(editing) 𝗠𝗥. 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗟𝗬 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗘, 𝘦𝘫 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 ¹

xvii. please don't leave me

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
·.¸¸.·♩♪♫ mr perfectly fine ♫♪♩·.¸¸.·

EVERYTHING WAS HAPPENING SO FAST. One minute Reece Hastings was crying to EJ Caswell on the steps of her high school over her breakup and her best friend moving. The next she was pacing up and down the halls of the hospital waiting room, as she, Anne, Victor, and EJ waited for the news about Scarlett Hastings.

"You can go home," she remembered telling EJ as he dropped her off. "I know you probably want to go to Denny's with everyone else." But EJ refused. Saying she and her mom were more important than going to dinner with his friends. The rest of the conversation was a blur, only to remember it ending in a hug and Reece trying not to cry.

"Can you stop that? You're making me nervous." Anne told her sister snapping her out of her thoughts. Reece noticed the slight quiver in her voice so she took a seat in between her and EJ.

"Everything will be ok, Annie," Reece reassured her, taking her hand and interlocking their fingers. "Everything will be fine." She repeated, though she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else.

♪♫ ♫♪

*MENTION OF CANCER*

"She's stable for now, but she's in critical condition." The doctor spoke.

It had been two hours since they'd arrived at the hospital. Reece, Victor, and Anne stood as the doctor spoke to them about Scarlett's fall. EJ had excused himself to give the family their space, since he refused to leave Reece alone at a time like this, no matter how much she tried to convince him.

The woman continued to speak, "We did many scans in order to find the problem. It seems, your wife, your mother," she said looking towards the two young redheads, "has stage 2 lung cancer." Reece let out a cry, covering her mouth in shock. "But I promise we will do everything we can to help save her. You can come in and see her now."

Victor nodded and thanked the doctor, who quickly made her way over to one of the nurses. As Victor and Anne made their way towards the room Reece stayed put. She couldn't move, it was as if someone superglued her shoes to the ground. "Reece, come on, mom's waiting for us," Anne said taking her sister's hand and guiding her to the room where Victor stood at the side of the hospital bed, stroking his fiancé's head.

As Reece inched closer she noticed how pale her mother was, how her body was covered in wires and the bags under her eyes that began to flutter awake. While Anne and Victor stood at her side, Reece did not. She stayed at the closed door, in fear she would make problems worse.

Scarlett looked over at her eldest daughter. Her eyes pleading for her to come closer. Reece began to tug at the rubber band on her wrist, she began to regret taking of the one EJ had gifted her because her wrist had begun bleeding a few moments ago, but she didn't care.

Her mother was in the hospital. How could she have not noticed the signs? She knew her mother had looked sick weeks ago but she'd thought it was because of stress. She should've said something. She should've done something.

The voice of her mother snapped Reece out of her thoughts. "Can you two give us a moment?" She asked her fiancé and daughter, who softly nodded.

"I'll go tell EJ," Anne said softly giving her mother a kiss.

When Reece and Scarlett were the only ones in the room Scarlett spoke, "This is not your fault, Reece. I know you think it is but it's not."

Scarlett was always good at reading her daughter's emotions. She knew how her mind worked, and with something as terrible as this Scarlett was sure Reece's anxiety would take over her and being to create these ideas in her head, that were simply not true.

"But if I had been home I could've seen the signs." She stated as she stood closer to her mother.

Scarlett put her hand up to stop her daughter from speaking, "I don't want to hear about the ifs because this is happening. And you are not going to spend the rest of your life wondering about what would've happened." She took her daughters hand, who began to treble more than her own. Guiding her to the chair that stood directly beside the bedside.

Reece couldn't contain herself anymore, tears streamed down her face as she looked at her sick mother. "Please don't leave me, mommy." Reece cried, "please."

Scarlett squeezed her hand, "I'm right here, baby, I'm right here."

That was the end of the conversation. The only sound could be heard from Reece's cries and the beeps from the monitor.

As the minutes went by, so did the crying. The two Hastings women held onto each other's hands as they slept, Scarlett in the bed and Reece in the chair leaning her head on her mother's arm/the bed.

Maybe Monday's really was the worst day of the week.

♪♫ ♫♪

Reece woke up to the sound of someone opening the door. A blonde woman walked in, a tray table in hand. "Oh good you're awake." The woman smiled at Reece as she made her way over to the monitor. "Your father and sister stepped out for a moment, and your mother told me not to wake you."

Reece looked up from her position, instead of leaning against the hospital bed, she was curled up in a ball on the yellow round chair. "Your boyfriend is outside, he hasn't left since you arrived."

Reece looked at the woman confused, "Boyfriend?" Then she realized who she was talking about. "EJ? Oh, he's not my boyfriend, he's just a friend."

The blonde woman gave her a nod, though she was unconvinced, "If you say so." With that she left.

Had he really stayed? Reece asked herself.

And he had.

Because EJ Caswell would always stay for Reece Hastings, no matter the reason.

INEZ SPEAKS

FINAL CHAPTER BITCHES!!! It's short but it's fine.
Originally this book was going to be left on a cliffhanger but I decided to be nice and tell you a little of what happened so I don't need to waste time explaining in book two.

Also if someone has a better way to end this (seeing as I hate it) please tell me!

If you want you can imagine chap 16 as the ending for the show and this as a little preview for s2.