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

Chapter 7

Melonie wasn't lying when she said she got to leave the hospital. She left out the part where she had to come back to sit in an awful chair and have chemicals pumped into her arm for hours. Then she would feel like crap for a few days and right when she starts to feel better she has to go in for another round.

Chemo sucks.

So does withholding the truth from Ross. It's become exhausting; maybe more exhausting than the round of chemo she started the day after Ross left. The second the doctors took her off of the experimental drug she'd been taking they wanted to do one round of chemo before sending her home and continuing outpatient like they usually did.

Oddly enough there's a picture of a plane in the chemo room that keeps Melonie calm. It makes her think of Ross and the flight he promised to take her on. She's well aware that it probably won't happen and that they probably won't stay in touch but she likes that the plane picture makes her feel close to him. If only she had told him the truth.

Melonie can't help but wonder – would Ross be holding her hand right now if he knew that she has cancer?

Of course she won't find out because she didn't tell him. But maybe their bond is strong enough that he would have skipped the trip with his family and stayed with a relative or something.

If the roles were reversed she would skip the trip in a heartbeat even though she loves the idea of travelling all over the country. She's come to care about Ross very quickly which terrifies her but excites her at the same time. Melonie can honestly say she's never felt this way about anyone, not even Austin (the male roommate she crushed on when she was fourteen).

But the roles aren't reversed. Melonie is in Los Angeles feeling like crap and Ross is who knows where having the time of his life without her.

Maybe she should cut ties with him. That would make things better, wouldn't it? She wouldn't feel so lonely if she didn't miss him. It wouldn't be hard. If she just ignores his texts and calls for a few days Ross would surely forget about her. She's nothing special.

Melonie is too tired to make such an important decision so she vows to wait until tomorrow to do anything drastic.

The next morning Melonie feels the first effects of her chemotherapy. Her body doesn't feel quite right and she wants nothing more than to stay in bed forever. Unfortunately she doesn't have that luxury.

Yesterday after her first round of chemo, Melonie's mom wheeled her out the front door and helped her into the worn down purple minivan they've had for as long as Melonie can remember. It was heaven to wake up in her own bed no matter how shitty she felt.

"Good morning sweetheart," her mother says when she walks into Melonie's room. Her mom has a habit of checking in on Melonie periodically. It's a sweet gesture but it can be kind of annoying at times. "How are you feeling?"

"Fantastic," she says into her pillow. Her mom laughs and sits down on the edge of the bed, patting down Melonie's hair.

"Six more days, baby."

Melonie's cycle is one week on, three weeks off. At her worst she was one week on, one week off, but this time around Melonie's cancer isn't advanced enough that doctors are worried. The trial she was on, while ineffective at getting rid of the cancer, did prevent any growth.

When she was six and got cancer for the first time, Melonie went through chemo, surgery, a liver transplant, and more chemo. At age eight she was declared cancer free. There were more tumors and more treatments but never so bad that she needed another transplant. Until now.

The doctors were hoping the trial would kill the cancer cells and she could have the transplant surgery but Melonie has never been lucky. Now they need the chemo to shrink her tumor enough that they can remove it with surgery and then kill off the rest of the cancer cells with more chemo. She won't be allowed to receive another liver unless they can get her cancer free and the only way Melonie will make it to the end of the year is with a new liver.

Melonie and her mom share a small breakfast of buttered toast because it's all Melonie can stomach. The nausea is partly a side effect of her treatment but also partly out of nerves. The plan she came up with yesterday haunts the back of her mind and it's sounding better and better every second.

What will happen when she starts losing her hair? How will she explain that to Ross?

Plus she might be too tired to skype with him at three every day. The further into her treatment she gets the more often she'll be napping.

On a pro/con list of staying in touch with Ross, the con side takes up five pages and the pro has only one thing written underneath: Melonie lies talking to Ross.

But the cons are overwhelming. Keeping up a charade will become impossible when her treatment really progresses. Plus there's the terrifying truth that Melonie could take a turn for the worse at any moment and then she'd be gone before Ross even gets back.

Yep, it's definitely better to ignore him. Starting now.

A good morning text comes right as Melonie makes the decision but she deletes it.

More texts come pouring in while the nurse attaches the IV to her port and Melonie has to turn off her phone to keep from responding to them. She'll have to settle for reading a book while she gets her treatment because she can't play games on her phone without seeing all of the texts from Ross.

When three pm comes around, Melonie makes sure she's taking a nap so she doesn't have to feel guilty about missing Ross's skype call.

Just a few more days of this and Ross should give up on her.

This is for the best, she tells herself as she falls asleep. Eventually she might actually believe it.

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