This story has a happy ending. (An R5 Fanfiction)

Chapter 5

It's a beautiful day outside. Despite the fake natural atmosphere, Melonie is happy to be among some living creatures. It gets lonely in her hospital room, even more so now that she's had and lost a roommate like Ross.

"So how much longer do you think you'll be here?" Ross asks in between bites of his sandwich. Melonie sighs inwardly. She had been doing a new trial that used a drug that didn't make her lose her hair. It had just started growing back after the last time she had to do chemo and so far it has grown back to shoulder length. The new drug isn't working though and her doctors want Melonie to consider switching back to chemo after this round is over. Without even realizing she's doing it, Melonie combs her fingers through her hair. It takes her a few seconds to realize she hasn't answered Ross's question yet. Luckily she had a mouthful of food to blame her delayed response on.

"I'm not sure," she says honestly. The trial requires her to be in the hospital every day but if she goes back on chemo she'll be treated as an outpatient. "I think I'm getting better so it shouldn't be much longer now," she lies.

"Good. I'm going to be going away for a bit," Ross begins. He looks out into space like he's not sure how to continue. Melonie thinks it's strange but she doesn't call him out on it. Who is she to ask him if he's hiding something when she's completely lying about her disease? "Maybe once I'm back you'll be out of the hospital and we can hang out."

Melonie blushes. She hadn't expected Ross to come back and hang out with her at all but now he's implying that he's interested in spending even more time with her. In her heart she knows that she should tell him they can't see each other anymore. If they do see each other when he gets back she'll most likely have a bald head. She hates wearing wigs so Melonie usually just covers up her shiny scalp with a pretty scarf.

"How long are you going away for?"

Now it's Ross's turn to blush. "I have this, thing, to do. So it'll be a while. A couple months."

Melonie feels torn. She knows that months from now Ross probably won't remember her and she won't have to worry about telling him the truth. But the thought of spending months away from him is almost too much to bear. She may have only just met him but she feels a strong connection to him. She's never felt this way about anyone before.

"I travel a lot," Ross continues. He shifts nervously while Melonie chews her food. "For my dad's job. He's, um, a writer. And my siblings and I go with him when he's researching a new book."

"That's so cool," she says. "What kind of books does he write?"

"They're about, um, airplanes. Yeah all kinds of planes. Last year we got to take a ride in the only WWII bomber that still flies. It was awesome."

"I've never been in a plane."

Ross's eyes go wide. "Seriously? I have my pilot's license. I'll take you for a ride when I get back from tour." He gets pale. "Um, I mean the tour. Of airports."

Melonie doesn't understand why Ross is acting so weird. Their date seems to be going downhill fast and she needs to come up with a way to fix it fast.

"Do you want to see something cool?" she asks. They've pretty much finished the food that Ross brought and Melonie knows without food they'll be stuck in awkward silence unless she fixes it.

"Sure," Ross says. He wipes the crumbs from his hands and watches Melonie get up. Once she's standing he joins her. Luckily her back is to Ross so he can't see when she goes white from dizziness at standing up quickly. "Where are we going? Should I put the food away..."

Melonie surveys the picnic. "No, don't worry about it. We won't be gone long."

Ross follows as Melonie leads him back into the hospital and through a maze of elevators and long winding hallways. When they reach a set of double doors, Melonie is feeling exhausted and wishes she had a wheelchair or something. She feels kind of bad for making Ross walk everywhere on his crutches but he doesn't complain even once.

"Can you climb stairs okay?" she asks hoping he says yes.

"Yeah I'm a pro," he says with a big smile. Melonie opens the double doors and they climb the small staircase out into the open air. "Whoa," Ross exclaims when they've reached the top. "This is amazing."

They're standing on the roof of the hospital with an incredible view of all of Los Angeles. They can see buildings and palm trees, even make out the ocean if they look hard enough. It's Melonie's favorite part of the hospital. It's tall enough that she can pretty much see the whole world. Or at least her whole world.

"How did you find this place?"

The true story is that Melonie came up here when she was eleven and hiding from the doctors. It was right after the first time she lost her hair and she was upset. She wasn't going to jump or anything, she just wanted to be outside. The courtyard would be too easy for people to find her, so she went up instead of out and came upon the roof. Every once in a while she comes back to this place when she needs to get away from Cancer Life. This is the first time she's ever brought anyone with her.

Of course, telling the true story would mean telling Ross the truth so she has to come up with a lie and quick. "Um," she says articulately. "I was bored in my room one day and decided to explore. When I found the roof access doors I figured it was just rebellious enough that I wouldn't get in too much trouble but I'd still feel pretty awesome."

Ross puts a tentative arm around Melonie's shoulder, careful not to put too much of his weight on her. "It's incredible. I'm glad you brought me here."

She looks to her right and sees that Ross isn't taking in the view but looking right at her. With her head turned towards him their eyes meet and slowly Ross leans down until his lips meet hers. It's a brief, careful kiss but to Melonie it means everything.

"Can you promise me something?" Ross asks quietly, as if speaking too loud would ruin everything.

"Sure," she says.

"Don't forget about me," he says. "When I come back in three months, promise me you'll still remember me."

If the chemo doesn't work, Melonie could be dead in three months. She will definitely have less hair and she'll probably be skin and bones. She knows she shouldn't make any promises to this boy but her heart is too far gone to listen to logic.

"I promise."

Ross smiles and leans down to kiss her again. A few minutes later, they return to the courtyard and finish off the snacks Ross brought. Too soon it's time for Ross to go. Standing at the door of her hospital room, Ross kisses her deeper than he had before. "I'll see you in three months," he promises. "But until then we can text and talk on the phone."

They exchange cell phone numbers and Ross leaves with one last, lingering kiss.

For the first time since her diagnosis, Melonie feels like she has a real, important reason to fight the cancer. Ross doesn't even know how sick she is. She would never forgive herself if he had to find out because she died.

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