I wake up, and see Isa still sleeping next to me. I quietly climb out of the bed, take a shower, and change into normal clothes. When I walk out of the bedroom, I see Isa woke up.
"Good morning," I say, while putting some clothes in my suitcase.
"Good morning," Isa says, while she puts on some socks.
"Did you sleep well?" I ask and Isa nods.
"Yeah, you?"
"Great."
I help Isa with packing her suitcase, and we check out, and get into the car again. Today we are going for a hike, and then tomorrow we're driving back to the airport to return home. Isa and I are talking about if there are more wheels or doors on earth. I think there are more wheels, but Isa thinks there are more doors.
"I mean, think about it Isa. You've seen the amount of tires at a Grand Prix. It's a lot."
"Yeah, but the motorhomes have a lot of doors too, and for example, a hospital doesn't have any wheels in it."
"Oh, so the beds float from room to room?"
"Does those wheels count as well?"
"Of course they do!"
"I'm still fully convinced there are more doors than wheels." Isa crosses her arms on her chest.
"Isa, Lego produces 381 million wheels per year. Give up already."
"You did research to win this argument?"
"You know me."
"OK you win. There are more wheels on earth than doors." Isa sighs and rolls her eyes. The sass.
"Thank you."
I park the car, we get out, and grab our hiking shoes out the boot. We sit down on a rock to change shoes, and we start our hike.
It's a beautiful hike on a cliff, with a view over the sea. We watch our eyes out. I look at Isa, who is also blown away by the beauty of the scenery. We climb further. We are almost alone, except for a little family of three: A dad, mum and a child of the age of 1 I'm guessing. The Dad is carrying the child on his back.
We reach the top off the cliff. The view is amazing. We sit down on a rock, and take in the view, while both eating an apple.
"Oh my god! Charles look!" Isa leans into me and points at something in the sea. I follow her finger and I see dolphins jumping out of the water.
"No way! That's so cool!" We watch the dolphins jump out of the water and dive in again. When they disappear out of our sight, we agree to walk back to the car.
We're walking down a sandy path. The sun is burning on my skin. We forgot to bring sunscreen in our rug sack, so we are going to regret that later today. I'm walking in front of Isa. Every 5 minutes I check if she's still walking behind me. The path gets less steep, and less narrow. We can see our car appearing beneath us. I slow down a bit, so Isa can walk next to me.
"Charles, you look like a tomato," she say, and I look at my arms. They are very red.
"Why do I burn that fast?"
Isa laughs. I look at her. It looks like she only got tanned, instead of transforming into a walking tomato.
"It was a fun hike," Isa says, and I nod in agreement. "Yeah amazing views."
We arrive at our car, and I unlock it. Isa puts the rug sack in the trunk, and grabs something out her suitcase. I'm already behind the steering wheel. Isa walks to my side.
"Look," Isa holds up a tube. "After sun."
"Thanks Isa," I say, while Isa puts some on my cheeks and rubs it over my face. When she's done, she takes a step back and looks at my face. "Done," she says, and she walks up to her side. She closes the door and we continue our drive to the last hotel of our trip. After an hour, we stop at a village to eat lunch.
I search for a parking spot, and then we put on some sunscreen so I don't burn even more. Isa puts the rug sack on her back, and we walk trough the narrow streets, searching for a restaurant. When we walk into the fourth street, we see a small café. We take a seat on the terrace, and wait for a waiter to take our order.
"I can't believe that these five days have flown by so fast," I say while I wave at a waiter who's walking around.
"Yeah, it really flew by, but I really enjoyed it," Isa says, and she smiles at me.
"I did too," I smile back at her.
"buon pomeriggio, cosa gradireste bere?" The waiter came to take our orders.
(good afternoon, what would you like to drink?)
"Vorrei una cola zero, per favore," I say and I look at Isa. "What do you want?" I ask her
(I'd like a zero cola, please.)
"Just a water is good," she says, and I turn to the waiter again. "e un'acqua naturale, per favore."
(and a plain water please)
"in arrivo," the waiter says, and Isa and I thank him.
(coming)
Charles and I are enjoying our lunch at a terrace in a small Italian village. I'm eating a salmon salad, and Charles ordered a carpaccio, which I'm kinda jealous about.
Charles is calmly eating, and I'm looking at him. He looks up and bursts into laughter.
"What?" I ask.
"You are looking like you are going to murder me, and eat my carpaccio after," he says and he swaps our plates. "If you want to swap dishes with me, you can ask you know? Instead of murdering me with your eyes."
"Sorry."
"Don't apologise."
I smile and we eat our food. I pay for the lunch after convincing Charles I wanted to pay, and we leave to explore the village. We walk past a small bakery, and we buy two croissants for on the way.
*
We arrived at our hotel, and we have a room with a view of the sea. Charles is getting our bags out of the car, while I hear my phone ring. It's Anne, Sam's nurse.
"Hi, you're speaking with Isabella," I say. "Why did you call me?"
"Are you sitting down?"
"Yes why?"
"Sam caught a fever."
My heart drops. Because of the cancer, Sam's immune system is very weak, and when he gets sick, it's serious.
"We've decided to postpone the chemotherapy. Sam is too weak to handle it."
"But, but, you can't! The cancer can spread!" I panic and tears start to form in my eyes.
"There is a chance, yes. But he is too sick to do the chemo."
"Can I talk to him?"
"He is sleeping right now, but I'll call you when he wakes up."
"Okay. Do my parents know?"
"Yes they are informed. They want to visit tomorrow."
"Okay. Thank you for telling me."
"No problem. Are you okay?"
"Yes, I will be. Have a nice evening."
"Okay I'll call you later."
I end the phone call and walk to the balcony. The sun is starting to set. I lean on the fence and watch the sunset, thinking about what just happened. After 2 minutes I hear Charles walking in.
"Isa?"
"Here," I say and I hear Charles walking through the balcony door.
He stands beside me. "Are you okay Isa?" He asks, and he looks at me. I shake my head and start talking.
"Sam has a fever. It's really bad, they are postponing the chemo because he is too weak, but there are chances the cancer will spread. Anne called me, because my parents didn't, and I just hate it they don't, and,"
"Shhhh, breathe Isa," Charles says, and I feel tears streaming down my face. Charles grabs my shoulders, turns me to him and pulls me in a hug. I feel his arms around me, and I hug him back. I feel him laying his head on mine. After a few minutes I hear my phone ring again, and I pull my face out of Charles chest. "That is Anne, she would call if Sam woke up," I say and I walk inside grabbing my phone, sitting down on the bed with Charles and accepting the call.
"Hi Sam."
"Bella?"
He sounds so weak. Charles puts his arm around my shoulder.
"Hoi Sam, hoe voel je je?"
(Hi Sam, how are you feeling?)
"Niet heel lekker."
(Not so well)
"Dat hoorde ik van Anne. Heb je wel goed geslapen?"
(Anne told me. Did you sleep well?)
"Ja dat wel."
(Yeah I did)
"Fijn om the horen."
(Good to hear)
"Hi Sam. How are you?"
"Hi Charles, I'm a bit sick. My stomach hurts."
"That sucks, I hope you'll feel better soon."
"Thank you Charles."
I lay my head on Charles shoulder.
"Ik hou heel veel van jou Sam. Doe je rustig aan?"
(I love you so much Sam. Will you take it easy?)
"Oké Isa. Ik hou ook heel veel van jou. Tot de maan en terug!"
(Okay Isa. I love you very much as well. To the moon and back!)
"Tot de maan en terug." I say and I feel the tears welling up in my eyes again.
(To the moon and back)
"Bye Sam, I love you buddy," Charles says.
"Bye Charles, I love you too."
"Dag Sam. Weet dat ik altijd van jou hou oké?"
(Bye Sam. Just know I'll always love you okay?)
"Ik hou ook altijd van jou. Doei Bella!"
(I'll always love you too. Bye Bella!)
"Dag Sam," I say, and Sam ends the call.
(Bye Sam)
*
I wake up by Charles moving next to me. I grab my phone to look at the time. 08:16. Our plane departs at 20:00, and we still need to drive 1,5 hours, so I gently wake Charles up.
"Char? It's a quarter past eight." Charles turns around and looks at me with his eyes almost fully closed. "Huh?"
I chuckle at his sleepiness, and step out of the bed. Yesterday after the phone call with Sam we talked about it, what was really nice. After the race we are going to visit him. Anne messaged me that she would update me regularly, and they were planning to start the chemo in three weeks time.
As I walk back into the room after taking a shower, I see that Charles has fallen asleep again. I walk stealthily to the window, and open the curtains. Bright sunlight shines through the window, straight into Charles his face.
"Arghh, what did you do that for?"
"You fell asleep again, and you need to take a shower so we can continue our roadtrip remember?
"Okay," Charles replies in a annoyed tone. He takes off his shirt and throws it to me. I catch it, fold it, and put it in his suitcase. While Charles is in the shower, I pack our suitcases, and put them at the door. I leave an outfit for Charles on the bed, and walk towards the bathroom door.
"Char?"
Charles turns off the shower.
"Yes?"
"I left an outfit for you on the bed. I'm going to buy us some breakfast at the takeaway downstairs, okay?"
"Sure!"
"What do you want for breakfast?"
"I don't care, you choose something."
"Okay, bye!"
"See you!"
I grab a key pass and walk out of the room, downstairs to the cafeteria. There is a small line in front of it. I join the queue, and wait for my turn. I order two sandwiches, and walk back to our room. Charles is ready, so we grab our suitcases, and check out by the reception.
The drive to the airport wasn't too exiting. I was behind the wheel, and the drive was mostly through city's.
"I really enjoyed it Isa."
"Me too, it was really nice to spend time off with you."
I look at Charles and send him a warm smile.
*
Security went smooth, there were no paper clips in pockets. We're at the boarding gate, waiting to get our tickets scanned. I quickly message the twitch quartet
Twitch quartet 👍🏻👾:
Isabella ✌🏻:
Hello everyone! Charles and I are on our way back. See you in Monaco
Lily 🏌🏻♀️:
Safe trip, see you! ❤️
Lando 👶🏻:
Don't crash
Isabella ✌🏻:
Don't worry we won't
____________________________________________
I put my phone away, and Charles and I hand our tickets to the woman at the entrance of the plane who scans them. She lets us through, and we thank her. We enter the plane, and search for our seats. After a few minutes the plane takes off, and we are heading home.
AN:
Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry it took so long for me to upload again, I was really busy with school.
Word count: 2163
All the love,
Ivy