Sad, Beautiful, Tragic

The 7 am morning sun filtered though the paisley patterned hotel curtains, throwing shadows across the dimly lit room. The movie, which had been forgotten about by the two sleeping teenagers, had taken it upon itself to restart after sitting on the menu screen for too long.

Alex lazily ran a hand across his face, stopping momentarily to lightly rub at his sleepy eyes. His back arched off of the back as his body stretched, his stiff joints popping at the welcomed movement. With a big yawn, Alex turned his head towards the left where a small alarm clock set on the nightstand. The time 6:55 AM lit up in bright red on the small black screen.

“Ughhh” Alex quietly protested, his right hand smoothing over his face once more as he turned onto his side and snuggled further into the blankets, his eyes temporarily shutting for a brief moment. With an ounce of will power to actually wake up, Alex opened his eyes to find Madison lying on her stomach with her right arm tucked underneath the white pillow and her left hand dangling off the side of the bed. He unconsciously found himself smiling at the curly haired girl as her body curled up and her mouth opened for a small yawn, her eyes remaining closed tight. She rolled over so that her body was facing Alex, her hands scrunched into small childlike fists, rubbing at her eyes.

“Morning, sleeping beauty” Alex leaned over and gently kissed her forehead.

Madison dropped her hands from her face and opened her eyes, finally greeting the day, while mentally noting that the brown eyed boy wasn’t a bad view to wake up to.

“Time is it?” Madison asked through a yawn. Alex turned his head left to glance at the alarm clock, the red numbers read 7:30 AM.

“7:30” he replied, chuckling as Madison rolled onto her side and pushed her face into his neck, all the while groaning in protest of being awake an such an ungodly hour in the summer.

“It’s too early!” She whined, her lips brushing lightly against the skin of Alex’s neck. Alex wrapped his arms around her waist, twirling her hair around his fingers and then letting it fall against her back before repeating the action several more times.

“You’ve got to get up and take your medications” Alex sighed, breaking the silence and ending the peacefulness of their morning; though at the time he hadn’t realized his mistake in uttering that sentence.

Madison pushed herself away from Alex and into a sitting position, the blanket that was previously pulled up to her chest now sat pooled into her lap.

“Yeah, I know, thanks mom...” she retorted sarcastically, glaring back at Alex just in time to catch the frown that had etched its way onto his face; though she missed the hurt glint that passed in his eyes as he looked away and got off of the bed. Madison silently watched, her eyes following his body around the room as he grabbed a change of clothes and his toiletries before he opened a small travel bag and threw the assorted pill box onto the bed.

“C’mon, Alex, i’m---” Madison began to halfheartedly apologize.

“Forget it. I forgot you don’t need my help, my apologies.” Alex spat harshly, effectively pushing Madison back into silence as she broke their eye contact and picked up the pill box, flinching at the sound of the slamming bathroom door.

“Nice going, Mads” she muttered to herself and hopped out of the bed to grab a bottle of water from the small courtesy fridge in the corner of the hotel room. She twisted the cap off of the chilled water, setting the bottle down on the dresser as she grabbed one of each of the six various colored and shaped pills she needed to take. One by one she placed a pill in her mouth and swallowed it down with a gulp of water until the pills were gone and the bottled water was half empty. She twisted the cap back onto the water bottle and stored it back into the fridge, not seeing any sense in wasting the other half of the bottle.

She glanced at the alarm clock, taking note that fifteen minutes had passed and Alex was still in the shower. She grabbed the hotel room order menu and set on the bed with the phone nestled between her right ear and shoulder.

“Front desk, this is Tracie, how may I help you?” The voice of a chipper middle aged woman spoke through the receiver.

“I’d like to place an order for breakfast to room 1114, please.” Madison replied politely.

“No problem, what can I get for you this morning, ma’am?” Tracie asked, her high pitched, cheery voice giving Madison a headache.

Madison quickly scanned the menu until she found Alex’s favorite “Um, an order of peach french toast, extra whipped topping and a side of bacon. Also, and order of scambled eggs with toast, can I get strawberry jam with that?” Madison requested.

“yes ma’am, anything else?”

“Oh! Two iced vanilla coffee’s please.” Madison tacked on, hoping an apology breakfast for Alex would suffice.

“Alrighty, it’ll be sent up to your room shortly.” Tracie assured, wishing Madison a good morning as she hung the phone up in the middle of Madison’s “thank you.”

Madison laid back against the pillows and tapped her fingers on her stomach, blowing air out of her mouth as she listened to the sound of the shower running, she glanced at the clock once again. 8:15 AM, it had been 30 minutes since Alex had locked himself in the bathroom and Madison was sure that he was prolonging his morning routine in order to avoid her. She was brought out of her time keeping by the sound of knocking on the door, followed by a voice calling out “room service!” Her bare feet padded across the room and she quickly opened the door, greeting the middle aged man on the other side of the door with a “good morning.” The man, whose name tag read, Tim, wheeled the food cart into the room and began setting the small hotel room table with plates, glasses and silverware.

“Anything else, miss?” Tim curtly asked.

“No, thank you.” Madison replied handing the man a measly $5.00 tip for his services, though she was sure she heard him mutter something about ungrateful teenagers under his breath as he showed himself to the door, which all but slammed behind him.

Just as the door banged close, Madison heard the shower water stop running. She quickly removed the protective lids from the plated and filled the empty glassed with water, setting the iced coffee’s next to the glasses. Just as she placed the silverware in the perfect spot and scribbled an ‘I’m sorry for being a bitch” on a strategically placed napkin, she heard the bathroom door open.

The steam from the bathroom immediately began to spill into the small hotel room as Alex walked out fully dressed aside from his bare feet. He rubbed his hair with the white towel one last time before throwing the towel on the floor. He quickly ran a brush through his brown hair before using his hands to achieve the perfected messy look that he was aiming for.

“What smells so good?” Alex asked, finally looking away fro the wall mirror as he stowed his brush back into his bag.

“ I ordered breakfast” Madison replied timidly, her hands anxiously wringing together and her bottom lip unsurely tugged between her teeth. Alex stopped in front of Madison, one hand grabbing her fidgeting hands while the other lifted hold her chin, his thumb gently running across her bottom lip freeing her it from her teeth.

“Thank you.” He spoke quietly between them and kissed her cheek before peering over her shoulder to check out the table, his eyes lighting up at the sight pf peach french toast.

“My favorite! You’re the best!” He squealed in excitement while all but plunging straight into the plate. He stabbed a peach slice with his fork and layered it with a french toast chunk before shoving it in his mouth and groaning at the sweet explosion it left on his taste buds.

“Awen’t ya gwoing to eat?” Alex asked with his mouth full of food, the knife in his left hand pointed to the plate of eggs and toast. He reached down to grab his napkin, finally noticing Madison’s note.
“I’m sorry too...I shouldn’t have been so short tempered with you.” Alex admitted.

“It’s fine” Madison sighed, taking the seat across from Alex where her plate remained untouched on the table.

“But, Alex, this is my disease. I know how to take care of myself and I don’t need you to remind me to take my meds. My whole life has been a routine with my doctors and my family, i’ve always lived on a schedule and I don’t need you maintaining me too.” Madison explained, hoping that Alex would understand because she was honestly too tired to fight with him on this.

“you’re right and I’m sorry...but I do worry about you and want to make sure you’re okay, Mads.” Alex reasoned with slight exasperation at the fact this his girlfriend was telling him to butt out of her medical life.

“I know, and I appreciate that but I already promised to be honest with you about how i’m feeling...and that should be enough.” Madison urged, she just wanted Alex to go back to treating her as if she were normal.

“Okay...well how are you feeling today?” Alex asked, giving up on fighting a battle that he knew was going to get him nowhere with Madison.

“A little queasy.” Madison admitted, pushing the now cold eggs around her plate with her fork, acknowledging the churning feeling that had set in her stomach ever since the food initially arrived.

“Well, we have a pretty full day planned and it’s hot outside, probably isn’t the best idea to go out on an empty stomach.” Alex hesitantly advised, not wanting to upset Madison any further but also knowing that she would never make it half a day without any form of nutrients in her system.

“I’m going to take a shower.” Madison sighed, pushing the chair back from the table and getting up to grab a change of clothes.

“Mads, please don’t be mad at me.” Alex pleaded helplessly as Madison made her way to the bathroom, her left hand turning the door knob as she stopped.

“I’m not mad at you Alex, it’s just...if I wanted you to remind me everyday that I cancer, then I would just go to a cancer support group instead.” She said as she stepped into the bathroom and flicked the light on, her voice echoing off of the walls and back into the main room.

“I was just trying to help, Mads!” Alex retorted. Madison stuck her head out of the doorway and stared Alex in the eyes, frustrated that he just wasn’t understanding her point. She appreciated his caring nature, really; but he needed to understand that pushing it onto her would only push her away.
“If you want to be helpful then spread some strawberry jam on the toast and add some banana slices on top, that’s helpful ‘Lex.” Madison spoke calmly and that’s what got underneath his skin. It’s not like they hadn’t argued before but it never ended in Madison sounding so resigned with the situation.

As the bathroom lock clicked in and the sound of the shower filled the silent room, Alex did as he was told and prepared the strawberry banana toast to perfection. He slowly finished his own breakfast and resolved to stirring the watered down coffee around in the cup with the green straw until he finally heard the water cut off followed by the door unlocking, though ultimately what grabbed his attention was the sound of Madison harshly coughing.

Alex jumped to his feet, disregarding the spilled coffee that he dropped on the table and ran to the bathroom.

“Mad’s, I’m coming in.” He warned as he opened the door and found Madison wrapped in a thin towel with her head in the toilet bowl, a wretched sob ripping from her lungs as the remaining stomach acid projected into the toilet.

“Shhh, you’re okay.” Alex soothingly whispered as he gathered her soaked hair in one hand and gently rubbed circles on her back with the other while Madison’s body convulsed in chokes and sobs until her stomach settled down and her throat was worn raw.

Alex rose to his feet and filled a paper bathroom cup with water, bringing it back to Madison. He softly nudged her chin up with two fingers and held out the cup to her. Madison swallowed a few sips of the water and ran the back of her left hand across her mouth before finishing the water and handing the cup back to Alex who tossed it into the trashcan.

“Better?” Alex asked, kneeling down in front of her and gently wiping the sweat beads from her face with a damp rag that he grabbed from the sink.

“y-yeah” Madison nodded, closing her eyes as she did so, the simple movement causing her equilibrium to be thrown off.

“You sure? Alex asked worriedly.

“Yeah” Madison opened her eyes, “I told you I felt queasy” she assured with a hint of a smile.

“Okay, if you’re sure. I’m sorry for upsetting you, ya know.” Alex apologized quietly and gently brushed Madison’s hair fro her sweaty face.

“It’s okay, Alex. I’m sorry too, I know you worry and I appreciate it, I appreciate you. I...you just used to treat me so normal, and I want that back. I don’t want you to remind me to do things that I’ve been doing routinely for over half of my life, you know?” Madison explained, smiling when Alex nodded his head in recognition of what she was telling him.

“Besides, I’m not gong to die on this trip, ‘Lex” Madison freely joked with a hint of truth in her statement. Sure, she felt weak but she knew her time wasn’t up quite yet, she would fight it for as long as she could.

“Madison!” Ale scolded, his eyes set into slits of exasperation.

“Sorry, sorry!” Madison held her hands up in mock surrender, a soft laugh still managing to escape.

“Why do you say things like that? You’re going to end up being the death of me.” Alex swore, swinging his right arm around Madison’s shoulder and pulling her into him.

“I promise that dealing with this is a lot easier when you stop being so serious.”

“I don’t think I can do that.” Alex admitted, he would never be able to freely joke about her cancer and consequential death like her.

“That’s okay, too.” Madison lightly patted Alex’s chest, right above his hear. “Just stop getting mad at me for being able to.” she requested of the brown eyed boy.

“I’ll try” Alex replied without much promise in his voice.

“Good, now get out!” Madison demanded, pushing her body off of Alex and standing up, pointing towards the door.

“W-what?” Alex stuttered, sure that they had just gotten over their argument and reconciled.

“Alex, I have to get dressed so I need you to get out!” Madison laughed at his confusion.

“Oh, right” Alex stumbled to his feet, his cheeks flushed pink as he fell out of the bathroom, the door quickly shutting behind him. He could only imagine the shit that Jack would be giving him for being in the room while Madison was practically completely naked not once, but twice, and making nothing of the situation.

After thoroughly brushing her teeth and changing into fresh clothes, Madison ran a brush through her wet, tangled hair. She frowned at the clump of strands that stuck to the brush bristles and raised a hand up to feel around her head, her lips quivering as strands tangled themselves around her nimble fingers.

She knew the day would come when her thick hair, which had grown back fully after her third bout of chemo, would be lost to the disease once again but she wanted to desperately deny it anyways. She sucked in a shaky breath, filling her lungs before she blew it our, her chest sinking as her lungs once again deflated.

“Get it together.” Madison whispered sternly at her reflection, the girl in the mirror throwing a hard glare back at herself. With a fleeting glance at her reflection, Madison plastered o a smile and bounded out of the bathroom. She threw her soiled clothes in her dirty laundry bag and made a bee line for the table where her strawberry banana toast set.

She grabbed the toast and took a bite, mumbling a mouth-filled “fanks” to Alex, whom snorted a “welcome, babe” in reply. Madison quickly finished her toast and gulped down her water before breaking out an “okay!” announcement, wiping the crumbs from her hands onto her shorts.

“Okay, what?” Alex laughed in question.

Madison grabbed his arm and began pulling him towards to the door, whining out a “Alex, let’s goooo!” as Alex purposefully dug his heels into the carpet creating resistance against Madison’s pull.

“Relax! I have to grab my wallet and keys. Disney isn’t going anywhere!” Alex teased, though admittedly he was befuddled by Madison’s sudden insistence on rushing to Disney.

“Hurry Up! I have to go find stitch and meet him, or else this whole trip is a waste!” Madison urged impatiently, pulling on Alex’s arm as he shoved his phone and wallet into his pant pockets and clutched his keys in his hand.

“Geez, thanks” Alex replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes as the door shut behind them.

“Sorry, it’s just...this is important to me” Madison shyly confessed and Alex made a mental note to ask what the big deal with “stitch” really was because he knew this was way more than just a favorite movie character at this point; but he wouldn’t go down that path until they were back in their hotel room.