It was 11:37 at night. The hospital was silent except for the sound of typing from a nurse behind the desk. AJ watched Danielle from his spot on one of the waiting room chairs. She would pace back and forth, sit for a moment, then get up and start to pace again. AJ looked across the room to the other guys who sat and stared back at him. AJ sighed and looked back over at Danielle who was now sitting once again. He caught her staring at him. When she saw his gaze move towards her, she quickly turned her eyes to the ground. She couldn't look into his eyes, afraid that if she did she would begin to cry.
AJ shifted in his seat and finally broke the long silence. "Jesus, how long does it take to run some tests? I mean, they know she's fine now. She woke up in the ambulence." Kevin lightly cleared his throat and then spoke. "They're just trying to figure out what's wrong." "I already know whats wrong." Danielle told them. AJ shot his eyes towards her. "What do you mean?" He asked. Danielle sighed and lowered her eyes to the floor. "I think you should ask her." "I'm asking you." AJ didn't want to sound mean but he was confused and terrified. Danielle stood and grabbed his hand. "Come on. We'll go talk."
AJ followed Danielle into the empty cafetria. They sat down at a small table and AJ waited silently for Danielle to start. She didn't know what to say. How do you tell someone that they'll lose the love of their life? She cleared her throat and looked into his eyes. "AJ, there's a lot you don't know about Gina." "Like...?" Danielle took a deep breath and tried hard to stop the tears that were forming. "Like for the past year Gina's been living with Hodgkins disease." Silence erupted thoughout the room.
AJ wasn't sure if this was really happening. Hodgkins disease? That couldn't be true. Gina would have told him. Why wouldn't she have told him? This had to be a joke. Minutes past and the silence continued. AJ thought that any minute Gina would burst through the door and announce that he had been fooled. Slowly and painfully AJ realized that wan't going to happen. Danielle reached over the table and held onto his hands. "I'm sorry AJ." Tears feel from his eyes. "W-what, uh, is it exactly?" Danielle bit her bottom lip. "Whats basically going on is that cells in her lymphatic system, which is the immune system, are growing abnormaly." "That's not good, is it?" Danielle shook her head. "No, its not."
Suddenly, Danielle felt like there was a five year old boy sitting before her instead of a 23 year old man. He seem lost and confused. She slid her chair around and wrapped her arms around him. Just then Brian came in the room. "The doctor said one of you can go in and see her now." Danielle nodded and looked back over at AJ. "You go."
The stars twinkled and lit up the nights sky. Gina stared out the window trying to fight her body's will to sleep. She was so tired. It was quite as she layed in the dark empty room. She heard the door creak open and someone slipped inside the room. She didn't have to look over to know it was him. Suddenly, she found herself fighting a war. Not only was she trying not to fall alseep, but now she was fighting her heart and her soul's will to cry.
Gina slowly moved her gaze over to AJ. He stood a foot away from the bed. Although it was dark she could see his puffy read eyes. Her heart broke. He knew her horrible secret. "I'm sorry." She said so softly he was suprised he heard her. "Don't be." He said, just as soft. He sat down in the chair next to the bed and pulled her hand into his. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked. Gina sighed and bit her lip. "I'm already hurting Danielle. That's one person to many. I couldn't bare to hurt you too."
AJ took a deep breath and tryed to hold back his tears. He had to ask her. He feared the answer more than anything in his life, but he had to do it. "Are you going to die?" He asked, his voice hardly above a whisper. A single tear feel from her eye as she reached up and placed her hand softly on his cheek. Gina nodded lightly and let out a light "yes." All of his fear, his sadness, his anger was suddenly let out as AJ broke down in tears. Gina pulled him up on the bed with her. He layed his head on her chest and she ran her fingers through his hair as he sobbed uncontrollably.
Many long minutes passed before AJ calmed down and Gina spoke again. "This wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you. That night that I met you I just wanted a little fun because I knew thats all you probably wanted. I had never done anything like that in my life. Ya know, like meet some random guy and bring him back to my apartment. I figured, why not? I thought you were cute." Gina stopped and smiled. "Okay, actually I thought you were so incredibly sexy. So, I invited you in, not expecting anything but...well, sex. Instead, somehow I got so much more and I feel in love with you that night. Those two weeks we spent together were probably the best two weeks of my life."
Gina smirked and kissed him on the head and then continued. "Don't take this the wrong way, but when you left I felt relieved because I figured I'd never see you again and I wouldn't have to worry about breaking your heart or have you break mine. But I started missing you and wanting you. When you called and told me I could come on tour with you my brain was telling me 'no', but everything else inside me was telling me 'yes'. So, I was selfish and went. Now, here we are, in love and I'm hurting you. It's excatly what I didn't want to do and here I am doing it. I'm so sorry, AJ."
AJ shook his head and pulled himself up so he could look at her. "Please don't be sorry. This isn't your fault and you weren't selfish." Gina swept her fingers across his cheek to wipe away his tears. "I want to go home to a nice warm bed. I want to go home with you. I hate hospitals." AJ bit his lip. "Are you aloud?" Gina nodded. "The doctor thinks its best for me to stay but he said if I want I'm free to go. I just want to get the hell out of here."
"I have so many questions I need to ask you." AJ said softly. "At home I'll tell you everything, I promise." AJ nodded and started to get off the bed. Gina stopped him by kissing him softly. After a moment she pulled away and stared into his dark brown eyes. "I just needed to do that. I love you." After hearing that, a fresh new wave of tears fell from AJ's eyes. They sat there for a few more minutes as they held each other and cryed.
