Things Unsaid

The Thing About Me Is

He smiled. I smiled. The sun shone down. Yeah you can say it was a great moment.

"Thanks for joining. Wanna serve?" he asked flashing me those perfectly white teeth.

"I'm not really any good." I replied, blushing.

"Here I'll show you."

I let him show me how to serve. He was good. I heard sounds emerging from his mouth but I'm pretty sure that I was completely unaware of what he was really saying. His voice came back in focus as my mind fell back to reality.

"You try."

Oh boy I was going to be judged on this and I didn't even pay attention and I can't serve for my life. Very carefully I raised the ball.

"Like this." Jake took my arms and put them the way they were supposed to. "Take a deep breath and go for it." I did and hit the ball. For the first time ever it actually went straight.

"Nice!" He said giving me a high five. "That's a place to start!"

I wasn't all that sure if that was a compliment or not, but I smiled nonetheless. It felt right. Just being there with him felt incredible. Indescribable. We kept playing beach volleyball and eventually ended up in the water splashing water at each other. I barely even noticed when Christine walked up by me.

"Hey, we're heading back up to the room for the night." Pleading with my eyes I tried to avoid going. Her face shifted into a smile. "So be up before midnight." I smiled back. She gave me time. "Thank you. I'll be up."

The sun began to set and as Christine walked back to the room, Jake and I took a nice long walk down the beach.

"It's funny. I never thought I would actually meet someone so beautiful. Especially on vacation. That just doesn't really happen in real life, now does it?" Jake said, holding my hand.

We kept walking. I learned that he was from the same hometown as myself, but was always homeschooled. I wanted to know more, but he didn't talk much. That was okay anyway. Words seemed measly as all I could ever want would be just being there in that moment with Jake. He was literally perfection walking.

"Angie."

We stopped walking and kept our foot still in the cooling sand. The sun began to slowly set over the rippling waves, and the seagulls chirped in the distance. Jake starred at me in the eye, and ever so slowly, pulled in for a kiss. I'm not one for details. After all, some things are just best left unsaid, but it was the most beautiful moment of my entire life. When we broke away, I was all butterflies and smiles.

"Angie. I'm sorry. There's something I have to tell you. That should have never have happened. I shouldn't lead you on like this."

My smile faded. "What? Jake, what are you talking about? Is there somebody else? I at least thought that kiss meant something." Tears began to bundle and stream down my face. "That was my first kiss. It was the most perfect moment ever. You can't just tell me it's not."

He took his hand through his hair. The jerk. I let my anger and emotions rage through and yeah, I was upset at the ruined perfect moment.

"Angie. There isn't anyone else. I'm just...I can't be with you, because I don't want to hurt you."

I shook my head in disbelief. I didn't want to hear the rest, but there was no way I could run away.

"Angie...I can't because I'm dying. I only have a few months to live."