A Month To Live

A Month To Live (Epilogue)

It wasn't all doom and gloom for Tommy though. He found out that his mom actually had half brother that he'd never known about. I didn't find out the exact details but he offered to help Tommy financially if he ever needed it and give him any support he could.

Tommy's dad never showed up for the funeral though.

As I was looking for a job while dreading the results of my school exams, I decided to get involved in some charity work - for helping the fight against cancer of course. I helped organise a couple of fund raisers for research and another for one of the local hospitals which had a lot of young patients. Bradley and Tommy got involved too and I think if helped distract all three of us for the few weeks surrounding the funeral. Remi, Kyle, George and Tara occasionally helped in their free time too.

Exams... well I was kind of worried about the results. I'd not done any studying or revising... or well any real attending of lessons for the past few months so I wasn't all too eager to get my results back. I did spend a lot of time with Bradley trying to cram as much information into my head as possible. He'd never admit it, but I was pretty sure he was impressed at how academic I could be when I actually made an effort. I think he even thought it was kind of hot too. I guessed that after he tore a chemistry textbook from my hand one day and kissed me as if his life depended on it. I never could look at that textbook the same way again.

Either way, if I failed my exams, I'd just have to repeat a year at Richmond. It wasn't ideal but I didn't want grades which didn't show how capable I truly was.

But today was all about Tommy. It was his nineteenth birthday and we were all gathered at Bradley’s house for a surprise party. He needed it. Even if it only cheered him up for a little while. Everyone needs a break from reality.

‘When’s he going to get here?’ I asked the others impatiently as I fiddled with the knot of a balloon.

We’d gone all out on the decorations. I couldn't work out whether it looked childish or somewhat classy. Probably somewhere in between. We had balloons, banners and a cake with those annoying candles that don't go out when you blow on them. George's idea.

‘He’ll be here in the next few minutes,’ Remi reassured me. ‘He left his apartment not long ago. Should be here soon.'

‘This place looks good,’ I said with an approving nod as I looked around the backyard.

The pool filter had been fixed months ago and we'd been swimming in it all summer. We'd pulled up all the garden chairs near the barbecue on the decking and had lots of snacks piled up. Along with quite a lot of alcohol. I grimaced as I spied tequila. Another one of George's ideas. He knew I couldn't stomach it after the Night of Many Shots as he liked to call it.

'Better than my birthday,' Remi snorted.

'Sorry,' I laughed, remembering back to when Bradley and I had struggled to decorate the place nicely. 'You're the one with the artistic touch.'

To be honest, we could have tried harder but we kept distracting each other by popping balloons and throwing confetti in each other's faces. We were immature to say the least. But that was one of the many reasons why I loved him.

‘You and Bradley were messing around!’ she accused, putting her hands on her hips as she glared at me. 'I've seen you try and make banners, remember,' she pointed out. 'Bet you two just ended up abandoning your work and screwing. Don't deny it!' she added, raising her finger at me I opened my mouth to respond.

'There are many birthdays yet,' I ended up saying as innocently as possible.

‘Hey are you guys still not done?’ Kyle asked approaching from the other side of the deck.