Tumors And Hearts

Xx-nikki-xX

“Why; our backs are now against the wall
Listen all of y’all it’s a sabotage
Listen all of y’all it’s a sabotage
Listen all of y’all it’s a sabotage
Listen all of y’all it’s a sabotage…”

I woke up to my phone playing Sabotage by the Beastie Boys as my new alarm. I rolled over and reached around the bedside table for my phone. After a few minutes I found it and hit the off button. My eyes opened and stared up at the ceiling in the dark room. I laid there for a few minutes before crawling out of Shannon’s arms and getting out of bed.

Making sure to stay quiet, I changed into some clothes more suitable for running. I was almost out the door to my apartment when I remembered my iPod. I crept back into my room, grabbed my iPod, and left to go running.

It really bothered me that I used to be able to run about eight and a half miles and now, because of my tumor, I can barely run five. Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over by The Devil Wears Prada was playing on my iPod as I pushed myself to keep running. I was only at four and three quarters and I refused to stop now!

The song ended and Hey John, What’s Your Name Again? started playing in its place. I just reached five miles when my head started hurting. Happy that I made it to five miles, but mad that it was all I could do, I headed home.

Shannon was in the shower when I got back. I brought up iTunes on my laptop and hit the play button. OK, I Feel Better Now by AFI started playing as I plopped down on my bed and scooted back to rest against the wall. I absentmindedly grabbed Shannon’s hat and started playing with it as I waited for him.

Probably about ten minutes later Shannon came out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel around his waist.

“Hey.” he said, looking a little surprised to see me.

“Hey.” I said smiling at him. “I didn’t think you’d be up this early.”

“I got a call from Watkins.” he said.

He dropped his towel and started putting on his clothes. I felt my cheeks heat up and knew I was blushing. I looked down at his hat that I was still holding and concentrated on the NC design on the front.

“What did he want?” I asked still looking at his hat.

“I guess there are some issues going on at GasChamber.” I heard him say. “I gotta go back today.”

I looked up as he slipped on his jeans. “Oh.” I said trying to hide my disappointment.

He finished buttoning up his pants and came over and sat down next to me. “I’m sorry.” he said slipping an arm around my waist. “I wish I could stay, but Shane said it’s real important.”

I wrapped my arms around his middle and rested my head against his bare chest. “It’s okay.” I sighed.

Noise drifting into my room from the kitchen area told me that Ashley was up too. I let go of Shannon and scooted to the edge of the bed where I stood up and tossed his hat to him.

“I’ll leave so you can finish getting dressed.” I said heading for the door.

I went out to the kitchen area and found Ashley digging around in the cabinets. I moved some dirty dishes out of the way and hopped up on the counter.

“Looking for something?” I asked.

“There has got to be a clean bowl around here somewhere!” she said as her head disappeared in the cabinet she was currently looking in.

I glanced at the mountain of dirty dishes in the sink I was sitting next to and sighed. It was my week clean the kitchen but I hadn’t really had time since Shannon was here.

“I should probably get on that.” I said.

“That might be a good idea.”

She finally emerged from the cabinet with a cooking pot in hand. She pulled a box of Lucky Charms out of one of the other cabinets and poured some into the pot.

“I’ll do it after Shannon leaves.” I said.

She added milk and grabbed a wooden cooking spoon. “I thought he was staying the weekend?” she said.

“Something came up at GasChamber and he has to go back today.” I said.

“Well, at least now we’ll have dishes!”

I laughed as she came and leaned against the counter next to me. She ate her cereal and tried to find a place to put the dishes. She finally settled for a spot on the counter.

“We need a dish washer.” I said as we headed into the living room area.

“I’ll add that to our list of things to get.”

We were sitting on the couch, watching TV, when we heard Ocito start barking. We did a quick round of rock, paper, scissors and Ashley lost. Grumbling about being too lazy, she stood up and went to go see what was going on.

Sadie seemed to appear out of nowhere and started licking my face.

“I know I smell bad, but I think I’ll stick with good old soap and water.” I said scratching her behind the ears.

A few minutes later Ashley came back carrying Checkers.

“What happened?” I asked as she plopped down on the couch again.

“Ocito was being all hyper and picking on poor Checkers cause she didn’t want to play with him.”

As if to prove this, Ocito came and started trying to get Sadie to play with him.

The door to my room finally opened and Shannon came out, fully dressed.

“Hey can I use your phone?” he asked. “Mine just died and I need to call the airport for a ticket.”

“You can use my laptop.” I said.

“It isn’t working.”

“Stupid piece of shit.” I muttered. “I really need to get a new one.”

“You can use mine.” Ashley said holding her phone out for him. “You have to come get it though, I refuse to get up.”

“Thanks.” he said grabbing it.

I smiled as I watched him head back into my room, closing the door behind him. I was so happy he and Ashley were getting along! I was worried they might not like each other or things might be awkward with the three of us hanging out together. I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to face Ashley. She was watching me with a sad look on her face.

“What?” I asked.

“Nikki you know you have to tell him.”

I looked at the TV but wasn’t really paying attention to it. “I know.”

“When are you gonna do it?”

I looked back at her and sighed. “I don’t know.” I said.

Shannon came back out a few minutes later and told us his flight left in three hours. He came over and plopped down between Ashley and me and handed her phone back.

“Hey Checkers.” he said petting her.

Sadie came over and put her front paws on Shannon’s lap.

“Hey girl.” he said turning his attention to her. “Gonna miss me?” She wagged her tail and licked his face. “I’ll take that as a yes!” he laughed.

I smiled and I stood up and stretched. I started heading to my room when Ashley asked, “Where are you going now?”

“I need a shower!” I called before shutting the door.

x-later-x

Three hours later Shannon, Ashley, and I were at the Chicago airport. The flight from Chicago to Cameron was just called to board.

“Bye Ashley.” Shannon said.

“Bye Shannon.” Ashley said. “Next time you come up here I better not have to see your pale ass!”

“You know you loved it!” he said before turning to face me.

“I’ll see you Monday.” I said as we hugged.

“I miss you already.” he said.

I smiled before leaning up to kiss him. Ashley cleared her throat and I quickly broke away.

“Call me when you get there.” I said as we let go of each other.

“I will.”

He gave me one last kiss before grabbing his bags and leaving.