Through sickness and in health

40

Friday

"I never thought I'd see the day where Jason Parker replied to my messages, let alone text me first!" Abbie smiles walking straight inside the house.
"Come on in" Jason mumbles at my side. I smile giving his hand a squeeze as I follow Abbie through the house. She's been in the house plenty of times at parties but she's been hammered every time.
"Shit your boyfriend is loaded. A movie room?" She says, it was meant to be a whisper but Abbie is a very loud person.
"What's this?" Abbie asks holding up a box. I walk over to her seeing Jason hop on the counter in the corner of my eye. My eyes widen at what she's holding.
"Put that down!" I take it from her hand quickly making her gasp.
"What is it?" She argues

"Chemo" Jason's reply is short and simple but enough to make Abbie sigh, her fiery side calming.
"Oh" Abbie says quietly shooting me an awkward look.
"Not everyone has a box in their kitchen with chemo medication in it" Jason shrugs taking a sip of his water.
"I didn't mean to pry, you could've told me to shut up at any given moment" I elbow her in the ribs making her squeal. I glare at her seeing a smile forming on Jason's face.
"My fault, yep my fault" she puts her hands up in defence with a small smile pulling on her face.

"As much as I love this, I texted you to take my girlfriend to the lock-in not keep her here" Jason says hopping off the counter.
"Trying to get rid of me?" I smile walking over to him.
"What did we say before?" Jason smirks
"Alright love birds were done. Let's go, come on" Abbie smiles pulling on my arm.
"Go" Jason smiles kissing me, I sigh but nod picking my bag up from the floor and walking out to abbies car with her.

*~*

"I feel guilty" I sigh looking back.
"Girl come on we literally just left, we haven't even gotten out of the gate yet" Abbie laughs
"I can tell he's bummed, he's just putting on an act"
"And you did everything you could. He has a way to go, it's just not the most convenient. He will survive missing this one out, let's have some fun" she smiles connecting her phone and handing it to me.
"No sad songs. Let's start the lock-in on a good song" she warns. I nod typing in a song and pressing play.

*~*

"Oh my god you made it! They're locking the doors in 5 minutes I didn't think you would be able to get her out of that cult!" Katie squeals running over to us.
"It's not a cult. It's my boyfriends house" I glare at her.
"Oh babe" she laughs
"Did you bring any?" Abbie asks looking at Katie.
"They searched everyone's bags for alcohol. Even the baseball team weren't able to get any in" she sighs shaking her head.

So much for getting drunk tonight.

*~*

"Girl stop checking your phone. He isn't going to text you begging you to come over, he's fine, he's probably asleep" Abbie sighs looking over my shoulder at my phone.
"I know I know. I just can't stop thinking of him when I see the baseball team and he's not with them"
"Babe come on let's go and dance. Let loose, release all this tension and all this anxiety your carrying" Katie smile pulling my arm. I go to argue but decide against it. She won't listen to me, Katie's a stubborn bitch but that's a good thing at the end of the day. She's not so mature but she knows how to get her way, she always does,

The music fills my ears as I join the group, I'm hesitant at first but then my foot starts tapping in the floor, then my hips are swaying as the songs gets faster, in minutes I'm laughing and smiling a real grin on my face. This is what I needed, a night with my best friends. A night to release and a night to have fun.

*~*

The hall has gotten quieter as people settle into their own groups now that the music is quieter. There's only a few teachers chaperoning now and they look like they're about to ditch to the teachers lounge to catch a few hours. It's only 10:30 but that's like 3am for the teachers who've had a long day of dealing with high school students, gone home for a couple of house then came back to school to deal with high school students again.

Mrs Davis is the last to leave, I watch as half the baseball team make their way over to the gym door, as soon as mrs David leaves a foot stops the door closing. Everyone is now looking towards the door as the guys walk over, whistling and shouting with grins on their faces. It takes me seconds to recognise the person that walks in. My smile drops as I watch the guys take the backpack off him and begin pulling out multiple bottles of alcohol.

"You've got to be shitting me" Abbie sighs at my side.
"Well I'm going to get alcohol" Katie shrugs walking over, she grabs my arm dragging me along with her.
"Katie" I mumble slapping her hand off.
"I can drag my own two feet by myself" I mumble

When we get to the group Katie walks straight over to Will, to no surprise. My eyes fall onto the black hoodie with skeleton bones on it, his blonde hair spilling out the hood.

"What are you doing?" I whisper coming up behind him.
"Hey babe" Jason smiles
"You can't be here" my heart is racing as I take his arm beginning to drag him towards the door.
"I'm not staying the night, just a few hours. The guys texted me saying the lock-in was a bust, and that people were asking about me. I'm staying until 2 then I'm out, all the guys are leaving early for practice it will look like I left with them" he shrugs stopping me from pulling him towards the door.

"There's still a chance you will get sick" I sigh shaking my head.
"I can't live my life in isolation and in fear of getting sick. If I get sick, I get sick" he whispers so only I can hear, there's still groups around us who could hear at any moment.
"I'm not on chemo for another week, on chemo I'm more vulnerable so I'll be more careful. But right now, I feel fine" I nod feeling more relaxed now that I know he is being more careful than he put out to be. I understand where he's coming from and what he's saying.

If you worry about the past your going to become depressed, if you worry about the future your going to develop anxiety. Stop worrying about the past and the future and live in the present.

Jason's words fill my mind setting a new look on tonight. I decide to listen to Jason's good advice and walk over to him. I find him with the baseball team talking and drinking per usual, I settle down next to him seeing Katie wink at me as she's sitting with Will. Seems like them two are getting pretty close.

"I was beginning to think you weren't gonna show Parker"