C6 CHAPTER 06: Best Girl Friend

EREVELL’s P.O.V.

I woke up with a beeping sound of the machine ringing in my ears. As usual, I’m here at the hospital. It’s not so surprising at all. I mean, in my condition, being hospitalized monthly or even weekly is highly possible. The only thing that I’m worried about right now is Gabriel. I don’t want him to find out the truth about me.

Speaking of, he’s nowhere no be found right now. He’s completely out of sight so I tried to sit up while remembering what happened hours ago in our school. Ah, our class where our teacher was discussed the meaning of euthanasia or mercy killing. I chuckled to myself, remembering how I passed out of nervousness because I’m afraid that Gabriel will find out about the truth.

“Erevell? You’re awake. I brought you some food from outside.”

It was my Mom, entering my room while carrying a bag of goods. Hunger instantly rushed through me as I smelled the food she had brought in.

“Looking for Gabriel?” she asked mischievously.

“Uhm... Yeah. But I can wait. I would like to eat first.”

She chuckled, before she started preparing the foods. I look around, curious at where could my bestfriend be right at this moment. Is he worried about me? The last thing I remembered before I passed out is that he’s carrying me outside of our classroom... I hope I haven’t brought that much trauma to him.

“Here you go, Erevell,” Mom stated, giving me the bowl of hot soup.

I smiled, before taking it. I put it on the small table in front of me before I started eating. Mom caressed my hair, looking at me happily just by seeing that I’m feeling better now.

“So, where is my bestfriend?” I asked curiously.

“He’s here hours ago. He’s waiting for you to wake up but I told him to take a rest and grab some food for himself first. So he left, and he told me that he’s going to visit you later on.”

I nodded to myself, before I continued taking a sip from my soup. Mom looked at me intently, making me stop eating for a moment to ask her why.

“What?” I raised on of my brows jokingly.

“Nothing, sweetie... It’s just that... Don’t you think that Gabriel deserves and has a right to know about the truth? I mean, you two have been friends for years now...”

“Mom..."

“The doctors told me that you’re going to need a lung transplant... As soon as possible.” I saw a bead of tear escaped from her eyes as soon as she told me the news... Bad news, to be specific.

“Mom...” I held her hand. “We already knew where this situation is going... Even before the doctors told you about the transplant...”

“I know, Erevell... It’s just that... I can’t help but to feel scared and sad... You know that I can’t bare to loose you...” She is currently weeping right now.

“Please don’t cry, Mom. You won’t. I promise.”

“Then I’m going to hold on to that promise of yours...”

I smiled at her and she did the same. We finished eating our meals before she helped me clean myself up. A few hours later, the man I’ve been waiting for to come finally arrived in my room.

“Good afternoon, ma’am. I just wanted to visit your daughter, Erevell...”

“Sure. She’s been waiting for you literally all day,” Mom stated, embarrassing me in front of my friend.

“Mom!” I complained and she just chuckled.

“So, I’m gonna leave you two alone to talk, okay? Gab, just call me if something happens...”

“Sure, ma’am.”

After Gabriel answered my Mom, she walked towards the door where Gabriel is currently standing before tapping his shoulder. She then finally vanished out of our sight, completely leaving my hospital room.

I looked up at Gabriel who’s now walking towards my bed. I can’t help but to think about what Mom told me about earlier. Surely, he deserves to know about the truth but I haven’t got that strength to tell him yet. I don’t want him to be dragged in this messy and sick life of mine.

“Thinking so many things, huh?”

“Uhm, yeah.”

He sat down near at the edge of my bed before reaching out to held my cheeks. I smiled, feeling his warmth.

“Are you okay now?” he asked worriedly.

“Yeah.”

“Why do you keep on passing out whenever you’re with me? I mean, are you really okay?”

I felt stiffened, thinking about his question. Am I really okay? I’m pretty sure I know the answer to that question. I’m not, but I wouldn’t risk telling him about that for it can lead him to find our the truth. The truth that I keep on hiding from him all these years.

“I really am. I’m fine, promised. You know that I just have a habit of passing out on people sometimes specially when I’m tired...”

“Yeah, a very bad habit.” He chuckled. “Though why am I still worried about you every time that you do it?” He looked at me straight in the eyes.

“Well, I don’t know about that.” Now it’s my turn to chuckled.

It’s pretty surprising that he haven’t been suspicious about me yet. I mean, we’ve been through years of friendship but still, he often believes in my silly and lame excuses. Maybe because of the fact that we are friends, and friends believe in the lies of each other even though that was a bad thing or already obvious, I guess. But I’m glad that he’s been by my side after all these years.

“Maybe because you are my best girl friend.”

My heart skipped a beat hearing those phrases from him... Best girlfriend? Are we dating? Why haven’t we talked about putting on a label to our relationship then? Why didn’t he informed me?

“Best girlfriend?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Yeah... You know, a female friend.”

Now I realized the problem behind getting your hopes too high. It hurts, being dropped down from that fantasy of yours.

“Oh,” was my short response.

He chuckled, before giving me a meaningful look.

“Did you thought that what I mean by that is... Girlfriend like, you know... Something romantic? ’Cause what I really mean is that best girl space friend. A female friend, you know.”

I shook my head several times, plastering a cheeky smile on my face before I pinched his nose.

“I wasn’t thinking about that, you jerk,” I blurted out.

“Fine, fine. I’m just asking. Anyways, I brought you some notes from our lessons. I thought that maybe you wanted to study with me or something,” he stated, changing the topic of our conversation.

“Sure.”

I pulled out my notebooks from my school bag before copying his. We just talked about some random stuffs while doing apparently nothing after we study. It’s not that much but, I’m very glad of having him by my side... But something still brought guilt to my system. The fact that I just need to keep on lying to him until the inevitable thing happened.