Show Me That I'm Better | Post Malone

XXXII

*Austin's POV*

He felt numb.

He was sitting in the waiting room, Delilah having just returned to sit beside him. He didn't think it was possible for him to get any more tense, for his anxiety to get any worse, the cold air barely registered on his skin any more, his mind completely fogged by nerves.

She had helped distract him, taken him outside where they had eaten and talked. Two seconds before another bout of nerves hit him she would move closer, place a hand on him, hold him tighter, as if she could anticipate every impending dip of his emotions.

He was a fucking idiot, how could he ever think he was able to do this without anyone, without her.

After an hour had passed they began making their way back to the Oncology ward. They had been able to avoid any attention, remaining unnoticed still by some miracle. As they arrived at the waiting room Delilah had motioned for him to take a seat as she went up and let Nurse Laura know that they were back.

"He's in with someone now, then we're up." He was about to find out his future, if this treatment was working or not, yet all that registered to him was she used that word again. We.

He had obviously been bathing in her word for too long.
"You okay? You still breathing?" She asked.

"Yes darlin, sorry."

She moved in closer, placing her hand on his back and rubbing gentle circles before pulling him in slightly closer to her. "It's going to be okay, whichever way this goes, I promise." She whispered to his ear.

"Austin" Dr Hartley's voice suddenly boomed. "Come on through."

"So Austin, how have you been?" Dr Hartley asked, the three of them taking their seats in his office.

"Been okay thanks Doc, a lot less nausea and no fevers this time round." He felt like a robot, all stiff metal as he tried to relax back into his chair a little, trying to entertain Dr Hartley's small talk.

"That's great, really good to hear." Dr Hartley responded, looking through Austin's file on the computer in front of him.
"Look I'm not going to keep you waiting, I'm sure you're anxious as hell to hear the results."

Delilah moved her chair closer to him, grabbing hold of his hand tightly as his breath caught in his throat.

"Now we are still early into your treatment obviously but the results so far are looking good. Both tests have come back indicating that the treatment is working, congratulations."

"What?" He felt like his ears were playing tricks on him, or his brain had misinterpreted the words.

"The treatment is working Austin, your results are improving." Dr Hartley said again with a smile.

His eyes darted to her, hers already firmly locked on his with tears forming. Relief took over him, his head dropping and falling to land on her shoulder. She cupped his cheek as she came down and placed a kiss on his head. He couldn't stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks.

After he took a moment to compose himself he raised from the safety of her again. "Thank you! Fuck, thank you so much for everything. So um what does this mean?"

"Well at the moment we continue with the treatment as planned. You have another three sessions, at which point we do more scans to make sure no more are needed and that you're officially in remission." Dr Hartley explained, leaning back in his chair.

"So at this stage, no chemo, no surgery, just three more sessions of radiation ?" Delilah asked trying her best to contain the smile from breaking out across her face.