=Hunter's POV=
(Saturday, 3/3/2018-8:30 pm)
(Archian Island, Berk)
(Strondsen Home)
Reaching Keith's office not long after he asked if I'd get his new printer hooked up; he showed me the device and let me get started. Keith just stood off to the side and watched curiously whole I worked on going over everything, and then after five minutes; got started on hooking up the device. I did have Keith log into his computer as I'd need that to do everything. It was silent between us; I assumed maybe he didn't want to distract me from what I was doing. I wondered if I should talk to him about the tumor thing now, but was it appropriate outside of the office when there were no new developments since a few days ago when I received the news?
"How have you been feeling?" Keith asked, taking me by a little surprise that he talked first.
"Better, but only because of the medications you prescribed to help manage it…" I replied calmly, not taking my eyes off the screen while the software was installing.
"I prescribed them at your request," Keith reminded with a smile. "I meant as far as feeling anything new?"
I shook my head to him. "No, nothing."
"Have you told anyone yet?" Keith wondered.
"No…" I responded truthfully. "I…Want to tell my dad, Glenn, and Nicole…But not the rest of my friends or family. I already had everyone on me once before I learned what it was…All they're gonna do is force me to get the surgery…" I admitted.
Keith looked at me with a head tilt. "It's your only option, Hunter. I told you this can't be cured any other way."
I nodded, understanding. "I-I know that, Mr. Strondsen, but there's a lot I give up or lose by doing the surgery right now. I was…Hoping to talk to you about it at the next appointment, but I also want to tell Nikki tonight…"
"You can talk to me here, and now, if you like. As I told you, this is my home office." Keith offered.
I sighed a little. "I know the surgery is the only way to fix this, and that's fine with me. I'll do it because I know if I don't that this will only get worse and probably kill me eventually." I started, glancing at him then looking back to the computer. "But the problem is the timing of needing the surgery…It's almost the end of the school year, and while I know it wouldn't be anything major for me to miss a week or so to do the surgery…I know that I'd be recovering for far longer, which removes me from playing Basketball…And I don't know if I mentioned it the first time we talked…But I'm hoping to get a full sports scholarship to AIU…The college sporting scouts come out for playoffs and championships, to watch players of interest…If I do the surgery now…I won't be allowed to play…"
"So what are you asking, Hunter? Postpone the surgery until after high school? That's still about two and a half months away, son…" Keith reminded.
"I know…But…If it's possible, can I do that? I could do it in June, then use the summer to recover…And have the time until they even start the basketball season to recover. I just…Need to know if it's possible to hold off…" I hoped.
Keith rubbed his chin a bit, thinking. "We'd need to monitor the status of your tumor closely, ensure that it's not getting worse in that timeframe. We set up for you to be seen once a week until the surgery was determined, right?" I nodded to him. "The thing is, Hunter…You take a lot of hits in Basketball, and one already caused you to have chest pains and collapse. Any one of those could put you in danger of needing emergency surgery. And at that point, there's no choice. The operation would be needed to save your life."
"I can…Be more careful. I…Wasn't before because I didn't know about the tumor, so I just took the hits as they came…But I know now, and can be more aware to make sure I don't just take silly risks to score a basket…I was careful on Friday…I never got hit once, except maybe a shove into the arm or something…" I tried to assure him that it would be okay. "I know it's risky, but please? My future is riding on this, kind of. I could pay my own way through college, but playing Basketball has been something I've been doing almost all my child and young adult life…"
"It's dangerous, Hunter. It really is, and it's against my code of helping others to allow you to put your life at such risk with the full understanding of your condition…" Keith said. "But…I understand your side of this." He added as I held my breath. "I will agree to let you push this until June, after high school graduation. But you come to every appointment, every week so that we can watch the tumor's status. We'll set them on Fridays, so I can see you and monitor things after the three days of practice. I stay late at the hospital on Fridays, and your practice ends when?" He wondered.
"At 5 pm…" I replied.
"Then I would like to see you at 5:30 pm, every week until the surgery date. Your graduation should be…" Keith paused to check the calendar on his desk. "June 16th, that's a Saturday. So let's set the surgery for 18th. It's the following Monday and wouldn't give you much time after graduation, but I've expressed that the sooner this is done, the better off you will be. Is that okay?"
"Yes! Yes, more than. Thank you." I exclaimed, very happy with the idea of doing it two days after graduation.
"But…" Keith put a hand up to calm me down. "At the first sign that things might not last until that date; I want you to agree that you'll do the surgery at the next available date. I will personally do it myself, but I want you to agree to have the surgery as soon as possible if an appointment with me reveals that you're in danger of dying. Fair?" He asked. "I don't want to see you collapse, Hunter and need to be rushed to the hospital to save your life."
I knew it was serious, and I nodded to him. "I promise that if an appointment reveals that this can't be held off any longer…I'll…Do the surgery right away." I vowed. What else could I say or do? This thing could kill me, so I had no choice but to agree.
"Excellent. I'll set that surgery date in my calendar for work right here from home once you're all finished with setting up the printer, and we can make sure all those Friday spots are open. They should be, no one likes to take the 5:30 ones, but I'm on until shift until 6:00, so plenty of time to do the tests." Keith smiled. I nodded and got back to checking on the printer installment status. I clicked a few things, got the printer hooked up to wifi, and disconnected the mess of wires, then restarted everything. When it came back up, Keith put in his password, I did a test print and it worked fine.
"All set." I smiled and moved away from his desk.
"Ah, thank you, Hunter. I've been fighting with it for a week." Keith stated. "Alright, you know your way down?" I nodded. "Have a good night, Hunter. And I'll see you next Friday, at the hospital for 5:30 pm."
"You will, sir. Thank you." I headed out of the office and back downstairs. I waved to Ella with a smile, then hurried along to Nicole's room.
"There you are." Nicole smiled and hugged me tightly. I kissed her with a smile and hugged her back.
"Sorry, your dad's printer was being difficult, but I got it." I replied gently as we moved to sit on her bed; she already had my guitar out and ready for me to play for her. I positioned it on myself and looked at her. "Anything specific? I can let you know if I can do it or not." I wondered.
"Um…" Nicole thought a moment. Which worked, now I could figure out how to tell her about the tumor. I changed my mind on telling dad; he'd never accept that I was purposely pushing the surgery off for almost three months. I would tell Glenn, he was a bit more understanding and he knew how much I loved Basketball. I would tell Nicole first, she'd feel better knowing that her dad and I were on the same page with this, so that would make her feel better about my choice to push things off and that her dad agreed on the condition if it got worse; we'd do the surgery right away. "No request, I just want to hear you play." She finally said.
Complying with what she asked, I just began to strum on the guitar gently until the tune that formed ended up being Wherever You Will Go. Nicole started humming along, singing a bit as I smiled watching her. After it finished, it was about 9 pm and we decided to cuddle on the bed with her TV on. I was deciding how to bring things up, but I didn't know where to start. "So…" I began. "What now?" I tried to lead into conversation.
Nicole looked at me as we shared another kiss. "I'm glad we're alone tonight. I actually wanted to talk to you about a couple things." Nicole smiled. I wasn't sure if I should be nervous or not, but she was smiling, so that meant things were okay, right?
"Um, sure. What do you want to talk to me about?" I asked as we sat up against her pillows, but semi-faced once another.
"I'm ready to tell you two things…One being about that ex-boyfriend. I know it's not the best time after celebrating our birthdays, and what not…But with all the time you've given me to prepare; I'm ready to tell you, and yes…I want to do it." Nicole began softly. I gave her my full attention. "So…After the whole situation with my parents finding me about to sleep with that one guy and being grounded for three months. I mostly focused on school and what not, but the start of Junior Year, I met a boy named Tristan Kol. Lean-figured like you, unkempt dirty-blonde hair, and honey brown eyes. I swear, at the time, I thought he was straight out of Valhalla. We got paired for a project in home economics class; the one where you take care of the baby?"
"Yeah, yeah. I know about it. I never took it, but I think Heather did. Her brother almost killed the doll." I replied with a nod.
"We got close with the whole shared custody thing. He was not allowed at my house unless my parents were home, and I was not allowed at his place. However, he got close with my folks and they started to trust him as just a friend to me. My parents started to give us a little freedom to at least be in my room with the door open, then slightly open. When the project ended, we still continued to hang out. Around the middle of October; he confessed to liking me and I liked him. We started dating, talking a lot and enjoying things. I swear, he was perfect, Hunter…But that's only how he wanted to appear." Nicole continued.
I already sensed this was turning into the bad breakup I was warned about by her back in October, and her father not too long ago. "You started to catch onto to the flaws and imperfections?" I asked.
Nicole nodded to me, glancing down a bit. "It was probably around the time I turned seventeen when he started suggesting foreplay. So we'd only been together for about two months, and I was iffy on it, given the suddenness, but hey I gave in because I'd done it all before with the previous ex before him." I nodded, showing I understood and listened. "We did that for about a month and a half. It was just about mid-February when he asked if we could go all the way. Mind you, this point marked us at four months and much sooner than me and the other guy who had been together about a year. I didn't want to run into another issue with my parents barging in or freaking out, so I told him I needed some time before we did that. He agreed, and I went to my parents about it; they said to give it some more months, to ensure it was what I wanted and they got me on birth control."
"I guess that answers a lot about them saying if we ever did anything to just give them the heads up we'd be doing it. So you're already on birth control, aren't you?" I questioned.
"Yes, I am. Pill every day, keeps my cycle normal as without it; it's pretty sporadic with unbearable cramps and heavy bleeding." Nicole replied. "But anyway, I told Tristan about waiting longer and my parents were okay with it. He agreed and we put things off for an undetermined amount of time. It was probably June last year, right after we finished our Junior Year, when he asked if we could have sex again. I said again because he kept asking or trying to get me in the mood the entire waiting period. I had been putting it off for various reasons. Getting sick, busy, you know the usuals for a teenager. But he still asked every time we hung out, and finally I'd told him to wait until after school finished. He seemed a little ticked off with the heavy sighs, but told me fine. You know the one I mean, how it sounds."
"Yeah, I do it all the time with dad, but jokingly. Not out of anger or anything, unless he actually gets me mad." I responded.
"So, after school ended; we hung out a couple times and he'd ask, but I'd say no. I guess when the moment of us being out of school came; I started to get a little nervous and that's why mom and dad told me to wait and make sure it was what I wanted. And I did want to have sex with him, but the nervousness was because of how he came off when he asked. It got bolder, more forward every time, with increasing irritation every time I said no." Nicole closed her eyes as I pulled her against me and gave a squeeze with my arm around her shoulder. "I was beginning to second guess being with him because it seemed like all he wanted was sex, and the anger just…Put me off I guess. That night, he randomly invited me over to his place for dinner with his parents, and my parents said it was okay as we'd been together for ten months because this happened in August, middle of." She took a breath.
"It's okay, take your time and you don't have to do this…" I reminded.
"No, no. I'm okay." Nicole reassured. "His dad and him picked me up, and I went there for the first time ever. He showed me around, we had dinner. His parents decided to go out, promising they'd be back by 9 pm, to take me home for 9:30. They left at 7:00 pm, so it was just Tristan and I alone. We were on his bed, watching something on TV; he had music playing the background. Around 8:00 pm, we started making out, went through all the foreplay stuff. By this point, I told him I'd be moving to Berk with my family and he got mad. I said we could date long distance just until I finished school. He had said he was happy to let me live with him and we'd get our own place eventually. I thought the idea was nice and it seemed things would be okay. He asked if we could have sex, and with nervousness killing me…I said no. The whole act dropped after that. He got mad and yelled at me that I kept putting him off after promising, which I never did. I tried to explain I was just nervous, but he didn't listen. And to make the story shorter as I don't want to go into detail of the entire thing; he raped me." She looked down.
Somehow, I'd known it had to be bad…But I didn't think it would have been rape. Just that maybe they fought and broke up, or he got abusive and they broke up. But no, this guy raped her. All because she was nervous to have sex for the first time. "I'm so sorry that happened to you, and I swear on my life…My mother's grave even; that I will never push you into sex, or get mad if you don't want to."
"Like I said…I'm okay and over it. When he was done; I was a sobbing, shaking mess. He instantly took off on foot with only his wallet; I didn't know what to do, I was panicking. His parents came home and his mom found me; she must have apologized a thousand times in one breath. His mom helped me get dressed, and hold me while his dad called my parents and the police. A search started for him while I told the police what happened. I went to the hospital, they did a rape kit. Tristan…Didn't rape me vaginally, just anally. I was…Somewhat grateful to him for leaving my purity alone. I was…Just happy to move and be away from Berserker. I don't know if they've caught him or not; I asked not to be updated unless it was that update of him being found and arrested. I turned down therapy because as terrifying as things were; I'm not afraid of sex, just…The guy."
She paused. "Not saying I'm afraid of you, babe…Just, pushy and angry ones." Nicole added quickly to clarify. "You're not like that, you're different from the other guys I've been with. My parents like you, and trust you. Oh, and I'm scared of the idea of anal sex."
"I understand, don't worry. You will be safe, I promise…" I vowed, holding her still as she nodded and smiled a bit while snuggling into me. "What's the other thing you wanted to tell me?" I wondered.
Nicole pulled off my best and looked into my eyes, she smiled softly before kissing me deeply. I returned it, of course, and then she pulled away. "I love you."
