"Are you ready?" Bryce asked me, holding his completed painting in his hands.

He'd been given an extension on his Childhood Dreams piece in art, seeing as though he'd missed a few days after getting sick on chemo.

I nodded, eagerly.

He flipped his painting around to me.

He was just about as good of an artist as me, but we managed to figure each other's artwork out.

He'd painted the sky, and in it was what resembled an airplane with a little guy inside.

"A pilot?" I asked.

He nodded.

"That's so cute."

"I thought it was a hot dog," Steven commented.

"Well you can't really comment," I said, without looking at him. "Because even Ms. Jacobs thought your childhood dream was to be Baymax from Big Hero 6."

Bryce chuckled right as the bell rang, signaling for class change.

Bryce checked his phone as we left class together, wrapping his free hand around mine.

He let out a frustrated sigh.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"My mom."

Always.

"What's up?"

"What are you doing after class?"

"After this class?"

He shook his head. "All classes today."

"So after school?"

He nodded.

"I think I have to pick up my mom's dry cleaning or something, why?"

"My mom can't take me to therapy."

Wow, so now work was more important than her son's speech therapy. Nice.

"I can take you," I promised, squeezing his hand. "My mom's dry cleaning isn't a pressing matter."

The left side of his mouth tilted up into a smile as he used his free hand to text his mom back.

~*~

I hate waiting rooms.

There weren't too many people in the waiting room, but it was just the waiting part.

Bryce's speech therapy was only an hour, but I hadn't known I was taking him to therapy ahead of time, so I hadn't brought anything to do.

So I was stuck watching the local news channel they kept playing on the small TV and reading the magazines they kept on the various tables.

Neither of which were too entertaining.

I checked my phone again, but I still had no service.

It was official. Bryce needed to find a new speech therapist.

The door opened, and my eyes lit up, but a young girl walked out, greeted by her mother.

I let out a sigh, my eyes shifting over to the analog clock on the wall.

Time was moving so slowly.

67 seconds later, the door opened again, and Bryce came out, a smile stretched from ear-to-ear across his face.

That was definitely new.

"Hey," I said, standing up.

"Hey," he greeted, wrapping his hand around mine.

"How did everything go?"

He led me outside without a word.

Maybe he was just happy to get out of there.

Though he could not be happier than me.

"Isn't the weather nice today?" Bryce asked me, as we headed out towards my car.

"Um I-"

"It's not too hot but it's not too cold and it's just that perfect amount of cool that you rarely get in here and it's just a beautiful day out today and I love you Sophie Allen," he stated, talking at about a million miles a minute.

I stopped short, pulling Bryce to stop along with me.

"What?"

"The weather today," he started again, talking almost too fast for me to keep up with, "it's perfect baseball weather actually because you wouldn't perspire through your uniform which is probably the worst thing about playing baseball in the heat and your hair looks pretty today and I love you Sophie Allen."

I shook my head, completely and utterly confused.

Bryce was smiling again, trying not to laugh.

"What was that?" I asked. "What are you doing?"

"It's essentially tricking my brain," Bryce explained, taking my keys and unlocking my car door.

I slid into the driver's seat, turning on the AC before he continued.

"I was back in therapy today, getting nowhere per usual," he continued. "And I got really frustrated and began this long tangent, and words that I usually can't pronounce just kept coming out and I didn't even notice. My therapist took note of every one. And then at the end of my rant he revealed the list to me, and that's when I figured it out."

"So all you have to do is talk really fast about the most random shit and then you can tell me that you love me?"

He smiled, reaching across the center console to give me a quick kiss.

"It's not a rant to tell you that you have beautiful eyes and a gorgeous smile and a witty tongue and I love you for all of that Sophie Allen."

I couldn't help but smile, biting my bottom lip.

It was so nice to hear him say my name again.

~*~

"You want to do what?" mom asked me, exchanging glances with my dad.

"Bryce's doctor told him that he can't be in large crowds," I explained. "Which means no airplanes and no wedding receptions."

"Right," she agreed.

"And Bryce was crying when he told Kayla that he wasn't going to be able to come to the wedding," I said, to play on her heart strings.

I really needed her to say yes.

"Okay," she said, slowly.

"So I suggested that we drive up to the wedding," I continued, looking over to my dad for some sort of support.

Any sort of support would be nice.

"That's in New York," she pointed out. "That's a day's drive."

"Actually it's only 11 hours," I pointed out. "And I know that it's not the safest, but I promise to be super careful."

"Sophie, you're only 16 years old."

"But this is Bryce's only sister," I pointed out. "And her only wedding."

My mom shook her head. "I'm sorry, but absolutely not. You're not driving to New York alone."

"Well there has to be something we can do," dad said, looking to mom and then to me.

I felt a surge of hope within me.

"I agree with your mother, you're not driving to New York alone," dad said, with a nod. "But I also agree that it's unfair for Bryce to have to miss Kayla's wedding."

Well that wasn't a total downfall. Though I'm not sure where that leaves me.

"Let me do some research," dad suggested. "And your mother and I will talk about it. And we'll reconvene before the end of the week."

Mom nodded. "That sounds fair."

"So it's not a no?"

"It's not a no," dad agreed. "We don't want to see Bryce miss his sister's wedding any more than you dear."

This is why I love my parents.

I let out a squeal, jumping up off my position on the couch and wrapping my arms around my dad's neck.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

He chuckled, giving me a tight hug. "Of course."

I hugged my mom next, kissing her cheek.

"Just don't get your hopes up too high," mom warned, standing up. "Your father and I still have a lot we need to discuss."

I nodded in agreement.

Dad winked at me, and I couldn't help but smile.

I really wanted to make this happen for Bryce. He'd been through so much lately, he deserved this.

~*~

I finished curling my hair as the doorbell rang.

"I got it!" dad called.

I stepped back to check my reflection in the mirror one last time.

I was wearing an oversized black three-quarter sleeve button-down with gold buttons. I'd tucked it into my jean shorts, which weren't quite finger-tip length.

Okay, maybe quite a bit shorter than finger-tip length.

My hair fell in curls around my shoulders, and I finished the outfit off with a pair of gold gladiator sandals.

I headed down downstairs, where Bryce was leaning against my kitchen counter, talking to my dad.

A bouquet of orchids were sitting in a vase on the counter.

"Are these for me?" I asked.

"They're actually for me," dad corrected. "I told Bryce that was nice of him, but you'd probably be a bit upset."

I rolled my eyes, playfully slapping my dad on the bicep before sniffing the orchids.

"They're beautiful," I said to Bryce, with a smile.

"Like you," he retorted, with a smile of his own.

"Mhm," my dad said, with a nod.

I rolled my eyes. "Goodbye dad."

"What time will you two be home?"

"Late," I said, as I practically shoved Bryce towards the door. "Like, really super late. You don't even want to wait up for us." And I let the door shut behind us.

"You're very mean to him," Bryce informed me.

"He knows I love him," I said, unlocking my car. "So where are we going exactly?"

Bryce slipped into my passenger seat, placing his iPhone in my cup holder. "My phone usually knows where it's going which is weird if you ask me, I don't like that it always knows my location. But Siri will tell you where you need to go."

Bryce's little mini-rants were always so strange, but still so cute.

"I'm driving and I don't get to know where we're going?"

He just smiled at me.

As I navigated the streets, Siri leading me in the supposed right direction, I recognized the pattern.

Bryce and I used to come here practically all the time.

"You want to reopen this wound?" I asked Bryce, as we pulled into the arena.

"You don't know what you're up against."

We headed inside and over to the laser tag.

"Hey guys!" Taylor greeted, with a smile. "Long time no see."

"We've been a bit preoccupied," Bryce explained, paying for both him and I to play a round of laser tag. "But I'm back and ready to kick ass."

"Kick whose ass exactly?" Taylor asked. "Because if I remember correctly, Sophie owned you the last few rounds."

I reached over and high-fived her.

"Okay, okay," Bryce conceded, as Taylor went around to get our gear. "Today is going to be different."

"In your dreams," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

A smile stretched across his face. "That's not what I dream about."

I'd said those words to him before we went bowling. And caused him to play one of the worst games of his life.

I just smiled.

"Stop being so cute," Taylor ordered, handing me a vest.

I strapped it on as she handed one to Bryce.

I unhooked my laser tag gun, aiming it at Bryce. "Pew, pew."

"Is that how it goes?" Bryce asked me, amusedly.

"Just getting in some practice shots."

"You'll need all the practice you can get."

I slowly nodded. "Okay, I see you."

"The rules haven't changed," Taylor said, as she pulled up a new game for us. "After you get shot, it's a 3-second recovery time. Pretty much anything goes. Any questions?"

"Is there a mercy rule?" I asked, shooting a smirk at Bryce. "I mean, when the game starts getting pathetic, do you just call it?"

"Yeah, we wouldn't want Ms. Allen here to humiliate herself," Bryce piped up.

Taylor just chuckled. "Alright, when I press this button you have ten seconds to enter the arena and get situated before your vest and gun load up. Are you ready?"

We both nodded.

She pressed the button and we both slipped inside the laser tag arena.

Because we came here so often, I knew the arena like the back of my hand. I knew every hiding spot and bonus point target.

Which unfortunately meant that Bryce did too.

I ducked behind my statute, watching as my gun loaded up.

And then whipped around and shot Bryce, who was standing right behind me, his gun already aimed.

"You've got to be quicker than that," I said, mocking the State Farm commercial.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

He stuck his tongue out at me as I darted off to find a new hiding spot.

And so it continued for the ten minute game.

I'll admit that Bryce did get some good shots on me.

But overall I dominated the game.

I heard Bryce sneaking up behind me, and I whipped around to shoot him.

Only I misjudged how close he was, causing the two of us to topple over, him on top of me.

"Oops," I said, with a laugh.

He smiled. "Oops."

I leaned up to kiss him.

And then my vest went dark as Bryce shot me.

"You almost had it," Bryce mocked, smiling from ear-to-ear as he hopped up off of me before darting off.

That son of a bitch.

And then our vests died out, signaling the end of the game.

"So?" I asked, exiting the arena, Bryce right behind me.

Taylor gestured towards the scoreboard.

As predicted, I'd totally dominated the game.

I turned to face Bryce with a smile.

"Alas," Bryce said, shrugging out of his vest. "You've bested me yet again."

"I think you owe me an ice cream."

He chuckled. "That's probably fair."

"You're too nice," Taylor chastised.

"Probably," he agreed, helping me out of my vest. "But I can't help but be nice to her."

I turned around as Bryce handed my vest off to Taylor, surprising him with a kiss.

"Funny," I said, with a smile. "I can't help but be nice to you either."

So what did you guys think about Bryce's childhood dream? I think a couple of you guys guessed it. And then his breakthrough in speech therapy? Aren't his little rants cute? I'm probably biased though. What about Sophie's parents' reaction when she told them about road tripping to Kayla's wedding? What do you think their solution is going to be? And then what about Bryce & Sophie's date at the end?

And btw, I'm not promoting State Farm or anything. I just think that the commercial is hilarious.

Teaser: Bryce starts his second round of chemo, and things don't quite go as planned thanks to a certain baseball player.