Killing Time | N.H. AU

Part 2

Oligodendroglioma. My diagnosis, and a word I could barely sound out, much less comprehend the fact that it held my life in its hands.

There were so many side effects that came along with it: seizures, which luckily had only occurred once a couple of weeks ago, which warranted my appointment with the hospital. Headaches were the biggest problem and when I had headaches, I didn't sleep or I didn't eat. Then there was nausea, and it came on at the most random times. So when I had to pull my car off to the side of the road to puke my guts out, I wasn't very surprised.

Pulling into the tiny strip mall, I stayed seated in my car and debated on if I really wanted to get a smoothie after all, as the taste of what I had eaten earlier that morning still lingered in my mouth. Without another thought, I turned the car off and got out. I was here, so I might as well.

As I stepped inside, I scanned the small ice cream and smoothie joint as the air conditioning cooled my body temperature nicely. My eyes finally landed on a pretty dark brown haired girl behind the counter, who had a sweet smile on her face as she stared back at me. Without wasting time, I asked if there was a restroom I could use, which she pointed out and I quickly moved in that direction. Once safely in the bathroom, I did my business before washing my hands and swishing water around in my mouth a few times to clear what reminisce of puke could be left.

I cleared my throat as I made my way back out into the shop, causing the girl to turn her attention back to me and away from the digital camera she had been so engrossed with.

"What can I get for you?" She asked nicely.

"Umm-" My eyes averted down toward the case of ice cream that divided us. "Do you... Uh, what kind of smoothies do you have?"

"Well let's see," She tapped her chin thoughtfully as she spoke. "There's this banana, orange, crème soda one."

I scrunched my nose, just the thought made my stomach churn. "Ew."

"Yeah," She laughed loudly, but I found it quite cute. "It's pretty gross."

"We also have a banana and strawberry one that's good," She offered another option.

"Okay," I nodded my head. "I'll have that one."

"Great, give me one second!"

With that she turned away, the loose waves of her hair falling over her shoulders as she went to work preparing the smoothie that I probably wouldn't end up drinking. The ding of the bell above to door caused me to look up from the floor to see that a woman in her mid 50's had walked into the shop.

"Um, hi," The girl behind the counter glance my way before smiling at the woman. "How can I help you?"

"I ordered an ice cream cake," She spoke bluntly and I already didn't like her. The tone of her voice began to bring on another headache.

"Oh, right, umm..." The girl shuffled a few things around behind the counter that I couldn't see before she turned back to the lady. "I'm sorry, it's not done."

"What?" She looked down at her watch. "The man I spoke to said it would be ready at 4 o'clock today."

"I know," The girl looked stressed. "I'm really sorry, but I didn't see the order form until right now."

"Give me your manager's number, I'm calling him." She held her hand out impatiently as the girl clumsily wrote the number down on a piece of paper and handed it to the woman.

"What's your name?" The woman asked.

"Avery," The girl spoke and I made sure to take note.

"You'll be hearing from your boss."