When former beauty pageant queen, Ellie Wilde, hears of her grandmother's sickness, she's the first to offer to drive her to her chemotherapy. What she didn't know she was agreeing to was an obnoxiously cheerful blond boy somehow nudging his way int...
Cooper bites back a comeback and nods his friend on. "We met a woman at that appointment. She was doing chemo and we somehow ended up sat down with her and talking. This became a regular thing for us. We'd go and sit with her and chat about our lives. Do you remember Willa?"
A sudden sadness falls over Cooper as the name registers in his mind. "Ellie's grandma. She passed away."
Brandon raises his eyebrows, shaking his head slowly as he wears another frown. "She didn't die. She's still doing chemo."
"She didn't die?"
"No. We just saw her a few days ago and she wished you good luck with the surgery." Cooper's heart swells at the new information, but before he has a chance to ask any more questions, Brandon continues speaking. "But you're right about her being Ellie's grandma. She'd tell us stories about her granddaughter all the time and hint that you'd be good for her. Then one day, we finally met Ellie.
"She's a volunteer at the hospital. She came to check up on her grandma during her break and we happened to be there at the same time. Willa was right, you guys hit it off. Ellie started coming back more frequently, whenever she could find time to get away. You didn't make up your feelings for her. But you never asked her out. Your surgery was risky and you didn't know what the outcome would be."
"I didn't make her up?" Cooper asks, a sense of relief making its way through his entire body.
"Nope. She's very real." The frown finally fades from Brandon's face and a smile replaces it. "You just didn't want to ask her out until you knew you were better. Which you are now. Sort of, anyway."
Cooper's body freezes at his friend's words. "I'm better?"
"Yeah. Your surgery was a success. They removed the cancerous part of your colon. I mean, they have to keep an eye on you for a while and the recovery from the surgery is going to be a real bitch, but you're in remission."
For the first time since he's woken up, a smile lights up Cooper's face. He lifts his blanket, moving his hospital gown out of the way to observe his scar once more. He gently touches his fingertips to it before pulling them back at the pain his soft touch produces. Tears well up in his eyes as he continues staring at his stomach, the words, 'I'm better,' playing over and over in his head.
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After a week and a half at the hospital and three weeks in his bed at home, Cooper finally has a chance to get outside and get some fresh air. While mostly healed, there's still a bit of tenderness in his abdomen, but it's nothing he can't handle. He finds himself surprised as he makes his way back to the hospital on his first day of freedom. But that surprise all but fades as soon as he sees the seats they'd met in during his drug-induced dream.
A little disappointed that Ellie isn't sat there waiting for him, he makes his way over to the elevators and presses the button to summon one. As he waits, he stares back at his reflection, surprised once again to see his usual blond locks instead of brown ones like in his dream. His surprise is brief as the elevator doors open and he steps inside, pressing the fourth floor button and beginning his ascend.
