Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
LIFE WAITS FOR NO ONE
Twenty-two shooting stars while he held me close.
Twenty-two wishes before we both drifted to sleep.
And every single one was about him.
“ W hat are you always writing in that little journal of yours?”
Oliver’s voice broke through my thoughts, and I quickly closed the cover before turning around in my desk chair to look at him. I knew I looked guilty and could feel it written all over my face as my eyes widened when he stepped deeper into my bedroom.
It was my own personal story, yet everyone just assumed it was a journal. A diary. Something I wrote my thoughts down in. And it wasn't necessarily wrong. All of my personal thoughts did go onto the pages, but it wasn’t just my thoughts.
It was all of the things I would never be able to tell anyone. It was my soul and I bled all over every single page I touched.
A part of me felt embarrassed, like I had been caught since I was writing about Oliver and sleeping under the stars with him. That was just last night and I couldn’t wait to write it all down. I wanted to capture every last memory with Oliver.
If it were all written down, if I wrote it like a story, it wouldn’t have to have an ending. It could go on forever and ever.
“It’s nothing,” I told him sheepishly, and shrugged as he sat down on my bed across from me. “What are you doing here?”
Oliver helped me clean up our stuff in the backyard a few hours ago before he went home to get showered and do who knows what. I didn’t ask him and he didn’t offer up the information. But seeing him in my bedroom right now had my heart doing things that made me think my cardiologist would recommend I stay away from him.
“I wanted to talk to you about the last thing on your list. You wanted to go see the ocean and I may or may not have been attempting to concoct a plan.” He paused for a moment as he leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. “I need to know it’s something you really want to do before I make the arrangements.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “What are you up to, Ollie?”
“I want to take you to see the ocean, but I think we should make a little trip out of it. It would already be like a mini road trip since we have to drive a few hours, but I think we should make a weekend out of it.”
“A weekend?” I questioned him as I lifted my hand and itched at my central line dressing. I needed to ask my mom if she was able to change it because it was starting to irritate my skin. “I don’t know if my parents would be okay with that. And don’t you leave for football camp soon?”
Oliver was supposed to be leaving in two weeks to head off to college early for camp. He would be back for the last week of summer before leaving for the school year. It was something I was trying to avoid thinking about. I wasn’t ready for him to go.
“Don’t worry about your parents,” he said as he waved his hand at me dismissively. “You let me handle them. I want to know it’s something you would be okay with—that it’s something you want to do.”
“Absolutely.”
There was no hesitation, no thinking, no second guessing. Ollie wanted me to live life and experience it all, and I was not about to pass on an opportunity like this. Our family had never taken a trip to the beach before and I couldn’t think of anyone else I would rather do this with.
“Really?” Oliver questioned me, the excitement written across his expression. He sat up straighter, his eyes bright and his smile wide. “You really would want to do it?”
“Why wouldn’t I? If we take all of my stuff along, and it’s not like we’re venturing into the jungle. I’m sure there’s a hospital close enough, just in case.”
He stared at me and I mean really stared at me. “You would be okay with leaving all of this with me? Going for an entire weekend?”
I nodded, smiling back at him, although it was suddenly feeling quite hot in my bedroom from the heat in his gaze. “As long as we get a hotel and don’t sleep in a tent. That is one thing I’m never doing again.”
“You got it. Hotel for sure.” Oliver hopped up to his feet and the excitement radiated off of him as he jogged toward me and abruptly pressed his lips to mine. “I gotta finish planning. I gotta talk to your parents. We’re making this happen, Luna. I don’t give a shit what anyone says. I’m getting my girl to the ocean.”
He effectively stole the oxygen from the room as he left as quickly as he came, almost as if he were a whirlwind. Those two little words were lingering in the back of my mind and I couldn’t get them to go away long after he left.
My girl.
Surely he didn’t mean it.
It had to have been an accident, one I’m sure he didn’t even realize he made.
But what if he did mean it?
I stared at my mother in partial disbelief.
“What do you mean I can’t go?”
She looked back and forth between Oliver and I. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, sunshine. Your health has been stable enough. I'm sure your doctors would be fine with it, but I’m not sure I’m okay with it.”
Oliver rolled his lip between his teeth, but he remained silent for a moment.
“Why aren’t you okay with it?” I questioned her, my voice demanding an answer.
My mother looked directly at me. “What if something happens to you and you’re so far away? Your medical team is here.”
“I can’t believe this,” I told her as I abruptly pushed my chair back. My knees felt wobbly underneath me and my chair clattered onto the floor as it tipped backward. This was all out of character with me, but I was done suppressing things. I was tired of just being so agreeable. For once, I wanted to be the one making my own decisions. “You don’t want me to go because you’re not going. You won’t be there to control everything that happens. I hate to break it to you, Mom, but everything that happens to me is out of your control.”
“Luna,” my mother said as she rose to her feet.
“Erin,” my father said as he grabbed her arm and held her in place. “Leave her be. Come with me.”
My body was shaking with anger as I exited the room and stormed out the front door. I left Tank behind, too blinded by my own emotions to even care. I walked down the steps and headed toward the front gate.
“Luna! Wait up!” Ollie called out after me. I heard his footsteps behind me as he jogged after me, so I slowed down to wait for him. “Where are you going?”
I shrugged as I reached for the handle of the gate and fumbled with it. It was old and needed to be fixed. It tended to get stuck a lot and you had to shimmy it open. “Anywhere but here. I can’t believe her.”
“I can,” Oliver retorted as he gently moved me out of the way. He took the handle of the gate and pushed his hip into it while lifting the latch. It instantly unlocked and he held it open for me to walk through. “She’s afraid of what might happen if she isn’t with you.”
“I can take care of myself,” I informed him as I began walking down the sidewalk. I had no destination in mind, no idea of where I was going. I just had to get out of that house before I freaked out.
“No one said you can’t.”
My footsteps were heavier and I was walking with such determination. I could feel the anger running through my veins and I didn’t know how to extinguish it. “I’ve been away from her before and nothing happened then.”
“You’ve never been that far from her for very long, Luna,” Oliver reminded me.
I stopped abruptly and whipped my head around to glare at him. “Whose side are you on here? All of this was your idea and you don’t even seem like you care about it.”
“I’m on your side, Luna. I’m always on your side. I’m trying to look at it objectively and trying to understand where she is coming from.” He paused for a moment, tilting his head to the side as he assessed me. “Give her some time to come around to it.”
“I get it, but she has to let me live my life. She can’t keep me on a leash like this just because she’s afraid of what might happen.”
“If something happened to you and she wasn’t there to help you, she would never forgive herself. You know your mother better than anyone else, Luna. Please just try and understand where she’s coming from.” Oliver reached out and slid his hand into mine. “I told you to let me worry about them so let me try and talk to her without you… like I had originally planned.”
I winced at Oliver’s words and gave him an apologetic smile. “Yeah, sorry about that. We were all together so it seemed like the perfect time to say something.”
Oliver smiled back at me, chuckling softly as he shook his head. “Don’t apologize, Luna. You were excited about the whole thing and you weren’t expecting her to be reluctant like that.” Ollie slowly turned both of us back in the direction that we came from. “Let’s head back into your house and we can watch a movie or something as a distraction.”
“What if she doesn’t change her mind?” I asked him quietly as we walked back toward my house.
“Don’t worry about the what if’s, love. We’ll figure it all out.”
We both fell silent and walked hand in hand until Oliver had to shimmy our gate open again. Tank was waiting just on the other side and greeted us with his tail wagging and he hopped up and down with excitement. As we walked up to the house, I was surprised when I found my mother sitting on the porch.
Oliver’s footsteps fell short and he stopped at the bottom of the stairs. I stopped with him and glanced over to see what he was doing.
“I think I heard my mom calling for me to come help her with something,” Oliver lied with a wink. He leaned forward, his lips brushing against my cheek. “Text me later and let me know how things go.”
“You’re really going to leave me to deal with this by myself right now?”
Oliver nodded. “Just try and put yourself in her shoes, okay?”
“I’ll try.”
Oliver gave me one last smile before he looked over at my mother. “Goodnight, Mrs. Truly.”
“Goodnight, Ollie,” my mother replied to him with a small smile and a wave. I watched Oliver as he headed through the yard and slipped through the gate that led into his own backyard.
I inhaled deeply then let out the breath, and made my way up the steps to my mom. She moved over on the swinging bench she was sitting on and patted it for me to sit down next to her.
“I want you to know I love you very much, Luna. No decision I make is ever made with the intent to upset you. You are my world and it has been my job for the past eighteen years to protect you and to keep you safe.”
“I know, Mom,” I agreed with her, my voice soft as I tried to give her some grace. “I’m sorry for the way I overreacted earlier. It was extremely childish and immature of me. I didn’t think about how all of this would affect you.”
She looked over at me and gave me a small smile. “The thought of you being hours away for a few days makes me nervous, but after talking to your father, I think it’s time I take a step back. You’re old enough to make your own decisions, and I don’t want to be the one who holds you back.”
Her words took me by surprise and my eyes widened as I looked at her. “Does this mean I can go?”
She smiled at me, although it didn’t quite reach her eyes, she still shared the same excitement I could feel building inside. “Yes, sunshine. You’re an adult now and you can make your own decisions. Go and live your life, have fun, and make memories with that sweet boy.”
“Thank you, Mom, thank you so much!” I said as I threw my arms around her and hugged her tightly. She hugged me back, her arms lingering a little longer, almost as if she didn’t want to let me go.
I hated knowing she might struggle with this change, but at the same time, I knew it was necessary. It wasn’t like I was moving out but it was time I got to do things how I wanted to.
“Go tell Ollie,” my mother told me as she released me and patted my knee. “I know he’s been working hard to plan everything perfectly, so I think he’ll want to know immediately.”
“Yes, of course.” I nodded, smiling at her as I hopped to my feet. “I love you, Mom. Not just because you said yes, but because you’re the strongest, most amazing person I know. I’m so grateful to have you as my mother and I wouldn’t want anyone other than you.”
My mother’s throat bobbed as she swallowed hard and her eyes grew moist as she nodded. “I love you too, sunshine.”
She waved me to go inside, and I smiled at her once more before I went in with Tank hot on my heels. The house was quiet and my feet didn’t stop moving until I made it to my bedroom and was shutting the door behind me. I dropped down onto my bed and grabbed my phone and went straight to Oliver’s name.
Luna
You’re never going to believe it…
I stared at the screen, a smile pulling on my lips as he immediately responded.
Oliver
She said yes?!
Luna
YES!!!!
I could barely contain my excitement. Oliver and I were really going to get to do this.
Oliver
Hell yeah!! Planning it now, Looney Tune. Start packing your bags, because we’re doing the damn thing.
The butterflies fluttered in my stomach and my heart pounded erratically. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this excited about something. Tank sat on the floor by my feet with his head tilted to the side with a questioning look.
“We’re going to go on a road trip and to the beach, Tank,” I explained to him like he had any idea what I was saying. “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to pack. What do people take to the beach?”
He stuck out his tongue and panted as his tail began to thump against the floor.
“Of course you wouldn’t know.” I laughed to myself before picking up my phone again as it vibrated.
Oliver
I’m serious, Luna. We’re going this weekend, if you’re free…
“Oh my god, Tank, he wants to go this weekend.” I stared at my dog in disbelief. “That’s like two days away. How the hell am I supposed to be prepared by then?”
Oliver
Luna…
“What do I say?” I asked Tank, like he had the answers to the universe. “Do I tell him yes? Yeah, I think I do.”
Luna
I’m free. You want to go this soon?"
Oliver
Life waits for no one, my love. If you aren’t living it, it will live on without you.
I smiled at my phone.
Luna
Let’s do it.