SAM

"David!" I laughed. "Stop tickling me!" I could hear the rain outside pounding away at my window. It was just David and me in my house alone, spending a Friday night in May together on my living room floor.

"All right, all right." he said, smiling at me as I sat in his lap, my head turned towards him.

"I want to watch the show David." I smiled and relaxed back into David's lap. "Stop poking me!" I snapped after I felt something jab me in the back near my kidney.

"I'm not poking you!"

"Yes you are."

"Where am I poking you?!"

"In my back. You're doing it again!"

"Sam, I think it's my pump that's poking you. I can unclip it if you want."

"You're not supposed to take it off."

"I meant off of my jeans." he laughed. "We just have to hope we don't move on to anything more than tickling, or we might get caught in the cord." A smirk appeared across his face as he unclipped his pump from his jeans. I moved off of him as he placed in on the carpet between us.

"So that's why you invited me over.." I said sarcastically.

"Actually. It's not." Suddenly his voice sounded serious. "I wanted to ask you something. Actually, to do something with me. It'd mean a lot to me if you did."

"David, we already-"

"I don't mean that Sam. I'm talking about the JDRF Convention. I'm supposed to speak at it, and so is my father."

"Is Julie going?" slipped out before I could stop it.

"No. She's not going." David didn't seem upset that I'd asked . "I didn't ask her to go. I didn't think she'd have an experience of a lifetime."

"Of course she'd have a good time. She knows all about diabetes!"

"That's why I want you to go. I want you to understand. Not that you don't all ready, but I think you know what I mean. I think you're afraid of my diabetes."

"David, that's not true." I shifted myself closer to him, being mindful of his pump on the carpet and nudging it towards him.

"Will you go with me?"

"Of course I will, I already promised I'd go with you two months ago. I can't back out now. Is there anything that I have to say? Do I have to make a speech?"

"No, you don't have to write a speech. But I do want to ask you to do something else. For an article in a magazine."

"You want me to write something?"

"No. The magazine wants you to try a pump for a day." he said slowly.

"Me? Wear a pump? An insulin pump? But I'm-"

"Not a diabetic, I know. You'd have saline being delivered, not insulin. It's perfectly safe. Parents of diabetic children try them at conventions all of the time, and when someone starts a pump they usually try saline first."

"Does that mean that I have to stick myself? With that thing? To put the pad thing that you connect the cord to."

"Yeah, but there's a cream that is used to numb the skin. It doesn't hurt. You don't have to do it Sam. I'd understand if you didn't."

"What if I wanted to?"

"You'd actually want to?"

"I want to see what you go though." I paused. "I will admit, I am a little bit afraid of this whole diabetes thing. But underneath it all I want to understand it."

"You don't have to do the pump thing for the magazine, or even for me."

"I'd try the pump for myself."

"Seriously? You don't have to decide now. You can decide when we get there."

"I want to try it, end of story." I said and pulled his head in so that I could kiss him. Before I did I said, "We're leaving for college in less than four months, and I can't help but think that you and I aren't going to make it." A tear escaped my left eye and I continued. "I don't want you to think that me trying this is some kind of plan to keep you forever. It's not. Just think of it as a friend trying to understand and be there."

"Sam, you already have been there. I know you always will be. This isn't the beginning anymore though. I haven't just been diagnosed. It's been some time now, and I can do this on my own. You going to this would have nothing to do with helping me get over the fact that I have diabetes. I've accepted it. This is just about two friends enjoying each other's company and learning about the new information together. You really don't have to go."

"I'm so going." I smile as more tears come down my face. "And you can't stop me." I basically fell on top of him right then and there and we started to kiss.