Chapter 3
Ashlyn woke up before Ali did the next morning, but she still didn’t want to leave her side. She awkwardly tried to shift her body so as not to wake the sleeping brunette. It was only 7 o’clock, but Ashlyn knew that she wasn’t going to be able to get anymore sleep. She grabbed her phone from the side table and pulled up Kyle’s number.
‘Hey, I’m awake if you want to go grab some coffee and talk a little. I kind of need it right now.’
‘Of course. I’ll be at the room in a minute.’
Ashlyn could feel that the presence of all the monitors in the room and just the smell of the hospital was starting to mess with her head and she needed a break. She really didn’t want to leave Ali, but she wanted to be able to care for her too. That meant she was going to need a break. She was so thankful for Kyle being there. He was good at listening when I really needed it.
Ashlyn heard a small knock on the door and carefully wiggled out of the bed. She slipped her shoes on and quietly opened the door just enough so that she could slide out of the room.
Immediately Kyle wrapped her in a hug knowing that the whole journey that was to come was going to be overwhelming and Ashlyn needed as much support as she could get.
“What do you need me to do for you? I’ve got you covered.”
“First I need some coffee. I have a feeling it is going to be a long day and I only got like 5 hours of sleep.”
“Okay, to coffee we go.”
///
Kyle’s somewhat happy spirit was helping Ashlyn wake up a little. She was still in shock from all the information she had taken in during the last 12 hours that she just needed to talk.
Kyle and Ashlyn walked into a small coffee shop a block away from the hospital and just the smell of the coffee had already helped Ashlyn a ton. The smell of the hospital was everywhere and this helped to get it out of the blonde’s head.
After they had gotten their coffee, they sat down at a table along the side of the restaurant.
“Spill it. Just tell me everything that’s bugging you and get it out, because I can tell that there is a lot of thinking going on in that head of yours.” Kyle said, being very straightforward.
“Well okay then. I don’t even know where to start.”
“Well you’ve got to start somewhere so say the first thing that comes to mind.”
“Okay um, I guess I’m just overwhelmed at how quickly this has come on. One moment we were walking down the beach together and the next we are in a hospital being told that Ali has a brain tumor. I can’t even express how much this scares me, let alone how scared I’m sure Ali is. I mean she’s the one who is going to have to endure whatever treatment options they give us.”
“Keep it coming.”
“I want to be so strong for her, but I just don’t know what to do. I’ve never been on the other side of this. I’ve always been the one that is injured. I mean I’ve seen my parents with issues of their own, but nothing like this. It’s so hard to be strong when you feel so lost.”
“This is a new experience for all of us. We are just going to have to fight through it.”
“I’m just so worried. I mean what if they tell us that they can’t treat it, or that the tumor is worse than they thought. What if they tell her that she only had two months to live. I have no idea what I would do if that happened. I don’t want to see her go through all of this. I just wish it could me laying in that bed hooked up to all the monitors with a tumor growing in my brain. Ali doesn’t deserve any of this.”
By this time the tears had been streaming for a little while. Kyle had shifted his seat at the table to be right next Ashlyn holding her. It felt good for Ashlyn to express these thoughts, but there was so much uncertainty in what was to come that she had no idea what to do.
“Ashlyn, I am going to be here to support you and Ali. My parents will probably be here really soon after we call them and I’m sure they will be there for you just as much as I am. Once we call your teammates, I’m sure Megan and Kelley will be on the first flight over. You have a huge family surrounding you and they will support you. You don’t need to be strong because we will be strong for you. You just need to stay by Ali’s side so that she knows she won’t lose you.”
All of what Kyle was saying was really hitting Ashlyn hard. She felt like she was able to breath for the first time in the last day and she was so thankful for that. Yes, there was a heck of a lot of stuff that was going to be thrown in their face, but she knew that Ali was a fighter and they would persevere through it. But there was one thing that Ashlyn still needed to get off of her back.
“I was going to propose to her last night.” Ashlyn blurted to Kyle.
She watched Kyle’s eyes widen in realization. Ashlyn had asked for his approval so he knew that she was going to be asking Ali soon, but he hadn’t realized that she had planned it for last night. His eyes filled with sympathy and he hugged her once again.
“Oh my god, Ashlyn. I’m so sorry. I can’t even imagine how that feels right now. Rather than celebrating at your house you’re at a hospital hoping that the new found tumor isn’t that severe and they are able to treat it.”
“Thanks for that last part. I needed to hear what we could have been doing right now.” Ashlyn said with a glare.
“Sorry.” Kyle said with a small laugh.
“I tried to do it twice last night. The first time Ali got really tense because she said she got really cold, but I don’t know if that was the truth anymore. The second time was right when she fainted. I was just about to turn in front of her when I felt her hand loosen from my grip and she fell to the ground.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. The exact moment you were trying to ask her was when she fainted. I’m going to give her crap about that later.” Kyle said laughing.
“You better not, otherwise you might end up in a hospital bed like Ali.”
“Wow, feisty.”
The mood of their conversation had lightened considerably and the tears had stopped. Both of the decided it was time to walk back to the hospital since Ali would probably be waking up soon and her MRI would be soon also.
///
Kyle opened the door to Ali’s room quietly once they made it back from the coffee shop to see that Ali was awake already. He flicked the lights on and sat down in a chair off to the side of the bed. Ashlyn walked up to Ali and gave her a quick kiss.
“Hey Ali, how ya feeling?”
“I still have a headache, but my nausea has gone away.”
“That’s good. We can probably get Dr. Fletcher to give you some medication for the headache.”
“That would be great. Where did you too go? You smell like coffee.”
“You guessed it. We went to a coffee shop down the street. I needed to get out of the hospital for a little bit and get some stuff off my chest.”
“That’s what Kyle is good for. But you know that already.” Ali said smiling, her nose wrinkling.
“When did you wake up?” Ashlyn asked.
“Around 10 minutes ago. You know it’s okay to leave me for a while. Of course I like having you both here, but I know you need some personal time too, so do I.”
“I know. I just hate leaving you here.”
“Ashlyn. I’m fine. I’m a grown woman. You are too.”
“Oh, be quiet Ali.” Ashlyn said as the room filled with laughter. “So, not to be a downer or anything but are you ready to call your parents? We can wait until the MRI is over if you want.”
“No, it’s fine. They would want to know.”
Ali pulled out her phone and brought up her mom’s number. She quickly pressed the call button before she could change her mind. She just wanted to get this over with. The ringing from the phone seemed to last forever, but finally her mom picked up. Ali switched the phone to speaker so Kyle and Ashlyn could hear too.
“Hi, Alex.”
“Hey, Mom. Is dad around?”
“Uh, yeah. Why?”
“I’ve got some news that both of you will want to hear. I would prefer it if I could tell you both together. Oh, and by the way, you’re on speaker phone. Kyle and Ash are here with me too.”
“Hi Kyle, hi Ashlyn. I’ll go grab Dad. One second.”
Ali looked up from the phone out at her brother and girlfriend with a nervousness that neither of them had ever seen in Ali’s eyes. They could hear a shuffling from the phone and soon Ali’s mom and dad were on the other side.
“Hi Ali, Kyle, and Ashlyn. What’s up?” Ali’s dad said.
“I really don’t know how to say this right now, so I’ll try my best.” Ali said.
Ashlyn could hear the nerves in her voice and gave her an encouraging nod to continue.
“Last night Ashlyn and I were walking on the beach and I, uh, I fainted.”
“What? Is everything alright?” Her parents butted in.
“Let me finish please.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“I guess I wasn’t waking up so Ashlyn called an ambulance and we were taken to the hospital. The doctors did some tests to try to see why I fainted and they, um, they… took a CT and found a brain tumor.”
Ali let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. You could hear her parents take a deep breath on the other side, trying to keep themselves together.
“Oh my god, sweetheart. We’ll try to get down there as soon as we can. Stay strong Alex.”
“Thanks Mom. But really, I’m alright. They are going to get an MRI in about 15 minutes so they can get a few more pictures of the tumor. They don’t really know much other than that I have a tumor in my brain. They haven’t figured out what type, how severe it is, or any treatment yet, so I can’t really give you that much information.”
“Okay. We’ll start praying. We will be on the first flight out to Orlando. We love you honey.”
“Love you too. I’ll see you soon.”
Ali hung up and you could see her trying to hold back tears. She closed her eyes and was taking deep breaths. Ashlyn was trying to encourage her.
“Ali, it’s going to be okay. I’m going to give you the same spiel that Kyle had to give me this morning. I know you want to stay strong, but this is going to be hard and it’s okay to break down. You are going to have so many people surrounding you that will be there to support you. So many people love you. You are not going to go through this alone.”
“I don’t want you guys to have to take all the weight of this though.”
“Ali, stop. We want to take the weight for you. I promise. We don’t want you to do this alone.”
“You’re right and I know that. I hate this.”
There was a slight knock on the door and Dr. Fletcher’s voice came from behind it.
“Is this a bad time?”
“No, you’re fine. Come in.”
Dr. Fletcher pushed the door open and walked in the room sensing the mood in the room.
“It’s time for your MRI Ali. I’ll take you back now.”
A nurse walked in with a wheelchair and Ali slowly got out of bed and into the wheelchair. Ashlyn leaned down for a kiss and Ali was out the door seconds later.
“I hate seeing her like this. She feels so bad, but she has nothing to feel bad for.” Ashlyn said angrily.
“It’s just the way Ali is. She puts others before herself.” Kyle replied.
“I know that, but in this situation she is going to have to learn not to do that. She is the one having to lay in a hospital bed. She is the one with a tumor growing in her brain.”
“She’ll get there. It’s just going to take her some time, but I know she’ll come around. It’s going to take time for all of us to get used to the new reality.”
///
An hour later, Ali was wheeled back into the room.
“Hey, Ali. How’d it go?”
“Good. I fell asleep anyway.”
“I would’ve done the same thing.”
The nurse who pushed Ali back to the room turned around right before leaving the room. “We should get the results back in about an hour.”
“Okay thank you.” Kyle responded.
“Have you heard anything from mom or dad about when they’ll be here?” Ali questioned.
“No, I’m sure they’re busy packing or finding a flight or something. Don’t worry Alex. They’ll be here soon.” Kyle said.
“I know. And in the meantime, there are a few more people that we might want to tell.” Ali shot Ashlyn a worried glance knowing this might be even tougher than telling her parents, especially because there were so many of them.
“You sure you’re ready to tell them yet? They might, uh, react a little differently than your parents and soon enough we’ll have 30 people sitting in the waiting room for you.” Ashlyn quickly asked, trying to keep the conversation light.
“They are our best friends. They care about us. They deserve to know. Besides, the last time this happened to someone, they waited just a little too long to tell someone and the team, really everyone, was not happy. I don’t want that to happen to me because then you two would have to step in. They want to be here to support. It’s what their best at, not that they don’t get a little bit over protective sometimes.”
The room filled with laughter as Ali and Ashlyn reminisced on the past years with the team.
“Does somebody feel left out?” Ali asked Kyle, laughing one again.
“Who? Me? No…Okay yes.” Kyle’s face lit up like a tomato out of embarrassment.
Once the laughter died down, the room became more serious.
“So, where do you want to start?”
Those few words from Ashlyn rung throughout the room keeping them all silent for a few moments. This was just one more step in their new journey.