“Patron? They got fucking Patron? That’s bottle’s mine. You can have the damn whisky.”
“A tequila lover. I like it. I was hoping you were more than just a pretty face.”
Soon they were taking shots and washing them down with beer in the kitchen.
“The doctors say alcohol may interfere with my medicine,” she said.
“When you’re in pain, liquor is the oldest medicine. Besides, the more you drink, the better I look.”
This stud was flirting with her! Despite her condition. Her circle of friends stopped circling because no one knew what to say to someone dying.
“Then I better stop drinking or else I may ravage you,” she shot back, shocked that she flirted right back.
“Why else would I surrender the Patron?”
He had one of those big easy smiles that infected her contagiously. She found herself smiling back, unable to not smile. She finally found someone not afraid of her.
“If I fatten you up, you would make a nice meal.”
The way he looked at her stunned Mara like a ray gun. The world somehow shrank around them until they were the only two people inhabiting it.
“Oh yeah? Bite me,” he joked, holding out his neck like she was a vampire.
“I don’t bite. But I wouldn’t mind nibbling.”
She inhaled his easy laugh like anesthesia. She couldn’t believe she made him laugh. She couldn’t make babies laugh. There is no better aphrodisiac than someone laughing at your jokes.
“You can nibble me all the way to Disneyworld.”
“You’d really take me to the Orlando parks?”
“As long as you don’t feed me to the crocs at Gatorland.”
“Oh, I don’t plan on sharing you.”
“Then I am all yours.”
He seemed to mean it, too. Mara felt like she won the lottery. Those fucking blue eyes could pass for those Star Trek crystals that power the Enterprise. They shared a special moment and she didn’t want it to end.
“I love this song!” she said, even though she never heard it before. “Let’s slow dance.”
“You love Lady In Red?” he asked, surprised, yet still taking the opportunity to embrace her. “It came out before you were born.”
“So how did you know it was me instead of my mom?” she asked to change the subject.
“There’s something in the eyes when you know you will die soon. Your mother didn’t have it, but you did.”
“You look like you’re at death’s door. How long you got?”
He nervously laughed it off. “You can’t play that game with me. I’m not sick. I just don’t eat enough.”
“Still in denial, huh?” she said. “How’d you get so much money?”
“I inherited some of it. My mother died of leukemia when I was ten, and my father, more recently, of prostrate cancer. I’m an only child and my grandparents passed away, too, so I had no family at my graduation. I spent so much time in hospitals that I started trading online, tripling what they left me, so now I say I’m an investor, because you have to say something so people can categorize you. I got an MBA from Harvard because my father said it would be a good investment in case everything else turned to shit. That’s when the housing market collapsed, so I bet big against subprime mortgage derivative contracts and made so much that I never needed to work after all. Wall Street offered me huge wages, but I can make more money on my own. Nobody believes me when I say I’ve never worked a day in my life, but it’s true.”
“I bet you have a big house.”
“Too big,” he said. “My father bought it for my mother, so it’s my way of keeping them in my life. If it weren’t for the housekeeper and the nurse, I’d go crazy all alone there.”
“You need some company. Someone fun,” she proposed.
“And sexy. Death can monopolize your mind, so it’s important to do things that make you forget you’re dying. Some people call it sex, drugs, and rock’n’role, but I call it therapy. All life involves suffering, and everyone needs to make it worth the price they pay. But those who know they won’t get a chance to live a full life need to compensate even more. If the doctors gave you twelve months, then you may only have good health for six. My advice is to make the most of it. Starting today.”
“I guess that explains why you move so fast. You don’t like wasting even a moment, do you?”
“If you’re gonna die young, then you may as well live fast. If a penny saved is a penny earned, then a moment wasted is a moment lost forever. Enjoy yourself now so that you have something pleasant to remember when you’re bedridden.”