Neighbors

91

Quinn POV

I'm sitting in Alyssa's hospital room reading her a book to keep her mind off the pain she's going through currently.

She started chemo last week and her hair is slowly fading away into nothing now.

Since the night the Styles family found out about her illness, everyone has seemed more united like they used to be, as odd as that sounds.

It's been two weeks since they found about her leukemia, and since then Harry hasn't acted the same.

After school he always visits her before he has work, or sometimes he'll skip work to be there for her. Seeing him put his siblings first again makes me remember why I fell in love with him in the first place.

We haven't talked about our relationship and where it stands. We haven't even really had a conversation about anything besides Alyssa and how my "recovery" is going.

The answer to that is painful but slowly happening. I haven't thrown up any meal of mine in these past two weeks, which doesn't sound like progress but it is. My meals are small, so it allows me to not lose my mind.

Thinking back to Harry, I wish we talked more about where we are though as a couple. I'm confused to what we even are if I'm being honest.

I glance up from the kid book I'm reading and see Harry's eyes are on me. They're soft looking but sincere. He gives me a polite smile then looks to Alyssa who rests her head against my arm.

I continue to read until she falls asleep into her peaceful nap.

The room falls silent and my eyes go back to Harry who looks tired and sad all wrapped into one.

"What are you thinking about?" I ask him.

"A lot." He answers.

"Like?" I ask, wanting him to explain his thoughts to me.

"How I'm worried about Alyssa, you, us, my parents, so on." Harry lists casually.

"What about your parents?" I ask, not wanting to get into us first.

"Money is already super tight with us," Harry says. "I don't know how they're going to be able to pay for Alyssa's chemo and treatment." He admits to me through a mumble.

I don't know how to reply to that, so I don't. I keep silent and just nod, even though I don't know what their family is going through. I will never know how to deal with what they do.

"How are you doing?" Harry asks me, changing the topic.

"I'm fine," I answer. "You?"

"I'm okay," He says. "When's your next session?"

"Not till Friday." I say. It's Tuesday now and my next therapy appointment is Friday. I've gained seven pounds back, which is not a lot, but it's something.

Thick silence falls between us again. "How's Destiny?" I ask.

"She's okay from what her mom told me." Harry says.

"Is she doing chemo?" I ask.

"Yeah, but it's not really working. It's making her more sick."

I see the sadness on his face telling me this. I don't know what he's going through, but I can only imagine.

"Did the doctors uh," I pause, not wanting to ask what I was going too.

"Four months," Harry says, wiping his eyes. "That's the estimate."

I feel my eyes burn from him telling me this. I nod, and look back to Alyssa who's sleeping peacefully. "I'm sorry." I say to him.

"For?" He asks.

"Everything I guess," I say. "When was the last time you saw her?" I ask.

"Last week," Harry says while looking at his hands rested on his lap. "I just can't lose my little sister too." I hear him say through a faded mumble.

We spend the rest of the time I'm there in silence, which I don't mind for once.

***

When I got home Tuesday night, I talked to my Dad about the whole Alyssa thing and what Harry's family is going through.

I know how much money the treatment is costing them, and this will only make the kids live in New Jersey the rest of their lives by how much debt they'll be in.

Considering my family has loads of money, some new, but mostly old, I asked if we could secretly pay off whatever debt they owe to the hospital. They won't know its us, even though it may look obvious to who it was. I just can't see them suffer anymore than they already have.

My father agreed without question, which made my day. He said he'll go to the hospital tomorrow and see what he can do.

I lay in bed the same night just thinking.

Acceptance letters from some colleges are being mailed out this week.

Most are from the colleges Harry and I both applied too. But the biggest one is the letter from Harvard.

Thinking about getting accepted into there makes my heart flutter but also makes me have a lot of anxiety.

Considering that Harry and I are hardly a couple, I don't know what college means to us now.

A://N

Sorry for another low key shitty chapter . Next one will be going into depth about their relationship, feelings, what have ya

Comment goal: 50??? (: that would mean a lot if we got that

~Lauren