H E A T H

"Did I fall asleep in the car last night?" Sarah sat at the breakfast table on Wednesday morning and pushed yogurt around her bowl with boredom. The curtains were still drawn and the television was humming one of her shows.

I'd emerged because the sun was just coming up and I wanted to get a jog in before it got too hot. There were no lectures on campus today. But starting back at College hadn't been slow. We had a huge workload already. So I'd do some studying during the day. I sat down on the other side of the table and put my phone down. "Yeah, I carried you in."

"Well I'd have been worried if it wasn't you who had carried me in," she mumbled with sarcasm, picking up her spoon and turning it over until plops of yogurt fell into her bowl. I sighed with amusement at her obvious boredom.

My phone pinged with a text message and I picked it up, leaning my elbows on the table top while I read the screen. It was Leonie and I felt a smile pull at the corners of my mouth.

Leonie
Morning ! Chat with me if you're awake? I'm at the airport with Mom and it is booooooring. None of my other friends are up. Lazy little
fuckers.

Hey Morning. Tell your Mom that I said safe travels!

Leonie
No chance. It'll go straight to her head. She was crushing hard last night.

I laughed at the message and Sarah cleared her throat. She was watching me with an arched brow and suspicion in her features. "What?" I shrugged.

"Is that Leonie?"

"Yeah."

She said nothing. She pursed her lips though and seemed to have some sort of comment dancing on the tip of her tongue. But instead of coming out with something that would have been inappropriate for her age, she shrugged and picked up her spoon. "I like her. She's cool. Tell her I said hello."

She was not. Haha. My sister said to say hello :)

"You like her, huh?" Sarah said, slipping her fingers under her beanie and scratching. She tried to discreetly drop a clump of hair onto the floor and I pretended not to notice.

"Sure, she's nice."

"Na uh," Sarah narrowed her playful stare. "You like, like her. As in you wanna bang her lady parts, get her pregnant, put a ring on it, grow old together, like her."

I stared at her and couldn't have conjured a response if I wanted to. It was more disturbing than I cared for but regardless of whether I told her that or not, she wouldn't stop. "I've known her for about two weeks."

"That's irrelevant," she gave up on her flavourless yogurt and pushed the plate into the middle of the table. "She's one of those girls. You know? She stands out. You couldn't help falling in love with her. I bet there are a ton of dudes that have secret crushes on her. She captures your heart and it's all over from that moment on. A modern fairytale."

"You watch too much television."

She wasn't wrong though. Leonie was one of those girls. I hadn't stopped thinking about her since we met. She was a puzzle to me. One that made an exquisite picture with each new piece that was put together. The more that I learned, the more that I liked. It was a little disappointing to know that she wasn't interested in relationships. Not that I could claim that I would have a chance with her. It just meant that there was zero chance and that was a bit of a bummer.

Leonie
OMG. I love your sister. This is what I think of her. Tell her. Three words, eight letters.

Is that meant to mean something?

Leonie
Just tell her Heath! She'll understand.

"Leonie told me to give you a message," I said, reading my screen as I spoke. "She said, three words, eight letters."

There was a sharp gasp and I lifted my head to find Sarah clutching her chest, a dramatic drop in her lip as if she was going to start blubbering. "That is the sweetest thing that I have ever heard."

"What does it-"

"You can move over," Sarah interrupted, banging a fist on the table. "I want Leonie."

My eyes widened as I inhaled a deep breath. "Sheesh, alright. What does it mean?"

"Three words, eight letters," she stared at me as if it was obvious. "I love you. It's a Gossip Girl reference. Of course you wouldn't understand."

It seems that you've made Sarah's day. She's fond of you.

Leonie
No surprises there. I'm a fucking treat.

I shouldn't have been surprised that the two of them hit it off. Birds of a feather. There sense of humour was similar. It might have been concerning except for the fact that I was pleased to see Sarah with such an enormous smile on her face. Leonie was only a couple of years older than her. It might have been nice if the two of them could become friends. I wouldn't push it though. Leonie obviously had an aversion to getting close to people for fear of losing them again.

"Don't forget about chemo this afternoon," I told Sarah, slipping into my trainers so that I could go for a run.

She didn't answer me. She busied herself with her cell phone and hummed some show tune that sounded familiar. Outside, the weather was warm before the sun had made it's full appearance. The beams were coming through the gaps between houses and buildings. I plugged a seat of earphones into my phone and strapped the band to my arm which was exposed due to the fact that I wore a tank top when I ran. I hated ruining my shirts with patches of sweat.

Although I did make use of the on campus gym, I enjoyed running as a form of exercise. It was just me, whatever music I chose to listen to and the wind passing me as I inhaled fresh air. It gave me the chance to think. It allowed me to burn off frustration if it had been a bad day. Not to mention feeling the ache in my legs and knowing that it was progress was a reward in itself.

As I came towards Charlie's diner after half n hour, I slowed to a walk and wiped the sweat from my brow before I walked inside. It hadn't been open for long so there were no customers. Just a sales girl filling the pastries cabinet while Charlie wiped down tables and put out the napkin dispensers.

"Morning Son," the old man greeted me with genuine cheer and I found his morning attitude infectious. There was too much negativity around the morning. If someone wasn't an early riser, God help the people who were. We seemed to be a common enemy among those who could lie under their covers while the sun moved from one side of the sky to the other. I hated wasting hours. Unless it was Sunday. Sunday was a day of rest. I mean, it's biblical.

"Morning, Charlie," I puffed out a breath and strolled straight towards the fridge to get a cold water."

"How's that sister? She holding up?"

"She's hanging in there," I gave him a tight smile and handed him a five for the water. He slipped it into his apron. "She has chemo this afternoon. Not her favourite but she manages to stay positive."

"Take her a lemon slice," he pointed at the glass cabinet which was stocked with fresh baking and treats. Tarts, bagels, eclairs. The smell of fresh cream was mouth watering and I contemplated getting a coffee for a moment. I decided to wait until my morning energy began to wear off. "Yulie, bag up a lemon slice please, darlin."

She nodded and I thanked Charlie when my cell phone began to ring. It was still strapped to my arm with one head phone in, the other hanging down my front. So I hit answer without knowing who it was and said hello.

"Morning bro," Damien's voice came through the ear phone.

Damien was my best friend. We didn't see each other as often now that we were at college rather than high school. He was doing health and fitness at Miami Dade but our schedules overlapped and he spent most of his free time in girls pants. A different girl. Every time. Once in a while we would have a beer at the campus bar or he'd pop in and see Sarah. But it wasn't as often anymore. We used to be as close as brothers. Sarah was like his little sister. But it felt as if he was pulling back. I didn't have as much time to do stupid shit as I did when I was a teenager with no responsibilities. I think it bothered Damien a bit. But he didn't tell me that.

"How's it going?" I said, taking the lemon slice from the cashier and mouthing thanks. "Bit early for you isn't it?"

"Na, I'm working at that physio centre," he said it with a tone which implied I should have known that. "Did I not tell you that?"

"Don't think so."

"Huh," he clacked his tongue. "Could have sworn that I did. Ah well. Yeah I've been working here over the summer. Cash isn't bad and we get a ton of cheerleaders through that have pulled a muscle during practice or whatever. I like to help them stretch if you know what I mean."

"I have no doubts," I replied, walking home under the morning sun that reflected off the pavement where patches had been repaired with brand new concrete. It was bright

"I saw you were at Jade's on Saturday," he said.

"Yeah I was? You were there? I didn't know man, I would have said hello."

"Yeah I know," he laughed. "I was outside most of the evening. Until that chick fight started and that was when I saw you breaking it up."

It took me a minute to realise that he meant Leonie's fight with that Harlin girl.

"Dude that girl with the dark hair is gorgeous."

Ugh.

"Yeah," I agreed, swallowing. "She has a boyfriend. He's a seal. Navy. She told me that. . . after the fight."

What. The. Fuck?

I had no idea what made me say that. Well, I did. It had something to do with me having a mild attraction to Leonie and not wanting Damien to go near her because let's face it, the two would undoubtedly end up hitting it off. She doesn't do commitment, he's a regular hit and quit sort of person. Plus he's a good looking guy. So all in all, it was safe to assume that jealousy was the driving force behind such a lie. Pathetic.

"Oh true?" He sounded disappointed. "Yeah that's a bummer but I wouldn't want to ruin a relationship."

I almost scoffed. I was one hundred percent certain that it had less to do with his morals and more to do with war memories of sleeping with a gorgeous model who had a boyfriend in the Army. He ended up putting Damien in hospital. He had six stitches above his eyebrow, a broken nose and a lot of bruising around his eyes. It wasn't a mistake that he had made again.

"Anyway, how's our little sister?" Damien sounded as if he was smiling but I could still hear the sadness in his voice. As much of a slut as he was, he cared a lot about one girl and one girl only. It was just a shame that he didn't visit her more. I supposed that it had something to do with not being able to handle grief well. Damien's Grandfather - his best friend - died when he was fifteen and he had been sensitive to loss ever since.

"She's doing alright," I turned the corner, passing the picket fence on the bend into our street and just managed to avoid bumping into a woman with her pram. "She has chemo this afternoon but she's handling it all well. No complaints."

"She's a bit of a boss, huh? Fuck, I'd be terrified if I was in her position."

"She might be. It's hard to know. She puts on a brave face. I'm pretty sure she's genuinely not all that scared though."

"Pretty fucking inspiring," he said with a light chuckle.

I had to agree with him. She was inspiring. I didn't know how she wasn't scared. It terrified me and I wasn't the one that was going to die.

Later that afternoon, Sarah and I stood in the hospital lift. She was wearing her gown and slippers again. Beanie on tight. We pressed the button to head upstairs when a hand intercepted the doors and Leonie appeared, jostling inside.

"Hello!" She beamed with excitement and tapped the buttons so that the doors closed again. Her thick dark hair was pulled up in a knot and her blue gaze was electric as she turned around and grinned from ear to ear.

Sarah seemed uplifted already. She said hello and casually explained what we were here for. Leonie gave her a sad smile and a pat on the shoulder. "You're so brave."

"Hmph," Sarah smiled and waved her off.

"Volunteering?" I questioned. Even though I knew that she volunteered on Wednesday after school. She nodded. "Cool. How was your Mom's flight? Has she landed?"

"Yep," she pulled up her cell phone and read the screen. "Just landed. On way to new apartment. Everything is so British. Miss you already. x"

She slipped her cell away again and shrugged a shoulder. "That was a while ago. It's going to be weird living alone but I'm not complaining."

"You didn't want to move to London?" Sarah asked with bewilderment. "I would love to see London. It's so quaint and cute an—"

"And so far away," Leonie groaned. "Nope. I'm more of a sun and beach sort of person. Too much rain. I mean, I love rain. But not that often."

"Right," Sarah nodded.

At this point, we'd opened on the child's ward floor, Leonie had continued talking and we had carried on. That was fine though. She obviously wasn't in a rush.

"Have you seen Riverdale?" She asked Sarah.

"Nope. I've heard of it but I haven't seen it. What's it about?"

Leonie delved into an explanation that lasted until we stopped on our floor. The doors opened and I gave Sarah a gesturing nod. Leonie might have been on her own schedule. But we had to be on time for our appointment. Which was unfortunate. I might not have been following the conversation but I was enjoying it all the same. She had a voice that was easy to listen to.

She bid us farewell and we headed on through to our room. Which was private and not always the case for patients having chemo. But Sarah was well known among the staff. Mom was loved by her colleagues and so under special circumstance, she was allowed a room to herself.

An hour and a half later, Sarah was hanging in there. She hadn't thrown up but she was pale, faded lips and red rimmed eyes. The intensity and length on her sessions had been locked up. They did it subtly. Because Sarah didn't want to do extreme doses of chemo. But she needed it the worse her condition became. They told us that her cancer had spread and she was going to need surgery if she didn't want to dial up her chemo. So she'd chosen the latter.

She was laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling while I sat in the large arm chair beside her when there was a tap on the door and Leonie popped her head through. "Can I come in?"

Sarah gave her a weak smile and nodded. She tried to sit up but it wasn't happening, so I stood and lifted her behind the head. We fluffed with the pillows a bit and I made sure that she was comfortable before I turned to Leonie and noticed that she had a bag on her shoulder and a laptop in her arms.

"I thought that we could start Riverdale? If you're up to it?" She places it on the wheelie food table beside the bed and dropped her bag beside my chair as I sat back down and marveled at her.

"I literally have nothing else to do," Sarah's light laugh turned into a cough. She swallowed and exhaled a deep breath. "Yeah I would love to watch it."

"Good," she clapped her hands together. "That means that I didn't harass the nurse on this floor for a laptop and the wi-fi password for nothing."

"You did that?" I laughed as she fluffed around, plugging in the power cord and getting it started up. "How?"

"Powers of persuasion," she wiggled her brows. "Also, her niece spends time in the children's ward and she loves me."

Sarah and I laughed. Leonie tapped the keyboard, clicked the mouse pad and spent a quiet few moments getting Netflix going. When it was, she hit play on the first episode, peered around the room and then let her eyes settle on the only seat in the room. My seat.

That didn't stop her though. She sat her little frame in beside me and we our thighs were flush against each other. It was a tight fit but it wasn't uncomfortable and she smiled, not a care in the world as she reached down beside her for her bag. I was startled when I realised that I wouldn't have been disappointed if she'd ended up on my lap.

"Thank you for doing this," I said quietly because it seemed that Sarah was already captivated by the show which looked odd from what I could tell. I wasn't giving it a lot of attention.

Leonie pulled a bag of sour worms out of her bag and watched me with a smile as she opened them. "You're welcome. Sour worm?"

"Sure thanks."

I took a few and then she aimed the bag at Sarah. "Sour worm?"

"Not a chance," Sarah croaked, paling at the meer sight of them. Leonie winced with a guilty grin and shoved them back into her bag.

It was hard to ignore the feeling that came with being so close to this girl. My entire frame was humming. Her leg was pressed against mine and it was impossible to ignore how it made me breathe a little harder. How her simple presence was so enthralling. It was a strong reaction and I realised that we'd been watching each other as we chewed on our candies and smiled.

Suddenly the door burst open and Leonie and I whipped our heads in its direction to find Mom coming in with her scrubs on and a light sheen on her forehead. She must have run up the stairs. She used to exercise on a regular basis but between work and Sarah and needing sleep, she just couldn't find the time anymore. So she improvised whenever she could.

"Hey Mom," Sarah said, eyes not leaving the screen.

Mom said hello as she moved around to the other side of the bed, all the while watching Leonie and I. "Hello."

"Mom, this is Leonie," I pointed at the girl beside me who gave her an enthusiastic wave. "Leonie this is Mom. Or Jazz."

"Jazz will be fine," Mom said. She lifted Sarah's chart and scanned it over. "Sarah, you didn't tell me that Heath was seeing someone."

"Mom," I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. I could feel Leonie rumbling with a quiet giggle beside me. "We're friends. We met a couple of weeks ago."

"It's nice to meet you, Jazz," Leonie said in such a polite voice that I recoiled and stared at her. It wasn't that she wasn't polite. It was just such a different tone than I was used to with her. Cautious perhaps. "Heath, your Mom is hot as hell!"

Oh.

Mom blushed and subtly shook her head. "Thank you," she said. "I think."

"Man, too bad my Mom just moved to London. Could have set you up."

I arched a brow at her.

"Ya know, if you were that way inclined," she shrugged a shoulder.

"I didn't realise that your Mom is a lesbian?"

"She's not," Leonie smiled and dipped her hand back into her bag of sour worms before she shoved them into her mouth. "I wonder if the cafe is open. I could go for some fries."

Sometimes when Leonie spoke, I felt as if I was on a carousel going one million miles an hour. It was almost impossible to keep up with her. I shook my head and smiled at Mom and Sarah who were watching Leonie with amusement.

"What are you watching?" Mom asked Sarah as she slipped her chart back onto the hook behind her. Mom rested her hand on her hip and listened to Sarah explain the plot of the show. Well, as best she could from Leonie's explanation earlier.

After a few more minutes, Mom let us know that she needed to go back to her shift and told us that she'd see us tomorrow. She kissed Sarah on the head and waved at both of us. "Good to meet you Leonie,"