Wrecking Ball (21 page)

Sophia

When I wake the next morning, I’m naked, curled up in a mess of sheets. Images from the night before dance through my mind and I smile
as the sweet ache between my legs throbs. Last night was incredible, but it left me hungry for more, needing more. Slowly, the more time Brandon and I spend together, the less hurt and angry I feel. It feels like were rediscovering each other.

I throw on a bikini, opting not to run this morning and head downstairs. Brandon and Tia are in the kitchen, singing obnoxiously to Madonna’s
Like a Virgin
. Brandon sings high pitched to sound more feminine. Antonio is seated at the breakfast table, his chin resting in his hand, watching them like he’s bored.

“Phi
!” Tia yells as she runs to me and holds the wooden spoon in her hand out to me like a microphone.

“I think you two have it covered.” I grin, my gaze meeting Brandon’s from across the counter. Our stares linger, and a rush of heat covers my face. When he nods with a
playful grin, my belly flips. It’s been years since we looked at each other this way, like all we want to do is tear each other’s clothes off and screw our brains out.

I’m not sure how long Brandon and
I remain transfixed on each other, but Tia clearing her throat drags me back.

“Looks like you two worked up an appetite last
night,” she smirks and heads back to the stove. I roll my eyes and blush as Antonio quirks a knowing brow.

“I’m glad to see you two are getti
ng along so well,” Tia continues as she whisks the eggs. “I was hoping you…” Her words trail off as she stumbles back from the stove, her head lulling.

“Tia?” Brandon i
s fast behind her, a gentle arm under her elbow.

“I’m o
kay, just a litt…” She collapses to the ground before Brandon can catch her. Antonio immediately rushes to her as I round the counter. Her face is pale, her lips almost blue.

“Tia!” I shriek at
the sight of her as if it will rouse her, but she is still as the dead, her body limp, as Antonio straightens and checks her pulse at her throat.

“Call for an ambulance
,” he grits.

“What number do I call?”
I mumble, numb with shock. What is wrong with my sister?

“You sit
with her, I’ll call.” He waits until I’m beside him to move before sprinting to the phone on the wall by the fridge.

“Tia,” I say firmly smacking the side of her face. My gaze moves to Brandon whose brows are furrowed as he stares down at Tia. When he feels my eyes upon him, he looks up and reaches for my hand.

“She’ll be okay.” He nods and I nod back.

“They’re on their wa
y” Antonio sighs as he pulls a cushion off the chair and places it gently under Tia’s head.

Tia is rushed to the nearest hospital and we all wait, anxious, pacing the small waiting room filled with locals and the stench of body odor.
Brandon brings Antonio and I coffee and offers to get us food, but neither of us can eat. Something is so very wrong. My chest is tight with worry and dread. I’ve had this feeling something with Tia has been off. Please God, let her be okay. Hours pass when finally a doctor emerges and we all practically bombard him.

He speaks to Antonio in Spanish and I notice Brandon listening inten
tly, as he knows a small amount of Spanish. As the doctor continues speaking, moving his hands around his head as he speaks, Brandon briefly closes his eyes and my heart sinks.

“Did she get a concussion when she fell?”

“No,” Brandon whispers.

“Something’s wrong? What’s wrong?” I ask, panic evident in my tone.
My hands grip Brandon’s arm frantically.

“He says we can see her now.” Antonio takes a deep breath, scrubbing his face with his hands.
Something is horribly wrong. Antonio looks like he’s about to cry. A look passes between he and Brandon and I’m on the verge of breaking down.

“What did he say
. Brandon?” I plead with him. “Please tell me.”

“I only caught bit
s, Soph. He says she’s awake and wants to speak with you.” He rubs my back and the muscles in his jaw tick. He knows what the doctor said and won’t tell me. That confirms it. It is something bad.

“This way
.” Antonio leads us through a corridor and we turn down a long hall with bright red walls and white tile floors. When we reach her door, Antonio enters first and falls to his knees at her bedside.

Tia lays half-
way back, pillows propping
her head up. She’s wearing a white hospital gown. Her hair billows over her shoulders and she stares at us with tired eyes. “Sorry I ruined breakfast, guys,” she gests, but her humor is only halfhearted. Pale skin and half-opened eyes replace her bronzed skin and gleaming gaze.

“Are you okay?” I breathe as I round the other side of the bed and place my hand on hers where it rests beside her.
My eyes frantically scan her head to toe, searching for some injury. “Did you get a concussion?”

She snickers sli
ghtly. “Guys, can I speak to Phi alone please?” She runs a hand over Antonio’s head. Antonio gazes up at her, his eyes speaking something, communicating a message and Tia nods, as if he’s instructed her to do something.

Brandon is beside me, his arm wrapping around me as he kisses my forehead. “I’ll be right outside
, Soph,” he whispers and my stomach clenches with dread. He knows something is wrong. I can tell.

When Antonio and Brandon exit, Tia turns to me, her head leaned back ag
ainst her pillows as if she haven’t the strength to hold it up any longer.

“
What’s going on, Tia? I know something’s wrong.” Sitting beside her on the bed, I take her hand in mine and hold it. I can still remember when she was a little girl, she’d always ask me to sit with her until she fell asleep whenever she was sick.

“I’m
dying, Phi.” Her tone is soft and delicate and her hand squeezes mine.

All of the blood drains from my face and I stop breathing. It takes me a moment before I can ask,
“What do you mean?”

“It means, seven months ago while I was visiting some friends in Vancouver, I got sick and went to the hospital.
I was having these awful headaches
and I was so tired. You know me, I can go all day. I don’t get tired. They did blood work and when it came back funny, it was recommended I see an oncologist. So I went to Texas. Antonio met me there, and I had an MRI. I have a brain tumor, Phi. They can’t tell where the cancer started, but it’s in my ovaries and both breasts.”

The room is spinning now and she squeezes my hand tighter as she sees my struggle absorbing the news.
This isn’t happening. She’s twenty-four years old, for God’s sake. This is impossible.

I swallowed the panic ripping through me. My baby sister just told me she has cancer. “Did you get a second opinion?” Maybe the doctor was wrong.

She smiled softly at me. “I got five. Antonio was in denial. Just like you.”

“What about chemo, surgery?” My voice is frantic as I’m determined there is an answer, a cure.

“I was given a year with chemo and six months without. The tumor in my brain is located where my spinal cord meets my brain. The surgery was risky and even with a double mastectomy and having my ovaries removed, remission was unlikely. I have some rare genetic thing, the cancer spreads fast in me. I always knew I was unique.” She tries to joke, maybe for me, but I think more so for her. I can see this is hard for her to tell me. She’s more worried about my reaction than the fact she’s going to die.

“So the fatigue? That’s what’s been going on and Antonio knew the entire time, but you couldn’t tell me?” In my despair, anger has found a footing. How could she keep this from me—her sister?

“I wanted our last bit of time together to be fun and amazing. That’s how I want you to remember me, Phi.” Tears claw at my eyes as I shake my head vehemently.

“
No. This isn’t happening. We will find someone who can help you. Tia you have to fight. You can’t just give up.” Tears fall freely from me now and she sits up and takes me in her arms. My beautiful dying sister, comforting me.

“Phi,
my quality of life would deteriorate. I didn’t want my last bit of time here to be sick and losing my hair. I wanted to live, Phi.”

“I want you to
live, Tia! Please fight! Please!” I sob as I clutch her tightly, my tears wetting her hair pressed between us.

“I will live. Through
you, Phi. That’s why I brought you here. To remind you how to live again.”

We don’t speak for some time, Tia and I just hold each
other, both of us crying. There are no words. My baby sister has decided to let nature take its course and rob her of her life.

“It won’t be long now
, Phi. There are some things you need to know, my wishes I mean.”

Sitting up, I wipe my face with my hands and gaze at her. Although
evidence of her crying still wets her face, she’s all business now.

“I’d like to come home with you. Maybe go to a hospice when things get really bad. I’d like Antonio to
come, too, if that’s alright.”

“Of
course, Tia. Anything you want and Antonio is more than welcome and no. No hospice. You’ll stay at our house.”

“When I pass,
Phi, I want to be cremated.” Before giving me time to possibly disagree she continues, “I’d like my ashes spread here, on the beach.”

“Whatever you wan
t, Tia.” I cry and she hands me five tissues from the box on the table beside her bed.

“No matter what happens
, Phi, know that being your little sister has been the best. I couldn’t have asked for a better best friend.”

We immediately embrace again and cry into
each other’s shoulders. After a few minutes, we collect ourselves and she says, “I’d like to speak with Brandon.”

I don’t ask her why, I just nod numbly and head towards the door.

“I love you, Phi,” she says quietly.

“I love you
, too, baby girl.”

Brandon

Leaned against the wall outside
Tia’s room, I wait for Sophia to come out. I’m not severely fluent in Spanish, but I knew I heard something about a mass in her head as the doctor spoke. I had thought Tia maybe brought Sophia here to convince her to leave me, but now I feel like an asshole. Tia is going to die and this was her farewell voyage with her sister. My gaze darts to Antonio who looks like he’s lost in a fog, his eyes glazed over. I can’t imagine what’s going through his mind. The woman he’s madly in love with is going to die.

“How long have you known?”

“About seven months,” Antonio murmurs.

“Jesus
, man. I’m sorry,” I sigh. Antonio’s lips are pressed in a flat line, and I can tell he’s working hard to keep his emotion at bay. That’s what most men do. We push down the urge to crack and spill our hearts all over the floor in front of another man. “She hasn’t seemed herself, not totally anyway,” I mention.

“I begged her to tell Sophia sooner, but she wanted to enjoy her time with her. Tia is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I feel like I’m being crushed by some force I can’t see or fight off. I love her.” There is a slight crack in his voice as he speaks.

Running a wide palm over my face, I try not to let myself get caught up in the thoughts of, what if it was Sophia in there with cancer. My chest feels tight with the thoughts of Sophia ever leaving me. It was bad enough thinking she may divorce me, but to lose her, watch my soul die slowly would be a hell on earth. I commit to myself, I will get Sophia back and I will love her as fiercely and loyally as I can.

Before I can respond to him, Sophia emerges from the hospital room, a tissue rubbing her nose and her beautiful brown eyes swollen with tears. There’s no asking for permission this time. I envelope her in my arms intending to try and absorb any of the weight she feels right now. “I’m so sorry
, Soph,” I whisper as she sobs against my chest. She pulls away and looks up at me.

“She asked to speak with
you,” she whimpers, wiping under her eyes with her tissue. I nod, a little surprised.

“Okay. Will you be alright while I’m in there?” I ask before kissing her forehead gently, which she leans into, welcoming me.

“Yeah.” She nods and turns to Antonio.

“I’ll be back
,” I say numbly as I open the door to Tia’s room. When I enter the room and go to shut the door, I catch a glimpse of Antonio and Sophia hugging, his body convulsing in emotion.

Sophia

After Brandon enters Tia’s room, Antonio and I immediately fall into
each other’s arms and cry together. I’ve known how in love they are since I first arrived in Mexico, and I know he loves her as fiercely as I do. We hold each other for what seems like an hour before we pull apart and collect ourselves.

“I’m sorry
, Sophia. She made me promise not to tell you. She wanted to wait until things got bad. I guess we’re there already.”

“She wants to come home with us. And she wants you to come
, too. But before we leave, there’s something you need to do, Antonio.”

“I already know what you’re going to say because I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

“You really do love her, don’t you?”

“More than anything.”

“Then it’s time to ask her because time is running out.”

Antonio nods and runs a hand through his hair. “You’re right.”

“And don’t take no for an answer,” I remind him.

***

When Brandon emerges from Tia’s room, Antonio has calmed down, but I’m still weeping quietly beside him. Brandon’s eyes are red as if maybe he’s been crying himself or at least been on the verge of crying. “She says they’re going to send her home. She wants to leave for our house by the end of the week.”

“Okay.” Antoni
o nods and without another word heads into Tia’s room.

“Are you alright?” Brandon’s gaze is soft and filled with worry as he pulls me into him.
Every bit of anger I’ve felt over the last few months towards him is dwindling away and suddenly I’m so grateful he’s here. I need him to get through this.

“I’m glad you’re here
, Brandon,” I answer and he holds me tighter.

“I will always be here for you, no matter
what,” he whispers and I hug him tighter. He’s still worried we won’t work things out, that I might leave him. Right now, I can’t imagine going through this without him by my side. I need him.

“Antonio is going to propose to her.” I smile.

“Right now?” he asks.

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

We hold each other until Antonio joins us in the hall again. “Let’s get her home.”