Isn’t love supposed to be easy? Isn’t love supposed to be fun? The moment you fall in love, you become acutely aware of all the different ways the person you love can die. It’s sickening. It’s morbid and painful and heart-wrenching, and it’s all totally, completely worth it.
My brave and cocky fa?ade had been gone for months. I was a weak body, withering away right in front of Evey’s eyes.
I stayed on the floor, trembling until she returned. I heard the sounds again, calling me, and felt a pull like the type of pull I’d felt to be near Evey before I started getting sick.
When Evey got home, she came into the bathroom and immediately bent and felt my forehead. “You need to get into the tub. You need a cold bath.”
My teeth chattered. “I’m freezing already.”
“Lucian, just listen to me. Do as I say please, or I will call an ambulance.”
While she ran the bath, I tried to smile at her, but she just looked away.
“You’ve been making a lot of threats today, young lady,” I told her, trying to lighten the mood.
“If you think I’m going to let you dissipate into a plume of dust to be forgotten forever, you’re crazy.”
She undressed me and helped me into the tub. Poor Evey still had hope. She still had faith that we’d be together. It was too bad that I had none.
She sat on a stool next to the tub and washed my hair. I was shivering uncontrollably. When Evey said that my fever had passed, she ran warm water over my skin. I felt my body become balanced and strong enough to stand.
She helped me to our bed and brought me soup before lying down next to me. “You’re a stubborn, recalcitrant man.”
“That’s a big word. You know I taught you that word?”
“No Charlie—oh yeah, it probably was you.”
“I’m guessing you’ve been called that more than a few times.” She laughed finally. She was trying to lighten the mood. I’ve heard angels singing for real. Her laughter sounded ten times better.
“Some guardian angel I am, huh?” I tried to feed her a spoonful of soup, but she waved it away.
“You could use some work on your angel skills. Will you please go to the doctor on Monday?”
“Okay,” I said, but I knew it would be pointless. Just like anyone else, I had no control over when I’d be taken, and I knew there was no medical help for me.
I would just stick around and try to collect smiles from her. I’d put them all inside myself and try to build my own little pathetic soul from the love she had given me.
AT BROOKLYN’S WEDDING the next day, more than a few people asked if I was feeling okay. Evey looked stunning even though Brooklyn had chosen a hot pink mini-dress and cowboy boots for her bridesmaids. I kept to myself for most of the wedding while Evey did her matron of honor duties, though she checked on me every ten minutes.
When it was time for her to give the speech, I watched her take the microphone and scour the room for me. Her eyes locked on mine. “Thank you all for coming. I am so happy for Brooklyn and Keith and honored to be a part of this special day. I’ve known Brooklyn for most of my life. She’s my best friend, but she is and always will be a real pain in my ass too.”
The crowd gasped, but I started laughing.
Evey went on. “She means well, some of the time, but I think instead of a toast, right now Brooklyn needs a roast, even if it is at her own wedding. So here it is, Brooklyn booger picker. That was her nickname in the third grade.” Evey looked at her notes then looked up again. “Oh, and by the way, this was the third speech that I wrote for Brooke. The first went on and on about what a good friend she’s been to me—not all true—and the second version talked about love and sacrifice and how thanks to Lucian”—she winked at me—“I finally know what that means. But I want to be real with you all. The truth is that Keith is an angel, a real angel for taking this girl on.”
Evey jutted a thumb in Brooklyn’s direction while she continued staring at me. She laughed then turned toward Keith, who was smiling kindly at her. The audience was chuckling, and of course Brooklyn looked furious.
“First of all, you’re going to have to learn to do dishes, sweet Keith, because our darling Brooklyn will never, in her life, do a dish. She might cook for you—though she has a habit of eating the entire meal before it’s finished—but dishes… forget it.”
The crowd was in hysterics.
Evey looked back at Brooklyn, who was not happy. “I say most of this with a light heart because Brooklyn is the sister I never had. We can tell each other anything, and we’ve been there for one another for a long time and I know we always will be. This year we made a lot of changes.” She finally addressed Brooklyn directly. “I’m proud of us, Brooke, for finally growing up, putting an end to our codependency issues, and finding two awesome guys to share our lives with. I love you so much, and I can’t wait to see where life takes us.”
Everyone clapped. Evey went over and hugged a smiling Brooklyn. We were going through so much unknown crap, but Evey was selflessly there for her friend through all of Brooke’s bridezilla moments during the planning process. I hadn’t expected the roast, but after hearing her words, I realized that both girls had come a long way. I was proud to see Evey standing up to Brooklyn and to see Brooklyn finally showing some much-deserved appreciation for her best friend.
As I sat there watching the girls dance, memories swirled around in my head. I thought back to a day in the park when Evey was playing chess with Charlie. She was maybe ten years old and her mom was sitting on a bench close by, watching her. Evey was an excellent chess player from a young age. She had gotten so good that she could beat her mom and dad, so her mom would take her to the park to play against Charlie. He was a good teacher for a while, but he could be grumpy. He was also experiencing the very early stages of dementia, so I’d pop into his body once in a while to give Evey more of a challenge.
“Ah, no, Evey. Think about that move. You need to be thinking about my next five moves,” I had said.
“But I don’t know what you’re going to choose to do, Charlie.”
“By moving your bishop across the board for a lousy pawn, you’ll expose your queen. See here. It’s not worth it. I’ll have your queen in three moves.”
“Hmmm.” She scratched her little chin like she was years wiser than me.
“Evelyn, did you know that the knights aren’t allowed to be next to the queen because she thinks the horses stink?”
“Everyone knows that.”
Ha! My smart girl.
She was staring at the board, concentrating on her next move. “I can’t decide if I should move my knight or one of these little dudes.”
“They’re called pawns, luv.”
“I know, but I want to call them little dudes.”
I smiled at her. “Call them whatever you want. You know what I think? I think if there was a princess in the game of chess, she’d look just like you.”
She giggled. “Charlie, how come you don’t have a wife or kids?”
“What was that?” I asked then popped out of Charlie’s body. I didn’t know the answer.
Evey repeated, “How come you don’t have a wife and kids, Charlie?”