♥Chapter 48: ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ʜᴇ ʟɪꜱᴛᴇɴꜱ ᴛᴏ ʙᴏᴍʙ ᴘᴜɴꜱ♥

❆Jake❆

I turn to look back at the guest in the office.

"You live in California," I state.

He nods, sitting back down on the leather chair he was sitting in and gestures for me to sit in the one across him.

"You've been Kennedy's doctor for a year." Also Kennedy's only friend in that period of time.

He nods again, a lilt of softness to his eyes for a second.

"Did you-" A gulp goes down my throat, "Did you know...Kennedy had cancer?"

"Not until I arrived here." His expressions closed up, "Dr. Ben had informed me that Kennedy had gotten into an accident at the mall. That's when I booked a flight and came here."

I nod, slumping back into the leather chair, my hands gripping the armrests.

A moment of silence passes between us.

"When Kennedy first came into my hospital." Dr. Gabriel starts, a furrow between his eyebrows, "She had very little chances of survival."

My eyebrows raise.

"The car accident killed her parents, and everyone thought she was going to die too." He continues. "She was this little thing, fighting for breath, sometimes not breathing at all. Her heart would stop beating for minutes before it started again." Gabriel unknowingly traces a pattern on the armrest of the couch, his expressions saying that he's watching a distant memory in his head.

"I remember so many times thinking that this was it, she's not going to make it, she's not gonna wake up." He shakes his head. "But then she would give the tiniest breath, a single heartbeat, anything. She fascinated everyone around her. The other doctors wanted to save her because of how she didn't give up, because of how she kept fighting for her life."

Gabriel looks up at me, "She's a fighter. She's stronger than you think."

My chest swells up.

"Every day, I would sit by her bed imagining the moment her eyes would open, imagining of how she would react, of how she would take things. At the brink of death, she showed so much strength, I wondered how much more strength she would show when she wakes up."

"And she did?" I ask.

"The day she woke up was the day I wished she had been unconscious for a little longer to give me time to quit my job."

I raise my eyebrows, "What'd she do?"

He shakes his head, sighing, "Trust me, kid, don't ask."

"That bad?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I almost turned deaf." He raises his eyebrows.

A breathy chuckle comes out of my mouth.

He shakes his head once more before regarding me, "She likes you a lot. Never stops talking about you, never stops sending pics of you. I was scared sending her here would make things worse for her. But I'm glad she came here and found friends."

"I heard she had bullies back in California."

A frown comes on his face at that. "The worst of them. Sometimes I would catch one or two in Kennedy's hospital room talking shit to her."

My fists clench.

"All that matters in the end is that she found her people." Gabriel states.

The door bolts open jerking Gabriel and me in our seats.

"Jake!" Toothy yells, looking frantic as if she's had a heart attack.

God, I fucking hope not.

"What?" I twist around in my chair to look at her.

"It's Kennedy!" She breaths out. "She woke up!"

✯✯✯

Every inch of my body fills with dread with every step towards Kennedy's room.

A slow weakness numbs my legs and hands, making it difficult for me to keep up with the fast pace of Toothy and Gabriel as we rush towards Kennedy's room.

My heart thrums faster and my skin turns colder.

What should I say first?

How should I act?

How am I gonna tell her that she has cancer?

Gabriel should be the one to do it. He's been with Kennedy for a year.

But she doesn't love Gabriel as she loves me.

We reach Kennedy's door where Corey's standing outside, biting his nails.

He raises his head at our footsteps, "Finally!" He hisses, "The doctor said we can go inside. He even said there's nothing wrong with my shin."

My gut twists when I reach for the door of Kennedy's room.

Nervousness pricks at my skin as I pull the handle down and push open the door.

My heart leaps to my throat.

Kennedy's lying on the bed, her hair a bright red colour against the plain white pillowcase like the sky during a sunset. Her thin arms lay against her sides with IV tubes inserted in. Her green eyes flick to me, and I suck in a breath.

"Kennedy." My voice is a whisper.

A weak smile attempts on her pale face.

My feet automatically carry me to her. All nervousness, anxiety, fear, pain, everything is forgotten. Kennedy. All that matters at the moment is Kennedy.

"Kennedy." My mouth whispers her name again as I tower over her, my knees weakening as I take in her sight.

"I had a dream." She whispers. Dark colours shade under her eyes that also emphasize the narrowness of her face. Her voice is barely a whisper and I yearn to hear more of it. Please don't stop talking.

My hand reaches out to take her thin and slim ones in mine as I slowly sink into the chair beside her bed.

"Kennedy."

"I saw my parents." Her weak smile reappears.

My heart hammers painfully in my chest.

"Yeah?"

She gives a small nod, "They were happy." She continues. "They're in this happy place with light and the bright sky everywhere."

My hand squeezes hers, "Tell me more."

She closes her eyes for a brief moment, "They're waiting."

I wait for her to continue.

"Waiting for what?" I ask when she doesn't speak.

She opens her eyes and gazes at me.

Instead of answering, she smiles again, "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I had a blast." She bursts into small laughter while I gaze at her, without blinking.

What the-

Yeah, lemme just go cartwheel off the building.

"Kennedy," I grumble under my breath, sighing.

"I must have looked bomb as heck." She bursts into small laughter again.

I roll my eyes, "Corey's rubbing off on you."

"I make everyone's brain explode." She continues and I let out a sigh.

"Remember when we got bombed in Corey's party?"   

"Kennedy, stop." I shake my head, resisting the smile that's trying to tug the corners of my lips up.

She lets out another breathy chuckle, "I'm never gonna stop making bomb puns now."

I lean down to kiss her forehead, "I'm gonna have to learn how to fake laugh then."

"Oh, you better laugh at my puns." She warns.

"Ha ha ha." I demonstrate my fake laugh, making her laugh.

Easy.

Everything comes easy with her.

Every tension, panic, fear, pain: she makes it go all away.

I watch the depths of her lively green eyes.

A jolt of pain goes through me. How long do I have before I can never see these eyes again?

There must be something on my face because Kennedy scrunches her eyebrows, "Are you alright?"

"Asks the one who's on the hospital bed." I snort.

"Oh, this?" She asks. "Nah, I'm just chillin'. What about you? How ya doin' bro-bro?"

I narrow my eyes, "Don't call me that."

"Relax." She chuckles. "But Toothy told me to throw in the words 'dude' and 'bro' once in a while to remind you that you can easily be removed from the dating game."

I roll my eyes, "Of course, she would."

"Corey also told me that he's always available if we ever broke up."

"The hell he's dreaming about?" I furrow my eyebrows, "He's never gonna get you."

"No, no, he was talking about being available for you."

My eyes roll, "Gay-ass."

She chuckles.

A moment of silence grows between us, swelling up my chest with so many emotions. Her hand lays warm and soft in mine, with her eyes gazing at mine. I can never not pick this moment over anything else. After two days of fear and pain, a single glance from Kennedy can make my heart start beating again.

My face softens.

How am I gonna live without you, Ken?

"Your face is doing that again." She speaks in her soft, feathery voice, her eyes roaming over my face.

"Doing what?" I place my other hand on top of Kennedy's, the one I'm already clutching.

"Are you going to cry?" She asks.

Maybe.

"No."

"You're going to cry." She states.

"No."

"You know?" She starts, "Someone once told me that you don't stop yourself from crying and that you bake cookies and binge Chick-flick."

"I said that!" Corey bursts into the room, clearly having been eavesdropping on Kennedy and me the whole time.

This motherfucker.

"Corey!" Kennedy smiles.

"Babydoll, you scared the living brown shit out of me. I thought I had diarrhea." Corey exclaims coming into the room.

"Corey, ew!" Toothy comes into the room after him before giving me a look, "I tried holding him back."

I shake my head.

Corey takes Kennedy's other hand in his, placing a kiss on the back, "How ya doing?"

"Like I'm about to burst like a balloon any moment?" Kennedy says.

Corey shrugs, "At least it's not like dying from a blast."

Toothy and I frown at him.

Kennedy's eyes suddenly flick to someone at the door. She gasps.

"Gary?" She bolts up the bed making everyone in the room yell and rush up to push her back onto the bed as she coughs and sputters.

"Goddamnit, Ken," I curse, on my feet, checking if all the IV tubes are not disturbed and that nothing happened.

Toothy and Corey and Gary are also doing the same and checking if she's alright from everywhere.

"What the hell did you do to yourself?" Gary narrows his eyes, taking in Kennedy's form as she regains from the loss of breath.

"You came." A smile spreads on her pale lips.

"I didn't send you to New York so you could end up in a hospital again," Gary grumbles standing at the foot of her bed.

"Life has a weird way of bringing me to hospitals." She shrugs, "Maybe it had something to do with me being born in a hospital."

"Oh right! That might be it." Corey says.

"I missed you." Kennedy's soft smile directs toward Gary.

Gabriel pushes up the glasses on his nose, the tips of his ears turning red, "Okay."

"He's shy," Kennedy tells me, Toothy and Corey.

Gabriel rolls his eyes before a look of stern seriousness comes on his face, "Kennedy."

"Yes?"

"We need to talk." He hesitates. "It's important."

Everyone in the room tenses up while Kennedy frowns in confusion.

"Uh okay." She attempts to sit up.

My hands quickly move into action and adjust the bendable hospital bed by pulling the top part of the bed into a back post for Kennedy's back to rest against as she sits up.

"Thank you." She mumbles to me.

I sit back down on the chair beside her, taking her hand in mine again.

Gabriel turns to look at me, "Jake." He gives me a nod, gesturing for me to start.

My heart starts beating faster as I look at the questioning, confused eyes of Kennedy's.

"Kennedy." I start, my voice already wavering like an unsteady vase on a table.

She waits for me to continue, her eyes growing impossibly larger and innocent, not knowing what I'm about to say.

"Ken..." My grip on her hand tightens and a gulp goes down my throat, "You know how you've always had asthma and breathing problems?"

A frown picks on her face, "Yes..."

"Ken, this is gonna be a really tough time for you but I promise you." I squeeze her hand, "I promise that I'm always here for you and no matter what happens, I'm never leaving your side. You know that, right?"

"Jake." A small look of fear crosses her face. "What's wrong?"

Another gulp goes down my sandpapered throat. The words hesitate to come out. I lick my dry lips but find it no use when my tongue seems drier.

With a sudden push, my words tumble out of my mouth like a bullet hurtling towards her, "You have cancer."

It's everything I feared. A look of confusion masks her face for a split second before the realization of my words dawns upon her. Her eyes, always bright, suddenly shuts off. Her mouth drops open. The pain in my chest, right where my heart is, intensifies when her expressions turn hollow and empty, making it hard for me to read her face.

I helplessly gaze at her while she's still taking in my words, taking her time to process them.

Her arms and shoulders slacken and she's still gazing at me, "What?"

I'm not sure how tight I'm gripping her hand, but I squeeze tighter, "Kennedy."

She still hasn't recovered from the shock of my words. Her grip on my hand gets looser and looser as the seconds tick by.

"I love you, Kennedy, you know that, right?" The focus from her eyes is slowly slipping away. I'm desperate to get her to listen to me now. "Ken, you're not alone in this, okay? I'm always with you. We're in this together."

Her eyes fall back on me. There's an emptiness in her now. A feeling that makes my chest cave with a lurching pain.

"I..." Her voice is barely a whisper, "I don't know...I don't know what to say."

Her eyes fall on Gabriel who's gripping his hands together in front of him. Corey's standing rigidly with his head hanging low, not meeting Kennedy's eyes. Toothy has her arms crossed tightly in front of her, pursing her lips.

"Are you scared?" I ask.

She takes her time to look away from everyone and look back at me. After a second, she slowly shakes her head, "I don't know what I feel." She admits.

"I should have done more checkups when you were with me." There's a strain to Gabriel's voice, his hands clenching tight, "It wouldn't-it wouldn't have been too late then."

"Gary." Kennedy stops him. "Please don't blame yourself."

She takes a moment before she speaks again, "It just...happened. There's nothing we can do about it now, isn't there?"

I force myself not to show any expressions of pain when she looks at me.

"You're not in this alone," Toothy speaks up, toying with the pendant of her necklace. "You're always gonna have one of us around you all the time."

"Tell us if you want anything," Corey says, "We can go to Disney Land this weekend if you want. Lemme know and I'll book four tickets."

A grateful smile comes on Ken's face, "Thank you, everyone."

I shoot a look at everyone which Corey and Gabriel blankly stare at.

Toothy who understands, speaks up, "Let's leave both of them alone now."

Corey looks at Toothy in confusion, "Why?"

"Because I said so." She grabs Corey by the sleeve and pulls him out of the room. Gabriel following reluctantly after them.

The door slams shut behind them leaving Kennedy and me all alone in the room.

✄ ✄ ✄ ✄

The way I searched up every possible pun related to bombs and blasts...

Just a little bit more sadness before we get to the good parts :)

Words: 2,500

Date of publishing: 13th June 2022