The Bucket List
Lucy.
She looked down at the scrapbook that was laid on her bed, the pictures tore from magazines and travel brochures shining up at her, reminding her of everything she couldn’t have and couldn’t. Have a boyfriend, lose her virginity, go to college, get a job, travel the world, and fall in love, get married, have kids, see them grow old, grow old herself. Watch the world change before her eyes. Every picture hurt her, a stabbing pain in her gut, as though she was teasing herself.
Grace had made if when she was first diagnosed, hoping that one day she was going to be able to tick things off, achieve things that her and her family never dreamed of.
Deep down she knew that this summer things had changed for her, it was like before she was a caterpillar and has now flourished into a butterfly, a bit silly but that was the only way she could describe it. She sighed before picking up her book of fantasy chucking it across the room as she laid her hear in her hands.
Never would she have thought that she would have a best friend, especially one she wasn’t related to, that was willing to put everything aside to make her happy and do things that she never thought was possible.
Garrett was different to other boys. He was special always wanting to put other people before himself, always putting other people’s happiness before his own. Grace knew someday Garrett would find the girl perfect for him, one that deserved his attention and his love and would make him happy and it made Grace sad that she knew she would never see this happen.
Everything just seemed so far out of her reach and it just made her feel foolish to even try anymore. All she wanted to do was give up.
Grace waited until she could hear giggling from inside of Bailey’s room before sneaking out the house, wanting to avoid any necessary conversation with people who knew her, instead diving into her car and putting in her ‘The Fray’ CD before skipping to track two and turning the volume to an obscene level.
She sighed as she stepped into the over flowing coffee shop, a woman with several children and a crying baby in a pram queuing behind her a few seconds later.
Grace looked around slowly taking everything in, wondering how many more times she would be able to do something like this. Five minutes or so later the queue still haven’t moved, the barista was starting to look stress, biting her lips and taking deep breaths while trying to shout out orders.
A business man no older than 35 in a posh suit was lecturing someone down the phone, the patronization in his voice was practically oozing with every word he spat out punctuating them with constant eye rolls.
The girl behind Grace was bent over the pram, trying to shush the baby, while the two young infants began to argue with each other, the little girl no older than three pouting at her older brother had stole her doll holding it high above her head.
The business man turned and glared as the shrieks got louder causing the young girl to become flustered digging in the bag under the pram fishing for toys to try and soothe the baby but the screams rising up octaves as the man continued to sigh and groan.
Thankfully the queue moved quickly, the grumpy man ordering his coffee and managed to slip away to a corner his phone glued to his ear as he continued to rant at one of his incompetent employees.
“Hello can I take your order and name please?” the flushed barista asked, pen poised while her other hand was raised over the cups ready to grab the one that was required.
“Grace and can I have a hot chocolate with extra whip cream and sprinkles please” Grace answered politely moving to extract her purse out of her bag as the girl whipped out the correct cup scribbling her name and order onto it before passing it to the next person before moving to the till pressing numerous buttons before calling out the total as the draw dinged open.
Grace passed the money across, placing the change into the top jar before moving down a bit allowing the girr to place her order to the lady.
“Okay that will be $16.15” the barista stated as the she opened her oversized bag, beginning to root between the children’s toy and baby wipes for her purse.
Grace reached across placing $20 in the barista’s hand as the woman looked up at her with eyes wide as Grace received the change proceeding to drop it in the tip jar.
“It’s okay, I don’t need your charity really” the girl stated still trying to look for her purse as she moved down the cue awaiting the drinks.
“It’s fine really, it’s not charity it was just something I need to do, you know like a quest?” she tried to explain, finding it hard to find the correct words causing her statement to come out like a question.
“A guest?” She said the word coming out of her mouth as though it was foreign and she couldn’t get her head around it.
“Yeah just a list of things to do before the end and buying someone a drink was on the list so basically I’m the charity case” Grace finished with a smile before collecting her drink and heading to a small table in the corner. The woman followed her at a quick pace, stopping her pram at the table as she bit her lip, eyes trained on Grace.
“There has to be something I can do to pay you back” The woman began as she began dishing out the drinks and snacks to the young twins trying to hush them when they were about to start arguing.
“Well there is another thing I need to do for my quest” Grace began, trying to rack her mind for her list wondering if there was anything she could tick off.
“And what would that be?” The woman asked, lifting her hand to brush her hair out of her eyes, biting him lip as though she was too scared to ask the question.
“Tell me your life story, you know the short version if you like, it’s just something I have to do” Grace explained her voice trailing off to the end when she realized how crazy she sound and was expecting for the woman to walk away. Instead the woman pulled out the seat placing the twins on chairs on either side of the table before sitting down opposite Grace.
“My name is Lucy and I’m 18 and I have just finished high school and I’m due to start ASU in the fall. These aren’t my children but are my brothers and sister which I get stuck babysitting a lot but I’m not that fussed since I love them to bits. I’ve lived in Arizona all my life with my parents until my mom left my dad for some hot shot guy. Since then I have lived with my dad and my new step mum which isn’t as wicked as I thought. Then down the line they had Kendal and Charlie and then finally they had Benjamin. During high school I didn’t really have much friends because I had to focus on my work because the only way I was getting into college was if I got a scholarship and finally all my hard work paid off, but because if this I never had a boyfriend and I was always the punch line of everyone’s jokes” She finished, hooking her foot around the bottom of the pram to try and rock the baby to sleep.
“I know how it feels about not having many friends, I have only ever had my cousin, well that was until this summer when I came to Arizona and everyone was so friendly and I got attached” Grace explained causing Lucy to laugh.
That was how Grace spent the rest of her afternoon, talking to a random stranger watching as they began to become friends.
Grace had made if when she was first diagnosed, hoping that one day she was going to be able to tick things off, achieve things that her and her family never dreamed of.
Deep down she knew that this summer things had changed for her, it was like before she was a caterpillar and has now flourished into a butterfly, a bit silly but that was the only way she could describe it. She sighed before picking up her book of fantasy chucking it across the room as she laid her hear in her hands.
Never would she have thought that she would have a best friend, especially one she wasn’t related to, that was willing to put everything aside to make her happy and do things that she never thought was possible.
Garrett was different to other boys. He was special always wanting to put other people before himself, always putting other people’s happiness before his own. Grace knew someday Garrett would find the girl perfect for him, one that deserved his attention and his love and would make him happy and it made Grace sad that she knew she would never see this happen.
Everything just seemed so far out of her reach and it just made her feel foolish to even try anymore. All she wanted to do was give up.
Grace waited until she could hear giggling from inside of Bailey’s room before sneaking out the house, wanting to avoid any necessary conversation with people who knew her, instead diving into her car and putting in her ‘The Fray’ CD before skipping to track two and turning the volume to an obscene level.
She sighed as she stepped into the over flowing coffee shop, a woman with several children and a crying baby in a pram queuing behind her a few seconds later.
Grace looked around slowly taking everything in, wondering how many more times she would be able to do something like this. Five minutes or so later the queue still haven’t moved, the barista was starting to look stress, biting her lips and taking deep breaths while trying to shout out orders.
A business man no older than 35 in a posh suit was lecturing someone down the phone, the patronization in his voice was practically oozing with every word he spat out punctuating them with constant eye rolls.
The girl behind Grace was bent over the pram, trying to shush the baby, while the two young infants began to argue with each other, the little girl no older than three pouting at her older brother had stole her doll holding it high above her head.
The business man turned and glared as the shrieks got louder causing the young girl to become flustered digging in the bag under the pram fishing for toys to try and soothe the baby but the screams rising up octaves as the man continued to sigh and groan.
Thankfully the queue moved quickly, the grumpy man ordering his coffee and managed to slip away to a corner his phone glued to his ear as he continued to rant at one of his incompetent employees.
“Hello can I take your order and name please?” the flushed barista asked, pen poised while her other hand was raised over the cups ready to grab the one that was required.
“Grace and can I have a hot chocolate with extra whip cream and sprinkles please” Grace answered politely moving to extract her purse out of her bag as the girl whipped out the correct cup scribbling her name and order onto it before passing it to the next person before moving to the till pressing numerous buttons before calling out the total as the draw dinged open.
Grace passed the money across, placing the change into the top jar before moving down a bit allowing the girr to place her order to the lady.
“Okay that will be $16.15” the barista stated as the she opened her oversized bag, beginning to root between the children’s toy and baby wipes for her purse.
Grace reached across placing $20 in the barista’s hand as the woman looked up at her with eyes wide as Grace received the change proceeding to drop it in the tip jar.
“It’s okay, I don’t need your charity really” the girl stated still trying to look for her purse as she moved down the cue awaiting the drinks.
“It’s fine really, it’s not charity it was just something I need to do, you know like a quest?” she tried to explain, finding it hard to find the correct words causing her statement to come out like a question.
“A guest?” She said the word coming out of her mouth as though it was foreign and she couldn’t get her head around it.
“Yeah just a list of things to do before the end and buying someone a drink was on the list so basically I’m the charity case” Grace finished with a smile before collecting her drink and heading to a small table in the corner. The woman followed her at a quick pace, stopping her pram at the table as she bit her lip, eyes trained on Grace.
“There has to be something I can do to pay you back” The woman began as she began dishing out the drinks and snacks to the young twins trying to hush them when they were about to start arguing.
“Well there is another thing I need to do for my quest” Grace began, trying to rack her mind for her list wondering if there was anything she could tick off.
“And what would that be?” The woman asked, lifting her hand to brush her hair out of her eyes, biting him lip as though she was too scared to ask the question.
“Tell me your life story, you know the short version if you like, it’s just something I have to do” Grace explained her voice trailing off to the end when she realized how crazy she sound and was expecting for the woman to walk away. Instead the woman pulled out the seat placing the twins on chairs on either side of the table before sitting down opposite Grace.
“My name is Lucy and I’m 18 and I have just finished high school and I’m due to start ASU in the fall. These aren’t my children but are my brothers and sister which I get stuck babysitting a lot but I’m not that fussed since I love them to bits. I’ve lived in Arizona all my life with my parents until my mom left my dad for some hot shot guy. Since then I have lived with my dad and my new step mum which isn’t as wicked as I thought. Then down the line they had Kendal and Charlie and then finally they had Benjamin. During high school I didn’t really have much friends because I had to focus on my work because the only way I was getting into college was if I got a scholarship and finally all my hard work paid off, but because if this I never had a boyfriend and I was always the punch line of everyone’s jokes” She finished, hooking her foot around the bottom of the pram to try and rock the baby to sleep.
“I know how it feels about not having many friends, I have only ever had my cousin, well that was until this summer when I came to Arizona and everyone was so friendly and I got attached” Grace explained causing Lucy to laugh.
That was how Grace spent the rest of her afternoon, talking to a random stranger watching as they began to become friends.