Till We Meet Again

Chapter Nine

"What do you want me to tell them?" I asked Collin, as I straightened my hair in his bathroom.  

"I don't want you to tell them anything," Collin answered, irritably.  

"That's not possible, and you know that."  

He let out a sigh.

"Tell them that I was dehydrated."  

I peeked out of his bathroom door at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Really?"  

He pulled a pillow over his face.

"I hate the idea of telling everybody that I have a brain tumor."  

"Then I won't tell them! But I have to tell them something."

 "You give me a headache," he groaned.  

"Do you really have a headache?"

"A slight one," he admitted. "

And I guess just tell them the truth. It's better than trying to come up with a stupid lie."  

"You want me to tell the school that you have a brain tumor?" I asked, as I turned off my straightener.

I went back into his room, straddling him.

"I guess," he muttered, looking into my eyes.

"You look very sexy today."  

"Good to know that I did not look sexy yesterday," I teased, going in for a quick kiss.

"I have to go."  

"Have fun," he called out, sarcastically.  

"Rest," I ordered, flipping off his bedroom light.

"I have to go home afterschool, but I'll be over for dinner."  

"Yes mom."  

I laughed my way out to my car, heading to school. But my carefree attitude faded as I pulled into the school parking lot. I wasn't ready to be bombarded, and I certainly wasn't ready to tell people that Collin had a brain tumor.

Saying it out loud would only make it true, and I did not want to admit that this nightmare was a reality. 

Kimberly pulled up next to my car, and she patiently waited for me to get out, watching me with worry-filled eyes.  

"I am okay," I promised, stepping out of my car.  

"You look like you are about to puke."

I grabbed my backpack, taking in a deep breath.

"I'll be okay."  

"Test it out on me," Kimberly said, throwing her backpack over her shoulder.

"Tell me what Collin wants you to tell everyone."  

"He wants me to tell the truth," I whispered.

"And I feel like telling people the truth makes everything that's happened into a reality."  

She pulled me into a tight hug.

"Whatever's going on you can talk to me about. We'll get through this together."  

I pulled away from her, knowing that I needed to tell Kimberly what was going on. Not only would she be my test subject, to see if I could really go through with telling people, but she deserved to know.

I wiped a lone tear off my cheek, squaring my shoulders.

"Collin has a brain tumor."  

She kept her composure, biting her bottom lip.

"A brain tumor?" she squeaked.  

"We don't know whether it's cancerous or not."  

"Oh my God."  

“I know, and he wants me to tell that to everyone," I said, tears in my eyes.

"And how do I do that?"  

"With me," she said, looping her arm through mine.

"I told you that we're in this together."  

Together we walked onto school campus, and I could already hear the buzzing surrounding me.  

"Aubrey," Dennis said, matching Kimberly and I's footsteps.

"Talk to me."  

"A brain tumor," I said, turning to face Dennis.

"Collin has a brain tumor."  

Dennis laced his fingers across the back of his neck, letting out a shaky sigh.

"Oh God."  

"I know."  

"Aubrey, I am so sorry for what I said to you last week in the parking lot. You were right."  

I gave his shoulder a tight squeeze.

"It's okay."  

"Who knows?" he asked, regaining his composure. 

I swept my finger across Kimberly, me, and him.

"The three of us. And Collin."  

"Aubrey!" Hayden, a kid from the basketball team, called.

He came jogging over to us.

"Where's Collin?"

"How is he?" I asked Melissa, as she opened the front door for me. 

It was weird having to ring the doorbell and wait. Usually, I'd just let myself in through the back. But I am not sure Collin's mom would appreciate that.

"He's asleep," she said, stepping aside and letting me in.

"He's mad at me because I made him take it easy."  

"Sounds like Collin," I said, laughing as I entered the house.

I placed his makeup work on the counter.  

"Can I make you some tea?" Melissa asked.  

"Okay," I agreed, with a nod. 

She set to finding the ingredients, humming to herself.  

"How's Catherine?" I asked.  

"She's handling the news reasonably well," Melissa said, with a half-smile.

"Is she going to be in town for the surgery?"  

She nodded.

"She was already coming into town this weekend, so she just extended her vacation."  

An entire week?  

"And then Chris is coming down the day before the surgery," she continued.

"And he'll stay a couple of days."  

"That'll be nice," I said, leaning against the counter. 

 Melissa set the water for the tea to boil before turning to face me.

"I just wanted to thank you."  

I raised my eyebrows at her.

"What for?"  

"For being concerned about Collin's health," she filled in.

"For possibly saving my son's life."

"Of course," I said, offering her a smile.  

"I know I am not winning Mom of the Year Award any time soon," she said, with a half-smile.

"And I truly appreciate the fact that you were looking out for him."  

"He knows that you love him," I said, with a nod.

"And I love him too. I wanted what was best for him, just as you do."

"Thank you," Melissa said, reaching across and grasping my hand. 

I smiled at her, squeezing her hand in return.  

"Hey," Collin's voice said behind me. 

I turned to see Collin stepping out into the living room, Scooby right on his heels.  He was wearing his Under Armor basketball sweatpants and an old travel team t-shirt. 

Collin walked over to the side door, letting Scooby out into the backyard.  

"Have you been here long?" Collin asked me. 

I shook my head.

"Have a nice nap?"  

"It wasn't a nap. It was more like Scooby l*****g my face and me trying to watching Hairspray over him."  

"You and that movie, I swear," Melissa said, rolling her eyes.  

"That's the best musical ever produced," Collin informed her, before reaching across the counter and planting a quick kiss on my lips.  

"How are you feeling?" I asked.  

"Just fantastic."  

I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm.  

"Are you making me tea?" Collin asked his mom.  

"Would you like some?"  

He nodded, hopping up on the counter.

"And then Aubrey and I are going out."  

I raised my eyebrows at him.  

"Is that so?"  

"The doctor said for me to take it easy," Collin reminded her.

"Not for me to remain chained to my bed."

Melissa chuckled, taking down three mugs from the cupboard.

"I don't mind if you go out."  

"Really? Because you've been treating me like a prisoner."

"Be nice to your mother," I chastised. 

Collin rolled his eyes, hopping down off the counter to let Scooby in.  Melissa handed me a mug of tea, and I thanked her before taking a sip.

"Is that for me?" Collin asked, pointing to the pile of makeup work I'd placed on the counter.  I nodded.  

"Gross."  

"I can pick you up for school tomorrow," I offered. 

Collin shrugged, taking a sip of his tea.

 "I guess."  

"What's the matter?" Melissa asked him.  

"I think it's stupid to go back to school for two weeks, only to have brain surgery."  

"Why is that stupid?" Melissa asked him.  

"Because I am going to leave indefinitely," he pointed out.

"What's the point in going for the next two weeks?"  

I rolled my eyes and Melissa chuckled.  

"You have to go to school," she informed him.

"Brain surgery or not."

"You think I'd get some slack around here," Collin said to me, before taking another sip of his tea. 

Scooby let out a bark, wagging out his tail.

"Thank you," Collin said, with a nod. 

I reached down and scratched Scooby behind the ears as Collin tossed him a treat.  

"If you two are going out, I am going to head into the office for a few hours," Melissa said, finishing off her tea.  

"Sounds like a plan," Collin agreed. 

She disappeared back towards her bedroom.  

"And where are we going exactly?" I asked Collin.

"Let us go get some frozen yogurt," he said, hopping off the counter.

"My treat."  

"I feel so special," I teased. 

He smiled.

"Well, you should. I don't treat just any girl to frozen yogurt you know."  

"Is that so?"

He surprised me with a kiss.

"Only you Aubrey White."  

"It's their first game without me," Collin said, as we headed to the game.  

"I know babe," I said. 

It's only the 86th time he's told me, at least.  

"What if we lose?"  

"Then they'll have to regroup."  

I'd stopped trying to reassure him that they won't lose. That only ended badly. So now I'd turned to trying to console him in the likely event that they did.  

"It will be my fault."  

"I don't really know how it's your fault you acquired a brain tumor."

"I don't like that word," he blurted. 

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"What word?"  

"Brain tumor."

 "Oh. Well, why did not you say that before? I must've said it like 7 times now."  

"Let us name it something else."  

"Name it?"  

He nodded.  

"Okay, what would you like to name it?" I asked, turning my eyes back to the road as the light turned green.  

"Not something nice, because then I might grow attached to it."

Not going to lie, I could see that happening.

"Well, it's like a foreign object to your body," I pointed out. 

Collin nodded.

"So, it's like an alien!"  

Okay, I am not sure that's where I was going with that.  

"A brain alien?"  

"Yes!"  

I could not help but laugh, shaking my head.

 "Only you Collin, I swear."  

"I like it," he confessed.  

"You can't already have grown attached to it."

 "No," he disagreed, with a shake of his head.

"I like the name. Not the alien."  

That was a confusing sentence.  

"Okay," I said, because it was easier to agree than to try to get Collin to explain his thought process. 

We pulled up to the game. We were still almost a half an hour early for the game, but Collin was going to explode if we got here any later. 

I took my seat in the stands and Collin hopped the fence, greeting a couple of teammates and his coaches. 

I felt a pang in my heart, seeing the sad smile on Collin's face as he conversed with his teammates.  Basketball had been Collin's life for as long as I could remember. And now it had been taken from him, and nobody could tell him when he'd get it back.  And for Collin, that was just about the worst thing about this brain alien.