd finished laughing.

"Sure." I nodded.

"Do you think you're gonna...die?"

No one had ever asked me that. Most people who knew me stayed away from that topic, like if they talked about it they'd jinx me. I nodded. "Yeah."

"Why? You fought the cancer last time, why don't you think you can do it again?" Nate kept his eyes on the road.

"Because, when doctors offer you a Trial Treatment, that's code for 'you will most likely die'. I don't want to be hopeful and then just...have that hope be for nothing."

"But didn't your doctor say the treatment had been working for some other patients?"

"She just said that to give my parent some hope."

"Well...then let's make most of the time you have left."

Nate turned a corner and pulled over to the curb. We were at a very long road that was only one way. We ducked out of the car and switched seats. It sorta reminded me of when I started driving. I buckled my seatbelt and made sure that Nate did the same. I switched the gear into drive and gripped the steering wheel. I was a bit nervous, I'd never driven that fast before. "Try rolling your window down. The wind will add to the experience." Nate suggested. I rolled both our windows down and started driving.

At first I went twenty then slowly to forty, which became eighty. I felt my heart start to race as I went to ninety. Ninety-five. One-hundred. The feeling was amazing! The wind was blowing my ponytail this way and that. I felt like I was flying. Like I was free. "WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Nate followed suit and soon enough we wee driving one-hundred miles and hour yelling with joy.

The road was starting to end, so I started letting off the gas until I was able to hit the brake. We came to a stop and sat there just taking deep breathes. "That was so awesome!" I said.

"Hell yeah!"

We drove back to my house and got there around four in the afternoon. Before I got out of the car, Nate stopped me. "So about the last thing on your list." He said.

"Nate, we don't ha-"

"I'm just saying, that, my parents won't be home after school tomorrow, and we can see what happens. I not saying we have to, let's just see what happens.