How To Love✓

10.

Amara

"He's not all that bad," Cotton says and I laugh.

"What?" he raises his eyebrows at me. I shook my head. "I'm only surprised," I say and laid back on the pillow.

"I'm not saying that I would befriend the guy. He was....friendly but he was only looking at you like you guys....have something. Did he really sleep on this bed?" he pointed.

"Only because we were endorsed by a movie we were watching. He was actually waiting for Syl but I think she came in late last night. Before I knew it, I fell asleep but I didn't know I fell asleep on his chest. That's all," I explained, though it was a bit of a lie.

"And nothing's going on between you two?" he asks.

"Not that I know of," I say a bit uneasy.

"Not that you know of? Mars please tell me you aren't with him," he begs.

"To me there's nothing going on. I don't know what his intentions are though," I sigh. "Could we just change the subject?" He nodded and flicked through the movie section on Netflix. "What do you want to do today?"

"I don't know. I need to make a quick stop at the pharmacy first. Then.....maybe we can go to a park or something, then get dinner at a restaurant?" I suggest and look at the clock. How is it already 1:30pm?

I texted Syl and told her that I'll be out for the rest of the day and she responds that she will see me tomorrow.

I took a long, relaxing shower while Cotton sat patiently on the bed. I got dressed in a pink pleated skirt, a grey long sleeved shirt and my Mary Janes. I took a dose of medicine, a shot of nebulizer and strapped the tank on my back.

Seeing as he came with his car, I smiled as we didn't have to foot it today.

As promised, we stopped at the pharmacy and I used the prescription paper to get all the meds I ran out of and the ones that I needed to stock up on. We drove around looking for the park and talked about our futures.

"So Cee, what are you doing after college?" I ask, a bit curious. We are best friends but there was never really a conversation where we talked about long term things.

"You never told me what you wanted to be since we could talk."

"That's because I wasn't sure," he simply says.

I scoff. "You were the smartest kid in high school.... well smartest guy cause you couldn't top me," I flipped my hair making him laugh. I continued, "you're an all rounder. Got good grades, a clean slate, only ever had about two to three serious relationships but..... no one will ever decline you. If I was the owner of the company you applied to work for I'd say, "you're hired!" just at the sight of your handsome face," I wiggle my eyebrows playfully.

"Oh so I am handsome? Wow Mars, first and last compliment you've given me," he glances to me once in a while.

"Hey you better take it Mister."

"I will I will. So what about you?"

I lean back into the passenger seat and stared out of the window and to the moving cars. "Wherever cancer takes me."

"You can't just wait for the rest of your life Mars. Still hold a goal in your mind. Get up and chase that dream. Don't let cancer beat you at something," he says and I sigh. "Maybe seeing the rest of my life is a bad idea."

"Don't think negative you here me kid? Your family loves you too much to see you waste your time all because of sucky lungs. Travel the world. If you have to buy three other oxygen tanks in order to survive, girl you go ahead, get that bread!" he says in a Summer Walker voice, earning a giggle from me.

"You always know what to say Cee," I pinched his cheek playfully and rest my head against his shoulder. "What would I do without a best friend like you?"

"Probably die, but you're already getting there," he shrugs and I nod.

"And I love you kid," he adds, placing a hand over mines.

"I love you too," I reply. If only I knew that he meant more to those 3 meaningless words.

We walked around the park and found a picnic table. We caught up on everything that we missed out in each other's lives and even helped a cute little four year old girl fly her small kite. Cotton's phone started ringing so he walked on ahead to answer it, leaving me with the little girl.

She pointed to my nose. "What's that?" she asks in her baby voice. "This is a cannula. It helps me breathe," I smile widely.

"Will it help me bweathe?" she batts her eyelashes timidly.

I nod and took one small breath and placed them in her nose. She sniffs for a moment and starts giggling. "It tickles," she continues to giggle, coming to an abrupt stop when a woman's voice called on from behind.

"Emira what are you doing? I'm so sorry," the lady apologizes and hands me back the cannula before I placed it in my nose again.

"No it's okay. She's a doll," I smile again.

She takes the little girl by er chubby hand and says to her, "Say bye bye to the beautiful girl Emira."

"Bye pwetty girl!" she giggles again and walks off with her mother in the other direction.

I turn my head over to Cotton who was now walking over to me. "That was my mom, she wants me home. Says it's an emergency," he fumbles and helps me to stand up. I nod understandingly and we headed to the campus. He parks in the parking lot and and walks me to my dorm room. The door was locked meaning that Syl really wasn't back yet. I fish out the keys and turned the lock.

"I hope everyone's okay," I whisper. He smiles sadly and embraces me warmly. "Don't sweat. I'm sure it's something minor," he says, his voice muffles in my hair. I pulled away and kissed his cheek softly.

"Call me when you get there?"

He nods. "Call me when you're about to sleep."

"I will. I had a good day with you Cee. I really missed you."

"Me too Mars. See you later."

I waved goodbye and watched him disappear down the hallway.

***

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