The Last 30 Days [Inactive]

"Yeah." Isabelle sighed happily.


She, too, had been skipping her classes, but for different reasons. With the year coming to a close soon, she had asked to have tests early on account of her tumor. Most of her professors agreed, and she'd slowly eliminated the need to go back to college. Blake probably wouldn't be happy to find out her last test was just the day before, on Thursday. She didn't have the heart to tell him she'd given up for the year, especially after he'd offered to pay for her nursing courses.


"Hey, look." Isabelle let go of Blake's hand and cut him off, stepping towards the water. She knelt down in the sand and picked up a fairly large shell, about the size of her palm. "It's so big." She mumbled.
 
Blake stumbled back as she cut him off to avoid stepping on her feet. He watched her walk to the water and bend down and straighten up with a shell in her hand. He smiled and nodded as though it was the biggest shell he'd ever seen. "Wow," he said admiringly, putting his hands on his hips. "You gonna keep it?" He thought it was so adorable how Isabelle was so enthusiastic about being at the beach.
 
"I don't know." She responded. "I can do that?"


She turned to Blake with a quizzical look on her face. Her hair was still wet, but her skin had dried for the most part of the salty water. Again, she looked at the shell in her hands and tilted her head from side to side in contemplation. She wasn't sure if it was common knowledge as to what you could do and couldn't with anything you found at the beach.


Isabelle blushed and mumbled through pouted lips. "Sorry, I didn't know you could. I didn't go out a lot as a kid."
 
Blake looked around as though checking for people and then jokingly whispered, "I don't think anyone will care if you take it." He cracked a smile and walked forward so he was standing right in front of her. The water almost reached their feet when it lapped up on the sand. He took the shell from her hands and examined it closer, nodding. "It's nice."
 
Her pout only increased the more he teased her and she huffed. Isabelle wanted to take it back with her. To her, it wasn't common knowledge that you could take shells. How could she have known? She didn't have the opportunity to visit beaches as a child.


"I didn't know." She explained. "I can't help it, my parents didn't take me anywhere fun as a kid."


True enough, she stayed indoors and played by herself. As an only child, she learned to make due. Still, had she known places like the ocean existed, and that they were prettier than pictures, she would've pushed harder to go.


She still hadn't called Judith or her mother, and through the week, their calls lessened. Isabelle felt wrong ignoring them, but, her happiness covered up the regrets she felt by not talking to her family.
 
Blake grinned and pulled her close, kissing her cheek. He knew that she wasn't as upset as she made it seem but still he murmured, "I'm just teasing you, babe." He tilted her head back and kissed her gently on the lips. "I know you've never had the opportunity to go to the beach, let alone know the rules, but here's the rules for the weekend: there are none."
 
"No rules?" Isabelle sang, cheered up greatly by their closeness. "I love it here."


The two spent the afternoon pacing back and forth along the beach, and Isabelle was stunned to find more shells. Something about the discovery was amusing. Common sense would explain why the shells were there, but Isabelle was always excited to find another. She only kept one, though, and tossed the rest back into the sand, close to the shoreline.


Isabelle sat in the sand, legs straight out in front of her that kicked at the edge of the water when a wave pushed it close enough. Two more days of this, it couldn't get any better.
 
Blake was laying down next to her on a towel, arms behind his head. He was wearing sunglasses but his eyes were closed anyway and he felt so calm. It was nice to be able to just relax, do nothing. After a minute or two of staying silent and just relaxing he pushed his sunglasses back and glanced at Isabelle.


"It's almost supper," he said as though it weren't obvious. "We've got lots of food, tell me what you want and I'll get it."
 
"Mmm." Isabelle bit her lip and hummed. "I'm not too hungry, so, hmm. Did you bring any crackers? Or cheese? Both preferably."


She looked towards Blake and grinned. Although the sun was about to set, she kept her dark glasses on her face. The day had been long, and it was wearing her down. She'd have to wait until it was dark until she took them off again.


Isabelle stood up and brushed the sand from her legs. She wanted to put something warmer on, other than a swimsuit, and she wanted to be dry.


"Just tell me where it is. I'm getting a little cold."
 
"Probably in one of those cooler bags," he answered, sitting up on his elbows. He looked at the sky, towards the sun and even with his sun glasses on he couldn't look straight at it. He wondered if Isabelle could with her's. The sun was low in the sky, just about to set and it's rays made the sea sparkle, making it appear a lot warmer than it was.


Blake was starting to get cold too, he was completely dry but only wearing his swim shorts. He'd get up and change when Isabelle came back with the crackers.
 
Isabelle held a sweatshirt just in front of her, and she stared back at the slowly setting sun. She hoped the sunrise would be equally radiant. In the cooler she grabbed a small block of cheese, and then rummaged for the crackers.


She came back and sat down on a fresh towel beside Blake. Due to the temperature, she'd slipped out of her swim suit and into jeans and a gray sweatshirt. She smiled and began to cut herself a slice of cheese for her cracker, the silence felt all right, natural.
 
Blake grabbed a slice of cheese before standing up and shaking what little sand there was on him off. He trotted back to the truck and retrieved his bag of clothes and changed into a pair of black trackpants and his hoodie from college. It wasn't the most attractive outfit but like most guys, he didn't really care how he usually looked. He came back to their sitting spot and sat down, taking a cracker to eat with the cheese.


"What's on your bucket list that you plan on accomplishing here?" he asked, starting a conversation even though the previous silence had been enjoyable.
 
Isabelle swallowed what she'd been eating and licked her lips before she spoke. "Well, a few actually. Sleep under the stares, see the sun rise, and send a message in a bottle."


She pulled her phone from her pocket and opened it to her bucket list. It was hard to believe she'd almost deleted it last week. There were so few things left, it seemed possible now that she'd complete it. On the screen it showed the list again, with one updated strikeout, sleeping under the stars. They were about to do it anyways.

  1. See Jaws
  2. See Titanic
  3. Watch the LOTR movies
  4. Sleep under the stars
  5. Go to the ocean, and watch the sun rise
  6. Send a message in a bottle
  7. Learn to dance
  8. Learn to play the piano
  9. Drive a car
  10. Participate in a marathon, or do a color run
  11. Be in love
  12. Kiss in the rain
  13. Dance in the rain
  14. Volunteer my time somewhere
  15. Feed birds with Mrs. Harrison
  16. Bake something for someone
  17. Go bowling


There were a few things there that might have surprised Blake. For instance, she'd never learned to drive. Her mother wouldn't let her, and instead took her everywhere. She'd also never gone bowling. They were normal things other people did, but not Isabelle.
 
Blake examined the list. His eyebrows rose a few times but his eyes got really wide when he hit number 17. "You've never gone bowling?" he asked, staring hardly at Isabelle. "I can understand never being to the ocean because it's far away, but bowling? There's an alley just a few minutes from college!" He couldn't believe how little Isabelle had experienced so far in her life time.
 
"I told you, my parents never took me anywhere." Isabelle laughed, the blush on her cheeks was from embarrassment, sure, but even she knew it was hilarious how little she'd done. Shameful, almost, but it didn't bother her. "Sorry, I can't help it. I even had to take myself fishing, too. It's not on my list any more, I took a few off. I have a written one at home, for when I finish something."


Fishing, biking, even something like seeing a baseball game. Isabelle had taken herself to most of the events alone. Her mother didn't care, and her father was doing his best to support her mother. She wanted to experience more things, but, that wasn't likely.


"I still wish I would've had time to go to Paris or something." Isabelle mused. She put the crackers and cheese safely on the edge of her towel and laid back.
 
Blake shook his head, noticing and disliking how she used the past tense. A frown had settled on his face and he turned his head so she couldn't see it. "We can go after the surgery," he said, trying to sound normal but it came out as a mumble. He cleared his throat and said, "You can make an even bigger bucket list and we'll start working on that one."
 
After, right.





Isabelle didn't say anything, but kicked some of the sand in front of her with her toe. She tried to distract herself by listening to the sounds of the small waves that lapped against the shore. Only two weeks left now. She moved her hand out to grab his and rubbed her thumb against his skin. No time for sadness, she thought. It's not worth being sad.
 
"Everything's going to be okay," he whispered, the image of her MRI scan popping up in his hand. He spoke equally to both Isabelle and himself, but it sounded like it was just to her. He turned his head and forced a smile, squeezing her hand. "And if it's not... at least right now is okay." It was a lame thing to say, pointless in his mind, but he said it any ways.
 
Isabelle scooted closer to Blake and rested her head on his shoulder. "It's the best right now." She forced a smile and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "It'll be okay." Isabelle murmured.


That's a lie. I'm gonna die.





"I love you." She mumbled. Isabelle knew that at least. That was true.
 
Blake grinned, pretending like he didn't hear the hint of sorrow in her voice. He was fairly certain that she thought she'd die, but he wasn't about to call her out on lying. He stayed quiet for the moment, nuzzling his nose into her hair. He could smell her shampoo and he inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. The smell reminded him of every time he slept next to Isabelle and it instantly made him happy.


"I love you too," he whispered back after returning from his thoughts and opening his eyes.
 
Isabelle couldn't decide if her stomach felt knotted, and her eyes teary, because she was happy or because she was sad. There were plenty of reasons for both. She wrapped her arms around Blake in an awkward side hug with her head lowered to a spot just near his shoulder.


"I'm scared." She murmured into his sweater.


She couldn't bear to move, she wanted to cling to some form of hope that she'd be alright, this was the best she could do. Blake was here, he cared, he loved the girl.
 
His eyes closed again, but this time not in happiness but the complete opposite. He didn't want to hear this, not now not ever. He shook his head and pulled her into his lap as gently as he could and hugged her to him. "Let's not talk about this," he whispered in her ear, kissing the space in front of it before continuing, "At least not until we get back home. I want this trip to be perfect." It was a terrible thing to say, if she wanted to talk about it now it would be better than letting it bottle up, but he was worried it would ruin the rest of the weekend.
 
"Kay." Isabelle sniffled. She would be fine, but it might have been hard for Blake to see the correlation between this trip and her being scared. Every check on that list meant she was closer to the end, closer to death's doorstep. Being here was wonderful, but also frightening. Maybe he was just as afraid as she was to face it head on.


She turned to kiss his face, stroking his hair with both of her hands. Between breaths she'd look him in the eyes before planting another kiss on him.
 
Blake only saw her look at him between kisses through the eyelashes of his slitted eyes. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her closer, tilting his head to the side for easier access to her lips. At first she had been in control of the kiss but now Blake's lips took over some of that control, moving against Isabelle's with love and hunger.
 
Isabelle covered his hands with her own on her hips as he pressed his lips against hers. She tried to overcome him, pushing back until he was flat in the sand. After smirking she placed her hands on either side of his head in the sand, her hips resting on his.


"You." Isabelle kissed him quickly on the nose. "Are." Again on his lips. "A really good kisser." Then once more passionately on his lips, slyly slipping her tongue to his.
 
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