Saving Bagel ↠ Editing

Chapter 27: The Letter After Z

I look over at Joby from the passenger seat and smiled, because although his hair was gone and his skin was pasty and his eyes dull and his body was slowly deteriorating from the cancer, he was still mine.

My beautiful, chemo-affected, leukemia boy.

He looked happiest in the drivers seat of Becky, always with a smile on his face as we drove across the country, goofily belching out to our favorite bands.

We drove along the east coast first; stopping at the Statue of Liberty and Times Square, DisneyWorld in Orlando, then drove along the southern states, visiting a peach field in Georgia, watching a baseball game in Houston, and when we drove along the west coast, we spent our entire days on the beach and the boardwalks, every night, sleeping stomach to stomach on the back seats of Becky.

But during our round-about of the country, we both ignored the future ahead of us, because at the end of this journey, we shall start a different one in different states, attending completely different colleges.

We never brought it up, but we didn't have to, because the truth was silently spoken through our arms and our hands that never let go of the other during the night. Of the way we never left each other's side- like getting out of the car at a gas station, just to stand by them when they were only holding the gas nozzle.

And in those small moments, holding them was the only thing that mattered, because the world felt far too big and you felt inevitably lost.

For me, Michigan University felt halfway around the world when Joby wouldn't be there with me, because he would still be in Ohio, still too far away.

Tonight, we were stopping to eat at a small diner in Indiana, our last dinner for this chapter of our short story.

It was called Charlottes, the apparently "go-to" eatery miles around- most likely because there was literally nothing miles around- situated directly on the state line.

After many hours of driving, we found it located in the midst of trees, right off the two-lane highway. He parked Becky next to a mud-stained, rat-a-tat pickup truck parked in front of the door and we got out- both dressed in our dingiest pajamas.

But with him, I didn't care what I looked like; because I knew he found me beautiful nonetheless.

He held my hand walking underneath the stars and the flashing, yellow, neon signs that resembled the moons color. He held the door open for me with a large grin, tugging his beanie down with his other hand.

He wore the same, faded green beanie every day, because he was too ashamed to show his bald head to the world.

I clumsily curtsied, and walked into the small diner. I heard the door sigh to a close, and felt Joby's hands rest on my hips, his chin poking on top of my head.

"Table for two?" The blonde waitress asked, smacking her gum.

I nod.

Joby nods.

The waitress nods before grabbing two menus, and walks us across the dusty white tiles to a booth in the far corner of the dimly-lit, empty diner.

He and I, we sit next to each other, me leaning into him as he tells the waitress a water and a root beer. The waitress walks away, leaving the two of us alone with our thoughts.

I lean my head on his shoulder and sigh, letting a tear roll down my cheek. He runs his fingers through my hair, silent.

"How are you?" He whispers, leaning from me to tilt my chin up, wiping away the tears with his soft thumb.