Disclaimer: Only OC belongs to me
The next morning I woke up to Nurse Jackson. "Raise and shine Piper." She said in a sarcastically cheery voice.
"Do I have to do either of those things?" I asked with my eyes still closed.
"Yes, you do." The no nonsense voice I had expected from her made me open my eyes and sit up.
"Good morning." I said, none too cheerily. Then I checked the clock. "I thought I didn't have chemo until ten. I should be able to sleep another thirty minutes before I have to get ready."
"I have to run some labs before we get started. Check your base blood count so we know if your blood count starts to get low during the process, check your heart, your pulse, take your temperature, all the usual stuff." She explained as she got started checking my pulse.
"Oh."Was all I could muster up. I sat quietly as she moved around me and checked everything.
"Alright, that should do it. Now get dressed, I have to go check on Jordi, then I'll send him this way." Nurse Jackson stated as she placed her stethoscope back around her neck and moved towards the door.
"Wait! How did you know Jordi and I were heading down to chemo together?" I stopped her, shocked.
"Honey, you're going to learn real soon, there's hardly a thing that goes on in my hospital that I don't know about." She smirked before leaving the room. I watched her go until I could no longer see her through my window, a feeling a fear and respect filled me when I looked at her. It was an amazing feat to gain both with a single sentence.
I dress comfortably, not entirely sure what the dress code for chemo might be. I pull a soft cream slightly oversized sweater over my head with a sigh. Then I pull my jeans on and decide on a pair of flats, foregoing my Chucks for the lack of slide on ability. I pull my mass of coffee brown curls into a ponytail with the elastic I always keep around my wrist.
There is a knock on my door and after I give permission to enter I turn to greet Jordi. Our brown eyes meet and I smile kindly to him. "Good morning Jordi."
"Good morning Piper. Are you ready to head down?" He asks.
"Yeah, should I bring anything? I mean how long do you usually sit down there?"
"About an hour, maybe a bit more. I usually bring something to keep me occupied, but I figured maybe we could talk." He suggests in a sort of shy manner that's not completely head down blushing like a school girl kind of shy, but still a bit adorably awkward.
"Yeah, that sounds cool." I nod in agreement. We leave my room and head towards an elevator that I hadn't noticed before. "What is this?"
"It's the service elevator. It's the only elevator we take." He answered.
"Why?"
"It's the one elevator that doesn't have any cameras and it can't be seen from the nurses' station. It's like one of the few ways we don't have to be watched every second of everyday."
"Asserting your freedom in any way you can?"
"Yeah, and just being teenagers, I guess." Jordi chuckled. "I mean, it's our job to rebel right?"
We exited the elevator on our floor and Jordi leads me to the room where we'd receive our chemo. Inside the room was sparse. There was a line of plush recliners, which I had not at all expected. They were all evenly spaced apart and in between each chair was an IV with a blue box connected to it. A few of the seats had dividers to give the patients privacy during their chemo. A short man with thick grey hair, wire rimmed glasses, a slightly pudgy belly and deep set laugh lines looked up from an elderly gentleman in one of the seats with the divider when we walked in.
"Hello Jordi and you must be Piper. I've been expecting you two." He glances down at the expensive looking watch on his wrist. "And you are right on time. Have a seat and I'll be right over to get you set up."
Jordi leads me to the far end of the room, opposite the elderly man who clearly wanted his privacy. "That's Dr. Howard. He's really nice. He handles all the chemo." I nod as I absorb all the new information.
"Alright, here we are." Dr. Howard says as he walks over. He begins fixing Jordi his chemo cocktail and then moves over to me. I watch him double check his chart to make sure he doesn't give me anything wrong and then he mixes up my poison. As he begins to place the IV in my arm he looks up at me with a smile. "So, did Dr. McAndrew walk you through this already?" I nod. "Good. It's nothing to worry about really. You'll most likely not lose your hair with this particular type of chemotherapy. You may experience a bit of body aches and nausea. If that begins, we'll put you on something to help with all of that. Remember to tell Dr. McAndrew or one of the nurses if you begin getting chills or start feeling feverish. But, just to be safe, one of the nurses will run labs before every treatment to keep a good eye on what's happening, okay?"
He smiled through it all and I could only nod as I tried to process everything I was being told. When he walks away to leave us to our treatment I turn to Jordi. "That was a lot."
"Yeah, he's kinda just like that sometimes." Jordi shrugs. "He did the same thing to me, my first time down here. It wasn't even until after my treatment was over that I fully digested everything he'd told me." He half joked.
I smile at Jordi for a moment, then look him over. "I'm going to ask you something. But I don't want it to be weird."
"Okay…" His eyebrows shoot up as he waits for me to continue.
"I feel like saying that made it weird already." He nods slightly. I chuckle. "Sorry, okay. What are you? Like you must be Hispanic, I can tell. I just can't tell what type."
"Mexican, actually I came here from Mexico to get help because my abuela doesn't believe in modern medicine and refused to believe anything serious was wrong with my leg, or at least anything so serious it couldn't be solved with some chants and an animal sacrifice."
I openly laughed at that before I could stop myself. "I'm sorry." I said once I regained control over myself.
"No, it's okay. It is pretty funny." Jordi smiled back. "So, what about you? I mean you're brown so obviously you've got something in you, and I'm pretty sure it's Hispanic."
"You would be right, sir. I am Cuban and Italian."
"Holy crap your family must be huge!"
"Way to stereotype." I teased. "Actually, most of my family is still in Cuba. The ones who aren't are in the northeast, so I don't see them much. But if I got into Julliard I'd be going to stay with my tía. I never really see her anymore, I kinda miss her."
"Yeah, I know the feeling." Jordi's face changes from its usual earnest happy to a sudden distant sad. He shakes it off pretty quickly though and, not wanting to see him sad again, I let it go.
"So, what's up with you and Emma?" I ask, then quickly amend my statement. "You know, if you don't mind me asking."
"No, it's fine. I honestly don't really know." He sighs, with it I feel pent up frustration being released. I put on my listening ears. "See, I like her, she's really nice. Emma's funny and kind and it's really refreshing to meet a girl like her. But she doesn't seem sure she likes me too. She smiles at me or holds my hand one minute then she's a bit distant the next."
"I saw how she made herself cozy next to you on the roof last night. I think she likes you too." I respond honestly. "You guys would be really cute together, I think." I smile encouragingly.
"Yeah?"
"Absolutely, have you told her how you feel about her?"
"No, it's a bit complicated."
"Well, maybe if you told her, you'd get a direct answer in return and you wouldn't have to play the guessing game anymore." There was a pause as Jordi thought over what I said.
"Yeah, maybe you're right." He sighed, a bit more relieved now. "I'll think about it. But I don't want to just randomly say it. If I decide to, I want to do it right."
"Aren't you such a hopeless romantic." I tease again, finding myself at ease with Jordi in a way one is usually only at ease with an old friend or a relative.
We continued to talk and laugh together all throughout chemo, with some short but comfortable silences in between. We talked about hobbies and he told me about what Mexico was really like, not the touristy part. At one point we laughed so loud the elderly man on the other side of the room glared at us from over top of his divider. We had the good grace to attempt to look remorseful, but it's hard to be truly apologetic when you're trying to control a giggle fit.
Somehow, during the course of our conversations we began comparing the meanings of words from Mexican Spanish to Cuban Spanish. This is where we were as we got off the elevator to our floor.
"Okay, how about elevator?" I asked him, smiling brightly.
"Elevador." He answered.
"That's just lazy!" I accused, laughing. "It's actually 'ascensor'."
We were still jokingly arguing about the right way to say it when we entered Leo and Jordi's room. Leo and Dash were in there. They looked up as we walked in. "Hey guys." Dash eyed us skeptically.
"Hey." I answered back. "Hey Leo."
"Hey, how was your first day of chemo?" He asked with genuine interest.
"Not bad, definitely would have been unbearable though it weren't for this guy." I hip bump Jordi playfully. He blushes a bit in response.
"I'm gonna go see what Emma's doing." Jordi says before waving and heading back out and towards the service elevator.
"So, what have you guys been up to all morning?" I ask.
"Nothing much, just, uh, hanging out." Leo eyes me the same way Dash was.
"Why are you both looking at me like that?" I ask, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"You and Jordi seem to have gotten pretty close rather quickly." Leo comments, trying to sound casual.
"Yeah, he's pretty cool. We got to know each other a bit, seeing as there was nothing else to do in that room."
"Do you like him?" He asks.
"Jordi?" I question, when Leo nods I just look at him. "Are you kidding? He's clearly got a serious thing for Emma." I roll my eyes. "Why would you care anyway? Are you jealous I didn't fall all over you when I got here?"
"What? No!" He defended.
"Alright, then stop whatever it is you're doing. I thought you were supposed to be cool. I thought we could be friends, but this," I point my finger at him and make a circular motion. "this thing that you're doing is not what I'm about. So, if you decide to start acting cool again, you can come talk to me." I walk out of the room before anyone has a chance to say anything.
I don't even make it to my room before I hear Dash calling after me. "Yo, Piper, wait up." I turn back with an annoyed look planted on my face. He jogs to catch up which earns him a slightly disapproving look from Kenji.
When he catches up I turn and begin walking towards my room again. "What do you want Dash?"
We entered my room and I sat on my bed. Dash sat on the extra bed facing me. "Let me explain something to you real quick. So you understand why my man Leo is acting like this."
"Please do, because I don't get it. I thought you guys wanted me to be your friend, but then when I do begin to befriend someone I'm wrong?"
"Nah, it's not like that. The thing is, long before you got here Leo and Emma were an item."
I raise an eyebrow; this was not what I expected to hear.
"Leo started to really feel something for Emma, and he freaked out, broke it off. So they were pretty much at each other's throats just for the hell of it. It was like their way of releasing all that sexual tension, you know what I mean." I motion for him to continue. "But then Jordi comes along. Suddenly, Emma gets her eyes on him and they start to get close, like real close. But Emma and Leo still have unfinished business. So, for a bit now Leo and Jordi have been fighting for the affections of Emma."
"So Leo trying to get information from me about how close me and Jordi got was so he could go to Emma and try to make her think Jordi was all over me so she would fall back into his arms?" Dash gave a shrug that was almost a confirmation, but not really. I roll my eyes at the entire situation.
"But look, don't worry about me. I'm not going after Emma too. I only have eyes for you girl." Dash licked his lips as he stared at me.
"Seriously, Dash?" I start to smile and try to hold it back.
"What?"
"Go away!" I break and start laughing. "Do any of your lines ever work?"
"All the time." Dash smiled cockily.
"I seriously doubt that." I smirk.