flower petals

Chapter 4

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    The next morning Lance woke up feeling miserable. He sat in his bed staring blankly at the ceiling recalling last night's events. It all seemed so unreal to him, imagine finding out that you had a life threatening disease and you couldn't tell anyone about it.

     When Lance finally got out of bed he trudged down stairs coughing slightly, leaving a trail of blue petals behind him. He got to the kitchen and started boiling water for tea. As he waited he sat on one of the stools at the small island in the kitchen and scrolled through the notifications on his phone.

          One notice caught his attention, it was a voice mail from Keith: " Hey Lance, something came up and I'm just gonna head over to your house instead I'll be there around noon so see you in a bit." Lance stood up abruptly and looked at the clock on his wall, it was 11:49. " SHIT! " he ran through the kitchen and stumbled up the stairs to his room.

    He took the quickest shower in his life, got dressed and brushed his teeth. Just as he put his toothbrush in its holder he heard a knock from downstairs. He opened the door to a shivering Keith. " T-Took you long enough I'm f-freezing out here." Lance motioned for him to step inside. " Sorry about that, but uh why'd you come without a sweater or something." 

       Keith sat on the couch " I didn't think it was gonna be cold this early." He said as Lance joined him on the couch. Lance was about to speak when the kettle started to whistle loudly " I'll go get that. " He got up and walked to the kitchen but stopped at the door way " Hey you want something? " he called out to Keith. " Yeah ill have some tea, if you don't mind could you put some honey and lemon in it? " Keith replied while answering a text on his phone.  

         Lance grabbed two mugs, one red one blue, and was about to turn off the stove when he started to cough. Not wanting Keith to hear him he covered his mouth and quietly slipped out the kitchen through the back door. Once he was outside he closed the door and uncovered his mouth. He looked down at his hand to see blue petals. Lance starred down at them with sorrow, as he felt the urge to cough rise within him. 

            About 5 minutes later Lance walked back into the living room with the mugs in his hands. He walked over to the couch and handed Keith his drink then sat down, " Thanks, hey you OK you look a little pale." Keith said as he took the drink in one hand. Lance tried his best to put on a hopefully reassuring smile, " Yeah I'm fine it's probably just the cold getting to me." He said before taking a sip from his cup. Keith looked dubious for a moment then drank out of his cup too.

         2 and a half hours later they finished their project and Lance and Keith were standing at the door. " Well I gotta head out but thanks for the tea and the jacket." Keith said putting his hands in the pockets of the borrowed jacket he was wearing.         " Don't mention it." Lance responded as he leaned on the door frame. There was a short pause in the conversation until Keith spoke " I better get going, take care of yourself alright? Goodbye." Keith started to walk towards his car “ Will do, Bye.” Lance called out to him.

              When Keith was in his car he waved to Lance and he waved back before closing the door. Lance leaned against the door and slid to the floor pulling his legs towards his body. He placed his elbows on his knees and gripped his hair as he began to sob quietly. “ I don't want to lose you..” he whispered in a shaky voice.

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