Abigail

Chapter eighteen.

Chapter eighteen.

Noah pulled up outside our house. I took my seatbelt off, opened the door and raced inside the house and up to my room, slamming my door behind me. I had called Noah to come and get me once Ashton left me stranded in the park.

I knew it was a bad idea to tell him that my cancer was terminal, that I was going to die, but I couldn't spend the next three months lying to him point blank. He had to know, whether we both liked it or not. As soon as I told him, he silently drove us back to the docks and helped me out. The man offered to give him some money back seeing as we were only in the water for about fifteen minutes but Ashton shrugged him off. And just like that, he walked away.

I didn't follow him because it was clear at how fast he was walking, that he didn't want me to. He wanted to be alone to digest the information and I had to let him. If I didn't then things wouldn't have ended well. Anyway, I called Noah crying my eyes out, freezing to death. He came and picked me up straight away and managed to soothe me.

Groaning, I buried my face into my pillow. I knew that this would happen. "Abby, can I come in?" Mum called from outside the door.

"Go away," I mumbled.

She ignored me, however, walking into the room with a hot chocolate in hand. It had squirty cream and marshmallows on top. My mouth watered. "Here," she passed it to me, "want to talk about it?"

I sipped, burning my mouth in the process. "Ow!"

She smirked, "Be careful, it's hot."

I rolled my eyes. Mum sat on my bed, waiting for me to spill. I ate some of the marshmallows, "I told Ashton about the cancer."

Her eyes widened slightly. "How did he take it?"

"He walked away. Quite literally."

She sighed, brushing a piece of hair out of my face. "Oh honey, he's probably just frightened. He won't be mad at you. He probably didn't want to break down in front of you, so he left so that you couldn't see. It's bound to be cutting him up inside," she spoke softly, messing with my hair.

My eyes welled up again. "But mum I don't want to lose him."

She took the drink from me, placed it on my table and then held me in her arms. Rubbing my back, she spoke, "I don't think you will sweetie. In effect, you told him that you are going to die, don't you think that's a lot for one guy to handle?"

"I guess."

"He'll come around sooner rather than later. He'll realise that by avoiding you and trying to sort his feelings out, that he'll only be missing valuable time that he could be spending with you. How about asking him to complete your bucket list with you, when he comes back?" She kissed the top of my head.

"I was going to ask him that today," a tear fell from my cheek as I informed her.

"And you still can. It's only five pm, honey, there's still time."

"Thank you," I mumbled, hugging her ever so tight.

She pulled away and kissed my cheek then settled me back down and handed me my drink. "If you need me or anyone, just give us a shout."

I nodded as she backed out of the door and closed it quietly behind her. That got me thinking. Would he come and see me again today? Or would he come tomorrow? Or the day after? Or in a week? A month? Two? Would he come at all? Would he even show up to my funeral? Funeral. That thought scared me to death.

* * *

Four days passed. It had officially been a week since I was told that I had terminal leukaemia. I had heard absolutely nothing from Ashton which made me anxious and worried. Today, Noah and I were going over to his house to make sure that he was okay and to see whether he was avoiding me or not. I'm pretty sure he was though.