~03-Shay Girls And Danny~

"Morning, mom" I beam as I watch her come down the stairs "I made breakfast"

I came down earlier to cook breakfast.

"I noticed" she smiled and came over to give me a hug "Morning, Shorty"

"Looks good" she complimented, taking a seat.

"Yeah, right, that's just something you have to say" I say dismissively.

"I won't say it looks good if it doesn't look good, Danielle, you know me" she says slowly.

My mom has always been straightforward. She would never lie just to make you happy.

"Yes, mom, I know" I agree

"It's your favorite" she beams

"Yeah, heaping piles of everything" I laugh

That was my favorite before I made the choice I did...before I became what I am.

Now, I don't live on food. I don't need food to survive and knowing that, I find it real hard to eat anything anymore.

"Why aren't you eating?" She narrows her eyes.

"Uh..I..I already ate" I lie

"Oh, why didn't you wait for me?" She murmurs sadly

"I was hungry" I lie again. I feel bad for lying to mom so I make it better by saying "Come home early today, we'll make dinner and eat together, deal?"

"Deal" she smiles, happily.

Honk Honk

Beth hoots impatiently outside.

"Gotta go, mom. See you soon" I say goodbye then give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye, baby and thanks for breakfast" she calls as I rush into the living room

"Welcome" I call back, grabbing my bag quickly and dashing out the door and right into Beth' car.

"Hey, Girl" I beam at her

Then I notice the bags under her eyes and I realize that I absolutely forgot about my best friend in the middle of all these.

"Hey" she replies quietly

"How are you doing?" I ask even though I see clearly that she's not doing well.

"Good" she lies

"Beth, I'm so sorry" I apologize because I feel really bad

"Why?" She asks as she pulls out of the driveway

"Because I was...I don't know...having a good time with my own mom I forgot all about you...I'm really sorry"

"You made up?"she asks and I nod slowly

"I'm so proud of you" she smiles, though it doesn't quite reach her eyes

"I'm really sorry" I apologize again

"Stop saying sorry, you bozo" she scolds "mom doesn't want us to be sad. She says we have to spend our last days together making happy memories"

I nod

"So, I'm telling you the same thing. Let's make our last days with her memorable" she smiles "we can't spend it brooding, okay?"

"Okay"

"So, we're making a list..a list of all the things we'll do in the next 3 months. You'll help right?" 

"Wouldn't miss it for all the ice cream in the world" I smile right back.

"Good" she nods and we continue the rest of the journey in  silence-not awkward though, it's a comfortable silence.

~∆~

I'm currently in Beth's house, baking cookies and brownies with her and her mom.

You see, I lived without my mom for so long, Mrs Shay(Beth's mom) became a mom to me and we've made it sort of a SHAY girls tradition-even though I'm not a Shay girl, so.. more like Shay girls and Danny tradition- to bake something every Saturday morning before Beth and I head to the gym.

Beth mostly doesn't like the gym, she says it smells like sweaty, smelly men  but she likes tagging along with me.

"Could you stop" Mrs Shay groans, glaring at both Beth and I "...both of you"

"What?" Beth and I ask simultaneously.

"Stop treating me like I'm some cripple who can't do anything, I'm perfectly fine"

I can't stop admiring this woman's bravery, the way she's so calm about her condition is just purely legendary.

"I admire you" I confess

"Thanks, darl." She smiles for a moment before her expression goes back to a glare aimed at Beth and I.

"Okay, we're sorry" I apologize and the glare narrows down to just Beth.

"Alright, I'm sorry too but how do you expect me to feel?" Beth lets out.

I could tell she has been trying to look strong and calm but deep down, this situation is breaking her.

"I know how hard this is on you but I'm not gone yet, am I?" Mrs Shay asks rhetorically but both Beth and I still go ahead and shake our heads 'no'

"...so please don't treat me like I'm dying, it breaks my heart" she finishes, her voice breaking at the end.

As if on cue, Beth and I rush to her side to give her a hug.

"I don't want to leave you guys so soon but have I got a choice?" Now she's in tears and that has me crying too "I need to know that when I'm gone, you can still hold your own. I need to be assured that when I'm gone,  you and your brother will still survive and make me proud, that's the only way I can die in peace"

Then she turns to me

"Since we're in this state, Danny, your mom is all you have left and you pushing her away is a terrible mistake" she holds either side of my shoulder "I understand you though, you think she doesn't love you, I felt that way about my mom once too, but trust me she does because no mother hates the child she gave birth to"

I nod, more tears falling from my eyes "I know, and I love her too...I just shoved that love aside for far too long and let my anger blind me...I only hope it's not too late to correct that now"

"It's not" she assures me

"I love you" I inform

"I love you more, darl." She gives me a brief hug.

"Now let's finish up here so you guys can head to the gym" she wipes her tears and begins to clear the mess we made.

"On second thought, I think we'd skip going to the gym today, we'd rather spend the day with you so let's do something else" I supply and see Beth nod in agreement.

"Like what?" She asks, smiling happily.

"That's a surprise" I tell her and mumble a 'for all of us' under my breath.

"Okay, make it count, alright?" She beams

"Have we ever disappointed you?" Beth chimes in

"Actually, yes, that one time when...." She starts but we all burst out in laughter before she even says anything more.

"That was one time" Beth whines between laughs.

"...And it wasn't entirely our fault" I support

"Okay, okay" she surrenders "It was just once and wasn't all your fault"

We look into each other's eyes and burst out laughing all over again.