Pinky Promise

Chapter 8

"Brinley!" She yells. I go up to her and hug her lightly, being careful of the wires that are taped into her arms. 

"And who is this?" She asks, peeking behind me at Niall. She looks at his tattoos and smiles. "Cool."

I fall back into one of the chairs, swatting away a couple balloons.

"Did your dad come today?" I ask.

"Duh. He never misses a chemo day." I nod and look at Niall.

"I'm Wesley. Kid part time, cancer patient full time." She jokes. I smile as they shake hands.

"And I'm Niall. Teenager part time, rebel full time." She giggles and looks at his tattoos.

"I wish I could get a tattoo." She sighs dreamily.

"What are you talking about? You already have one."

She sticks her tongue out at me and shows Niall her "tattoo". They had to mark a dot on her belly for radiation. So she technically has one, but it's the size of a mark of a pencil eraser.

Niall pulls out a Sharpie from his back pocket and leans over her stomach, carefully etching a few lines on her stomach. She watches, fascinated.

After a minute or two he draws back and looks at his handiwork. He had made a rose, the size of my fist.

"Awesome!" She hugs Niall fiercely.

A nurse walks in and nods at me, then barely glances over at Niall. She checks her vitals, taps a few of the tubes to make sure the liquid is flowing and then quietly leaves. Niall quietly leaves the room, following behind her. I'm about to call him out on it when Wesley practically jumps on my lap.

"Is he your boyfriend?" She asks.

"No." I laugh, but tell her all about yesterday and this morning.

NIALL'S POV

I follow the nurse out and stop her in the hallway.

"Hi, I'm visiting Wesley with Brinley and I was just wondering what her deal was. I thought it'd be rude to just ask her and I didn't want to offend her. I'm just curious."

"Wesley was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer when she was just a tot."

"That can happen?"

"She's living proof. It's been on and off for the past couple years. Returning, then leaving, returning, then leaving. Recently it's invaded her spine, and her liver. We've seen a bit on her lungs. Not enough to kill her, but enough to make her bed ridden for weeks at a time. She got a case of pneumonia a few days ago and she was rushed here. Her white blood cell count was way too low. So now she's just gaining her strength back. And this morning we just got a test back and now we know that," She tears up, " well I probably shouldn't tell you. I don't think Wesley would want Brinley knowing."

"What?!" I ask.

"If she wants to tell you she will. But there, now you know her medical history."

I smile and thank her, retreating back to the room. The girls are both giggling and laughing.

"Did I miss something?" Wesley gives Brinley a sly smile.

"Nope, I think you were there for everything."

I decide not to question it, but I do see Wesley poke Brinley in the ribs.

"So how often do you come here?" I ask Brinley.

"Just about every day for the past two years. Even if its for a couple minutes or for a couple hours."

"Hey!" Wesley interjects. "Not yesterday!" She playfully glares.

"Sorry Wesley, but I stole her." I hook my arm around her shoulders.

"Anyway," Brinley continues, "Wesley here has stolen my social life."

Wesley smiles. "And Brinley has given me one." Wesley rebuffs.

"What do you want to do today?" I ask them. They both look at each other and shout, "MOVIE DAY!"

Brinley digs a few movies out of her bag and walks over to the DVD player. She shoves in a disc and walks back over to the bed. The Little Mermaid starts playing.

I raise an eyebrow. "Really?" I question them.

They both scrunch their noses at me and stick their tongues out.

"You guys are exactly alike." I murmur, settling back into the chair. Brinley scoots over on the bed, Wesley snuggled up to one side of her.

"Come on. Join the mesh of limbs." I put my feet on the bed, but not my body. In a few minutes, they're both fast asleep. I turn down the volume and draw the blinds, plunging the room into darkness.

They both squirm a little and I settle down into my chair, surfing my phone. How horrible must it be to live a life with cancer. I wonder what the nurse was talking about with that scan. After my eyes adjust to the darkness, I wander around the room, looking for any evidence of papers, anything. I find a white board on the wall, with basic information. The nurse for the day, the date, what was on the agenda, stuff like that.

I use my flashlight app to try and read more. Then my phone drops to the hardwood. I freeze, afraid I woke them up. Brinley stirs a little bit, but other than that they're still dead asleep. 

I climb down on all fours trying to find my phone. I pat the ground looking for it, until I'm practically under the bed. My fingers close around a few papers and I shuffle out, confused. On my way out from under the bed, I finally see the dull outline of my case and grab my phone.

I make my way over to the bathroom and open the door, turning on the light and closing the door. The first couple pages are diagrams and charts that make no sense. The last page is a paragraph beginning with,

We regret to inform you,

Oh shit. I read quickly, my mouth hanging open by the end. I literally spent probably only five minutes with this girl but no one deserves this fate. Shaking, I walk back into the room and return the papers. Wesley stirs and is a little confused, blinking.

"Niall?"

"Wesley, I am so sorry." I sit next to her, holding her hand.

"Oh yeah. That."

"Are you gonna tell Brinley?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I just wish it wasn't this way."

"Me either love."

"Love?"

"Habit. You know, I used to live in Ireland until about four years ago."

"I've always wanted to travel!"

"It was gorgeous there. There was this one little park by my house," I spend the next two hours telling her my home life. She's enraptured.

"Why'd you move back?"

"There was this whole accident and the only hospital that could treat my wounds was here in America. Afterwards, the hospital just dumped me on the streets. My parents never came for me so the homeless teen shelter I'm living in right now picked me up."

"Are hospitals allowed to do that?"

"If I had stayed there much longer I would've racked up hospital bills like crazy."

"Yeah."

"I mean, my parents send me monthly checks with money, but I refuse to open them. It's like a slap in the face." She nods with a frown on her face.

Oh and if you could check out my new series, 'Imagines' - they're just imagines of all the boys - that'd be awesome! Thank you!