Photographs (Luke Hemmings)

Chapter 26

We planned one more game of Uno, and my brother won; for the third time in a row.

"Okay i'm sitting in a hospital bed, you can't let me win once?" I teased my brother who just stuck out his tongue in return. I laughed at his childish behavior. He may be 29 years old, but he still acts like an annoying 13 year old boy sometimes.

Casey and Ally were walking through my room door within minutes.

They exchanged their hellos with my family before my sister looked over at me.

"Uh Bailey we'll be in the cafeteria, we'll be back in a little while," she said with a tone in her voice telling me that I should give the news to them. I sat up and nodded, respecting the fact that my family was going to give me the space I needed.

"Hey how are you feeling?" Ally asked as she hugged me.

"How are you?" Casey said, also hugging me.

"I feel alright," I said.

"Do you know anything?" Casey asked sitting down in the chair next to my bed, Ally did the same.

"Yeah," I said hesitantly. They both nodded signaling me to continue.

"I had an MRI yesterday morning," I said taking in a deep breath, "I have a brain tumor," I said after a pause. My eyes already welling up with tears.

"What," Casey choked out, tears already falling from her eyes. Ally froze with tears forming in her eyes.

They both stood up, pulling me into a group hug and crying into my shoulder. I pulled back.

"I'm going into surgery tomorrow afternoon at 4. They're gonna remove as much as they can without impairing my speech. It should give me 8 months to maybe a few years," I said and the sobbing from their mouths slowly began to die down.

"I don't know how long I'll have, but I'll only have a few months if I don't get the surgery," I said. They nodded, and I told them about the risks the surgery produced, letting a few tears fall from my eyes.

"They don't know how long you'll have exactly?" Ally asked after a while.

I shook my head, "No. I could have only 8 months, but I could have up to 5 years. They don't know because part of the tumor is on an important part of my brain and they can't remove it. It depends how fast it grows," I mumbled.

They continued to cry, and tell me they were sorry. I just stayed quiet.

After we all began to calm down, Casey looked over at me wiping the last of her tears.

"Have you told Luke yet?" Casey asked, her face red from crying.

"I haven't exactly been answering his calls," I said shaking my head. I hadn't had the heart to tell him. Now that I was going into surgery the next day, I felt guilty for not cluing him in.

"You haven't talked to him at all?" she said in disbelief.

"I haven't talked to him in about two days."

"Bail, him and Ashton come home tomorrow. They got knocked out of the tournament," she said making my eyes widen.

After Casey told me Luke was going to be home tomorrow morning, I decided I had to tell him as soon as he got back into town. Casey and Ally promised they would be here early the next morning.

I tossed and turned that night, worried about what I was going to say to Luke when I saw him face to face.

I probably fell asleep after 4am.

Ally and Casey woke me up the next morning.

"Hey we brought you a muffin," Ally smiled handing me a bag. I sat up rubbing my eyes.

"Thank you," I said taking the bag from her, "What time is it?"

"11:30," they both said at the same time.

"Do you know when the boys will be in town?" I asked taking a bite of the muffin.

"Honestly, I have no clue. I would imagine soon though. They left really early this morning, around 5," she said taking a seat next to Ally.

I still wasn't sure what I was going to say to Luke. I didn't know how he was going to react either.

My brother, and sister walked into the room.

"Hey guys," my brother said. Casey and Ally both said hello to my brother and sister.

"Dad was here, but he had to leave for work and didn't want to wake you," my sister said. I nodded, and she took my muffin out of my hand taking a small bite.

"Hey," I said even though I really didn't mind. She just gave me the same smirk she always did when she took my food, this wasn't the first time.

We were all listening to my brother talk about how he watched some couple fight in the middle of a restaurant this morning when he went to go get breakfast, but we all turned our heads once we heard the door pull open.

"Bailey!" Michael yelled dragging out the Y. Calum began to shush him and mumbled that they were in a hospital. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey," I said taken by surprise as Michael, Calum, Ashton and Luke walked into my room.

Michael was carrying a big teddy bear, and Calum was carrying balloons. I looked at Luke who walked in last carrying some flowers.

"Oh my gosh, thanks guys," I said as Calum and Michael put the bear and balloons next to my bed. I hugged Michael then Calum.

"Sorry that everyone brought you something except me. You can have a hug," Ashton giggled pulling me in tightly.

"Hey," Luke mumbled nervously walking towards me to give me a hug.

"These are for you," he said passing me a flower arrangement.

"Thank you," I said with a big smile as he kissed my cheek.

"Oh!" I exclaimed remembering my brother and sister were in the room.

"David, Patricia, these are my friends Michael, Calum and Ashton," I said pointing at each of them.

"And my boyfriend Luke," I said shyly. This wasn't how I planned Luke meeting my family for the first time. I knew it wasn't what he had in mind either.

They all exchanged hellos and handshakes.

"We'll be back later," my brother said hugging me.

"I'll go ask if the doctor has a vase or something we can put these in," my sister said taking the flowers from my hand before hugging me as well. They both hugged me as if it was the last time they would see me, and it made my heart feel heavy.

Once we all simmered down from the excitement of seeing each other, "I didn't expect you all to be here," I said chuckling, "But thanks for coming."

"Luke told us you were here, so we told him we had to come see you," Michael said with the same big smile he always wore.

"How do you feel?" Calum asked sweetly. He was the big sweetheart of the group.

"Alright," I said. I looked over at Casey and Ally, giving them a pleading look.

"Guys we should go down to the cafeteria for a little while, give these two some time alone," Casey said. I scanned over everyone's faces. They all agreed making their way out of the room. I told Ally and Casey I would text them soon, and I watched as they all disappeared out of the door.

It was my time to tell Luke what was really happening.

-
A/N

why am I writing this. what am I doing. why don't I love myself.