Tumors And Hearts

Xx-nikki-xX

The plane landed in the Chicago, Illinois airport and we were finally able to stand up and stretch our legs. We stood up and Shannon grabbed our carryon bags from the overhead rack. I tried to take my bag but he wouldn’t give it to me.

I tried not to smile as he grabbed my hand and led the way off the plane. “Jerk.” I mumbled.

“You love me.” he said over his shoulder.

“Unfortunately.”

He stopped walking and turned around to face me. I bumped into him and stumbled back a few steps. He was pretend-glaring at me. I stood up on the tips of my toes and kissed him. He wrapped his free arm that wasn’t holding my bag around my waste and pulled me closer to him.

There were protests from the people behind us and we had stop. I broke the kiss and stepped out of his one-armed-embrace. I laced my fingers through his and led the way off the plane.

“Ashley said she would meet us at the gate.” I said as we walked through the terminal. “I just hope she’s at the right gate.”

And she was.

You know that really annoyingly bright, neon shade of orange that you can get poster-boards in? Well, the first thing we saw when we got out of the terminal was one of those poster-boards that said “NIKKI AND SHANNON!” with a bunch of hearts around it.

“I’m guessing that’s Ashley.” Shannon said smiling.

“Nah, that’s just my stalker.” I said before leading the way over to her.

“This is a sign of my love for you.” Ashley said when we finally reached her. “Never again do I want to be up at seven in the morning to pick you up from the airport.”

“You didn’t have to come.” I said. “My car’s here. I could’ve driven us home.”

“Now you tell me!” she said. “Well, at least I finally get to meet your boyfriend.” she said turning to face Shannon.

“Ashley, this is Shannon.” I said as they shook hands. “Shannon, this is Ashley.”

“Are you Nikki’s personal penguin?” Shannon asked letting go of her hand.

“The one and only!” she exclaimed.

They both laughed and I could tell they would get along just fine. Smiling, I looped my arms through Ashley and Shannon’s and led the way to the luggage place.

After grabbing our luggage Ashley walked with us to the long-term parking garage to get my car.

“Wanna race?” she asked when we reached my car.

“Well…”

“I bet I could beat you home.”

“You’re on!” I exclaimed.

“I’ll meet you at the south exit!” she called running away.

Shannon and I threw our bags in the trunk and hopped in the front seats. I started the car, backed out of the parking space, and zipped out of the garage.

“Umm… should I be scared?” Shannon asked.

“Maybe a little.” I said.

I laughed at the look on his face as we pulled up to the south exit of the airport. A few minutes later Ashley’s car pulled up to the right of us. Her window went down and I quickly put the one on Shannon’s side down.

“Okay,” Ashley said looking to make sure there weren’t any cars coming. “On your mark…”

I laughed again as Shannon grabbed the Oh Shit Handle above the window.

“Get set…” I said.

“GO!” we screamed at the same time.

Both cars zipped out of the parking lot and down the road. Ashley pulled ahead of us almost right away. I stepped on the gas but she was already too far ahead. We finally caught up to her a few minutes later at the stop light at the end of the road.

I pulled up in the lane next to her and waited for the light to change. The four lane roads would quickly turn into two lanes after the stop light. I was going to have to go pretty fast to get in front of her.

“I think you can let go Shannon.” I said looking over at him. His knuckles were turning white already.

“I just want to make sure.” he said.

I rolled my eyes as the light finally turned green. I hit the gas and quickly pulled ahead of Ashley. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw her speeding after us.

She quickly caught up to us and got in the left lane to pass us. I sped up even more as she pulled up next to us. A few minutes later a car was coming down the road in the opposite direction and she had to get behind us again. Just to piss her off, I slowed way down.

“How fast are you going?” Shannon asked.

I looked at the speedometer and started laughing. “Fifteen miles!” I said.

Shannon started laughing too. I was laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes.

“I think she’s gonna try and pass you again.” Shannon said through his laughter.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, Ashley’s car pulled into the left lane and sped up. I sped up too and we were dead even. I looked ahead and laughed as I saw another car coming at us. I looked over at Ashley and saw her pound on the steering wheel in frustration before getting behind us again.

I slowed down again, this time the speedometer read under ten miles. Shannon and I continued to laugh when we saw the long line of cars coming in the left lane.

Ashley honked her horn at us and I flipped her off. Shannon turned around in his seat to stare out the back window at her.

“She looks like she’s gonna kill you.” he said smiling.

“I don’t doubt that.”

We pulled up to another red light and I turned around to look at Ashley. She flipped me off and I stuck my tongue out at her like the little kid I sometimes acted like.

The light turned green and I sped off. This time there were no cars coming and Ashley was able to pass us.

The three of us caught up to a line of cars in front of us. I made sure there were no cars coming the other way and passed Ashley’s car plus the other three that were in front of her. Shannon and I started laughing again as we sped off to the apartment.

Ten minutes later we turned down our road with all the apartments. We pulled into the parking lot and were shocked to see Ashley’s car already parked in her usual spot.

“How the hell…?” Shannon asked.

“I forgot about the back roads.” I said as we pulled into my own parking spot next to hers.

Ashley started dancing as we got out of the car. “Oh yeah! I won!” she exclaimed.

“Shut up.” I laughed.

I opened the trunk and Shannon and I grabbed our bags. I laced my fingers through Shannon’s as we followed a skipping Ashley into the building.

x-later-x

I led Tiger the Great Dane back into his now clean pen. I scratched him behind the ears before leaving and shutting the door behind me. I went into the pen next to his and brought out Molly the Greyhound. I took her out to the play area and started cleaning out her pen.

After racing Ashley home from the airport, I decided to take Shannon to the animal shelter I like to volunteer at. I was just going to show him around, but we ended up helping out instead. I was cleaning out the big dogs’ pens while Shannon took care of the smaller dogs.

I finished cleaning Molly’s pen and led her back in. I turned around and ran into a soaking wet Shannon.

“Umm…”

“I didn’t know Bandit didn’t like baths.” he said trying to ring out his shirt. “That Basset Hound put up a real good fight.”

“Bandit had a real bad experience with water when he was a puppy.” I said going to the pen next to Molly’s. “Didn’t you read her profile?”

“Yes.” he lied.

I rolled my eyes and opened the pen. I fitted the leash onto Joe the Doberman and led him out to the play area.

“Are you almost done?” Shannon asked when I came back.

“Yeah.” I said as I cleaned up the poop. “Joe’s the last one on my list. Are you done?”

He nodded. “Bandit was my last one.”

Shannon helped me clean up the pen and ten minutes later we were saying goodbye to the receptionist as we left the shelter.

We had spent so much time at the animal shelter it was already about 6:30 and getting dark. So I took Shannon to one of my favorite sushi bars in Chicago where we had dinner before heading back to my apartment.

We were both really tired when we got back. Shannon suggested watching a movie and I talked him into watching Repo! The Genetic Opera.

Shannon lay down on the couch and I went to get the movie from my room. I put it in the player and switched it on. The movie started playing and I went and lay down on top of Shannon.

“Out from the night, from the mist, steps the figure
No one really knows his name for sure
He stands at six-foot-six, head and shoulders
Pray he never comes knocking at your door
Say that you once bought a heart
Or new corneas
But somehow never managed to square away your debts
He won’t bother to write or to phone you
He’ll just rip the still-beating hear from your chest
Reeepo maaan! Reeepo Maaan!”

I tried not to yawn as I sang along to the one of the fist songs of the movie. My eyelids were already feeling really heavy and I knew I was fighting a losing battle…

“Zydrate comes in a little glass vial.
A little glass vial?
A little glass vial!

And the little glass vial goes into the gun like a battery
And the zydrate gun goes somewhere against your anatomy
And when the gun goes off, it sparks and you’re ready for surgery.
Surgery!”

I woke up to the sound of my favorite song in the movie. I sat up and looked down at Shannon. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep.

There was no point in trying to finish the movie. Shannon was completely gone and I would for sure fall asleep again.

I got up and stopped the movie. I turned off the TV and went into my room. I came back out with a blanket and placed it over Shannon’s still sleeping body. I put his hat on the coffee table and kissed his now bare forehead before heading back into my room to sleep for the night.