A/N: Hello All! This is hopefully going to be a very short story. The idea has been rolling around in my head for the last week or so. I wanted it to be a one shot... but knowing me, I will most likely provide too much detail and end up giving you a 10,000 word chapter before I even get close to an ending. LOL... Well, anyway, I hope you all enjoy. While Carol and I are taking a break from Uncovering Mr. Grey, (I know! I'm so sorry it's been forever since we've updated that!) I will be working on this one in the meantime.
A Stolen Heart contains characters, places and plots from the Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy. All rights belong to E.L. James. Thanks!
Chapter One - The Phone Call
APOV
Tuesday, September 4th, 2018
The refrigerator door slams loudly, causing the condiment bottles to rattle around and clash against one another.
"Fine, Dad. I'll tell her."
I look up from my untouched bowl of chicken soup and catch Kate rolling her eyes before hanging up on her father. She turns around and crosses her arms over her chest before huffing out a slow, exaggerated breath and leaning against the counter.
"Is everything okay, Kate?" I ask.
I'm a little nervous to hear her answer. I think I know what her father wants her to tell me and the nausea begins to creep in for the umpteenth time today. She turns back to face me and the look on her face has my queasy stomach worsening in seconds.
"No. Not really…" she sighs.
She takes the seat across me and swallows a spoonful of her soup, avoiding eye contact.
Yup. It's exactly what I think it is.
"He doesn't want me living here anymore, does he?"
She raises her sad, apologetic eyes to mine and pushes her bowl away before reaching out towards me and taking my hand.
"Not necessarily... he just said you need to pay me back for the last two month's rent and this months by October 1st." She says this so quietly, beyond sheepishly, that I almost didn't hear her.
My mouth drops open as I triple the rent and utilities in my head. Three thousand nine hundred and ninety dollars!
"That's almost four thousand dollars in less than a month!"
On top of all the medical bills, credit card statements and tuition payments piling up, it's fucking impossible.
Kate awkwardly averts her eyes from mine again.
"I would loan you the money again… but my dad cut me off." She grimaces, clearly pissed by this bomb her father decided to drop on her today.
Of course he did... and I don't really blame him. She's paid my half of the rent for the last two months and he made it clear on the phone that he wasn't very happy about it.
"He thinks I'm taking advantage of you…" I sniffle, and a tear rolls down my cheek. "...and he's not that far off." I bite my lip to stem the overflow that's threatening. Her eyes widen at my words.
"No, Ana! Don't ever think that! He just doesn't know what's going on. If you would just let me explain it to him…"
"No!" I interrupt her and the dam breaks free, tears leaking like a faucet down my cheeks. "Please! Don't say a word to him! You promised you wouldn't and if you tell him, you know he will tell Ray! Please! His heart can't take the shock of news like that! Please..." I beg again and again.
She gets up and puts her arms around me tightly, trying to comfort and calm me.
"Shh… shhh. Ana, honey! It's going to be ok." She says as she carefully pushes the stray tendrils of hair off my face. "I won't say anything. I promise. But, we do need to figure out something to do. I don't think my father will continue to let you live here if he doesn't know why you are struggling to make the rent."
"I know…" I uselessly wipe the tears from my eyes as more continue to fall. "... I have an interview tomorrow-" sniff "-at Bank of America in Safeco Plaza. Hopefully, I'll get the bank manager's position and can start paying off some of my debt and what I owe you." Sniff... sniff...
"Ana, that's wonderful!" She smiles a huge grin at me, but then after a moment her face falls and her lips flattens into a straight line. "But even if you do get the job and start right away, how could you afford three months rent in such a short amount of time? My dad wants the money by next month!"
"I don't know, Kate. But I'll figure something out… I just have to-" I close my eyes and rub my temples as a splitting headache and another wave of nausea wash over me.
Oh no!
"Excuse me a minute!"
My mouth waters and bile begins to rise from my stomach and into my throat. I jump up in a hurry and rush to the bathroom, barely making it in time before my stomach heaves and I vomit a shit ton of yellow fluid into the toilet over and over again. My stomach continues to empty itself of the near-nonexistent nutrients it had in there. It's barren. Devoid of any food, yet again, just as it has been for some time now. The last real meal I was able to keep down was weeks ago, and I'm not sure how much more of this my body can handle.
I weakly wipe my mouth with the back of my hand after the dry heaving ceases. Slowly, unsteadily, I rise and lean over the sink and attempt to stable my wobbly legs. As I glance in the mirror, the amount of weight I've lost in the last two months is so obvious, it's alarming. My face is emaciated, thin in the extreme, and I can see my cheekbones and jawline protruding sharply beneath my skin. My once firm and curvy figure is now scrawny and skeletal.
I pull at my favorite t-shirt, now two sizes too big, and I can see how my malnourished form is swimming in the extra material. It's like I'm wearing a shirt that some big, buff boyfriend would "accidentally" leave at his girlfriend's house, so she can sleep safely, all wrapped up in his scent, when he can't be with her. I sigh loudly.
Right… like any man would ever want to date me with the way I'm looking these days. Not to mention my constant illness and lack of financial means...
Let's be realistic for a moment. What man wants to take care of a broke, dying girl that can't even afford a can of 99 cent, Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup? If it weren't for Kate, I most likely would have starved to death or ended up living on the streets by now. Not that I'm not steadily approaching either of those options as it is…
But Kate has been phenomenal. She has stuck by me as much as any person possibly could since the doctor diagnosed me. She's attended medical visits, she's stayed up with me all night while I threw up and wailed about my impending doom, and of course, she's helped with all of my monetary needs when that asshole Paul Clayton fired me for missing a few days of work…
I hate how much I've inconvenienced her. She would never admit it, but I know what she must be thinking: why the hell did I have to end up with a roommate and best friend who just so happens to be a stage three leukemia patient? The fact that she hasn't thrown me out yet proves how amazing she is. Most people would have kicked me out on my ass the second my rent check bounced, cancer or not.
But not Kate. She is as loyal and caring as they come, and I thank my lucky stars every day that we were assigned to the same dorm room five years ago.
I just hope that one day I can pay her back in every way, shape and form. If my next few chemo treatments go as planned, and I make it out of this nightmare in one piece, I will work my bony ass off until the day I die to pay her back every penny I owe her... AND I will spend the rest of my time being the very best friend she could ever dream of deserving. If she ever needs anything, absolutely anything at all, I will be waiting at her beck and call, ready and willing to return the favor.
A gentle knock on the door pulls me from my thoughts and Kate's puffy, tear-stained face appears in the reflection behind me. My heart breaks when I see that she's been crying for me again. It's not often that she cries, but in the last seven and a half weeks, I've seen her break down more now than she has in all of our five years of friendship.
"Do you need anything?" she asks quietly as she sets a bottle of water next to me. I grab it and take a small sip before I respond.
"No. Thank you though, Kate. I just want to brush my teeth and fall into bed."
She waits patiently for me as I pick up my toothbrush and thoroughly brush my teeth and tongue, attempting to remove all traces of acid and vomit. When I am finished, she wraps her arm around my waist, lightly placing her hand against my back, and carefully guides me back to my room without another word.
As I get into bed, she pulls the covers up to my chin, places a small waste bin on the floor beside me, and kisses my cheek softly before turning out the light.
"Good night, Ana and sweet dreams. I hope you feel better in the morning."
The pain and emotion in her voice wavers and cracks, and a quiet sob is the last thing I hear before the exhaustion takes over and knocks me on my ass.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! :) I will try to get another chapter out as soon as possible!
