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“Actions, Oli, not words. I don’t need your apologies; I just need you to always tell me the truth. Even if you think it’s going to hurt me or upset me. The truth.”
“The truth.” He nods. “I keep stuffing this up, don’t I?”
“I just want you to trust me.”
“I do trust you.”
I shake my head and close my eyes. “If you trusted me then there wouldn’t be any more secrets, any more lies. No matter what.”
“No matter what.” Squeezing my hand, Oliver kisses the top of my head. “I love you, Hannah.”
“I love you, too, you goofball.” I elbow him in the stomach, with a grin. Oliver grabs me around the waist and twists us, so we are lying down on his bed, him hovering above me on his elbows.
“Who you calling a goofball?” He growls, burying his head in my neck.
I answer him with a kiss. Today has been a long, crazy, emotional rollercoaster of a day, but ending the day in the arms of my best friend is exactly where I want to be right now.
∞
The Wednesday after Joel’s funeral, Oliver receives a call from his doctor saying they have the results back from his MRI. I want to go with him, but he promises he’ll come see me as soon as he is finished.
I can’t concentrate on my homework. I’m checking my phone every couple of minutes. I give up, grabbing a book off my shelf, trying to lose myself in the world of Daphne Bridgerton and the Duke of Hastings, but even that can’t distract me.
Brad is out the front washing Dad’s car for pocket money, so I head outside to help him. We’re rinsing off the suds when I spot Oliver coming down the street on his bike. I pass the hose to my brother and run to meet him.
“Is everything okay? Did they give you the all clear? Is there any chance of you playing again?” I fire one question after another at him.
His face is emotionless as he shakes his head. “It’s all over. The doc was right. It’s too dangerous.”
My heart drops to my stomach, and I blink back tears. We already knew this was the likely outcome, but I’d still held out a little bit of hope.
“I’m so sorry.” I wrap my arms around his waist, burying my head in his chest.
He clears his throat. “Can we go inside? I just want to watch a movie and forget about all of this.”
“Yeah, of course.”
Oliver greets Brad with a high five and follows me inside, dropping onto the couch. I offer him the remote for the television, but he shakes his head, so I flick through the movies, finally clicking on a Zac Efron classic,Bad Neighbours. Oliver’s so distracted, I don’t think he’s going to care much about the movie, anyway. I snuggle into him, and he brushes his fingers through my hair.
“I’ve been thinking,” Oliver says about halfway into the movie.
“Did it hurt?” I tease, laughing as I remember how he used to say that to me when we were kids.
“Ha-ha.” He tilts my chin up so I’m looking into his hazel eyes. He kisses the tip of my nose. “I’m serious. I’ve been thinking maybe we should go overseas. At the end of the year. Do a gap year. Go see the world. We can have a white Christmas in New York. Spring break in Miami. We can check out LA and Vegas. Maybe even go over to Europe as well. You’ve always wanted to go to Switzerland, and I would love to go to a Liverpool game. Can you imagine sitting with fifty thousand people in Anfield Stadium singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’?” I roll my eyes, but I can’t stop the grin tugging on my lips. “What do you think?” His eyes are sparkling with excitement I haven’t seen in months. It looks good on him.
“It sounds amazing,” I say. “But how are we going to afford it? I’ve only got about eighteen hundred dollars in savings. To go to both continents will be expensive.”
Oliver shrugs. “We can make it work. I’ve got some savings, and we can get working visas. Pick up some jobs along the way to help pay for our trip. What do you say? Will you come with me?”
I think about it. I already know I want to study journalism at university, taking a year off isn’t going to make a difference, and at least it would give Oliver time to figure out what it is he wants to do.
I grin and wrap my arms around his neck, pressing my lips to his. “Of course I’m going to come with you.”
“Really?” he asks, stroking my cheek as he kisses me. “Seriously? You’ll come?”
I nod. “But only if we can add France and Italy to that list.”
Oliver laughs. “We can go wherever you want to go.” He brushes my hair behind my ears. “I’m so happy you’re on board with this. I had no idea what I was going to do next year without footy.” Resting his chin on top of my head, he adds, “At least I have something to look forward to again.”
