Our Broken Hearts | Lauren Cimorelli

Twelve

Lauren's POV:

"Hey Jake," I greet him with a smile as I carefully walk into his room after my family left.

His face lights up when he sees me and I come over to him to give him a tight hug.

He gently moves over for me to sit down and lie next to him. As I lie down, he grabs my hand and intertwines it with his as we stare into each other's eyes lovingly.

"You look beautiful today," He tells me sweetly while placing a quick kiss on my forehead, causing me to blush hectically.

"Thanks," I say and wonder what he sees beautiful as I lay there in a hospital gown with my face probably looking tired as heck.

"What are your plans for the rest of today?" He asks me and places his hand onto my cheek. I place my hand onto his hand resting on my cheek and smile.

"Well, my family just left so I don't know. I just came here to hang, I guess." I tell him which he laughs slightly at.

"Well, lucky for you, my moms coming to visit in ten minutes so you get to meet her!" He tells me happily while I immediately start freaking out.

"Wait? Your moms coming! No, I look a mess! What if she doesn't like me, what if-," I ramble on and am cut off when Jake places his lips softly onto mine, pulling me into a loving kiss.

"Don't worry Laur, she's going to love you." He tells me and gives me his wide grin that sends my stomach into butterflies.

"Are you sure?" I ask him, uneasy.

"It's impossible for anyone not to love you, Laur," He says while nodding his head, making me feel a lot more confident in meeting his mom.

"Is she nice?" I ask him, still a little scared.

"Well, she's my mother. I have to say she's nice. You'll see when she gets here," He tells me which makes me a lot more nervous than scared. He senses my worry and places my hand into his again, intertwining our fingers as his thumb gently strokes my hand.

*

"Hey mom," Jake says happily as a middle aged woman walks into the room. From what I can tell, she looks rich, like realllyyyyy rich but wait, didn't Jake say that they couldn't afford his treatment?

"Hi, I'm Lauren. It's nice to meet you," I say nervously and stick out my hand to shake hers which she accepts but stares me up and down in the process. Her white pearl necklace stands out with her earrings that match her class. She wears a short black skirt with a white blouse covered by a black blazer. Her heels shout Coco Chanel but her makeup shouts Gucci. Her handbag is Louis Vuitton, this makes me all too curious, if she could afford this why can't she afford her sons health care?

"Diane." She says emotionless while she walks over to give her son a hug.

"So mom, this is my girlfriend, Lauren," Jake introduces me again and I smile at her, a little intimated.

"Are you aware that Jake has cancer? And could possibly die?" His mom tells me firmly which I nod too.

"I understand. I, too, have cancer and could possibly die." I tell her which she raises her eyebrow at.

"Hm," She says and I could tell she disapproved. To be honest, this woman was scaring the heck out of me. I've never met a woman that's this scary before.

"But I guess that's why we work so well, we understand each other and our illnesses," Jake adds in and sends me a reassuring look which I greatly smile at.

Jakes mom didn't say anything but continued to fiddle with her fingers while she sat down. Jake sat down next to her while I stood across from them but on the furthest side of the bed.

"Well, I must go." Jakes mom stood up and grabbed her bag from the floor. Jake stood up to give her a hug which they shared for a minute. I stood there awkwardly, not really knowing what to say.

"Goodbye Mrs, uh," I look to Jake for help. Crap. I forgot his surname. Well, if his mom didn't hate me she sure hates me now.

"Goodbye," She said, ignoring the fact that I didn't finish my sentence and began to walk away, her black heels clicking along the floor.

"Whoa," I whisper in shock and direct my gaze to Jake. He stifles a small giggle at me and goes back to sit on his bed.

"She's pretty intimidating huh," Jake said which I nod too.

"Definitely," I whisper back.

"Wait, But I have a question. Didn't you say you're family couldn't afford treatment for you anymore?" I ask and he nods.

"Well, your mom looked like she could afford anything she laid her eyes on," I tell him and walk over towards his bed to sit down on.

"Yea, when my dad died he left a ton of money behind and my mother decided to spend that all on herself. Now, we're pretty much broke but she refuses to sell her items or even admit that we're broke." He tells me and I feel my heart sink to my chest.

"I'm so sorry," I tell him and look at him in sympathy. I lean in and place a quick kiss to his forehead. I lean my forehead on his as we stare deeply into each other's eyes, enjoying each other's company and love.

*

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Loud siren-liked wails came from across the room I was currently sharing with Jake. He lied next to me, carefully caressing my back with his fingers.

"What's that noise?" I ask him confused as to why everyone suddenly rushed towards the room across from us.

He sighed, "It's basically the death siren. Every time someone's breathing stops it goes off and obviously, doctors will rush towards the room to help them but if nothing can be done then everyone in the cancer ward shows their respect and spends an hour or two in their room."

"Oh Gosh, that's awful." I say while he simply nods. I sit up to get a better view of the room. He was right, doctors were everywhere frantically screaming and running to help the dying patient.

A few minutes later and the doctors leave, Jake and I watch their every move as they take off their gloves with disappoint. We figured that they couldn't save the person. He or she was gone. It hurt me to think that one day it could be me or even Jake. I can't stand to watch it anymore.

"Come on," Jake said while climbing out of the bed. He came to my side, gave me a hand and helped me up. Soon enough, all the patients came around to the room in which the incident had happened and began to mourn, some were hysterically crying and others were comforting.

We walked in, hand in hand too pay our respects. It was a girl, she wore a pink and orange bandana over her head and two yellow bracelets on her wrist. She didn't look too old. Actually, I was sure she was young. She looked about 23, maybe 25. I wonder where her family was.

I would hate for me to die without my family next to me, holding my hand as they said goodbye. I felt bad for the unknown girl, her family wasn't here to do that for her, I imagined that they were at home unexpectedly getting a call to tell them there beloved daughter or mother or sister was gone. I feel bad for her family.

After staying there for about half an hour, most of the patients decided to go back to their rooms. Every patient left a petal on her bed when they left her, apparently it was a tradition. Jake and I walked back hand in hand, not saying anything to each other as the shock of what i just witnessed still evident in my mind.

"Goodnight Jake," I say, breaking the silence as we reach my room, it was about two rooms down to where Jakes was. He leans in closer to me and places his gentle pink lips onto mine, capturing the feeling of our lips. We stay like this for a little while until we need oxygen and desperately pull away, in need of air.

"Goodnight beautiful," He said and waved while he turned around to head to his room. I saw on the nearby clock that it was about 8pm. I wasn't sure why I felt so tired and weak all of a sudden. My back started to ache. My head started to pound and my legs felt like they were about to give up any moment.

Deciding that it would be wise to get some sleep, i hobble over to my bed and gently lay down. Hoping, I'll feel better tomorrow.