Play Date

Seven

June 3rd 2021

Hey. It's currently 9:32 in the morning. It's dark and cloudy today. It's supposed to rain, but I don't think it will.
I'm exhausted, as usual. Back to the doctors today, it's oxygen tank day. I'm not impressed but maybe it'll help me breathe a little better. Who knows? Might as well give it a try.

I pull my car into Jack's driveway, noticing more cars in it then the last time I was here.

Jack agreed to watch Ashton again, since my mother said no, since she watched her the other day.

I grab Ashton and her bag from the car, carrying Ashton to the front door.

Inside I hear a few voices yelling and Ashton quickly hides her face in my neck, scared of the loud voices.

I knock slightly loud, trying to over power the voices. The voices stop and I hear running towards the door.

The door opens aggressively and I see Jack and Zach pushing each other around.

"Hi guys" I laugh as they elbow each other

"Hi beautiful, hi little Ashton" Jack says kissing my cheek and pushing Zach out of the way to let us in.

"Ouch dude!" Zach says holding his side where Jack elbowed him.

I walk inside, placing Ashton down and she runs to jump on the couch. My eyes follow her to the living room and I see three boys sitting on the couch, talking to her.

One is Daniel, I don't know who the other two are.

"Who are they?" I ask pointing to the other two boys talking to my daughter

"That's Corbyn and Jonah" Jack says while the boys wave when he says their name.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you, I'm Y/n, that's Ashton"

"Yeah, Jack's told us a lot about you" Jonah says and Jack turns bright red.

"I'd love to say and chat but I really gotta get going. Bye Ash!" I wave over to her and she jumps up on the couch, jumping up and down while waving

"Bye mommy!"

"Thank you Jack, for watching her today. Just, please keep an eye on her with all the guys, don't forget about her"

Jack walks with me to my car and he opens my door for me. I get in and start my car.

"How would you like to go on another date with me? For food this time" Jack asks closing my door and leaning in the window

"How about, you ask me again, when I pick up Ash?" I ask, knowing when he sees the tank, he'll change his mind

"Um.. okay" He gives me a confused look, but I quickly kiss his lips, causing him to smile into the kiss.

"I'll be back in a few hours. Thank you again" I smile and Jack gets out of the window and waves goodbye as I pull away.

As I sit in the cold doctors office, trying to listen to the doctors explain how the tank works, I can't help but let my mind wander to Jack asking me on a date again. I definitely don't think he'll like me once he realizes what's wrong with me.

"Do you understand Y/n?" My doctor asks

"Um, not really" I say, trying to get him to repeat himself without making it obvious that I wasn't listening

"Okay, long story short, don't sleep with it unless you feel like you can't breathe. Any other time, make sure you're constantly wearing it. Don't do anything too physically demanding-"

"Can I still pick up and carry my daughter?" I ask, she's all I care about

"How old is she?"

"She's three" I say and the doctor shakes his head

"I'm going to ask you not to. You can't carry anything heavy but try your best to continue on with your regular life. I'm sorry Y/n" I nod that I understand as a tear slowly rolls down my face.

"We'll give you some back up tanks, and when you come for chemotherapy, we'll give you more as you need, just bring back the empty tanks, okay?" I nod again, not knowing what to say.

The doctor shows me how to wear it properly, having the nose prongs sit comfortably so it won't irritate me.
I let out a soft giggle when I see myself with it for the first time. I look like Hazel from The Fault In Our Stars, just with less hair.

I say goodbye to the doctors and head back to Jack's place, trying to think of a decent excuse to why I have this thing without giving the full truth.

I pull into Jack's driveway and all the cars were gone except Jack's car. I sit in the drive way for a few minutes, perfecting the random excuse I came up with.

I get out of the car, dragging the tank behind me and lightly knock on the door. A woman with glasses and long brown hair answers the door. She only opens it a little bit so I can only see half her face.

"Can I help you?" She asks

"Hi, is Jack here?" I ask with a smile

"No. How do you know Jack?" She asks in a harsh tone

"What do you mean no?! He's supposed to be watching my daughter!" I start to panic, leaving me with uneven breaths

"Oh! Sweetheart, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were Y/n, Jack didn't tell me you had, um, an oxygen tank" She opens the door and pulls me into a hug.

"Ashton is sleeping on the couch right now, I'm sorry"

"Yeah, the tank is new. Can I ask who you are? And why Jack left my daughter with you?" She pulls out of the hug and smiles at me, grabbing my arm and slowly helping me in the house.

"I'm Jack's mom, Kristin. Jack and the boys had an emergency meeting to get to for work, so I offered to watch her. I told him to tell you" She says as I walk over to see Ashton.

"Thank you for watching over her, I really appreciate it" I sit down beside Ashton and she slowly wakes up.

"Is that to help you breathe, mommy?" Ashton asks and I nod my head.