The light coming through my bedroom windows had woken me up. I groaned and rolled out of bed slowly. But then I looked over at my calendar and smiled.

"It's our anniversary." I went to my closet and picked out a cute outfit to impress Derek.

I threw on my queen t-shirt with a black denim skirt and a blue jean jacket. I put on a pair on converse I had, ran out the door, and went over to Derek's house.

Once I got there I walked up to his door with the biggest smile on my face ready to spend time with him on our special day. Before I have the chance to knock on his door I see his mother open the door.

"Cristina sweetie hi." She says with her face glowing with her smile. I saw her holding a bag of soil and a plant of some sort. I guess she's gardening today.

"Hi, is Derek here?"

"Yes he is, i'll get him." She turns around and yells up the stairs. "Derek! Cristina is here!" She turns back to me with a smile. "You can come in." She moves aside so I can get in and I smile at her.

"Thanks." I wait for Derek to come down the stairs and I see him wearing sweat pants and an old t-shirt.

He scrunches his eyebrows at me. "Umm, hey babe. What's up?" He walks over and gives me a hug.

I pull back and look at him. "Derek. Do you know what today is?"

"It's Sunday. Right?"

"Technically, yes. But aren't you forgetting something else?"

I see him think for a moment and then his eyes go wide. "Shit." He says under his breath. "Babe i'm so sorry." He sits down on the couch and puts his head in his hands.

"Are you sorry about forgetting or is there something else? You seem super stressed."

He lifts his head up and looks at me. He takes a deep breath. "It's my grandma." Before he says anything else I sit next to him on the couch.

"What's wrong?" I put my hand on his shoulder.

"She came down from Ohio 2 weeks ago and when she got here I had a feeling something was off. She was more tired than usual, she was disassociating a lot. And other than that she seemed fine. But about four days ago she fainted." He looked away from me and took a second to breathe. "We took her to the hospital and they keep saying they are running tests but they still don't know what it is. And I guess with all that i've been super stressed. And i'm so sorry I forgot our anniversary. I was gonna go visit today. She likes it when I visit. But I can just go tomorrow—"

"No Derek. It's okay. I get it. We can always go out to celebrate another time. Go spend time with your grandma today if that's what you want."

"Really? Are you sure? I feel so bad about forgetting and I wanna spend time with you—"

"But it's okay Derek. We can always celebrate another time. If she needs you then you should be with her."

He looks at me with this deep and caring eyes and puts his hand on mine. "You're the best girlfriend a guy could ask for. How did I get so lucky with you?"

"Tell your grandma I give her my best."

"I will."

I stand up and head over to the door. "Bye!"

"See ya!" He says back.

I shut the door and as soon as I walk out of that house, I got this unsettling feeling in my chest. I began to think for a moment as I walk back to my house. I wonder why his mom was gardening today if they were going through something? I mean she seemed fine. I don't know, maybe it's not my place to say anything. It is her mom after all. Maybe she's just distracting herself with gardening to avoid any heartache. Is his grandmothers condition that bad?

I hope his grandma is okay.

Why did God make me hate lying if i'm so damn good at it?