Sunshine (Take Two Sequel)

Chapter 12: Rory

I was a few days into my chemo and it sucked, but my friends made it a little better. I was so happy the girls convinced me to tell everyone else. They all came to the hospital a lot to visit me, and they staggered their time so I was almost never alone. The only one who never visited me was Ben. He came once to tell me he was sorry for being a jerk and he wasn't mad at me for kissing Joe, but he still seemed angry with Joe. I don't understand why. I kissed Joe, he should be angry with me, but he's not. So why can't he forgive the one he loves? It made no sense.

Aside from the issues with Ben, all my friends made my hospital stay much better. Freddie insisted the room was too dull, so he put up twinkling lights and gave me the fuzzy red blanket Lilly gave him when he was in the hospital.

"Freddie," I said softly when he put it over me. "You love this blanket."

"We can share it, darling," he said.

"We could make a tradition," Brian said. "We are unfortunately at the hospital more than we should be, maybe we should pass it around to whoever is sick."

"That's actually really sweet," Lilly cooed.

Veronica walked in with John and baby Robert. We all greeted them happily.

"Now everyone's here!" Anita said.

"Not everyone," Freddie said. "Where's Roger?"

"Right here," Roger said from the door.

"Oh, there you are," Lilly said as he kissed her forehead. "Where did you go this morning?"

"I had to run an errand," he said. I was about to ask what errand, but my question was answered when I saw Lucy and Rami come in. I flashed them both a huge grinned as they hugged me.

"Did you guys fly all the way here for me?" I asked.

"Of course!" Lucy replied happily. "And I wanted to meet baby Deacon." She walked over to Veronica who handed the newborn boy to her. Lucy smiled and looked at Rami.

"No," Rami said. "Not yet."

"But look how tiny and sweet he is!" Lucy pleaded. "Please, darling!"

"Not yet Lucy," Rami said. "Ask me again in a year."

"I'm going to pretend I heard a month," Lucy mumbled, making Rami roll his eyes.

"Wait we're still missing somebody," Gwilym said. "Where's Ben?" We all looked over at Joe who quickly looked away.

"Oh come on!" Winter said. "Are you two still fighting?"

"We're not really fighting," Joe said. "But we're not really talking either. We're just kind of... avoiding each other."

"So that means you're not having sex," Freddie said.

"Freddie!" Lilly yelled at him. He just laughed and Joe rolled his eyes. I was about to chime into the conversation when I started to feel sick. Lilly saw my face and grabbed the bucket from the side of my bed, which I promptly threw up into. She held my hair back while Freddie rubbed my back.

"I'm good," I said after a few minutes. Lilly put the bucket down next to my bed and grabbed a tissue for me. I wiped my face and looked up, directly at Ella. She looked really nervous.

"Ella it's ok," I said. "It's just a symptom." She didn't respond. She just looked right through me. "Ella?" I said. She still didn't answer. She just turned and quickly walked out of the room.