If Tomorrow Never Comes | On Hold

1

Avery glared at her phone screen when she saw the time. She willed the elevator to move faster as it ascended the floors of Savannah Regional Hospital, not wanting to be late for her first day of senior year. Her father had had a fainting spell a few days before and was admitted to the hospital to be supervised, she had promised that she would stop by on her way to school.

When the doors finally slid open Avery walked out and jogged straight to the nurses station, her converse slapping against the tiled floor. When she reached, the nurse looked up and smiled warmly.

"Avery, you're here early today." Avery nodded as she tapped her polished fingernail on the glass counter, her eyes surveying the doctors walking around.

"I have school today," she said but continued before the nurse could speak, "where's doctor Matthews?" The nurse reached towards the band of her scrubs and used her pager to call for the doctor and then looked up at Avery with another smile.

"I paged her to your fathers room, just go right ahead and she'll meet you there." Avery thanked her and then sped walked down the hallway to her right, checking her phone one more time and inwardly cursing when she saw that it read 8:05 AM. She had not even fifteen minutes to spend with her dad if she wanted to make it to school on time.

Just as she turned the corner, Dr. Matthews pulled up beside her with a tablet in her hands. Avery smiled at the woman, taking in her blonde hair that was immaculately pulled into a ponytail and the blouse with black pencil skirt that she had paired with little black heels. The doctors blue eyes met hers and crinkled at the corners with a smile of their own.

"Ready for school, Avery?" she asked as they walked down the hallway together. Avery shrugged nonchalantly, as if the thought of her last year of high school didn't bother her, even though her nerves were sky rocketing.

"You know I'm ready, Mel. This last year should be a breeze, graduation is right around the corner," Avery smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. All her worries were seeping through them and Mel gave her shoulder a sympathetic rub.

They came up to an open door at the end of the hallway, Mel gesturing for Avery to enter first. Once she did, she glanced around the room. Her eyes focused on her father's figure standing by the windows, an IV drip connected to his arm as he gazed at the sunny day outside. When he heard the shuffling of feet inside the room he turned and beamed at his daughter. His brown hair was mixed in with subtle grey, his hazel eyes sparkling as he looked at her.

"Ave! You're cutting it close with time kiddo," he laughed as Avery wrapped him up in a hug. When they pulled apart, Avery helped him walk back to his bed and watched as he laid back and crossed his ankles. Doctor Matthews cleared her throat to bring the attention back to her.

"So I've got good news and some not so good news," she began and Avery reached to hold her fathers hand, clutching it tightly. "The good news is that you can go home this afternoon when Avery gets out of school."

Some of the tension in Avery's shoulders lifted, her father looking at her with a smile on his face. "The not so good news," Mel continued, "is that the tumor has grown in size just a bit, which is why you felt the extra pressure in your head and fainted from the headaches.

Now we don't have to worry too much, I'm confident that we can diminish the size of it with another round of chemo since it's worked before but only if that's what you want to do Mark." She addressed her father and waited. Avery met her dads gaze and nodded her head, urging him to say yes, pleading with her eyes for him to make the right decision.

"Another round of chemo sounds just fine," Mark answered as he looked back at Mel. Avery released the breath she'd been holding, her shoulders slumping forward with relief.

"Great," Mel beamed, "I'll get you set up for those to start next week. I have to go make some more rounds so I'll be back when Avery gets here to take you home. Have fun at school, sweetie." And she turned on her heel and exited the room.

It was silent for a couple of seconds before Mark spoke up again.

"You should get ready to head out if you wanna beat the highway traffic," he said to Avery. She nodded her head and leaned down, wrapping her arms around her father and placing a kiss on his cheek.

"I'll see you at four, try to stay out of trouble," she said to him and they both laughed. The silence that followed was heavy, both of them staring at each other with sad eyes.

"Good luck on your first day, kiddo," Mark told her as he squeezed her hand, "I love you."

Avery felt her eyes begin to water and she shook her head, "I love you too, dad." With one last warm smile to each other, Avery turned around and walked out the door. She didn't want to cry, but the tears that swelled were too heavy and she felt them rolling down her cheeks. She hated that her father was in this place, that he couldn't send her off properly to her last first day of school.

She kept her head down as she made her way to the elevators, her own long light brown hair shielding her face from any passerby's. Once she stepped out of the elevator doors on the first floor her phone rang, she smiled slightly as she looked at the caller ID before answering.

"Hey, Maddy," she said and almost dropped her phone when two voices screeched from the other end.

"Guys, one at a time please," Avery laughed as she walked across the parking lot. She pulled her car keys out of her pocket and unlocked her car. It was a 2017 Mustang GT Coupe, all black metallic on the outside with a custom added all red leather interior. A birthday present from her dad for her eighteenth birthday a month back, his apology for her having to spend her special day in the hospital with him.

She turned the car on once she was sat inside and the engine roared to life, her phones bluetooth automatically connecting to her car.

"Avery where are you?" One of the voices spoke, she knew it was Maddy just by the way her voice turned into a whine at the end.

"Yeah we've been waiting for you for like ten minutes," the second voice spoke, her other best friend Kelsey huffed in annoyance. Avery, Maddy, and Kelsey met in freshman year homeroom. The three of them had been partnered up for a get-to-know-you project to help you make friends on your first day. All three of them thought it was stupid, but three years later and here they were.

"I'm leaving the hospital now," Avery said as she pulled out of her parking space, "I'll be there in less than twenty." The two girls on the other end stayed silent for a moment before Maddy spoke softly into her phone.

"Is he doing okay?" she asked and Avery sighed. She didn't want to think about what Dr. Matthews had told her just now, but she knew that it was always best to talk about it with her friends. They'd been there for her during the worst of times and never failed to help her see things clearly.

"He has to go for another round of chemo," she told them and they offered her their condolences and words of encouragement as she pulled onto the highway. "I'm getting on I-95, so I'll see you guys in a bit."

The girls bid their goodbyes and Avery hung up the phone, the car silent and only her thoughts to keep her company on the drive.

♡♡♡

☼ so there we have chapter one, this story wasn't supposed to come out until December but I got really excited about it and now here we are

☼ how are you guys feeling about this so far? are we liking Avery? her dad? are you excited to meet her friends? let me know in the comments

♡ Sandy