Bald And Badass With A Bucket List

Chapter 3

     I sat in the waiting room of the hospital. I knew something was wrong but no one would tell me what was going on. The chair was uncomfortable and a baby cried in the corner. I felt overwhelmed by the smell of disinfectant as it burned my nose. Hospitals make me uncomfortable. An elderly couple walks into the waiting room and goes into a small room to talk to the nurse at her desk who gets all the patients' information. I can hear them talk for a minute and then the nurse says, "You can just sit down, I'm sure it won't be too long." They then sit in the chairs across from me. She picks up a newspaper, fumbles around in her purse, finds a stub of a pencil and they begin to do the Saturday crossword together. 

     "Nutmeg," the man says, in a gruff voice. She scratches the 6 letter word into the little boxes.

     I stare blankly out the window at all the traffic. It's 5:30, so it's busy with New York traffic. Our school was just on the outskirts of town and we lived  just a couple minutes out of the city so normally I didn't have to fight with heavy traffic like this. The hospital, Presbyterian Queens Hospital, was across the street is the cafe that Aria and I had wandered upon in our freshman year. The cafe, Kimberley's, became our hangout place. She always got a regular coffee with milk and sugar. I always got a Vanilla Streamer. Aria would call me a white girl with my fancy drink but I would just  make a big deal about taking a sip and we'd both laugh. My mind flashes back to what happened this afternoon.

     I was watching Aria through my snapchat camera. She was laughing and sitting on the cement sidewalk with her biology textbook next to her. 

      "Aria, come on." I laugh at her. 

      "But Noah," she whines, dragging out the 'ah' part of my name. "I'm tired!"  She holds out a hand and I begin to walk towards her when her face goes blank. She all of a sudden falls backwards, hitting her head on the cement and shakes violently. 

     "What the fuck," I yell, dropping my phone. "Aria!" I yell and begin to panic. "Someone help me!" Aria's eyes roll back up into her head and all I can see is the whites of her eyes. Suddenly, I realize what's happening. She's having a seizure. My hands are shaking as I roll her on her side and someone pulls their car over. A middle aged lady in a business suit runs over to me, her heels in her hand. She gets one look at Aria and pulls out her phone. She makes the call.  

     Suddenly, I catch Aria's dad standing by the door leading to all the patients' rooms. He scans the room and finally finds me. He looks forlorn and empty. I stand but he gestures for me to sit. 

      "Can I see her?" I ask eagerly.

     "Noah, before you see her, I need to tell you something about Aria." Shit. 

      "She's okay though?" I try to look at the entrance behind him, the hallway that will lead me to Aria. He sighs and shakes his head no. 

      "She's been diagnosed with leukemia." Mr. Coleman looks like he's about to cry. 

      "No," I say, refusing to believe it. It's been a week since school started and she's been fine. Then I remember what happened the night before the first day of school. She had been throwing up. Off hand, I didn't know if that was a common symptom or not, but now that I think of it. I just thought she was feeling sick, but maybe she was just sick. I can't help it as tears run down my cheeks. I don't care who sees me cry. I cry for Aria, for her parents, for me. Everything is going to be different.

     "We found out just over a week ago," he tells me. "She didn't want to tell you right away." 

     I stand up. Mr. Coleman calls my name, begging me to stay in the waiting room but I ignore him. I need to see her. This can't be true. I refuse to believe this is true. She's my best friend, I would have noticed something was wrong. What kind of friend was I if she was sick, sick with fucking leukemia, and I didn't notice? I look through every door, yelling her name. Her mother comes out of room number 156. She presses a finger to her lips. Her eyes are red and puffy and all her mascara has dried in drips down her cheeks. She walks into the room and I follow her. A doctor was sitting in there with Aria, discussing chemotherapy plans. 

     "Aria?" I say, walking in. She looks the same. She's plugged into multiple tubes though, one monitoring her heart beat. It's steady and strong. She gives me a glance but then focuses her stare back on the doctor as he pauses, distracted by my sudden entrance. He's younger, probably 30. He doesn't look much like a doctor. Doctors always carry around this weight on their shoulders. This weight of all the patients they've lost, patients they couldn't save. He looks hopeful, like he's expecting to save everyone. But would he save Aria? 

     I mentally slap myself. Stop. You're acting like she already has a foot in the grave, but here she is, looking like she always has. 

     "I'll come back later," the doctor says and leaves the room. Mrs. Coleman follows him, leaving us alone. 

     "Noah-" She looks like she's been cornered, "I was going to tell you." She's looking at me, waiting for to yell at her, to demand for an explanation as to why I wasn't one of the first people to know, but I just sit in the chair beside her. 

     "Whatever you need, I will get it for you. I'm here for you." She takes my hand and smiles. 

     "One coffee, with milk and sugar."