Lift // Hamliza

• chapter 48 •

• Eliza •

It's been over a week since I've actually seen Alexander and nearly four since I admitted to him about Maria.

As soon as Angelica finished yelling at me that night, I cut all ties with Maria. I called her and said there would be no more kisses, no more sex, no more hanging out at all. I needed to do it. I needed Alex back and this was how I would begin to regain his trust.

I was in my dance studio at the moment, working on what I could of the pas de deux. I absolutely hated to say it, but I don't think we're going to be able to perform it at the competition.

It's currently December 22nd and the competition is in early January. Alex hasn't danced in weeks and is rarely even allowed up from bed. His chemotherapy will be almost in full swing by then and he won't have danced for nearly a month and a half. He won't remember the moves and probably wouldn't be able to lift me up right before our ending pose.

But I practiced anyways, because a little tiny part of me prayed that maybe some miracle would occur and Alexander would be fine by the time the competition rolled around.

Afterwards, I was doing cool-down stretches when my phone began to play a familiar ringtone.

Five hundred twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes. Five hundred twenty five thousand moments so dear...

I set that as Alex's ringtone the day before Thanksgiving after we sang it together when we were cooking. It always makes me think of him.

I jumped up quickly and dashed over to the phone. Either something was wrong and someone was calling me from his phone, or maybe, just maybe, he actually wanted to see me.

"Hello?" I said, trying to keep the over eagerness out of my voice. I didn't do so well.

"Hi, Eliza." I heard Alexander say softly. I sighed in relief, knowing he was fine, at least for the time being.

"What's going on?" I asked. Please say you want to see me, please say you want to see me, I thought.

"Can you come see me? I want to talk to you about a couple things." My heart leapt in my chest as he said this and I couldn't keep the smile off my face as I rushed to put my shoes on and run to my car.

"Absolutely. I'm on my way." I said, still grinning like an absolute fool. He said goodbye and hung up, and I sped off to the hospital.

The route was one I'd traveled all to much over the past few weeks, and yet, I felt I should've been doing it more. If Peggy and Angie wouldn't force me to stay away from him, I'd be there at his bed everyday to help him and ask for forgiveness. But then again, they say that absence makes the heart grow stronger.

I turned into the parking lot and practically ran inside to see him. When I got inside, he was staring at his hairbrush.

"Alexander." I breathed, getting a good look at him for the first time in over a week. He was pale and had deep, dark bags under his eyes. His hair looked thinner and it almost appeared as if there were tiny bald spots in certain places. He was wearing dark green sweatpants and a grey T-shirt, both looking worn and old.

"Betsey. Come sit with me, please." He said. My heart soared at the nickname he used. It was a rare occasion that he called me Betsey, but I love it. I love it so much.

"What's wrong, Alex?" I asked, settling next to him. He handed me his hairbrush. There was a lot more excess hair in it than usual. Oh. Oh.

"The doctors told me it'd start happening soon. Little by little. I was brushing my hair a little bit ago and I noticed for the first time that it was beginning to fall out more when I brushed it. I fell asleep earlier and woke up to see hair all over the pillow. But I didn't call you here so I could wallow about beginning to lose my hair," he explained. I gave him a sad glance. I felt bad for him.

"Why... why did you call me here?" I asked. He looked up at me with a broken sort of smile.

"It's kind of a funny story. About five or six days ago I met with my therapist, Dr Rosario. She told me a lot of things, but she also told me to forgive the people in my life who deserved to be forgiven," He said. I drew in a hopeful breath as my stomach did flips inside of me.

"So, Eliza, after almost a week since Dr Rosario told me to forgive, and a month after you hurt me...I forgive you. I may still be a little upset about what happened, but I forgive you. And I hope you accept my forgiveness and my request for you to once more be my girlfriend." He said with a soft smile. I felt my face break into a grin.

"Absolutely. And, I don't want to ruin the moment but I'm still so sorry. Everyday I would think of you and think of just how stupid I was to cheat. And I swear, it'll never, ever happen again. I love you. I never stopped, not even when we weren't together. And I'm ready to earn back your love and trust even more." I replied, still smiling.

"I know it won't happen again. And just for the record, I'd never cheat either. Oh, and Eliza, you know how you said you wanted to regain my love and trust?" He said. I squinted at him with confusion.

"Yeah?" I said.

"You already have it." He smiled. I felt a blush rush to my cheeks. Have I ever felt this happy before? I don't think so.

Forgiveness. Can you imagine?