In 102 Languages I Love You

For the next two days, I was pretty much alone. I never knew how much I had actually relied on Drake for so many things. We would have lunch together, walk each other to classes, and he'd even hold my book's sometimes when my arms would get tired. He'd be the giant next to me. He'd protect me from the other evil teenagers, from this place we call high school, terrifying as it really is. Two days without him and I was ready to collapse on school grounds. How am I supposed to survive without him when he's...gone. The remaining months of my life, I'd be all by myself. My body would slowly decay away as I laid on my bed; leaving nothing behind.

For the past two days I'd have lunch with Mikey and Frank for about ten minutes, until they decided to finally order something. When they were at the register I'd write them a note saying I 'had to go.' For two days, I walked in the cold all the way to the Calhoun's residence. For two days I would get honked at by all the cars passing by for not knowing how to cross the street. For two days I'd get the door shut in my face by Mrs. Calhoun, telling me I couldn't see my best friend. For two days, I sat on her step, and cried. And for two days, he'd come to the rescue. He watched me cry everyday, and didn't question me anymore. He'd sit by my side with his hand on my back, occasionally rubbing it. Each day, it made me like him more then I already did.

Much more than I could admit.

For those two days, he would walk me home, hug me goodbye, and go back to school while I stayed at home. By now of course, he was more of a 'Frankie' then a Frank. I didn't understand why he was always by my side whenever I'd seem to cry. I liked his company, sure, but in the end it would end up making things worse. He'd make me laugh and smile before leaving me at my doorstep by either doing something funny, or saying something stupid. No matter what though, my eyes would clear up and a smile would be sketched across my face. The things he did to me.

On the third day, it was the same: a boring old Friday. When I had walked into English, he still wasn't by my side. I'd walk in expecting to see him, but he was never there. Instead, I saw the girl that sat on Drakes left, but I didn't even know her name. Each night, for the past three nights I'd lie awake, too afraid to sleep; too afraid to get rest knowing Drake wasn't doing well. I gathered up my stuff as the bell for lunch rang. Like other days, I'd walk out alone and head to my locker to put all my stuff away, not expecting to come back anyway. I waited for the right time, like every other day, for Mikey to place his hand on my shoulder, dragging me to lunch with him and Frank. Mikey had secretly told me that Frank had said his girlfriend had been being a bitch, that's why he's been having lunch with both of us; to get away from it all. We were just an excuse.

When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I was immediately confused. Mikey would always come to me at a certain time. This had happened earlier then usual, and the touch was much too different to even be Mikey. I swear my heart skipped a beat when I turned to look at the face of my best friend. I stared up at his ghostly face.

"Hey Maddy Cakes" He smiled.

In seconds I had squealed and attacked him with a hug. My arms wrapped around the lower portion of his stomach from him being so tall. If I hugged any tighter, whatever he had been eating would have been poured on me from squeezing his insides. My eyes quickly filled up with tears knowing he was fine, and I had him in my arms.

"Yeah, nice to see you too." He laughed lightly rubbing my back. I sighed heavily into his blue shirt and rubbed away my tears now, embarrassed. Teenagers passing by stared at both of us walking by. All you had to do was ignore it. "I hate your mom!" Were the first things I said to him.

He let out a little laugh to this as he brought up his large fingers towards my face. "Awe, you missed me..." He began as he took my miniature hands into his and dragged me down the hallway. "Don't hate her..it wasn't her fault she closed the door on your face. It wasn't her idea..."

My grip around his hand loosened, shocked by what he had said. "You didn't want to see me?"

He held on tighter. "I-I need to talk to you...let's walk..." He sighed as we both stepped out of our school entrance doors.

He didn't loosen the grip anytime during our walk home. The curiosity was eating me away, and I couldn't stand the silence. I hadn't seen him in two days, the most nerve wracking days of my life, and he expects me to stay silent this long? "Can we just talk now?" I whined letting go of his hand.

"We're not at your house yet, and I prefer to sit and talk then stand and talk."

"Fine then, we'll sit!" I muttered stopping dead in our tracks and sitting on the sidewalk we were on. "Come on, s-sit down yourself and talk!" I stuttered from the cold breeze blowing by.

"Maddy.." He sighed taking a seat beside me. "You've changed a lot in these two days haven't you? You even look different. The bags under your eyes, they've deepened. What's wrong?"

Did he not notice the bags under his own eyes? He looked thinner then he had before his cough attack. His skin was still the same ghostly color, and his eyes had lost the last remaining sparkle in them. Now, they just were cold, bright eyes. His smile had even weakened.

"The only thing wrong right now, the only thing that had been driving me crazy was not being able to see you. You're the cause of this." I said, sticking out my tongue.

He cracked a smile throwing his arms around my body, pulling himself closer to me. Immediately the warmth of his jacket created friction against my own, keeping me warm.

"I'm sorry..." He mumbled. "I-I didn't want you to see me..in the state I was in. It was terrible, I..just couldn't let you.."

I buried my face into the space between his neck and the crack of his arm. "All I wanted was to see you. That's all. To know you were okay."

"I'm okay."

I nodded against his jacket, making ruffling sounds. "Why weren't you here this morning then?"

"Came late, wanted to surprise you. I think I did by the way you reacted."

I smiled at the thought and the feeling I had gotten when I saw him behind me and nodded against his jacket once more. "You know, I came to your house for the past three days. And when your mom closed the door on my face, I sat on your step and cried."

"I know..." Drake began, squeezing me tighter. "I heard you all the way from my room. You cry loud. And, that brings me to my next point. I even saw you walking out with your oh so romeo Frank all the time too." He smirked. "You should see how crazy my mom was going when Rory called like every hour." He smiled.

"She just cares, Drake. Like me, except...I care a hundred times more." I smile into his chest.

"Course you do Maddy cakes. But, please do tell me why Frank has walked you out of my house these past three days?" I could feel him smile.

I sighed dramatically not knowing the correct answer, because honestly, I didn't even know. "I don't know..." I mumbled. I really wasn't lying. "He's just...always there, always. I like it when he's there though, but it just complicates things more. He does know how to make me smile though."

"You know what I think? I think you guys should get together!" He smiled, poking my red-cherry colored nose.

I snorted poking his own nose, back. "Yeah, that sounds so realistic." I said, sarcasm spilling through the tone of my voice. "Can we please not talk about that though. How are you? Okay and everything?"

It took a bit before Drake could actually respond. "I'm okay I guess. I know it's coming soon though Maddy...meaning death. I've felt weaker than usual these past three days, and I cough more than I did. I know it's near. Which...which is why I need to tell you this.."

At those words, whatever that 'something' was, I knew it wasn't good. Even by his tone, it was easy to tell the next things that were about to come out of his mouth were important. "Next time you walk into 2nd period English, and you see my seat empty, know that I'm in the hospital, waiting to die.." He took a pause and I grabbed onto his arm hard, trying not to get too emotional. "Please, somehow...get to Newark hospital, as fast as you can. Because, I'd want you by my side then...okay?"

It took me who knows how long to digest what he had said in my head. I nodded against his jacket, getting damp by the second from my tears. I felt his two fingers come in contact with my chin and lift it up to meet his eyes. For this moment, he watched my own eyes filled with tears, and I watched his sparkle with life, and love all at once. "Promise?"

"Promise." I responded.