Without You

Chapter Twenty

March 12th

"Oh my baby! What have you done to your hair?" I didn't know what to feel, seeing my Mum laying in the hospital bed with a drip beside her, her signature gleam of a smile still on her face.

"Hi Mum" I smiled at her, placing the 'get well soon' balloon, that I'd bought from the small hospital, shop by her bed.

"Come here pumpkin" She opened her arms pulling me in for a hug. I'd missed so many things about her, her smile that never failed to light up a room, her laugh and weirdly her smell. But her hugs were the main thing I'd missed.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you, missed this" I was referring to the hug, I could already feel myself welling up.

"I've missed you too honey! Are you ok? How is everything? Oh how's Frankie and Claire? I've heard you've got a boyfriend too is he nice? Good looking lad?" I laughed as she bombarded me with questions.

"Slow down Mum! I should be the one asking you if you're okay"

"Sorry lovely we've just got so much to catch up on"

"I know! I'm great, everything's going well, we've just finished recording the new album"

"That amazing honey, do carry on" Mum nodded along as I talked, she would probably end up telling all her 'girls' about this. They were like the girls on desperate housewives or something like that, they told each other everything about everyone, I found it funny. They were like gossip machines.

"Right, um Frankie and Claire are good too, they might pop up and see you sometime. Oh and yes I do have a boyfriend" It was weird saying it out loud. Good weird of course.

"Oh really, tell me all about him! Do I get to meet him? How long has this been going on for?"

"You do get to meet him, when? I don't know. Well his name is Zayn. Zayn Malik from One Direction, you know them right? That's the band I'm collaborating with for this new album. He's just incredible Mum, he's not like other boys, he's special" I found myself smiling the whole time I was talking.

"Aw my baby is growing up so fast!" A single tear ran down her tanned face, she bought her finger up to wipe it away before it could drop.

"Tears are words the heart can't express" We said at the same time before laughing. That quote was something I would never forget from my childhood. Mum would always tell me this whenever I would cry, whether they were happy tears or not.

"My two favourite girls together again" A familiar voice sounded from the door.

"Dad!" I jumped into his awaiting arms.

"Hey sport, you've grown a bit haven't you?"

"I guess, but you haven't changed in the slightest" I pecked his cheek. My Dad was nothing like my Mum and I. He's average height, not too short but not tall either. He has short brown hair and blue eyes. He always wears waistcoats not matter where he is going, he wears up-to-date old fashioned clothes. He also often pulls out cringey Dad jokes like "What do you call a fish with no eye? Fshhh" or one liners like "We live in a society where pizza gets to your house before the police" but that was why I loved him.

My Mum however is tall for a woman but still slightly smaller than my Dad. Her hair is down to the bottom of her ribcage, like mine, and is a chocolate brown colour, like mine used to be. She has brilliant green eyes as well as me but mine are slightly darker. Mum has no particular style but she often sticks to dresses, she looks stunning in everything. Literally, she could walk down the road dressed as a banana and still pull it off.

As or me I look a lot like my Mum with a tiny bit of my Dad her and there. I definitely got my 'artistic talent' from Dad as he has designed many of his hotels himself, in fact he drew his first hotel on a napkin when Mum and him were out to dinner. I have no idea where I've got my voice from but, with my dancing, my Grandmother (on Mum's side) was a dancer. Mum used to tell me all about her because I never got to meet her. She didn't approve of Mum and Dad's relationship so she would never come round and we never visited her. Tragically, she lost her battle with cancer a few years back. It would've been nice to meet her as I'm so close to Dad's parents but if Mum and Dad didn't have their relationship then I wouldn't be here.

Time ticked by, I spent the rest of the day sat by Mum's bed while we swapper stories and gossiped some more while Dad snored in the corner. I blocked out the rest of the world and focused on spending time with my family and creating more memories.

That's all I needed right now.

Mum, Dad and me.