Kissing You That Friday Night

I normally only visited Lary when Gloria was around, but it was Bingo night and the Senior Citizens were crowded around in the main lobby passing around bingo cards and chips. I walked right past all the comotion and straight to the elevator. I knew Gloria would never let me visit Lary alone, which I never understood. I went anyways.
When I got to his room I noticed a doctor writing something down on a clipboard. I waited patiently by the door until the doctor would notice me and tell me it was okay to see Lary. A few moments later he turned his head and saw me in the door way. He nodded his head at me and left the room, skimming past me. I clutched the plastic rail around the bed and looked down at Lary. He looked worse than before. He was very pale, almost ghost like. His eyes were squinted and he had large dark cirles around his eyes that gave his eyes the appearence of being sunken into his head. He was motionless but he looked at me the minute I approached. Every move he made was filled with imense effort. I could tell. His eyes were watery and I noticed the small tube that ran from his nose to the electronic breathing machine next to me. I could here the air pump slowly in and out of the machine and to Lary. He gave a weak smile and opened the palm of his hand beside his leg. I placed my hand in his and he tightened his grip slightly around my small hand. The vessels in hand popped up a dark blue color, nothing out of the ordinary for a senior. We looked at each other in silence, but for some reason I think he knew what I was thinking and I knew what he was thinking. Lary hadn't spoken in months unless it was mummbling. I felt a tear form in my eye but I tried not to let it show. I didn't want to scare Lary. He didn't know how weak and feeble he looked. I would have normally been scared to see someone in that condition, but Lary was like the grandfather I never had. When he first got his cancer he gave me his old wrist watch. It was a gold faced watch with a leather band. The battery had run out but I still had it under my pillow at home. He didn't know about this but Gloria did and I'm sure she told him. I figured I would say something because even though he couldn't speak, he still had ears.
"Hey Lary," I said and put my hand ontop of his head, "I know you're not feeling so hot. But Gloria and I are always here for you."
I paused and waitied for some sort of response. He smiled and his eyes squinted a little.
"That watch you gave me...I don't know if Gloria ever told you but, I have it still. It's under my pillow. Like a reminder of you. We're always praying for you, Lary, Gloria and I."
I then couldn't help but let the tears flow. I felt the cold tear drip down my cheek. "We're your..." I sniffled and listened to the heart monitor beat slowly. "...Biggest fans." I smiled and then laughed at what I had said. I wiped the tears off my face.
"We love you." I smiled weakly. I felt my teeth chatter and my mouth quiver as I tried. I looked down at him and saw a tear in the corner of his eye. I then heard footsteps behind me and turned around. I saw the same doctor stand there that I had seen when I walked in the room. He quietly and calmly told me I had to leave because Lary had to get some more rest. I nodded and wiped the rest of the tears off my face with the back of my hand.
"Bye, Lary." I said as I walked toward the doctor in the doorway. "Can I talk to you?" I asked the doctor and he nodded. We walked away from the door to where it was quiet.
"Is he going to be alright?" I asked the doctor and sniffled.
The doctor looked at the clipboard in his hand and examined it's contents. "We're not sure. Things aren't looking that great for him."
I looked up at the tall man and felt more tears running down my cheeks and I couldn't breathe through my nose. "Is he going to leave us?"
"He has atleast a week." The man replied and put a hand on my shoulder, "I'm sorry, miss."
"That's fine." I cried. I felt my knees buckle down and I suddenly found myself kneeling on the ground with my face in the hands, crying my eyes out.
The doctor knelt beside me. "I never caught your name..." He said stupidly as though it was the worst time ever to ask personal information.
"Laila Vasser." I said calmly.
"Ah, you're the young girl Lary me about when he first came to us." The doctor said and stood up. He walked over to the main desk near by and shuffled through a bunch of papers.
I walked over to him.
"He wanted me to give you this," The doctor held out a peice of neatly folded paper to me, "He told me to tell you to read it when he passed away."
I looked down at the note now in my hands and nodded. Being the person I was I would normally not wait until a certain time to read a letter, but I respected Lary and his wishes so I stuffed the note in my back pocket and headed toward the elevator.

"Wow, this really sucks," Kat said in a low voice. Her head was lowered and she was picking at the grass between her legs.
I sat pretzel-style across from her and looked at the sky, squinting at it's powerfeul rays.
"Talk about the worst way to end a school year, huh?" She said and looked at me.
"Yeah..." I replied and looked at the ground.
Kat and I had just been talking about my moving situation. We were moving on June 12th, less than a week after school got out. I was starting to just barely warm up to the idea. I mean, I would get to go to the Art Academy no matter what. But I would never mention that to Kat. I would miss her, but it didn't mean we were worlds away. Just a Highway 60 and a gajillion paytolls away.
As if Kat read my mind she smiled and said, "It's not like I can't visit you often. When I get my license, I'll drive down to visit you every weekend. We can chill by Lake Michigan in the summer and go to all the museums. Oh! We can even go to Body World. I've never been there. It sounds fascinating." She smiled and I couldn't help but laugh. I threw my arms around her neck and felt hers around my back. I held her in a tight embrace until the bell rang only moments later.
First period through fourth flew by. I was more focused than ever in my work now that everything was dealt with. Though I still had imense pain in my heart, I tried not to let it get to my school work. Finals were coming up and I'm sure my dad would be pleased to see all A's and B's on my report card this year.
"So I heard your moving, girly?" Tara said as she spun the pottery wheel fast and formed a large bowl in a matter on minutes.
"Yeah, sorry I didn't talk to you about it before. Where'd you here about it?" I asked, leaning against the door frame of the room during my lunch period.
"Kat told me last night on AIM, she was like...Freaking out," Tara laughed and removed the finished bowl from the wheel and onto a slab of wood to dry until it was ready to go in the kiln.
"Figures," I said.
"I'm going to miss you, Lai," Tara said and held her arms out for an air hug because her hands were covered in greyish brown clay goop.
I air hugged her back. "I'll miss you too."