Chapter 2.

"Is she always this nervous?", the doctor, whose name turned out to be Dr. Felipe, but I just call him Doctor Strange, because he is, you know, strange, squinted at Rose as she was pacing around in the room like crazy.

"Yes", I confirmed and I think Doctor Strange was currently contemplating which one of us was really sick.

"Well, tell her to calm down", he pulled out a chair and sat down in front of his ancient computer, scrolling through some stuff. Mostly the news. No wonder it took so long to get in here.

"Rose", I turned to her, attempting the impossible, "you need to calm down."

"What?", she stopped and looked around as if she wasn't aware where she was and how she got there.

"You're freaking Doctor Strange out", I whispered, gesturing toward the doctor who now was watching a YouTube video of a parrot taking a bath. He really must've had a hard day.

"He's freaking me out", Rose didn't even bother to whisper, oh no, she was the opposite of being quiet and I imagined that someone was having cocktails on the Bahamas and living their best lives. What did I do wrong?

"Just calm down, damn", I shoved my face between my palms because my cheeks were flushing and when they did, I looked like a tomato and therefore ridiculous.

"Excuse me, Sir", she tapped her fingers on the doctor's shoulders a few times and it looked firm and rather painful so it was no surprise to see a wholly disgusted and condescending look on Dr. Felipe's face when he turned around. "When will you tell us the results?"

"As soon as they get back from the lab", he spat out the words, and honestly some saliva, too.

"They didn't get back yet?!", Rose literally collapsed on the chair that was standing in the corner. She was really hard on chairs lately. "Why are we in here then?"

She complained a lot, and I was hoping for an understanding look from my Doctor Strange but that behavior was out of his range.

"You can feel free to go out and wait there", he shrugged nonchalantly and turned back to his computer.

"No way", she shook her head aggressively, leaning back against the wall and folding her arms over her chest, fury all over her face. It was rather funny to look at her, because she kind of resembled a cartoon character. She was tiny and angry.

I was just sitting on the top of that stuff that was like an operating table, and let my legs swing back and forth out of boredom. The room was silent save for the sound of the tiny clicks the doctor made with the mouse and Rose's super loud breathing.

As soon as the door creaked open, Rose is up on her feet again, following every movement of the surprised nurse who is probably not much older than me.

"Dr. Felipe", she squeaked and the pitch of her voice reminds me of bats. It's so damn high my ears should be bleeding by now, but to my surprise it made a positive effect on my ears. And I like that. "Here are the results for Daisy D. Thompson", she stepped behind him by now and reached out to offer the bunch of papers in her hand to him. Doctor Strange sighed and turned around, furrowing his brows in a rather disapproving way.

"Thanks", he said as he got the papers out of the nurse's hand and dismissed her with just a gesture of his other hand. He dug into the papers, turning page over page, humming to himself which I think was the theme song of Looney Tunes, and pretty much just entertained himself.

"Well?!", Rose stomped one foot angrily and the doctor jerked in surprise. "Would you please be informative just for once?", she asked, but I don't think she needed an answer. I've never seen her this angry. Not even when I locked her out of the house and she got soaked in the rain.

Doctor Strange cleared his throat and slowly stuck out his tongue to wet his chappy lips before he fixed his gaze on me. And regardless his always neutral expression, I knew what was coming.

"Stage IV lung cancer."

If it wouldn't have been silence in the room, I'm sure we wouldn't hear what he said. His voice was shaky and for the first time I could see something in his eyes that more likely was pity.

"You're kidding", Rose stated and she even let out a soft laugh as though she was sure the doctor was going to yell "April 1st", but it was March and not the first.

Dr. Felipe cast his eyes down, ashamed, but it didn't really matter to me. He shook his head no, and that was the moment Rose started sobbing uncontrollably, and collapsed on the floor, saying "no" in litany.

The information that I just got and was pretty much life changing didn't hit the soft spot in my heart. Rose's reaction did. And the irony of me comforting and hugging her, repeating words as "it's gonna fine" and "I'm gonna be okay" wasn't lost on me.