Leaving My Fingerprints

The tickets came in the mail yesterday. One for me. One for Emma. I was so excited. It was that time of year again. I couldn’t even believe it. I had been waiting for so many months for summer to come again. And this summer, as I had every summer for the last 8 years, I was going to stay with my best friend and his family wherever they were. Last year, they had been on tour, so I had gone with them. Staying with four boys in that stinky tour bus hadn’t exactly been the most fun thing, but being with my best friend had made it worth it.

And this year, it would be better because Emma was coming with me. Emma was my second best friend, second only to Nick. He had met her when he and his brothers came to visit over Christmas break, and they had become friends. And now, Emma was really coming with me. I was glad too, because I wanted Nick to be friends with her. I wanted to make sure he could find a part of me in her when I was gone.

Before the Jonas family moved away, Nick and I had been inseparable. We were like two peas in a pod, Nick and I. So it wasn’t really surprising to either of us that we stayed in touch afterward. However, it did surprise everyone else. Nobody could still believe that Nick was so sweet that he stayed in touch with me. I mean really? Did they not remember him? Nick and all his brothers were the sweetest boys ever, from when they were little to even now. And they would forever be. It was one of the things I loved about Nick. He hadn’t changed, and he wouldn’t. He wasn’t going to become just another stoned good kid gone bad ex-Disney star. He was the real deal.

My phone rang. “Hello,” I picked up.

“Oh my gosh Max,” Emma exclaimed. “I’m so excited! I cannot believe we’re actually going to stay with the Jonas Brothers in Texas for a whole freaking summer. It’s so freaking cool.”

I laughed. “Chill out Em,” I joked. “You’re being totally uncool.”

She groaned. “Sorry Miss I Go To Visit Them Every Year,” she said. “It’s not my fault I moved here after they moved away. You’re so lucky you got to live next to them. I mean you lived next to the freaking Jonas Brothers. That practically makes you a celebrity by association.”

I laughed. “I don’t think it works like that Em. And they weren’t famous when they lived here, remember?”

She took a deep breath, and changed the subject. I laughed. Typical Emma, too hyper to stay on one thing too long. She reminded me of Joe. “So did the tickets come yet,” she asked.

“I’m holding them right now,” I grinned.

She squealed. “This is going to be so exciting! I can’t wait.”

My mom came to the door, tapping her watch. I sighed. Time for my appointment. “Hey Em, I have to go. Um – last minute shopping.”

“Okay,” she said. “Talk to you later.”

I hung up and smiled lightly at my mom. “I’m ready.”

My mom sighed. “You’re going to have to tell her honey,” she said quietly.

“Not yet,” I shook my head.

“What about Nick,” she asked.

“What about him,” I asked, my voice defensive now. My mom had a tendency of trying to make it seem like Nick and I would end up together one day. Just because we were best friends, and I secretly hoped with all my heart that she was right, didn’t mean I wanted to hear it everyday.

She held her hands up defensively. “I’m not going to say anything like that this time honey,” she promised. “I just meant – he’d like to know something like this. He’d want to know.”

“Mom, chill, okay,” I begged. “I’ll tell him – eventually.”

“When,” she asked, her voice reaching hysteria. “When it’s – too late?” She covered her mouth.

I sighed. “Mom—“

“No Maxie,” she wiped her face. “Whether you want to admit it or not, that boy deserves to know. He has been through hell and back with you. He deserves to know this. He’s your best friend, and he’s going to be devastated when he f-finds out. He’ll want to hear i-it from you.”

I sighed, knowing she was right. “I’ll tell him,” I said.

“When,” she asked.

“I’m going to be there for a whole summer,” I said. “I’ll tell him soon.”

“You know what the doctor said,” she reminded me, her voice reaching a higher level as she bordered hysteria again. “You don’t have—“

“I know mom,” I breathed. “I’ll tell him.”

“You love him honey,” she told me quietly. “As much as you deny it, you know it’s true. And you know that you’ll want to be the one to tell him because of that.” She sighed. “I’ll be in the car.”

I nodded, and watched her leave. I took a deep breath. My phone buzzed with a text. It was from Nick. I winced.

Hey, you’re coming in two days! I can’t wait to see you!

I quickly replied back.

I know! I’m excited! We’re going to have so much fun.

I sighed, and started walking out of my room. I was a coward. I was too afraid to tell my best friend that I was going to die.