Venom

23

Ellie and I both looked like raccoons by the time she'd finish explaining everything.

After her date with Dallas, she had been angry at me.

But not nearly as much as she had let on.

The next day, she'd been on her way to work when she felt a pang of pain in her chest.

She went to the doctors immediately and found out that same day that she had breast cancer. Ellie explained that she started to think she was going to die. That her life was coming to an end before she'd gotten to truly experience it. She began feeling envious of me, jealous that I would get to live on. She promised that in the back of her mind, she knew her feelings were absolutely out of line.

However, because she couldn't bring herself to tell anyone, not her parents, not even Veronica. She let out the frustration, the stress, the anger at me. She wasn't sure what to do. At first, the panic was about money, then it became about whether or not the surgery would be a success.

In the past four weeks, she'd been going to the various doctors on numerous occasions. She went to a specialist who assured her that she would be okay. She wouldn't die because the cancer was still in its early stages.

When she told me that, a wave of relief washed over me.

She explained that she'd come to the restaurant to tell me, afraid I'd ignore her calls after she'd been avoiding mine for almost a month but didn't get to because I ran out before she could say anything.

And that brought us here.

"I'm so sorry," Ellie repeated for the nth time. "I'll never forgive myself for how I treated you."

"You should forgive yourself because I've forgiven you," I assured her, giving her hand a promising squeeze.

"Hey, weren't you two on the verge of killing each other an hour ago?" Dallas asked, popping his head in and witnessing us hugging.

"Get out!" Both of us yelled.

"Tough crowd," He muttered before leaving us to go God knows where.

"Okay, enough about me, tell me about all the boy drama I missed out on," Ellie whispered excitedly.

I knew it would help lighten the mood and make her stop thinking about her situation so I shut my door, played some music so Dallas wouldn't hear anything.

I delved into everything --minus the men in black and my grandmother. I hadn't told her about my parents or siblings being murdered. She just knew they died. I wasn't going to burden her with that information just yet.

When I was done rambling, Ellie asked me a question that had been in the back of my mind. "So, which guy are you after? Ace or Dallas?"

I shook my head. "I don't know."

Ace was so sweet, flirty and funny. And Dallas, despite the fact that he pissed me off more times than I could count, had been there for me when no one else had been.

"Well, I say you go after The Shark." Ellie grinned.

"The who?"

She scoffed. "How can Ace even like you, you don't even know his stage name!" She scolded playfully.

"I'm sorry, I'm normal." I scoffed.

"Anyway, he has the money, he even offered to pay for whatever you need. I say go get him."

"Hey, I'm not a gold digger!"

"I never said you were. But hey, the opportunity is there. If I were you, I'd take it."

* * *

"So what are you going to do now?" I asked Ellie.

"Well, you know the money I saved up for college?"

I nodded. Ellie had taken a year off to save up for college expenses. Her parents lived at the other end of the country and they didn't have the money to afford her education so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

"I'm spending that on my treatment."

"I'll give you every penny I can spare as well," I promised her.

She pulled me in for another hug. "I love you. And again, I'm so sorry for ignoring you. I just... I just thought I was going to die and didn't know how to react. I took out the stress on you."

"Shut up. If you apologize again, I'll hang you." I scolded. "I get it. I completely get it."

And I did. Cancer wasn't something I would wish on my worst enemy. All that mattered to me was that Ellie got well soon. I didn't care if she lashed out at me, because I knew that no matter what happened, she and I would always be friends.

Ellie and I had spent the rest of the day watching movies, crying, and eating ice cream, courtesy of Dallas.

I supposed I wasn't that mad at him anymore. He wasn't wrong about Tyler. I should've listened. And I was sure Dallas hadn't really meant what he'd said about me and my parents.

Now that it was eight in the evening, Ellie had to leave for her last examination before she was to have the tumour surgically removed. I asked if she wanted me to drive her, but she told me Veronica had already offered her a ride.

I promised her that I would be there for her surgery, no matter when it happened.

"The next time I see Carter, I'm going to feed him his balls." She promised.

"I won't be the one who stops you." I smiled.

I walked her out of my apartment, and to the elevator, giving her another hug before she left.

"Can we start over?" I asked Dallas, once I'd returned to our apartment.

"What do you mean?" His brows furrowed as he looked up from his phone.

"Like, a clean slate. Forgive each other for being pricks to one another."

"Who are you?" He replied, straight-faced.

"Huh?"

He stood up, offering me his hand. "Hello. I'm Dallas Davenport, it's nice to meet you."

I rolled my eyes playfully, before shaking his hand. "Hi, I'm Charlotte Woods. But you can call me Cher."

"Cool. So, do you want to get some pizza?"

I nodded, heading for my room. "Sure, get me some pepperoni."

"Cher?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry for what I said to you earlier. I didn't mean any of it."

I nodded. "It's forgotten. And you were right, I should've listened about Tyler."

He offered a soft smile. "Oh and Cher?"

"Hmm?" I looked back at him.

"Clean slate, forgiveness and all, I'm still going to poke fun at you."

I grinned. "Don't worry, making fun of you is part of my daily routine."

Though I wouldn't admit it outright to him, the banter we had, the type that wasn't wholly insulting each other, was something I looked forward to. It was a source of entertainment.

As I watched him leave my room to order, I couldn't help but think that now that I had Ellie back in my life and she was getting treated, maybe, just maybe, things would start looking up again.

* * *

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