Summer Nights

32: 'Arlo's secret...'

I smile happily as I walk into the kitchen with my backpack firmly placed on my shoulders, 'Good morning beautiful people!'

Luke eyes me up, 'Why are you so happy?'

I roll my eyes, 'I'm always happy.'

'Nah, this is different. There is literal happiness coming out of your pores.'

I gasp loudly as I shield my nose, 'I don't have pores!'

He snorts, 'Could have fooled me.'

 'Well at least I don't have a monobrow.'

He gasps as he covers his eyebrows, 'I do not! Autumn waxes me!'

I wrinkle my nose, 'That is way too much information.'

His eyes roll, 'Just my eyebrows, nothing else.'

'Thank god because my morning sickness is finally starting to settle down and I would like to keep it that way.'

'So are you going to tell me why you are so happy?'

I give him a sheepish smile, 'I think that I might have a boyfriend soon.'

His eyes widen, 'Y-You and Rocky?'

'Who else would it be?'

'That's a good point. So where are you off too?'

I smile brightly, 'Work.'

'You do realise that normal people don't smile at the prospect of going to work.'

'Well, I'm clearly not normal people.'

'You've got that right.'

'I enjoy these kind brother-sister moments that we share.'

'At-least one of us does.'

I roll my eyes, 'Shut up, you love me.'

'Yeah, yeah. Whatever.'

...

I smoothen down my pink scrubs as I walk into Arlo's room, I freeze when I notice a grim expression on his face, 'A-Are you okay?'

He shakes his head, 'No.'

I kneel down in-front of him, 'W-Why? What's wrong?'

'I-I got the results back from my biopsy I had last week, I have cancer.'

And just like that the world around me stops spinning, everything coming to a painful halt.

'I-I'm so sorry, d-did they speak with you about what kind of treatments they have? I-I'll personally drive you to every single one.'

His frown deepens, 'Kid, I'm eighty-seven, I already know I don't have long left, I don't want to spend the remainder of time either feeling unwell or connected to a drip.'

Hot tears swell up in my eyes 'B-But you have to try.'

'I don't want to try.'

'O-Oh.'

'I'm really sorry to ask this of you, but I don't want Robert to know.'

My stomach churns unpleasantly, 'W-Why?'

'Because...I don't want anything to change, I don't want people to feel obliged to see me more just because I'm sick.'

'T-Then why did you tell me?'

He reaches forward and squeezes my hand, 'Because I need a little sun in my life.'

A strangled sob escapes from my lips, 'I-I'm really sorry that you have to go through this.'