Fatal hearts, p.5
Fatal Hearts, page 5
“Till tomorrow, Cherry,” Wes says looking into my starstruck eyes. He gives me a dimpled grin and gets up.
“Till tomorrow,” I say, almost a whisper. He slips out, leaving me staring at the door he just went through. Did that just happen?
Chapter Ten: A Surprise in the Lobby
The following evening as my mom is helping me get ready for Wes to visit, my phone buzzes. A new text from Wes.
Wes: Hey Cherry! I am so sorry; I cannot come today. I have an unexpected shift tonight at the front desk. May I see you tomorrow after discharge? We can go out to dinner or just hang out at the hotel. Whatever is best for you!
I read the text and before responding, my brain goes into overdrive. What if he is sick of seeing me in a hospital gown? Or maybe he is overwhelmed by our conversation yesterday? What if he regrets kissing me? He just has work, I tell myself. Centering myself, I respond.
Cherry: Aww, that sucks! Tomorrow works, I can eat like I usually do so maybe we can go somewhere in Disney! Have a good shift. :)
His response is quick, but sweet and reminds me that his cancelation has nothing to do with me.
Wes: Awesome! Text me when you leave the hospital. Wish I was with you instead of work :(
I spend the rest of my day reading and hanging out with my parents. Nurses come in so often it feels like anytime I readjust there is a new task they have to do. This goes on throughout the night, so I do not get a good night's sleep, which is never a possibility in the hospital, but before I know it I am being prepared for discharge.
Once they take out my IV, a sign that I will be out within the hour, I let Wes know I am almost back at the hotel.
On the ride to the hotel, Wes and I make plans to meet at the front desk. In the car, Winnie interrogates me on what she missed out on the last few days. My parents had my aunt Lizzie, who lives in the area, take care of her, while I was in the hospital.
“Did the needle hurt?” Winnie asks, her Rs sounding better than last week.
While I don’t mind her curiosity, I am tired of talking about my medical situations, so I look for a way to change the subject.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle!” seeing a pink Punch Buggy, I use this opportunity to change subjects. “Punch Buggy Pink!” I exclaim, lightly punching Winnie’s arm.
“Hey!” she says with a giggle, holding her arm and looking out her window. “Where do you see it?” she cranes her neck, rolling over her R in “where”. I notice her pronunciation is worse when she’s excited.
“It already passed. So how was Aunt Lizzie’s?”
“Fun. I got to swim in the pool. I missed you though.” she looks back at me with her big colorful eyes. My heart swells, a feeling of gratitude overwhelming me. Winnie is everything to me, I don’t know what I would do without her. Sometimes I worry that I am not doing well enough as her big sister, but moments like these toss my doubts away.
“I missed you too Winnie Pooh,” I say, putting my arm around her and pulling her in as best as I can with seatbelts.
Before I know it, we are back at the Disney Resort. I jump out and breathe in the air. “Ah, it is so great to be here, frankly it's great to be anywhere but the hospital,” I say, as everyone else follows me out the door.
I go up to the front doors of the lobby, my stomach buzzing with nerves knowing I will see Wes in a few seconds. We haven’t physically been together since we kissed.
I walk in and instantly gasp.
Every Disney character worker, in their costume, is around a table, and on the table is a big red velvet cake. Standing at the end of the cake is none other than Wes.
I approach the table, speechless. I walk to Wes’s side. He has a full smile on his face, dimples, and all.
“What? What is this?” I finally get out. I look at the cake. “Welcome back Cherry!” is spelled out with strawberry frosting.
Tears blur my vision. “You did this for me” I whisper.
“It's why I couldn’t come last night,” Wes explains. “Do you like this? The cake is sugar-free; the kitchen staff was able to find a good recipe for one. I confirmed with your doctor that it's okay to eat and-” I cut him off with a kiss. I don’t even think before doing it.
He kisses me back. Two days ago, I was a kissing virgin, as one may say, and now I am instinctively planting a kiss on my… boyfriend? Crush? It’s too early for labels.
We pull apart just when the rest of my family walk in.
“What is all this?” my mom asks. She gives me a knowing look, letting me know she didn’t miss our proximity when she walked in.
“ARIEL!” Winnie practically screams, running to the girl cosplaying her favorite Disney princess.
“Ariel” catches her as she is running into a hug easily, she must deal with Winnie's energy on a daily basis. I blush and mouth sorry to her. She nods her head in reassurance that it is totally okay and entertains Winnie.
My mom approaches Wes and me. She looks at the cake, then back at us. She smiles widely. “Wes? Did you do this?”
Wes’s face gets red as he nods in response.
“How sweet of you!” my mom says, she leans in to hug him and I cringe inwardly. How awkward. Wes takes it well though and reciprocates her hug.
We cut the cake, and everyone stands around eating and talking.
“So, what made you come up with this? My mom's right, it's such a kind gesture. You know you didn’t have to do all this, coming home from the hospital… it's a common occurrence for me.” I say with a wince, consciously trying to keep from stirring up any bad memories or feelings at this moment.
“I just feel bad that you had to spend your wish week in the hospital,” Wes explains quietly. I raise my eyebrows at him. “And I really like you, and when I care for someone, I tend to go the extra mile.” I melt at this and blush. I kiss him on the cheek.
“Thank you,” I say when pulling back.
“I hope you don’t expect this every time you leave the hospital now.” Wes jokes to lighten the air between us. I crack up and we banter as we finish the cake.
“Alright, everyone.” A loud voice takes over the room. I look to where it is coming from and see none other than Mr. Hamdan, Wes’s father. Is he angry? Does he even know that Wes and I are...whatever we are? “The party needs to wrap up soon, as lovely as this is for the young lady here, we do have shifts to get back to,” he says. He is smiling as he announces this and I am calmed by the notion that even if he may not know the extent of my existence in Wes’s life, he knows about the party. He approaches me.
“Hello, Mr. Hamdan. Thank you so much for the time taken out of everyone’s schedule for this, it means so much!” I say when he stops in front of me.
“My pleasure Cherry! Anything for Wes’s girl-” he pauses and looks at Wes. I turn around and Wes stops whatever motion that made his dad pause. “Anything for a friend of Wes’s.” his dad finishes. I suddenly realize...his dad was going to call me Wes’s girlfriend, and Wes stopped him. I get a weird feeling in my stomach...does Wes not want me to think too deeply of his feelings, or maybe he doesn’t want to scare me off? I am suddenly riddled with nerves. I look back at Wes, his face has gone completely red, and he tries to give me a relaxing smile. He doesn’t want to scare me off, I realize, taking in his embarrassment and possible fear.
“I appreciate it a lot. Wes is such a sweet guy, I’m so glad to know him.” I say this to Mr. Hamdan but glance at Wes, I hope he knows I’m talking to him, trying to calm his nerves, reassure him I feel the same.
As Mr. Hamdan responds, I feel Wes’s hand subtly go into mine. He knows.
Chapter Eleven: Life-Changing Decisions
“Why don’t you wear your blue dress tonight?” my mom asks me as we all walk into our room. It is our last night at Disney. We have just spent the day around Epcot. I even got to do one of the stimulation rides that don’t actually move, and we are fixing to get ready for dinner at six. We plan to meet Mr. Hamdan and Wes at a Red Lobster not far from Disney. My mom invited them to join us for our last night in Disney at the small party Wes threw me the other day. We leave for another hotel bright and early in the morning. After this dinner, our...eventful Disney trip comes to a close. As far as we are told, we need to stay four extra days in the area for my doctors to keep a close watch on me.
“I don’t know, isn’t it a bit… fancy for Red Lobster?” I ask, thinking of the short sea blue sequined dress my mom is talking about. I packed it just in case we got a fancy night out, however thinking about it now, it feels way too prom-like for a night out to dinner.
“Nonsense! It's cute, go put it on.” my mom says. I go to try it on and when I look in the mirror, I see that, with a pair of leggings and flats, it just may be the right amount of fancy for tonight. I do a light natural makeup look, do my hair so that it is half up and half down, add legging and flats and a half-hour later I come back into the living area of our room.
“Beautiful. Just beautiful.” my mom beams.
“You look lovely.” my dad says with a smile. Winnie twirls in her blue tutu and little mermaid shirt, her current favorite fashion style. She has her hair in a small high ponytail, and I see that my mom has let her use lip gloss for the occasion.
“What about me?” she says, looking up at us with her big, beautiful eyes.
“You, my dear, look like a princess!” I say picking her up and spinning her. She giggles as I put her back down.
“Is everyone ready?” my mom asks, grabbing her purse. She is wearing a cute black dress with a similar style to my blue one, but with less design overtop the color. It is more mature. Her hair is down, and her makeup is light.
“You look great too,” I tell her. She smiles and thanks me. We head out the door.
A half-hour later, a half-hour of I spy with Winnie in the backseat of the car, we pull up to Red Lobster.
We walk in and see Wes and his father waving from a big table. We walk up. As I near Wes, he stands and when I approach, he hugs me, and his father greets me as I sit down next to him.
“Hello, my name is Mel, I will be your waiter today, what can I get you all?” a young woman of about twenty says, as she nears our table.
Mr. Hamdan instantly starts laughing. My parents look at him confused until Mel reaches out for a hug.
“This is my niece everyone, she ironically got a job here last week.” Mr. Hamdan says.
“Hi, Mel,” Wes says with a smile.
“What's up, little dude?” Mel says.
“Oh Mel, you gotta stop with the nickname, I’m seventeen now, it's getting old,” he says with a laugh. I smile to myself at this, while also realizing this is the first, I hear of Wes’s age. I knew we were about the same age; he is only a year up from me in school, but I have not heard him address his actual age yet. Mel ruffles his hair and my heart lifts at this, they are clearly close like brother and sister. As I laugh at this, Mel looks at me.
“And who do we have here?” she asks Wes, looking at me.
“This is Cherry,” Wes says, putting an arm around me. Mel gives him a knowing look then reaches out to greet me. She gives me a light hug, this family is very hugs friendly, but I don’t mind.
“Well Cherry, isn’t that the prettiest name! And you are gorgeous!” Mel exclaims when she pulls back from me. I blush.
“Indeed, she is,” Wes says, and this small comment completes my night.
We all talk throughout our dinner, all of us getting varieties of the four-course menu option the restaurant offers, except me, I just get a salad (inevitably failing heart and all). Mel joins us frequently. My mom's cell phone rings the second Mel leaves to go get dessert. She comes back ten minutes later.
“That was the hospital,” she says, her face a bit pale. She looks around as if trying to figure out if she should save this news for later.
“It’s okay mom, you can talk about it here,” I reassure her.
“We can step out if need be.” Mr. Hamdan says. Wes nods in agreement. I take Wes’s hand in mine.
“No, it is okay,” I repeat, a bit nervous.
“That was your doctor. They said they looked over the charts from the hospital here. They don’t think you should be traveling at all; in fact, they think this hospital can treat your heart better than the one back home. They want us to transfer to Florida.” she says this last line with a slight shock.
“What?” I say, confusion written all over my face. I release Wes’s hand.
“They cannot expect us to change our whole life?” My dad follows.
“They said her heart is not in great condition, that this hospital can treat it best and that should we choose to put her on the transplant list, she would be higher on the one here.” my mom responds, still shell shocked.
“Transplant list?” I question. A million thoughts are running through my head. “Bad shape,” “higher on the list,” “transplant.” This last word seems to be flashing in my brain.
“Is Cherry going to be, okay?” Wes finally speaks up. I am broken out of my thoughts. I almost forgot Wes and his dad was here.
“For the time being, they said if she doesn’t get a transplant though…” my mom drifts, tears welling in her eyes.
“We have a few days booked at a hotel here, let's take those days to decide, okay?” my dad says. He is always the levelheaded one to calm my mom down. He circles a hand around her back.
“Okay.” she agrees.
“Is there any way we can help?” Wes’s dad speaks up.
“Ummm… no, it's okay Jordan, thank you though.” my mom says, using Mr. Hamdan’s first name as he asked halfway through the main course.
“Let's take this one day at a time. Let's all calm down and just finish our dessert.” my dad says. We all settle in.
Winnie, who has been still for quite a while, breaks the silence, as we all eat quietly. “Is Cherry going to die?” she wonders out loud, her voice choking up.
For some reason, this is the moment where it all finally hits me. I feel my crappy heart fall to my stomach, and I look down to stop the tears in my eyes from spilling.
I start to stand and go somewhere private when I feel a soft warm touch on my hand. Wes slips his hand into mine. I look up at him, he looks scared, but somehow put together. He pulls me in for a hug. When my face is safely hidden in his shoulder, I let a tear fall.
Chapter Twelve: Decisions to Be Made, Conversations to Be Had
“I understand that love, but we can’t just relocate this instant, the kids have their whole lives back in Maryland.” I overhear my dad in my parents' king-size room. We have been in a luxury suite for two days, courtesy of our hospital back home. They have been back and forth like this for two days.
“Then what are we supposed to do?!” my mom shouts back so loud that even Winnie looks up from her book. We are in the suite’s living room. I have been eavesdropping, she has not.
I shake as I hear them whisper-fight.
“Lower your voice the kids will hear.” my dad whisper-shouts.
“Do you want her to just die?”
“That's absolutely insane, of course not. How dare you accuse-”
“I’m not accusing you, but this is our only option.”
I’m ruining my parents' marriage. This is the thought that has been circling nonstop for two days. I’m ruining… one of the healthiest relationships surrounding me. I am ruining my parents' marriage. My phone pings, snapping me out of my anxious thoughts.
Wes: Cherry? I know you are going through a lot, and I feel like I am spamming you, but I am just worried. Are you okay?
Wes has been trying to contact me since our departure at dinner. I’ve wanted to talk to him. Something in me, however, has shut down. I can’t bring myself to talk to anyone. Angela, my best friend, has been trying to contact me too.
Angela: Hey Cherry, I haven’t heard from you in a couple of days, everything okay?
Angela: Your mom told me the news. Cherry, I am so sorry, do you want to talk?
Angela: Okay, I understand you need time. I am here if you need to talk.
My phone pings and I see this latest message from her. My heart aches. I think a talk with her is just what I need. I pick up my phone and walk into the halls of the hotel. I call her number. Within two rings she picks up.
“Cherry!” she exclaims before I speak.
“Hey, I am so sorry for ignoring you it has just-”
“Been a lot, I know.” she finishes.
“I feel like going on that ride really just shortened the time my heart was holding onto to stay together,” I say, confessing my deepest fear, my heart is at its last straw, because of me.
“Oh Cherry. Love, no. Your mom told me this has been a long time coming, it's just a horrible coincidence that it finally reached...climax when it did.” she says this in a sweet soft voice. Her use of calling me love tugs at my heartstrings. I long for a hug from her. Her precious hugs where she holds me so close that I can get a hug whiff of her signature Vanilla scented perfume. One where she circles my back in a calming way with her fingers. One that usually ends with a curl getting stuck in one of her many necklaces and bracelets she wears on the daily.
“I miss you,” I say, tears welling up for the millionth time today.
“I miss you too. Do you think your parents will make the move?”
“I think we have no choice,” I say. “I’m ruining their marriage,” I whisper.
“What? Cherry, you’re not-”
“They have been fighting nonstop.”
“Cherry, it's a tough situation, yes, your parents are bound to argue but every couple argues when there are complications such as this situation.” She tries to reassure me.
