**2 Weeks Later**
Chloe’s POV
Michael and I had gotten closer over the past two weeks and it was getting closer and closer to graduation for me. He was actually here with me now, he was on a break from tour. We were laying in his bed up in his hotel room. My parents thought I was out with Nicki and staying over at her house, at least that’s what I told them.
“So, tell me your story, Chloe.” Michael says.
"You don’t really want to hear my story.” I say, a tear rolling down my cheek.
He wipes it away, “I do though, what made you such a bad girl?” He asks.
“My parents have always ever cared about my grades, what kind of college I get into, and what kind of man I marry. All they ever care about is themselves. I want to do things for myself, ya know. Nicki’s the only one who has ever actually cared about me. I like my bad girl side better than my good girl side. I’m only pleasing my parents if I continue to do what they say. I had to rebel a bit, I don’t give a fuck what they say. This is the real me, but my parents would lock me up in a heartbeat if they found out. I feel like myself when I rebel though, not the goody two shoes that my parents love. I just want someone to care besides Nicki.” I say, as the tears start do stream down my face.
Michael pulls me into his embrace, “Chloe, I care, I do. I’m sorry about your parents. It must really suck to not get the love and acceptance they you crave from your parents. I promise I’m here though. I’ll always be here.” He tells me.
I continue to cry, “I swear, I’m not going anywhere.” He murmurs, kissing my temple.
“I need to go to the studio.” He tells me, getting up.
I grab his arm, preventing him from leaving, “Please stay!” I beg.
He turns to look at me and pulls me up, pulling me into his embrace. He rocks me back and forth, rubbing my back soothingly.
“Please, don’t ever leave me.” I plead.
“I promise, I’ll never leave you. You have my word.” He mumbles, kissing me on the cheek.
I slowly fall asleep to Michael quietly singing Besides You.
********
I slowly wake up to Michael playing with my hair, “Good afternoon, babe.” Michael says, smiling down at me.
“Hey.” I reply, sitting up.
“I wanna take you someplace. Let’s head into town for a bit, then I’ll take you to my special place. Nicki’s the only other person that knows about it.” I tell him.
“I’d be honored then.” He replies.
I grab my car keys and we head outside. We hop in the car and head to town.
Once we get to town, we just walk around and do some window shopping. Michael grabbed my hand in his and swung them back and forth. We leave soon after that and go to my secret hideout.
*At The Hideout*
We are laying in the field, laying in each others arms. I was thinking about telling Mikey about my childhood and I decided I was ready to tell him.
I look up at him, “Mikey, I have to tell you something.”
“Of course, baby, what is it?” He asks.
“I’m gonna tell you something and you can’t interrupt. I will answer all your questions at the end, once I’m done.” I say.
“Alright, I’m listening.” He states.
“Well, when I was about 5, I got really sick. I thought it was just a bad cold, so my parents just had me resting in my bed a lot. No matter how much rest and fluids I got though, I never got better. I woke up in a panic one night, I ran to the bathroom and started throwing up, and I couldn’t stop. My parents rushed me to the hospital and I was admitted right away. They did all these kinds of scans on me, MRI, X-ray, PET, and CAT scans. I had stage 2 cancer in both my kidneys. They put me on chemo right away and I had many surgeries to try and remove the cancer. I was in and out of the hospital for about a year. The last surgery they gave me had removed the cancer and I was able to stop chemo, since the cancer was gone. Then, when I was around 10, I started to get really sick again. I figured I just had a really bad cold and it would go away within a couple of weeks. Well, I started to get sicker and sicker. One night, I started coughing up blood and I started panic. I got rushed to the hospital and they did the usual scans again. Turns out I had gone into remission again. But instead of stage 2 kidney cancer, it was stage 3 kidney cancer. It had gotten worse. They intensified the chemo and I had to have more surgeries. I ended up staying in the hospital for 2 years. Once the cancer was gone though, I had to go in for weekly scans. To make sure I didn’t go into remission again. The worst part of it was that, my parents were never there for any of it. They couldn’t let their sick daughter keep them from their work. Nicki was the only one ever there for me. The scary thing is, the doctors said if I ever go into remission again, I’ll have to have both my kidneys transplanted. They said if it ever came back, it would come back as stage 4 cancer and that my kidneys wouldn’t be able the cancer, chemo, or surgeries. I worry everyday I’ll go back into remission and that thought scares me. I don’t think I can handle going into remission again.” I say, breaking down into tears.
He pulls me into his embrace, “You are so brave, Chloe. You are probably one of the bravest girls I’ve ever known. I want you to know, I’ll stay by your side no matter what. If you ever go into remission, I know you can beat it. I’ll be right by your side the entire time and I won’t leave until you are 100% better.” He whispers.
We spend the rest of the day in my secret spot and end up falling asleep, holding each other tight and planning to never let go.
