Disease

Oli stepped out of the shower, wrapping himself in a towel. He opened up the door and let the steam trickle out while he sat on the counter, watching it float down the hallway. He leaned his head against the mirror and sighed loudly, closing his eyes. He heard the small padding of footsteps coming towards the bathroom door and he grinned, thinking of how Afton was trying to sneak up on him.

As she stepped into the bathroom, he shrieked at her and threw his hands in her face. She screamed, clamping her hands over her mouth and laughing. She reached forward with one arm and slapped his bare chest.

"Yeh arse!" She laughed, "Yeh nearly scared meh 'alf teh death!"

"Yeh were the one tryin' teh be all sneaky and scare meh while I was waitin' teh dry after meh shower!"

"And 'ow do yeh know I was tryin' teh scare yeh, huh?"

"'Cause," He grinned, tapping her on the nose, "I know yeh Af."

"Why don't yeh put some clothes on?" She paused, "We can go grocery shoppin'."

"We should look at dresses," He smiled, jumping off the counter and tying his towel securely around his waist, "Yeh can't go teh yer own weddin' naked."

"Why not?"

"Because meh mum is gonna be there," He laughed, walking away from her, "Besides yeh can spend the 'ole 'oneymoon naked if yeh like!"

Afton laughed at Oli's comment and shook her head, looking at herself in the mirror-- which wasn't something she particularly liked to do. The way she looked scared her. Her huge blue eyes sunk into dark circles of purple, her nose emerged between them, small but obvious. Lips, pale and cracked, rows of straight teeth hidden behind them, tainted yellow from the previous years of smoking.

Her head looked too big to be on her small body, so small and fragile. But her chest is what bothered her the most. Not the absence of breasts, because those had never been there in the first place. Her chest bothered her, because she knew that beneath all the skin, the blood, the bone, lied her biggest problem. Her lungs. If they would just be stronger, if she just could have stayed away from the disease. If she would have listened to her mother and worn the mask when she'd visited her in the hospital that night. If. Just if.

Sometimes, Afton scared herself. She thought too much and she worried herself too much. She was always planning, always thinking ahead. But when death is all she could plan, all that she could see ahead, she stopped thinking. Her mind merely went blank and she could think of nothing any longer.

She sighed, picking up a lock of her dark blonde hair, wavy and disheveled from being slept on. Her sigh came out choked and her throat stung a little bit as her voice got stuck at the bottom. She closed her eyes and twisted the ring on her right hand, trying to predict better days. Better days with Oliver, better days where they didn't fight, where she didn't think about everything horrible. Just better days.

"Doll!" Oli yelled from the bedroom, "Am I gonna 'ave teh pick out yer dress fer yeh? Let's go."

Afton ignored him and continued staring down at the green jewel on her finger. It really was a gorgeous ring. It was huge, set against a silver band, just the right size to fit over her small, pale fingers. She smiled down at it, knowing that when Oliver asked her, it was going to be amazing. She thought back to the other day and almost started laughing, at the way Oli had managed to propose to her.

"Love?" Oli asked, pulling a t shirt over his tattooed body and coming into the bathroom, "Yeh alright?"

""m fine, 'ow's yer arm?"

He chuckled, holding it up so she could see it, scratches all up and down his forearm, blending into his tattoos, his hand scabbing over, but looking a little better than they had the day before, "Think I'll live, yeah?"

"One of us has got to," She mumbled quietly.

"What'd yeh say, love?"

"Nothin'. Just said we should probably get goin'," She said, smiling up at him, "How's 'bout we pick up some sour worms an' some club soda--"

"An' some vodka?" He chuckled.

She nodded, "Then we can get real pissed an--"

"Play video games?"

"O'course. It'll be just like old times." Afton laughed.

"Like when we were sixteen?"

She smiled, "I guess so."

Afton followed Oli to the bedroom where she pulled on a layered floral print skirt and some leggings. She put on a white t shirt and tied her hair up in a bun, pieces falling everywhere and put on some of Oli's shoes. As they left the apartment, she couldn't stop smiling. She couldn't remember the last time her and Oli had made club soda/vodka mix and then dropped sour worms into the bottom of the glass, trying to see who's would fizz up more.

"Yeh look so cute today," Oli smiled down at Afton as they walked into the market.

"Aye, yeh look cute everyday."

As they picked up a cart and walked through the market, they threw countless items into the basket. Stuff to make dinner they didn't even know how to make, the sour worms, the club soda, the vodka, they'd even picked up some yogurts and some packets to make themselves some jello.

Once they were done, they paid for everything and went out to the car, packing it all in the backseat.

"Aye, we just bought so much shit we'll never use, y'know." Oli laughed.

Afton kissed him on the side of the face, "I know."

"Yeh wanna go look at dresses now?"

Afton shook her head softly, "Can we do it another day? 'm kinda tired from runnin' 'round all day."

Oli nodded, "That's fine, Love. We'll just go home and hang 'round for a bit, yeah? Maybe we can invite Tom an' Matt over?"

"That sounds good. 'm sorry, I know yeh wanted to go lookin' fer a dress an' all."

"It's fine." Oli stated promptly, starting the car and heading towards their flat, "Why don't yeh text Tom an' Matt, so they'll be on their way once we're 'ome?" He said, handing her his mobile.

She nodded, typing out the text quickly and sending it out. She placed the mobile in the cup holder and turned away from Oliver, listening to the whistling of the plastic bags in the back seat of their car. Her heart was pounding. She felt horrible.

While Oli was driving home, he was thinking the entire way about Afton. He knew she wouldn't try to jeopardize what was happening, and how happy they were lately. She was tired. She wanted to go home. She didn't feel well. And it was all because she was sick. Her body was weak and 8 hours of sleep turned into an hour of energy, if she was lucky. Oli reached over and placed a hand on her thigh, trying his best to comfort her. He knew she felt bad, but there wasn't much he could say or do to make it better.

"'ts not yer fault, love." He said quietly.

She remained silent, staring at herself in the side mirror, tears pooling in her eyes. She placed a hand over Oli's and sighed before speaking, "I know." She paused, "'m just sick of being sick."

"I know yeh are. I know, Afton." Oli spoke slowly, keeping his eyes on the road and away from the broken girl in the passenger's seat of his car, "But we'll make it through this, all right? I love yeh."

"I love yeh too Ols. Quite a bit."

"Well I'd hope so," He said, taking his eyes off the road for a moment so she could see him smiling at her, "Or meh attempts to cut off meh arm would 'ave been rather fruitless."

She laughed through tears and a sniffly nose, causing her to cough loudly. She removed her hand from Oli's and continued sputtering, trying not to laugh, as that was just making it worse.

"All right?" Oli asked.

She nodded, laughing, coughing, and somewhat choking, "'m fine."

They pulled up outside of the flat and Afton had finally gotten a hold of herself, stepping out of the car and swallowing the cold air outside with a grin on her face. Oli laughed as he got out of the car and walked around to the other side, "Yeh sure yer gonna be all right?"

She smiled, "Yeh best watch it. Yeh'll be bringin' in groceries by yerself."

"Aye, he's got us," Tom grinned, walking around the corner, Matt following suit.

"Speak for yerself," Matt laughed, "I came over for the vodka an' sour worms. Fuck groceries!"

Oli laughed, ""ey yeh twits. There's 12 bags. If each of us take 3, we'll only 'ave teh do this once."

"'ope yer not callin' me a twit," Afton smiled.

"O'course not. Matt counts as 2 people, don't yeh know that?"

She laughed, picking up three bags. As she wrapped her hand around the last bag, her ring glinted against the sun, catching Matt's eye. He waited until she started up the stairs to say anything to Oli.

"Aye, mate. Yeh buy Af that fuckin' boulder on 'er 'and?"

Oli smiled, "Yeah. We're gettin' married."

"'ts 'bout time," Tom said, exasperated.

Oli and Matt both looked at him with weird expressions on their face.

"Well shit, yeh two 'ave been goin' at if for 'alf a decade now. Yeh wait any longer an' she'll be dead!" Tom quickly registered what he'd just said and tried to correct himself, "I didn't mean it like that. I was just sayin'--"

"Yeah I know what yeh were sayin', Tom." Oli said solemnly, knowing his brother didn't mean it. It was just a figure of speech. And Tom had managed to use it wrong. Oli watched as Tom and Matt quickly followed Afton up the stairs, Matt cursing at Tom under his breath. Oli closed the back door to the car and looked up at Afton.

"Aye, Ols. What the 'ell is takin' so long? Yeh 'ave the keys!"

"'m comin'." He said under his breath, making his way up the stairs.