Rome, Italy was absolutely stunning. The sun seemed to shine endlessly, the skies were a clear blue, and the men were extremely attractive. It was a shame, though, that we couldn't enjoy any of it.

"I'm worried about her," I said, leaning forward on my elbows.

We were sitting outside a cafe eating lunch the first day we had gotten to Rome.

"Why did her dad pick up?" Eli asked.

"And why was she in the hospital?" Alyssa questioned.

"Did you hear all that shouting in the background? For sure something bad was going down," Derek said. We all frowned and thought back to the panicked conversation we had had with Brooke's father the night before.

"You don't think her condition got worse, do you?" Alyssa asked.

"Brooke's strong. She'll make it," Eli said, but we were all starting to think that that wasn't true.

I glanced at Chase who was sitting quietly, his hands folded in front of him, his elbows on his knees. His expression was dark and it was obvious that he was worried. He didn't let on it all the time, but it was obvious that he cared about Brooke on a more intimate level. It was really killing him to hear about her this way.

"I think we should go back," I said, my gaze still on Chase.

"I thought we said that Brooke--" Alyssa started, but I shook my head, cutting her off from what she was going to say.

"I know what we said before. But this is different. She's for sure back in the hospital which means that something went wrong. I know she would have told us if they found a donor. She wouldn't keep us waiting because she knows how worried we are about her over here. She didn't tell us that her condition was worsening because she didn't want us to worry. But we can't just sit here and try to enjoy ourselves while she's over there suffering," I said.

"I agree with Soph," Eli said. "I mean, let's hope this isn't the case, but if something goes really wrong, we need to be there with her. We have to be able to see her. In case we need to say good-bye," he continued.

Chase slammed his fist down on the table, startling all of us. We all looked at him. He was glaring at the glass table top, his hand clenched so tightly his knuckles were white as paper.

"Don't you ever say that again," he said to Eli, his voice low. He looked up and his blue eyes were threateningly angry.

"Hey, calm down," Derek said, putting a hand on Chase's shoulder to steady him. Chase glared at Eli and shrugged Derek's hand off. Then he got up, throwing his napkin down and walked off.

"We should talk to him," Alyssa said, starting to get up, too. I stopped her, though.

"No. Not right now. He needs to cool off a bit," I said.

"I think we all do," Eli said, watching Chase's retreating back. 

"Yeah, we need to think about this before we make a decision," Derek said. I nodded in agreement.

"I don't know how we're going to enjoy ourselves here, though," Alyssa muttered.

"We just need to distract ourselves a bit to clear our minds," Derek said.

I sighed.

"I was really looking forward to Italy, too," I said sadly. Eli's hand found mine and he squeezed it.

"Let's do something. Come on," he suggested. We nodded and got up. We would look for Chase later.

The remainder of the day we spent touring different sites in Rome. We went to the infamous Collosseum, Saint Peter's Basillica, and the Sistine Chapel. We took plenty of pictures, although in most of them, our faces were grim. The entire time, our minds couldn't focus on the incredible history and architectural beauties around us. There was only one thing on all of our minds, and that was what was happening with Brooke.

We got back to the hotel late that night. Chase was locked up in his room and the guys decided not to bother him. He still needed his space and we needed to give it to him. He'd come talk to us when we were ready.

In the mean time, we had bought some Italian wine and were now pouring ourselves glasses, passing around the bottle of the red liquid. As ironic as it was, tonight we just wanted to drink away our sorrows.

"So you think we should get plane tickets back to the States?" Alyssa asked after

"I think so. I'll look into it in the morning. It might be tough finding tickets so soon. And to California of all places, too," I said, sipping the Italian wine.

"Well, check flights from Italy and from Greece. That's where we're going next, right?" Derek asked.

"Yeah. That would be smart. If we can't find anything from here then we can look at other countries surrounding us," Eli said.

"Whatever will get us there as soon as possible. It doesn't matter how much they cost," Alyssa said. I nodded, agreeing.

"I'll try to figure it out tomorrow," I said.

We all fell into silence, staring blankly into our glasses.

Although none of us wanted to admit it, we were all scared that what Eli had said earlier was true. By the sounds of it, Brooke's condition wasn't any better than when we had left her. In fact, it sounded like there had been an emergency. Something bad was happening to her and we were thousands of miles away from her, unable to help or just be there for support. If her situation had indeed gotten worse than before, then we needed to be by her side. In case we had to say good-bye.

"Brooke won't be happy about it," Derek said after a few moments of silence.

"We don't have a choice. We have to be there," I said.

"I can't believe just a few months ago we were planning for this trip and talking about our lives after graduation. I can't imagine what Brooke must be going through. We had all been planning so far ahead and now she's probably thinking about her life day by day," Alyssa said.

"Just like my twentieth century English literature professor said: Life sucks," Eli said darkly.

"Amen to that," Derek said, holding his glass up to us. We all held up our glasses, as well.

"To life being the worst and best thing there ever was," I said.

"To life!" the rest repeated. We all chugged back the remainder of our wine and then set our glasses down.

"We should get to bed," Alyssa said.

"Yeah, it's late," Derek added. We all mumbled in agreement and got up to return to our separate rooms.

In Italy, we had managed to find a suite-style room in which there were four different rooms surrounding a living area where we were sitting. Alyssa, Chase, and Derek each got their own room. Eli and I were sharing one together. We both walked into the dark room, flipping the light switch on.

"So much for Italy, right?" Eli said as he got into the bed. I climbed in after him, laying my head down on the pillow.

"This whole trip started off with me wanting to go to Italy," I said, shifting my head so that it was resting on his shoulder. I turned so that I could drape my arm onto his chest.

"Maybe one day in the future we'll be able to come here again. Under different circumstances," he said, reaching up and turning the lamp off. Darkness fell over us and we lay in silence for a few minutes.

"Yeah...maybe..." I said. He kissed my forehead and I closed my eyes, willing sleep to wash over me.

But sleep never came.

After about a half an hour, Eli's breathing became steady. His chest rose up and down to the rhythm of his breathing, making my head rise and fall as well. I shifted so that my head was on my pillow and stared up at the ceiling. I closed my eyes and tried clearing my mind of all thoughts, like how the yoga instructor told us to do when Brooke and I had randomly decided to take a yoga class for a semester sophomore year.

Another half hour went by and I still wasn't asleep. Sighing, I quietly got out of the bed and tiptoed outside. I went to the mini-fridge and got a bottled water out. Twisting open the cap, I made my way to the balcony that was outside the living area. I slid open the door and stepped out into the cool Mediterranean air. I went to the twisted railing and leaned forward onto it, gazing out at the beautiful city of Rome that surrounded me. For a few moments, I became lost in my thoughts. But then something pulled me out.

"Couldn't sleep?" I heard. I choked on the sip of water I had taken and dropped the bottle of water down below. It landed wit ha splash into the pool that was at the back of the hotel we were staying in. Choking, I brought my hands to my throat, trying to get my wind pipe to function again.

"Woah, calm down! Look up at the sky!" I heard Chase say as he came up to me. I glared at him through watery eyes and looked up, feeling my wind pipe clear immediately. I gasped for breath and held onto Chase's arm. After a few moments, I finally regained the ability to speak.

"What the hell are you doing out here?!" I hissed.

"I was just sitting out here! I didn't mean to scare you!" Chase exclaimed. I glared at him again.

"And you just had to pick the moment I took a drink of water to announce your presence?" I asked him. He scratched his neck and frowned.

"I guess that was stupid of me," he said. I looked at him a moment longer before sighing and rolling my eyes at him. I took a seat on the wicker chair that was on the balcony and he joined me.

"You can't sleep, either?" I asked him. He shook his head, sighing and leaning back against the back of the chair. I did the same and we sat in silence for a few long moments.

"It's like, I know something bad is happening to her, but I just don't want to believe it," Chase said.

"I know what you mean. Brooke has always been the figure of strength. She never lets on that she's upset about something or hurting or not feeling well, even when she's sick. And now, it's like it's inevitable," I said.

"I just want to be over there right now. Next to her," he said. I looked at him and was startled by how incredibly sad he looked. I reached out and took his hand. He glanced at me for a second before looking away again.

"Here," I said, putting my arm out and putting it around his shoulder. "Come here," I said. He shifted so that his head was resting in my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair, trying to comfort him.

"We all decided that we're going to go back as soon as we can find a flight out of here," I told him.

"Seriously?" he asked. I nodded. "How long do you think that would take?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I mean, it's not America. We're not in the States where there are flights going everywhere everyday. We're in Rome. There won't be a flight going back to the States everyday," I said.

"And even if we do find a flight, it's not guaranteed that it's to LA," he said, a frown forming on his lips. I nodded.

"So it might take me a little while before I can find something, but I'm going to look. I agree with you and so do the others. We need to be there for her now. In person," I said. We fell into silence again. "You really like her, don't you?" I asked him after a few minutes.

"I can hide it as much as I want, but I'm pretty sure it's obvious," he said. "And that's kind of why I want to go back. So I can tell her. For real this time," he said.

"I think she already knows," I said.

"But it's still nice to actually say it, you know?" he replied. "And seeing you and Eli together..." he trailed off. "I feel like I wasted a lot of time just acting stupid and fooling around. And now it might be too late," he said.

"It's not too late. She's going to be just fine," I said. He sat up and looked at me.

"You know, you remind me of her," he said. "A lot."

"Me and Brooke are the most different people ever. I have no idea what you're talking about," I said, shaking my head. He smiled slightly.

"Maybe in some ways. But you both have a lot of things in common, too," he said.

"Like?" I asked.

"Like the fact that you both care a lot about your friends. You're both strong and independent. Beautiful and smart," he listed. I felt a smile find its way onto my lips and was glad that the dark could mask my blush. "And you both have this way of just knowing when something's wrong," he added.

"Yeah, I guess we are kind of the same," I said. We both leaned back against the chair again. Chase put his arm around me and I snuggled into the crook of his arm.

"You know, Chase, that was probably the least douchiest thing you've ever said," I told him. He chuckled.

"I'm full of surprises," he said.

"And then you ruin it," I said. He started laughing and then so did I. And before we knew it, we were both in stitches from laughing so hard. Our laughs filled the night air and rose up, up, up into the Roman night.

And then in that moment, we felt like everything was going to be all right.

__________________________________________________________________________

A/N: La la la. This story is almost over. Probably one more chapter and then the epilogue.

Comment and vote!

Also, check out this story called Why Sugarcoat It? by HauntedMuck. It's a good story and I think it deserves to be more popular than it is. =)

XOXO