It was the middle of the summer now. Remi’s eighteenth birthday had come and gone and we’d also visited Bradley’s mom’s grave on the day of the anniversary. It wasn’t as depressing as I thought it’d be to be honest. We all just talked and Bradley and Remi told me lots of stories that they remembered about her.
Best of all, their dad even came. Despite what he said about going away for work. I don't know what changed his mind - whether it was Bradley yelling at him that time or something else - but he did seem to be more... present than before. Maybe that was just because I was basically at the house everyday. But, then again, I pretty much lived at the house before anyway.
After much persuading, and quite a lot of luck, I managed to convince my parents to stay in Richmond over summer. I'm pretty sure Bradley's charm was what convinced my mom. She adored him. As soon as she saw that gorgeous smile of his, she made me promise not to let him go. Not that I needed any encouragement.
I managed to afford another month's rent before going on a job hunt. Bradley insisted that I just stay at his but in all honesty I liked having my own space. We could hang out at my apartment without anyone barging in on us. Plus, if my parents wanted to visit then they actually had somewhere we could sit that belonged to me. One of my mom's rules was that we saw each other at least once a fortnight. Either by me going back home or them coming over to visit.
It wasn't so bad living next to Tommy now either. I managed to force Bradley to go over and talk things out with him. Tommy had done a lot for us and he was going through so much himself it made my heart ache. It was actually fun getting to know him too. He was definitely one of the weirdest guys I'd ever met. In a good way, that is. I did still find a lot of similarities between us though and I knew he noticed them too by the appraising look he sometimes gave me.
He and Bradley were soon thick as thieves again. I couldn't tell what surprised our friends more, me and Bradley finally getting together or Bradley and Tommy becoming pals again.
Telling the others about everything that had happened was... not easy. I had to repeat it a few times too so I think I may have come across as almost bored by the time I finished telling them all. Funnily enough, the one who was most pissed off with me was George. It was a long process, involving a lot of alcohol, before he finally forgave me.
Tara was annoyed but not as much as George. She just wished she'd been there to help me through it. I hadn't even hung out with Lisa or Davy outside of the group so it wasn't too difficult to fill them in either. Kyle did end up giving me a long hug when I first saw him again. It made me kind of emotional too. He wasn't exactly the most... hmm how to say it? Forthcoming with his emotions. I mean, it had taken him a year to even 'fess up that he liked Remi so I was pretty touched.
'And you call me charming,' Bradley had whispered. 'You know how long it took Remi to get a hug out of that guy?'
But things weren’t all happy-go-lucky. Tommy’s mom had steadily been getting worse over the last few weeks and one day she was just gone.
She died in mid-June and he was devastated to say the least. Bradley and I spent a lot of time over at his place. It was tough on Bradley too. He'd known her almost all his life from when he and Tommy had grown up together as kids. It also reminded him of his own mom's death. Even though it was an awful situation, I was happy they had each other. I'm not sure what Tommy would have done otherwise. He had no one else.
I'd never been to a funeral before. I didn't remember much of it. I remembered pretty much sticking like glue to Bradley’s side the whole time. I couldn't bear to be left alone. I also remembered Tommy’s face very clearly. It was hard and quite devoid of any emotion. If I thought he was good at hiding his thoughts before, then I was sorely wrong. He hadn't even been trying back then. It was one of the only times I'd managed to hold his hand without him pulling away. The fact that he allowed me to, was the only sign he gave that he actually needed comfort.
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.
I tied off the balloon in my hands and whacked it towards his head.
'Done now,' I confirmed as it bounced off him and floated down to the ground
‘So adult,’ he snorted, retrieving the balloon and tying it to a piece of string with the others.
‘I’ll go get everyone from inside,’ I added, leaving Remi and Kyle on the decking and approaching the back door.
‘Oh, God,’ I groaned, entering the kitchen and catching sight of a mess. ‘What does the cake look like?’ I asked warily.
'Not too bad,' George said, clapping his hands together loudly.
‘Huh,' I mused looking down at the icing. 'You're right. Not too shabby. Though I suspect my other half had a lot to do with it,' I added, shooting Bradley a questioning look.
‘I baked and made icing - they decorated,' he replied with a smile.
I dipped my finger in the bowl of icing to try it. Pretty delicious I had to admit. I couldn't resist sweet things though.
'Licking icing off your finger in front of me,' Bradley said, leaning on the counter beside me. 'Quite enticing, you know.'
'I can't respond to that in the presence of other people,' I said, drawing a slow smile from him as he looked down at me. He draped his arm around my shoulders and tucked me to his side.
'Tell me later then.'
I slapped his stomach with the back of my hand and he laughed
‘No abuse on someone’s birthday,’ he complained, tugging on my hair.
‘It’s not your birthday,’ I replied, rolling my eyes.
‘But when it is you'll actually have to be nice to me,' he laughed. 'Can you believe I’ll be twenty? I'll soon be leaving you kids behind!’
‘Except me,’ I said.
‘Except you,’ he agreed, pulling me around and kissing me quickly. 'Maybe I should open a bakery,' he mused. 'My icing is pretty delicious.'
'Bradley's Bakery. Nice alliteration to it, I suppose,' I laughed.
'Coming through,' George said as he passed with the cake platter on his hands.
'He's making me anxious just watching him,' I said as he took cake out into the garden with Tara close behind him wearing a grimace. George was a little clumsy much like myself.
'Come on,' Bradley smirked, pulling me out into the garden with him.
A few more people turned up, including Lisa, Davy, Liam and Hayley, plus a few guys from the football team who I didn't remember the names of and a few girls I also had no recollection of.
Eventually the devil himself turned up but he managed to slip in unnoticed and so we didn't get to shout ‘surprise’ or whatever it is we would have shouted.
‘I don’t like making big entrances,’ he laughed as I reprimanded him afterwards.
‘You were supposed to make a big entrance! It's a surprise party!' I exclaimed.
‘Come on, save me your verbal abuse just this once,' he snorted. 'What present did you get me?'
‘No idea,' I shrugged. 'I gave Bradley some money and made him decide.'
‘Well where is that douche? I want my present,' Tommy complained.
'Don't call him a douche,' I scowled. 'And stop being so demanding.'
'You always call him names!' Tommy laughed in disbelief.
'I call him these names endearingly,' I pointed out.
'Not all the time,' Bradley teased, appearing at my shoulder. 'Happy birthday, man!' he added, slapping Tommy on the back.
'Thanks. For the party too,' he added with a genuine smile. 'Now give me a present!'
‘I couldn’t think of anything to get you for a nineteenth birthday,’ Bradley shrugged. ‘I got you a card and put a hundred dollars in it though, spend wisely'
‘That is more than acceptable,’ Tommy laughed. 'Thank you both.'
'I suspect he managed to somehow sneak the money I gave him back into my apartment,' I said, narrowing my eyes up at Bradley. He gave me an innocent look and I pinched his side. 'Last week, I caught him trying to pay a few month's rent to the landlord,' I snorted.
'Hey, I practically live there half the time!' Bradley pointed out.
I didn't have time to respond as a voice called my name.
‘Raegan?’
When I turned I was surprised to see Hayley standing a few feet away looking at me expectantly. I hadn't really spoken to her the past few months. We had never been too close anyway.
'Can we talk?' she asked.
'Sure,' I said.
She turned and walked away towards the pool. Bradley shot me a raised eyebrow but I shrugged and followed her over. She was already perched on the edge of one of the sun loungers by time I reached her. I sat on the one opposite and looked her over.
'So... what's up?' I asked when she took too long to talk.
'Not a lot really,' she said quietly, looking at the floor by her feet with a frown. 'I heard about your... well you know everything that happened a couple months back.'
‘Ah,' I said, not really knowing how to respond.
I didn't tell her myself but I didn't really care if she knew. I was more surprised that she was bringing it up more than anything else. It had been a while and she had plenty of opportunities before now to talk to me about it if she'd wanted to.
‘Sorry for being a bitch,' she said, looking up at me now. I tried not to react. She had been kind of bitchy. 'I'm not saying that just because I feel sorry for what you went through or anything,' she continued bluntly. 'I mean yeah, it sounds pretty awful but... I'm just trying to say I would have apologised anyway.'
'I understand,' I said with a small smile.
'I knew I was being a bitch even at the time time I was... I was just so jealous of you,' she added, cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
‘Jealous?' I repeated in surprise. 'Of what?'
'Tommy,' she sighed, dropping her chin into her hand.
'You do realise I'm with Bradl-' I began.
‘Bradley, I know,' she muttered. 'Before you were together I just always saw you talking to Tommy. Or well, him talking to you. He'd go out of his way to talk to you. He never did that for me.'
'Well,' I said, clapping my my together. 'You were a little bitchy, I'll admit. But I guess it's my fault for not finding out what was up with you.'
‘More my fault-’
‘I’m not denying that,’ I said with a small smile. ‘Why don’t you just ask him out?' I added.
He could definitely do with a distraction, in my opinion.
‘He doesn’t like me like that,’ she said slowly. ‘I asked him. A few days after you left but... he said no,’ she muttered.
‘I’m sorry,’ I grimaced.
I genuinely was serious. But, now that I thought about it, I had no idea what kind of girl Tommy would even go for. I knew he was a bit of a manwhore. He still went to parties every weekend and we'd seen him bringing multiple different girls to his apartment. I doubted he was even in the right frame of mind for a serious relationship anyway.
'It's okay. Sucks but... I'm over him,' she said. I raised my eyebrow. 'Okay, not totally over him,' she laughed.
‘You ever think about Liam?' I asked as my eyes found him in the crowd.
'Liam?' she asked in surprise.
'Yeah...' I said slowly. 'I'm pretty sure he's a little crazy about you.'
'I... well I hung around with him a lot when I was trying to get closer to Tommy,' she said hesitantly. 'I guess I never really...' she frowned. 'Why d'you think he's crazy about me?'
'He told Bradley,' I replied. 'Liam thought you'd end up together with Tommy so he never made a move on you. Maybe... you could consider him. You never know.'
‘Maybe,’ she responded quietly, still with the same frown on her face. ‘We should get back to the party. Thanks for actually talking to me. I know you didn't have to.’ she added, standing up.
‘No problem,’ I replied. She sent me once last smile before returning to the decking.
I lay back in the sun lounger as I tried to let the new development sink in.
'Hey,' Bradley said. 'Move up.'
I smiled and looked up at him as I edged over to make room for him on the lounger.
'Hey sugar-lump-muffin,' I grinned before laughing at his scowl. 'You hate that one too?'
'It's awful!' he complained, lying down next to me. I propped myself up to look down again him.
'You're the one who told me to find a better pet name than 'idiot',' I pointed out.
'You're making terrible suggestions,' he grumbled. 'I know you're doing it on purpose so you can just keep calling me idiot.'
'I am,' I admitted, brushing the hair back from his forehead. 'I like calling you idiot. Your playful side is one of the main reasons I love you, you know,' I told him, kissing his cheek.
'Only you could make an insult romantic,' he laughed, pulling me down for a real kiss. 'What did Hayley want?' he asked when we broke apart.
'Um,' I said, trying to catch my breath. 'To apologise. She was jealous over... well she thought there was a thing between Tommy and me a couple months back when I first came here.'
'I know the feeling,' he smiled ruefully.
‘I don't know why,' I snorted. 'I practically bitched about him every day to you!'
'You also insulted me every day,' he pointed out.
'You know it was always you,' I said, rolling my eyes.
'I know now,' he replied. 'Not back then.'
I smiled and shifted slightly so I could rest my head on his shoulder. We should probably have gone back to the party but I needed a couple of minutes alone with him.
'You know,' he said quietly after a moment. 'Sometimes I get pissed off thinking about all that shit the doctor put you through. But then other times... I want to thank him. I'd never have met you otherwise.'
‘I know,' I whispered. 'Guess we'll have to decide whether to assassinate him or buy him flowers - if they ever catch him that is.'
'You know what else?' he asked.
I raised my head at his change in tone and looked down at him curiously.
'What?'
‘I accepted the football scholarship,’ he said with a smile.
'You did?' I exclaimed, eyes widening. 'That's amazing! I mean, I could have told you this months ago but still!'
He laughed at that and looked up at me with his usual grin.
'I thought... why not just take a chance on it? Got my whole life to figure out what I actually want to do,' he said. 'Maybe I'll end up loving it.'
‘You will,' I smiled. 'I can tell.'
'It's only the next town over,' he added. 'Between your parents' home and Richmond. Kind of perfect really.'
'Kind of,' I smiled.
'Now, by some miracle, we just need you to pass your exams with flying colours,' he teased.
'Shut up,' I laughed, slapping his chest. 'I think I'll pass. Maybe not with flying colours. If my grades are real bad then I'm definitely going to repeat the year... I want the best I can get.'
'I want the best for you too,' he said sweetly. Even now he could say things that made my heart melt.
'I'm proud of you, you know,' I whispered, stroking his face gently. 'I've never been proud of someone before.'
'You'll make me blush,' he replied, pulling a face.
'You're awful at taking compliments,' I laughed. 'But great at giving them.'
'Sure am, beautiful,' he smirked before stroking the back of my head affectionately. 'Everything's going to work out fine,' he added in a whisper, pulling me down for a kiss.
And I believed him.
We had a pretty rough start and I was sure things wouldn't always be smooth sailing. If I was with him, though, I knew I could get through anything. There was no point living in the past or worrying about the future. The present was all that mattered because anything could happen. Bradley taught me that.
'Hey!' George yelled. 'Stop that canoodling and get your asses back over here!'
I realised we'd maybe gone a tad too far as I pulled back and realised we'd been locked in a full on make-out session.
'Sorry,' I called back to George with a sheepish smile. 'He's irresistible.'
'As are you,' Bradley said quietly, smiling up at me. He leaned up and pecked me on the lips once more. 'We'll finish this later,' he added with a flirtatious smile. 'Come on.'
He pulled me to my feet and slung his arm over my shoulder as we slowly traipsed back towards the party together, ignoring Liam and George's wolf whistles.
Even though it wasn't possible to tell what the future held, I had a pretty good feeling that it was worth all the trouble we'd been through. Any trouble was worth it, if it made me feel this happy. I couldn't imagine spending my time with better people and I didn't need anything else. Everything was perfect just the way it was.
You’ve just got to live in the moment... as if you had a month to live.
It’s the only way you’ll survive.
*
And that my lovelies is it. A Month To Live is officially over! If you'd like to read more about these characters then feel free to check out the extra chapters and A Month to Love (A Month to Live from Bradley's POV)!
I'd like to thank all of you guys for taking the time to read, vote and comment on this story and give me the encouragment to see it to its end.
You've all been great and hopefully I'll be seeing more of you in the future 💕
-OmfgItsBecky