Lennon resumed crying, then pulled away from my embrace. She paced now, pulling at her strands of her hair while she ruminated.
“How sick are you, Asher?”
I felt like she struck me. She knew I wasn’t well, but didn’t know the ins and outs.
“I’m fine—”
“No. Don’t fucking lie to me.”
Silence breached the air between us. A standoff.
Waving my white flag, I gave in. “I’m sick, Lennon. What I have is incurable. I don’t know how long I have. But right now?I feel healthy and strong. Alive. I think I’ll know when I start deteriorating.”
Lennon considered me for a moment. Then turned to face me.
“Okay.”
I stop. “What do you mean, okay?”
“Okay,” she repeated. “Let’s rot together. Until it’s over.”
I’d never felt pure happiness with the kind of poetic tragedy we shared. Nodding, I rushed toward her, sealing our fates with a long, slow kiss.
Our mouths pressed together like a coffin closing. An understanding of sealed fates.
She was mine, and I hers.
Until our very last breath.
* * *
Lennon had an appointment to make and I needed to check in at home, so we parted after a kiss that hadn’t lasted nearly as long as either of us wanted.
Once seated in the car, I pulled out my phone. Immediately, I felt my stomach drop.
Fourteen missed calls. Seventeen text messages.
Since we had gone camping, I’d left my phone with Duke in the glove compartment, never once feeling the urge to be distracted from any of my time with Lennon. Now the screen glared back at me like an accusation.
The spam that infiltrated my text messages were mainly from my mother.
However, one stuck out.
Father.
That was odd…
Father:Where the hell are you? Your mother is worried sick about you and hasn’t been able to reach you. Fucking call us before I trace your goddamn phone!
A sharp jolt of worry rushed through me.
Why did my mother need to get ahold of me? What the hell was happening?
I pressed play on the first voicemail.
“Hey, Ash, It’s Mom. I just wanted to call and connect with you regarding a treatment that become available to you. It’s a pilot project, but the success rate is astronomical. I think you’d have a great shot. Call me when you get this.”
I skipped to the next.
