One last Wish: Chapter 13
(A week Later)
Justin tried his best to concentrate on the lyrics in front of him, but no creativity or appropriate words were coming to mind. Or at least getting past the thoughts already engraved in his head. There was only one thing that stood out, actually one person; Hope. Ever since Hope’s father had banned Justin from ever seeing or talking to Hope, he had been so depressed and zombie-like.
Although Justin had not told the them, the rest of the guys were not oblivious to Justin’s misery; however, they didn’t want to intrude unless he asked for their help and/or support. As much as they wanted to help, they wanted to respect Justin’s privacy. But it didn’t mean that they didn’t know that it was due to Hope. Everything seemed to revolve around her lately. She had unknowingly left such an impact on Justin’s mind, heart, and soul. More than he knew, and more than the would accept.
Hope let out a loud sigh as the sharp pain in her chest passed. It was becoming normal habit. The doctor said that if she didn’t want to take anymore drugs, she’d have to bear the pain until the day she dreaded. She continued sweeping the kitchen floor and began humming to herself. Doing simple chores were the only thing she could do that wouldn’t require much strength and would keep her mind off the sadder things in her life. Other than her cancer, Justin was a main topic.
Ever since that day at the beach, Hope had refused to make eye contact with neither mother nor father. She was without a doubt angry with her father, but also with her mother because of what she had happened at the doctor’s office beforehand. Meals were always silent and no one in the house knew what to say to the other. It was almost as if they were complete strangers.
Hope immediately stopped humming to herself once her mother and father walked into the room. They were, as always, arguing over the stupidest things. Leigh and her husband stopped bickering as soon as they noticed their daughter roll her eyes at their arguing.
Robert took a seat at his usual spot at the breakfast nook as Leigh walked over to the stove to cook breakfast. “So um, Hope, how did you sleep last night sweetheart?” Leigh asked hesitantly.
Hope barely turned her head to angle towards he mother’s direction and replied, “crappy as ever.”
Hope’s father slammed his fist on the wooden table and spoke, “Hope Rosemary Evans, apologize to your mother for being so rude and quit with this attitude. You have nothing to pout over!”
Hope threw her kitchen mop onto the floor and yelled back, “forbidding me from never seeing the one person who makes me happy in this world seems like a pretty damn good reason to me to pout. It isn’t fair how you think you could just take total control of my life and never let me decide things for myself! Why can’t you just let me live this life, and take charge once I’m gone?”
Hope, distressed and angry, ran out of the kitchen and into the front lobby and out the front door. She immediately stopped at the last brick step that led to the house. She slowly walked further out into the grassy front yard and calmed herself down. It was moments like these that she needed Justin most. To be there for her, to brighten her cloudy days, to be her friend.
Hope felt a slight tug on her pant leg and slowly took her hands away from her face. Her attention was directed towards the little girl that stood in front of her smiling brightly. It was Shannon Meadows, Hope’s ten-year-old next door neighbor. She definitely had gorgeous long red curly hair that flowed with energy just like Shannon herself.
Hope wiped the tears that had escaped her tired eyes and slowly and painfully bent down next to Shannon. Hope tried her best to disguise her agony as it became harder for her to even get out of bed, much less bend down to see eye-to-eye with a sweet ten-year-old. “Hello Shanna-poo, how are you today?”
Shannon’s cheeks turned bright red as she replied, “Hope, I told you I’m too big for that name now!”
“Okay okay my lady. So what’s up?” Hope asked as she took Shannon’s hand and led her to the front steps where they sat side by side.
Shannon looked up at her and her bright smile began to fade, “why were you crying?”
Hope let out a quiet sigh and remembered what had just happened between her and her parents. She turned to face a curious and cutely concerned Shannon and answered, “I’m just sad right now sweetheart.”
Shannon looked confused and took a moment before speaking again, “is it because your friend boy doesn’t come over anymore?”
Hope quickly turned to look at Shannon and asked curiously, “what boyfriend? I mean, friend, that’s a boy, I mean no…I dunno what I mean. But who are you talking about Shanna-poo?”
Shannon giggled at Hope’s stuttering, “the boy with the funny curls and the one you always hug..”
Hope turned away to recall Justin’s bowl of blonde curls, and warm hugs. She turned to look at Shannon and noticed her funny smile, “what now missy?”
Shannon tugged on her a bit before Hope started tickling her for a bit. “Cmon and tell me what you’re think Shanna-poo.”
Shannon laughed and shrieked in laughter as she tried to reply, “okay okay I’ll tell you. Put me down!”
Hope finally put the little girl on her feet and bent down to await her answer, “so what were you smiling that for?”
Shannon replied, “I think he likes you.”
Hope taken aback by that remark. Honestly she thought she would never hear those words said to her, not in her wildest dreams. “Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. I guess it’s the way he always smiles at you when he sees you. Don’t you think Hope?” Shannon asked looking up at her.
Hope had been entranced from that moment on. She stood there for a while daydreaming. She knew it was too good to be true, especially coming from a ten-year-old. Hope could feel a pull on her and came back to reality. She looked down at the innocent looking little girl and took her hand and slowly bent down again. “Honestly Shanna-poo, we’re just really good friends. Actually one of my only best friends,” Hope said dreamily.
A voice called out and both Shannon and Hope turned towards Shannon’s house. Shannon’s mother waved and signaled for Shannon to get back inside the house. Hope and Shannon looked back to each other and smiled. Hope ran a finger through Shannon’s curly hair and said, “well you better get back home before your mommy get’s mad..”
Shannon nodded and started off. Hope called out to her and reminded her, “oh and Shannon, we’ll keep this between the two of us.” Shannon nodded in agreement and walked onto her own yard and into her house.
Hope went back to the brick steps and sat down and silently thought. It was amazing that a Shannon, who was only ten, could come up with such a foolish idea. But was it really foolish?
Hope let out one more sigh and said to herself, “of course it’s a crazy idea!”
(Back at the Studio)
Justin sat in the same spot he had been sitting in when Lance came into the lounge. He looked at Justin and shook his head and thought to himself silently whether to talk to him or not. Lance finally decided to just give it a try and took a seat across from Justin.
“Justin? Hello? Anyone alive in there?” Lance said waving his hand in front of his face trying to get his attention.
Justin came out of his trance and looked up at Lance. He smiled a fake smile and tried to look like he had been concentrating on the lyrics in front of him, even though he hadn’t even written more than his name on the paper in front of him.
Lance smiled at Justin’s dorky look and replied, “so you wanna talk about it or should I just go call Hope and see what’s up? Or would that be useless since she’s probably acting the same way you are.”
Justin ran a finger through his hair and continued staring at the close to blank paper in front of him. Lance slipped the paper from Justin’s weak grasp and read it over, “ By Justin Timber…wow, Justin. I like how creative you’ve been in the oh, let’s see,” Lance looked at his watch, “the past forty-five minutes. So come on, what’s the matter?”
Justin looked up at Lance and seriously debated whether to tell him or not. Justin knew he needed to talk to someone. Plus Lance was usually the easiest to talk to since he had gave good advice. So he decided he had nothing to loose. “Honestly Lance, this whole Hope thing is the only thing I can think about.”
“Well it’s pretty obvious that it has something to do with Hope. You’ve been moping around the whole week, ever since that whole episode with her and her father. So it’s not surprising you can’t stop thinking about her,” replied Lance.
Justin let out a sigh and leaned back in his seat and began to sulk. “So what am I suppose to do?”
Lance smiled and answered, “honestly Justin. You look like you’re about to loose it if you don’t see the girl. Are you sure you two are ‘JUST FRIENDS’?” Lance asked curiously.
Justin’s head immediately lifted as he looked at Lance. He couldn’t see how Lance could read anymore wrong into the situation. “Whatever you’re implying Lance, it’s not what you think it is between me and Hope. We’re just really close friends…honestly.” Justin sounded like he wasn’t too sure of himself, but he still went ahead and denied Lance’s implication.
Lance nodded his head as Justin continuously stuttered. Once Justin finished, he let out a chuckle. Lance remarked, “you know Justin, for someone who is so sure that they’re ‘just friends,’ you seem pretty unsure of yourself.”
Justin stood up and was about to walk out but abruptly stopped in the process and turned to Lance, “so what should I do?”
“What else can you do man? Go see her!” Lance encouraged him.
Justin was about to open his mouth once more but Lance stopped him “no BUT’S. Now go on!”
Justin smiled and nodded his head, “thanks man.”
With that, Justin walked out the door and Lance smiled and shook his head as he thought about Justin and Hope.
(Hope’s house)
Hope slowly made her way up the house stairs. Her father was out in the backyard cleaning the pool and her mom sat in the living room watching tv. She still wasn’t ready to really talk to either of them at the time. Hope walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She almost tripped over a cord that led to the emergency button her mother had nagged her father to install in Hope’s room ever since she had been diagnosed. Hope slowly walked over to her wooden desk and sat down on the padded chair.
She picked up a framed photo of her and Justin that they had taken at the mall after Justin had apologized to her. Shannon’s words continuously replayed in her head and she couldn’t think of anything else. Hope smiled a bright smile and decided to go make a phone call to Justin.
Just as Hope got up, the pain in her chest and stomach returned, yet this time it was worse. Hope barely stood up and clenched her stomach trying to bear with the pain. She could feel warm tears fill the corners of her eyes as she tried her best to walk over to the emergency button on the wall across the room. For a moment she stopped in the middle of the room falling on her knees and barely being able to breathe. She knew that she needed to get help right away. She could barely say a word although she felt like screaming her lungs out. She dragged her pained and fragile body to the wall and stood up as straight as she could still clenching her stomach and weakly pressed the button. Hope could faintly hear the siren go off in the living room and her mother screaming and footsteps in the background. Hope leaned against the wall and couldn’t let go of her stomach. The pain enveloped every part of her body, all the way down to her toes. She could feel herself get light headed until the point her limp body sank to the floor and she lost fell to the floor all together. She clenched her stomach with one hand and the other hand still held the frame of her and Justin’s picture. Hope, through tear-filled eyes, took one last look at Justin in the picture and lost consciousness altogether.
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Chapter 14
