One Last Breath

Skylar

"Favorite color?"

"Orange. Favorite food?"

"Anything above 200 calories. Least favorite song?"

"Anything above 200 calories."

"That doesn't even make any sense!" I laughed, pushing Lucas's shoulder while he just chuckled at me. I smiled at the boy and admired him.

He had been here an exact week, and life at the hospice couldn't get any better. He was a good influence, as well as a distraction, for Julia, and you could tell that they clicked. They were like two pieces to a puzzle that were just meant to be put together.

They knew one another like the back of their hands, like they had been together since birth. While they had gotten to know each other for this entire week, I hadn't learned a damn thing about him. I knew the basics—which meant his name, age, disease, and other medial things like that—but I didn't really know him very personally.

"You know most of the shit that I say doesn't make sense."

"It had been for the last ten minutes," I mumbled, leaning back against my bed and crossing my arms over my chest.

"A very rare moment, then," he replied with a soft smile. That damned cute smile of him was contagious and I ended up giving him one of my very own.

I was shocked out of the pleasant smile when Lucas went into another coughing fit. I sat up quickly, grabbing the glass of water from my night stand, and went to hand it to him. The boy subsided the attack, and pushed the water away.

"I don't need it," he said hoarsely, "I'll be fine."

"Lucas, drink it, or I will shove this entire glass down your throat."

The younger male rolled his eyes, but took the glass and sipped the cold liquid. After the first little drink, he gulped down the water like he was a fish out of water. I smirked and leaned back again, giving him a victory look.

"Whatever," was all he mumbled. I laughed at his sourness.

After another moment of silence, I sighed, looking at the door that led to the hall. Julia was supposed to have been here ten or so minutes ago. She had some test that she had to do, and although it was a little long, it wasn't supposed to run this long. I felt like Jul now, the one waiting on her when it was usually the other way around.

"I wonder where that girl is," I groaned, letting my head rest against the headboard.

"It's revenge for her always waiting up for you."

"Hey, that's not my fault! I have exercise, tests; it's never been my fault that I was late."

"Maybe it's not her fault either," Lucas teased, setting the empty cup back on the table.

"Maybe I just don't like waiting around. And if you start your sentence with another 'maybe', I'll hit you."

"Well damn," Lucas replied, "don't kill the innocent bystander."

We both started to laugh at my moodiness, which often led to violence, but that too was cut short. This time, it wasn't because of a coughing fit. It was the sudden commotion that seemed to be coming from out in the hallway. I gave Lucas a confused glance and we both got up at the same time.

I opened the door wide enough so that both Lucas and I could see, but I didn't swing it out all the way. There were a couple nurses and doctors running through the hallway, and I looked around and saw that some other kids seemed just as lost as I was in this situation. What the hell was going on?

That was when I saw a familiar girl, Robin, running towards us, her bare feet pounding against the tile as she sped towards us. Her brown eyes were wild, and her brown girls were all over her face as she skid to a stop in front of my door. Her breathing was heavy but she was trying to say something to me.

I grabbed the younger girl's arms and told her to calm down. "Robin, it’s okay, breathe. Now, what is going on?"

She took in a couple deep breaths before telling me what she needed to. "Skylar, it's Julia. All I know is that something happened, and she needs to go into immediate surgery down in intensive care."

Noah

"Alright, just have the supplies delivered here by Thursday, please. Thank you, good day."

I hung up the phone that the receptionist had given me and smiled at her. "Thanks Gloria."

"What was that call for?" the woman asked, curious as to who I had been talking to.

"I'm just getting some stuff shipped over that I think will help Skylar's condition."

The woman gave me a soft smile and nodded her head. "It's wonderful what you're doing for that girl. She's such a little star, I hate to see her going through all this pain, physically and emotionally."

"I hate it too Gloria," I said, "I just wish I could do more."

As I went to walk away, the phone ran again, and for some reason, it seemed shrill and desperate. Gloria, with wide eyes, picked it up immediately and curtly said hello. The conversation between her and the other person was short, with only a few sound of confirmation coming from the woman in front of me.

When she ended the call and stood up abruptly, I gave her a questioning glance. "What’s going on?"

"Julia Romona is in the intensive care unit. Her chondrosarcoma has flared, and they're thinking about going into surgery, maybe even amputation."

As soon as Julia's name came from the woman's lips, I knew that this wasn't going to be good. My heart could only sink more. When Jul said it would be soon, I hadn't expected this type of treatment to be right around the corner.

I quickly asked which floor she was on, and after giving me an answer, I took off. If Skylar figured out what was going on, she would freak. She might just hurt herself by doing something crazy trying to get to her best friend.

I didn't have the patience to wait for the elevator, so I took off for the stairs, thanking God that I was in shape and that the floor I was looking for wasn't too high up. I took each concrete step two at a time, sometimes three, and paid attention as the numbers on the doors passed.

When I got to the fourth floor, I yanked open the door and dashed inside. I was out of breath, and really wanted to sit down, take a break, or at least lean against the wall and catch my breath, but as fate had it, as soon as I was inside, right by the doors that led to the hall Julia was being kept in, Skylar was running in this direction. Her face was laced with worry and I saw Lucas a little behind her, wheezing away but looking just as concerned.

Before she got to me, though, another doctor got in her way, his arms spreading out to stop her. "I'm sorry Skylar, I can't let you go in there. They're prepping her, and only doctors are allowed."

"You have to be fucking crazy to think I'm just going to stand out here and-"

The man wasn't even fazed by her foul language, which Skylar never used, and calmly stepped towards her and spoke up. "Please Skylar, you're making this harder than it has to be."

"I'm worried too Skylar, but maybe we should just wait in your room."

All the blond did was shake her head, making her silky hair thrash back and forth. "I'm not letting her go through anything without knowing that I'm here for her."

She ran passed the doctor, who was too shocked by the action to even stop her. He almost fell to the ground when she pushed him aside, making a b-line for the swinging doors.

I guess she hadn't seen me through this entire thing, because when I caught her in my arms and kept her there, she seems genuinely shocked. When Skylar saw who it was, she began to thrash around, trying to break from my hold.

"Let me go Noah! Let me go!"

I held her close to me, bringing her head into my chest and tried to keep her from throwing herself around too much. "Skylar, stop! If you keep doing this, you're going to hurt yourself."

"I don't care!" she screamed, pushing a little away from me and looking into my eyes. She was angry, far beyond pissed, and I was surprised she hadn't hit me yet. Maybe she would have if I wasn't holding her so tightly.

"That's my best friend in there, I can't just leave her in there alone!"

"She's not in there alone Skylar, the best doctors are here to take care of her. They're doing more help in there than you could."

I could see that I hurt her by that comment, but before she could respond, I did the one thing that would shut her up. And I only hoped that it wouldn't make her all the more angry.

I pressed my lips against hers and kissed her, softly and pretending like I was sucking that anger out of her. It seemed to work, because she relaxed it my arms, which allowed me to let go of her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and brought me down further, deepening the kiss before cutting it off right after. I opened my eyes to see her looking up at me.

"I'm worried," she whispered, biting her lip. I had to wonder if she meant for Julia, or what had just happened between us.

"No matter what, I am here for you."