In Sickness and In Health

A Riverdale Reunion

Lili POV

Myself and Cole are currently getting ready for our reunion with our old cast mates and if I'm being honest I'd much rather stay at home, not because I'm avoiding everyone I feel absolutely miserable, I'm freezing cold one minute boiling hot the next. I had both radiation and chemo yesterday and I haven't fully recovered, I know that I've been having them for nearly three months but its something you will never be ready for.

I also don't feel 'Pretty' anymore my eyelashes have all fallen out , I have no eyebrow hair and the hair on my scalp is virtually non existent. I never thought I was "Drop Dead Gorgeous" but styling and dying my hair always gave me a confidence that I so desperately needed. Countless Doctors have told me it's normal for men and women to lose their hair and that hair is lost when chemotherapy drugs damage hair follicles, making hair fall out. But that doesn't make me feel any better. I remember being told that radiation therapy to the head often causes scalp hair loss and that sometimes , depending on the dose of radiation to the head, the hair does not grow back the same as it was before. This made me feel very sad as I always loved my blonde locks and how Cole used to twirl and mess with them as a method of keeping his nerves at bay.

One of my favourite photos that I have in our house is a photo of me as a kid when I am about two or three years old and I'm wearing my dad's old Cleveland Indians sweater that he had when he was younger. My blonde hair in a bowl cut much like Coles when he was younger and a young innocent smile of a young child unaware of the big bad world around her. As a kid I never thought that there was anything outside of Cleveland or Ohio.

I remember one time my dad had gone away on a business trip out of state and I missed him a lot so my mom gave me this old navy blue sweater with the words Cleveland Indians printed across it in red lettering, it smelt of my dad so I refused to wear anything else for the few days he were away and when he finally came home I gave him the biggest hug I've ever given to anyone as I was so relieved to have him home because to me he had gone millions of miles away but in reality he had just gone to Pennsylvania for a conference.

As myself and Cole head out of our hotel door and into the freezing outdoors, I begin to panic and think about chickening out last minute as I just don't feel my usual perky self. It has been raining very heavily, my head is cold I'm wearing a blonde wig, it's very realistic looking but it's simply not the same. The wig is matched with a mustard yellow bobble hat to try and keep the warmth in but I'm still freezing, I just can't get any heat into my deteriorating body even though I'm wearing several layers underneath my heavy duffel jacket.

I turn to Cole and tell him that I'm not feeling the best and want to go home.

"Lili we'll stay here a couple of hours and then we can go back to the hotel, okay" he says.

"Not back to the hotel, home our home. Back to New York, back to the house and back to Theo," I say trying to cover my chattering teeth.

"Why Lili? You not feeling great?" He says giving me a hug.

"I feel rotten and I look horrible and everyone is going to be all dolled up whereas I look like an fish out of water. Everyone is going to comment and say they're sorry, when why should they be sorry they didn't give me cancer. " I say feeling the warmth of Coles embrace as he hugs me tightly.

"Hey, Hey Lili you look lovely and you know our old cast and crew, they are some of the best people I know!" He says turning me around and smiling.

"Lovely eh? I look terrible Cole and you know it," I say standing over the canopy of the restaurant, we are still managing to get covered in rain but I honestly couldn't give a damn.

"Come here, Lils you are and always will be the most beautiful girl in the world to me, you know that right." He says pulling me close and leaning down to reach my lips.

"You have to say that, you're my husband,". I say letting out a sigh.

He pulls me close and kisses me, all the pain I am feeling just goes his lips comforting me. We are locked in a kiss, our faces dripping with the wintry gift from the clouds. He holds his hands gently to my hair and I rest my hands on his black windbreaker, sodden though it must be. Cole smiles and glances to the sky,

"Better," he asks his face returning to mine.

"Much better," I respond kissing him one final time as I push the restaurant door open and make my way inside to the busy Vancouver restaurant where we had our first dinner as a cast. The Blue Water Cafe despite being called a cafe it is more a bistro than a cafe due to having a full A la Carté menu and only being open from five in the evening onwards which I find funny we tell the waitress our names. She brings us upstairs to a function room with several tables and shows us our assigned seats for the night.

We notice that we are the first to arrive, I blame Cole and his punctuality, he always needs to be ridiculously early for everything, it's more an OCD thing than being there on time, he's like that with a lot of things, being on time, ironing his clothes and the weirdest of all brushing his teeth for at least four minutes.

We get comfortable when Hayley walks in.

"Hey Lili, Cole its great to see you guys."she says throwing her arms around the two of. We sit and chat with her for a while and I finally feel relaxed and I think that this evening might not be so bad after all...

Hey guys part 15 of the sequel! Hope you are enjoying it so far, any suggestions just DM me,
Lots of Love
L❤️