Stumbling Upon This Thing Called Love

{Chapter 2} ~Annabelle~

I guess I never really was just your average girl.  

My family had a strange cancer gene passed from mother to daughter and they couldn't live their lives to the fullest because the threat of getting cancer always loomed over them like a dark cloud. It has yet to skip a generation and for me there were no exceptions. There were none for my mother, either. 

When I was about six, she got the news of her cancer and I could hear her cry of agony all the way down the hall, in my bedroom, buried under the covers. The next two years were spent visiting her while she was in and out of the hospital, just like my Dad does with me. Sometimes she was strong enough to be released for a few days, but then her chemo treatments would leave her bed ridden for another few days. It was a cycle of her getting better, then getting worse. I was only eight years old when I watched her take her last breath. 

Her death was somewhat expected. Nobody really had that much hope that she would fight the cancer because nobody in the family has ever accomplished it. I was determined to be the first. 

At least, that's what I said at first, when the chemo treatments didn't make me so tired and weak, when the hospital bills hadn't started piling up. Now, with each day that passes by, I wonder if I'll wake up alive the next morning. 

Even though we were better off than most families, they hospital bills were getting to be too much, so I called up the Make-A-Wish Foundation and made my request. When they agreed so quickly, I decided to try my luck and asked them if I could also meet One Direction, if it wasn't too much trouble.  

"Why, of course it's not! I'll call them right away," The woman on the phone had gushed. That night, I went to sleep with a smile on my face for once in a long time. 

As promised, they signed a contract that said they would help out with the hospital bills and set the date for my visit from One Direction. 

I had tried to make myself look my best before they got here, but I was scheduled for a chemo treatment right before they visited and was too exhausted to put on makeup of any kind. It was a struggle just to stay awake; waiting for them. 

My nurse, Nurse Casey, gave me a small warning when they were here and I was able to fix myself up the best I could. I still had some of my strawberry blond hair left, although it was so thin, sometimes you could see my scalp through it. I brushed what little hair I had left, sucked on a Ricola to sooth my sore throat, and adjusted my hospital gown. No point in flashing them when they got here. 

They made quite an entrance. Niall tripped on his shoelaces and I watched as they tried to contain their laughter, probably trying not to wake me if I was asleep. I joined in on their laughter and that's when they noticed me.  

"Hey boys," I said. They crowd around my bed and I watch them carefully for a minute. We're they really here or was it just my chemo treatment making me hallucinate? 

I spoke the question aloud. "Are you guys really here? Sometimes my chemo treatments give me hallucinations," I reached out to touch the one closest to me, Harry. 

"Live and in the flesh," He made a move to remove his pants, but a good smack from Liam put a stop to that. 

"Cool. The Make-A-Wish foundation really does keep its promises," I winced inwardly at how groggy my voice sounds. I should've taken two Ricolas.  

"What's your name?" Zayn asked. I was slightly offended that they didn't know already, but Liam was quick to explain that nobody told them. 

"Annabelle. Annabelle Gossamer,"  

"Okay, now we can greet you properly," Zayn stood. "Good afternoon Annabelle, I am Zayn Malik of One Direction and am very please to meet you," He gave a small bow before sitting back down. The rest of the boys followed his lead and greeted me. 

I gave a little charismic greeting of my own. "Hello One Direction, I am Annabelle Gossamer of . . . This hospital room and am very pleased to meet you," 

We chatted a bit and I told them how cancer was passed down in my family, my Mom dying just a few years ago from the same disease that plagued me right now, and asking the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help my father with the hospital bills and let me meet them. 

"Now we'll just have to wait and see if I can beat this thing," I concluded. 

"Of course you will," Zayn said encouragingly. He stared at me with a burning intensity in his charcoal eyes and I looked away. I didn't want him to see the doubt in my brown ones. 

"You guys wouldn't mind singing for me, would you?" 

"Of course not," said Niall. "What would you like us to sing?" 

"Moments, from your first album," I requested. 

They nodded and began the song. 

"Shut the door. Turn the light off. I wanna be with you, I wanna feel your love," I could feel Zayn's eyes trained on me for the entire song and we locked gazes for a few moments during the chorus. His charcoals bore into my browns and for a moment everything else disappeared and it was just Zayn and I. 

"Wow," I croaked when they were done."That was beautiful," I brushed a few escaped tears from my cheeks. "Thank you so much for taking the time to meet me," I took a few deep breaths to get my emotions under control. 

Zayn looked tortured, like he was about to cry himself, and grabbed his tan hands in mine. "Don't cry. It was our pleasure. We had nothing to do today anyway," He said. It seemed like he was making sure I kept my eyes trained on him, so I obeyed. "Besides, you finally got them out of my house," I laugh and finally smile. 

"I guess you have to leave now," I glance over his shoulder where Liam stands, frowning at something on his iPhone.  

"Liam," Zayn said. 

Liam snapped his head up as if he forgot we were here. "Yeah?" 

"Do we have to leave now?" Zayn gives me hand a slightly possessive squeeze. 

"Yeah, we have to go do some album work in the studio," Liam informed us. Zayn groaned and seemed to reluctantly let go of hands, as if he didn't want to leave. I was probably imaging things. 

"I'll visit you tomorrow," He promised on his way out. I didn't expect him to keep his promise, didn't they just leave because they had work to do? They bid me farewell and soon the hospital room was back to the quiet boringness that it had before. 

The visit really wore me out and I lay my heated head on the cool pillow and tried to get some sleep as Zayn Malik invaded my thoughts.