I wasn’t expecting to hear from him that quick. It was still hard to process that he wanted to take me. He said he wanted to see where our relationship went. It could have been some sort of guilt, but then I didn’t know why he would have admitted that he just wanted me for sex in the first place and now was thinking about more.
I went over to my desk, opening up my email. Buried beneath some junk mail was the one from Student Health Services. It seemed so clear-cut the way it was written. Like this wasn’t a big deal, just another diagnosis.
There was her number. Ready for me to call and get it over with. I sucked in a breath, staring at my phone. It was just a phone call. It would take a few minutes and be over, but my fingers froze over the buttons. Making the phone call made it real. Made me have to face the facts.
Yet I couldn’t put it off, so I sucked it up and dialed.
“Obstetrics and Gynecology, press one for the nurse. Press two to schedule or cancel an appointment,” a recorded message droned and I quickly pressed two.
Some jazzy hold music played for a few seconds before an overly cheery woman answered.
“Obstetrics and Gynecology, can you hold, please?”
“Um, sure.”
“Thanks.”
The jazzy hold music played again. This time for a lot longer. It was only a few minutes, but it felt like hours. Just when I was about to hang up the cheery voice answered again.
“Sorry about the wait, how can I help you?”
“Um, my name is Melanie Wilder and Student Health Services referred me to Dr. Rodriguez about moderate dysplasia, so I need to make an appointment.”
I couldn’t say cancer. If I said it out loud I might have started whimpering on the phone. So instead I used the cold word that the doctor had used at Student Health Services.
“Okay. Let me look at her calendar. It looks like we just had a cancellation and can get you in at 12:30 on Friday afternoon. Will that work?” She spoke as if it were no big deal. Like everyone just wanted to talk to someone about cancer every day.
“12:30 will work great.”
“Okay, just bring your updated insurance card and come a bit earlier so we can have you fill out some new patient info. Have a great day.”
A great day? In the past twenty four hours I was told that I had cancer and slobbery cried all over the guy I just wanted to hook up with before he had to drive me home the next morning. There was nothing great about my day. Or my life.
Chapter 8
I texted John about the appointment. I seriously didn’t expect him to show up at my apartment on Friday. And especially not at ten in the morning when my appointment wasn’t until 12:30.
My eyes practically bugged out of their sockets as I stared at John’s cockeyed grin. He looked gorgeous as always in a tight-fitting Alpha Mu t-shirt, jeans, and a black White Socks cap. “Morning, Red. Good to see you haven’t been losing sleep.”
I was still in my pajamas. I wished I would have known he was coming so I would have put on a better pair than my old high school band shirt and shorts.
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be sleeping or have class or something?”
He sauntered in my living room, closing the door behind him like it was something he did every day. He plopped a McDonalds bag on my coffee table and handed me a foam cup. “I don’t have classes on Friday and I thought you’d like some breakfast.”
He sat on the couch, rummaging through the bag until he pulled out a wrapped sandwich and a hash brown.
“You don’t have to do this.” I stared at him. Thinking this couldn’t be real. This hot guy was not sitting on my couch and eating McDonalds like it was just a normal day. He felt sorry for me and for some reason thought taking me to appointments and bringing me greasy breakfast was the cure all.
“Do what? Eat breakfast with you? Sure I do. I didn’t buy two breakfast sandwiches for nothing.” He twisted his baseball cap backwards on his head and looked up at me, flashing a brilliant white smile.
I shook my head. “I mean you don’t have to do any of this. I can seriously take the bus to my appointment or maybe even borrow Monica’s car or something.”
I still hadn’t told Monica what was going on. I wanted to. It was just something hard to blurt out. I didn’t know the best way to approach it. The only reason John knew was because he was at the mercy of my emotional breakdown.
He unwrapped one of the sandwiches, pausing with it just inches from his lips. “I’m serious that I can take you. Now eat some breakfast.” He took a big bite of the sandwich and motioned his free hand toward the bag.
I sat on the floor, opposite him with the coffee table in between us. “Do you do this with all the girls you hook up with? Bring them breakfast?”
He swallowed, setting the sandwich down with a big sigh. He moved his baseball cap forward and then backwards again. “Look, Red, you may think I’m doing all this because I have some sort of guilty conscience that you got the call while you were at my house. While that was definitely unexpected, I would have done all this anyway. I like you. You’re a cool girl and I want to be here for you.”
I grabbed the sandwich out of the bag and put it on the table in front of me. “I guess if you’re going to all this trouble, I should at least try and be nice to you.”
“I may be a pain in the ass, but at least I come with food.”
I swallowed hard. There was something about his no-nonsense attitude that took the words right out of me. “That you do.”
After breakfast I was able to get John to leave so I could at least shower and be half way presentable. Even though he had seen me at my worst, I couldn’t just go around the rest of the day in my pajamas and no makeup. I didn’t know what the exact protocol on what to wear to a doctor’s appointment was, especially a lady doctor to talk about cancer, so I just went for comfort and hopefully not to freeze my ass off since it was dipping into the low 30’s.
Dr. Rodriguez’ office was attached to one of the local hospitals near campus. I could have walked there if I really wanted to, but it was nice to have John drive me since my nerves were starting to get the best of me. Just looking at the looming hospital building made my palms sweat and my knees shake.
John pulled his Jeep through the narrow parking garage until he found a spot, turned off the car, and faced me. I kept my eyes ahead, looking out the windshield at the cars parked on the other side of the garage.
“It’s going to be okay, Red.” He put his hand on mine, running his thumb along the bridge of my knuckles.
