Selmont, Massachusetts,
2011
Xander P.O.V.
I slammed the door behind and leaned against the wall. A girl that doesn’t think about only herself, one that isn’t even trying to go behind my back with some other guy and I just broke up with her. I am such an idiot, I thought to myself.
My sister, Kaitlyn, came around the corner from the kitchen, with an eyebrow raised. “Xander is it really necessary to act that way because she had to go?” she teased. I frowned at her joke and shook my head.
“Kait, now really isn’t the time to find your sense of humor,” I growled, brushing past her to my room. I tried to shut my door behind me, but she held her hand up to stop me.
“Andy, what’s wrong?” her gaze softening. I groaned at the childhood nickname.
“Kaitlyn, I just need to be alone right now,” I insisted, moving away from the door and sinking into my bed. The room was small, just big enough to contain a twin mattress, a small desk, and cabinet for storing all my clothing. Definitely not a place Isabelle would be accustomed to. I frowned and looked down to the grey lifeless carpeted floor.
“You broke up with her didn’t you?” My blonde sister questioned, disappointment ringing clear in her voice. I couldn’t look up to meet her eyes. “Xander, Isabelle is different from all the other girls you’ve dated and you have dated quite a few,” she tried to make light of the situation with a joke. I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I had to admit though, she was right about that, I was sort of a player. The longest relationships I’ve had lasted only a month, but then came Joan. She had been a crush of mine since preschool, but I never had the nerve to ask her out until senior year last semester. I had decided that I had nothing to lose, besides maybe my heart. We dated for two months up until I caught her with a football player. Isabelle made me realize that I only had lust for Joan.
“Yes, I broke up with her. Kaitlyn, I hardly knew anything about her!” I tried defending myself. I looked up at my older sister and by the look she gave me concluded that she thought I was full of crap.
“So you’re telling me you told her about your condition on the first date?” she winced saying the words, but she proved her point. I winced, looking back down. “What if there are somethings about her that she wasn’t ready to tell you just yet?” Kaitlyn questioned me.
“Sure, there may be somethings, but not her whole life,” I argued. I stood up to pace across the small room.
“What is her favorite color?” she asked.
“Blue,” I answered without hesitance.
“Her favorite drink?”
“Any brand of orange soda, though she doesn’t like orange cream soda,” I answered, smiling a little at the memory when she told me this.
“What is her favorite candy?” my sister interrogated me.
“Razzles,” I laughed.
“You mean the candy from the 70’s?” she asked, looking at me with an eyebrow raised. I laughed and nodded. “Okay then, what is her favorite sport?”
“She told me that she thinks that sports are overrated, but she likes running,” I answered with a slight smile on my face, “Is that even considered a sport?” I questioned as a second thought.
“No clue, but don’t you see, Xander? You know more about her than you knew about that cheerleader Joan and you were dating for two months. Isabelle and you were only dating for two weeks, what’s the rush?” She asked smiling, knowing she had won the argument. I winced at her words.
“There is a rush, though,” I muttered. The doctors didn’t know how fast the cancer was progressing, but they said I may only have a couple of months.
“Xander,” she said, regret lacing her words. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Now that you mention it though, you didn’t breakup with her because of ‘not knowing her well’, you broke up with her because of the leukemia,” Kaitlyn concluded.
I sighed,” A breakup is a lot easier to get over than someone dying on you is.”
“Andy, there are girls out there that would thank you for that, but Isabelle doesn’t strike me as that type of girls,” she said, “Isabelle seems like the type of girl that would stand by you, no matter what.”
I nodded, sitting back on the edge of the bed, a weight building up on my shoulder. “You’re probably right about that, but what if you aren’t?”
“Answer me this, Xander did you tell her you had cancer?” she asked.
“Yeah, I guess I did, but it was when I was breaking up with her,” I answered, after thinking for a minute.
“And she still sat parked outside after you got out of the car,” Kaitlyn said.
“That doesn’t mean anything, what if she was just thinking about it all? You know, letting it sink in?” I asked, getting nervous; the type of nervous when even your hands start sweating. If she really would stand by me, which meant I had broken up with a girl that wouldn’t ever leave me and I had screwed it all up. If I did die I would like her face to be the last face I saw before I went under.
“Could be possible, but are you willing to take that risk?” My sister, who had always been there for me, asked. I looked over to where she sat next to me and smiled gratefully.
“Where are the keys to the car?” I asked standing up and pacing over to the door.
“Kitchen table,” she replied smiling at me as I practically ran out the door. I ran down the path from the door leading to driveway and slid into the small silver car and put the key in the ignition. I closed my eyes and listened as the engine flipped over then opened them again.
“Now or never,” I muttered to myself, as I pulled out onto the street to where Isabelle lived.
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Do you love or hate Xander?
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