“Hey Max?”
“Yeah, Riley?”
“Promise me something, okay?”  The beeping of the heart monitors was a constant reminder of how sick both of them were, and it was a reminder that this promise would most likely be kept until their deaths.  Max nodded at his female roommate, signalling her to continue.  “Promise me you’ll be my loyal friend… forever.  Until the end.”
“I promise, Riley.  Forever.  Until my final breath, whether that be before or after yours.  I’ll be your best friend, and you’ll be mine,” Max whispered.  They were both exhausted.  Cancer treatment does that to people.  “Hey Riley?”
“Yeah Max,” Riley responded, voice faint as she was nearly asleep.
“Promise me that you’ll always be my number one?”
“I can’t promise you that, Max.  Our lives are intertwined now, but the future is a mystery, and what you want me to promise isn’t something I can do because that is up to you.  I promise that you’ll always be my number one, though.  I hope that’s enough,” Riley said quietly.
“That’s more than enough, R.”  The room went silent, the only sounds were made by the machines the two were hooked up to, their families gone home for the night.  “Hey Riley?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too… Max…”
.-.-.
“Hey, Riley.  It’s been a long time since I last spoke to you.  Honestly, I’ve been so busy with your sister that I couldn’t make time to come visit.  I know that’s no excuse, but I made it here now, and I have some time to talk, so I hope you’ll hear me out for a while.”  Silence came in answer.  Max, now fifteen years older than when he and Riley had first met, let out a deep chuckle.  “Still giving me the silent treatment, eh?  That’s fine, I guess.  All you have to do is listen to me.  I want to talk to you about your sister and life.  It’s been two years, you know, and a lot has happened.”
Silence came in answer, but Max thought nothing of it.  They had been fighting, and she hadn’t spoken to him since.  That was six years before, and he had gotten used to just speaking to her and never getting an answer.
“So, Ronan says hello.  She’s doing pretty well, just graduating with a doctorate in interpretation and translation.  You should hear her when she speaks now.  I know you two haven’t spoken since you were really little, and I know it’s my fault, but it’s the funniest thing.  Sometimes she’ll be talking and she will switch to Japanese or Italian.  She doesn’t even know she does it.  It’s really cute.  You’d be proud of her, I know you would be.  In fact, I know you are proud of her!  You don’t even need to see her or talk to her and I know you’re proud.
“She really wanted to come.  Thought about it real hard, too.  But, she didn’t because she thought you wouldn’t want her here.  She said she didn’t want to fight about me anymore.  I know, you probably just want to see her, and I always get in the way.  Speaking about that…
“When are you going to remember, huh?  You screamed at me for betraying you, for switching my loyalties.  I supposedly pledged them to her, right?  I betrayed you, broke our promise, right?  I bet you still don’t remember why I started hanging around her so much.
“When we left the hospital on my birthday, after I had been discharged and you had been cleared for a day out, our families took us to an ice cream parlor… the one on Cobe Street… and we got our own table.  Your sister looked so lost, and you had mentioned how she was struggling with figuring out where she fit in the world.  You made me promise you something that day, too.  And, as I promised to be a loyal friend to the end, I accepted.
“Do you remember what you made me promise?  Do you even remember that day at all, or was that something that you lost, too?  That promise was the third most important thing in my life, just below you and my vow of loyalty to you.  Do you know why it was so important to me?  Why it’s still so important to me?
“You made me promise to protect your sister at all cost since you couldn’t do that yet.  You told me that, if I really was loyal to you, that I would protect her with everything I have.  I accepted it.  Not a problem.  Not even a doubt.  I accepted that, and even told you that, if it came to it, I would live on the streets for her.  I would die for her.  And I would do it all for you.
“Then, a year later, you stopped talking to us because you had forgotten it all.  You had forgotten ten years of our lives in less than a month, and you had lost me… at least you though you had.  Do you still think that?”  Silence met Max’s desperate question.  He sighed.
“Well, it’s too late to remember now.  Or maybe it isn’t.  I really don’t know.  Well, Riley…  Happy birthday.  Happy anniversary.  I hope you realise now where my loyalties lie.  And if you don’t I probably deserve every curse you threw my way.  I just hope it didn’t hurt you too much.
“Oh,” Max said, standing up and pulling a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and smoothing it out.  He cleared his throat and placed it next to Riley.  “Here’s a present.  I’ll see you real soon, R.  I hope it makes you happy.  And I hope you realise where my loyalty really lies.”
Max walked away, not daring to look back at the cold black stone, a paper unfolded on top of it, fluttering slightly in the wind, held down by a rock.
Here lies Riley Annabeth Coleson
Loving Daughter, Sister, and Friend
May she finally find her painless rest after the struggles of life.
October 23, 1993-November 2, 2003

Riley,
Maximillion William Tomo
Pancreatic Cancer: Positive
Life Expectancy: 2 weeks