Day 52

I remember handing Kyle his birthday card for his fifty-second birthday with the best smile I could manage. Of course, I should've known he'd see right through my half-hearted cheer. "They weaned me off of the morphine last night, Renata."

"So?" I asked him as I raised my brow.

Kyle raised his brow at me back as he answered, "So, you don't fool me for one second." He put his card aside and focused his attention on me. "Soooo, how was your day?"

Immediately, I felt a pang of guilt. When I was making his card last night at home, my mom Christina finally got curious enough to ask me who the cards were for. When I told her about Kyle and how he's the youngest person right now at the hospice center, mom wasn't happy. She told me that even though what I'm doing is nice that I'm giving Kyle deferential treatment by only giving him cards. Then I told mom that he's a special person to me.

She told me that she wants me to cut my meetings with Kyle short. Even though she didn't ask me any probing questions, I could tell by the look in her eyes she understood how truly special Kyle was to me. I never heard Christina have such a cold tone of voice with me before and the look of disappointment in me was like a twist of the knife.

"Renata?" Kyle asked me as he leaned so close to me our faces were only inches apart.

I looked away from him and blinked a few times, to make sure the waterworks stayed back. "Um, I have lots of homework I need to catch up on so I can't spend as much time here after school as I'd like to and..."

"Renata," Kyle said softer as he held my chin and swiveled my head back in his direction. "Just tell me what's going on. Don't sugarcoat it for me; I get enough of that from the nurses."

"M-my mom, Christina...she...she doesn't want me to have long meetings with you anymore," I replied. "She told me I was giving you deferential treatment by only giving you birthday cards and...and I might have told her that you're a special person to me." Kyle smirked at the last thing I said and for a moment his cheeks turned pink.

Kyle laughed morosely for a moment causing my heart to squeeze in pain at the sound. "You know what Renata, it's not Christina who's not being fair. You're not being fair." Kyle shook his head and gave me an angry expression which shocked me. "How. Dare. You."

"How dare I what?" I asked in panic. Last time I saw that angry expression he was throwing stuff at people.

"How dare you insert yourself in my life and make it brighter when I don't have much time left. How dare you help give me a sense of purpose by making me want to live again. How dare you smile, laugh, and kiss with me without thinking of the void you'd leave in my soul if you stopped?" From an angry expression, Kyle's eyes took on a look of exhaustion. "Look, I can't stop you. If you want to start seeing me less, then go ahead. If you don't want to start seeing me less, then just fuck your mom."

"What?"

"I didn't stutter," replied Kyle. "From what you've told me about your mom, you guys are very close. I get that. However, she doesn't really know what you think about her ultimatum does she?"

Leaning against the wall I say, "She knows my facial cues enough to know that I'm devastated by what she wants me to do."

Kyle nodded in understanding before he said, "Okay, we'll continue to talk about this after I read my card. We'll think of something." Before I could ask him what he meant by 'we'll think of something', he opens the card and starts to read aloud. "Persephone gets arrested for vandalism. Turns out she's the local graffiti artist with a cult following. You spend your birthday at the jail."

"What do you think?" I asked him.

"I think you need to take a cue from my daughter and rebel, grasshopper."