"They changed her room. Number 2304. She's having a good day today, but she may be asleep right now."

"Thank you," I responded, smiling at the receptionist.

We walked to the elevator in silence. He walked like half-a-pace behind me in a very anxious manner. His face was all glum and serious, and he had his hands pushed deep into the pockets of his hoodie.

Once we had gotten to the elevator, I pressed the up button, and we continued to wait quietly. I glanced at him again; he was bobbing up and down on the balls of his feet, and kept turning to look down the hallway.

"I can't do this. This is a bad idea," He said suddenly, turning to walk back towards the entrance.

I grabbed his side and pulled him back. "Carson, come on."

He resisted a bit more before he gave in and allowed himself to be pulled into the elevator.

I could see him panicking in the corner of my eye as we made our way down the hall. His eyes raced around the corridor from the nurses' station, to the empty gurney, to the two doctors walking toward us while they drank coffee.

I grabbed onto his arm as we stopped in front of Room 2304.

"You ready?" I asked. He nodded.

I remembered meeting Katie at Carson's house a couple years ago. She was 10 then, and had since become a lot paler and skinnier. Her hair had also thinned out and was scattered with bald patches.

Katie was asleep. She had a blood bag attached to her arm and an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose. The sound of us coming in must have woken her up; she opened her eyes and started fidgeting around, trying to sit up.

"Carson?" She asked. Her voice was muffled by the mask.

"Hey, kiddo!" He said, putting on a big smile. "Hang on, I'll get a nurse to help you."

He caught a nurse coming down the hall. She took off the oxygen mask and replaced it with a nasal cannula. After adjusting her oxygen, the nurse helped Katie sit up, placing a pillow behind her back for support.

"Katie, you remember Maddie, right?" She nodded as he moved two chairs closer to Katie's bed and sat us down in them.

"Hi, Katie," I greeted.

"So this is the girl you never shut up about?" Each of her words were strained and spaced out by a deep breath.

"Katie," he groaned.

"She's prettier than you said."

"Alright, now, that's enough," Carson said sternly, his face turning bright red.

"No, no, please continue," I said, smiling at Katie. "I would love to know what else Carson says about me."

"You say another word, and I tell the nurse to take away your remote," He threatened.

Katie rolled her eyes, "Okay, then you talk. Tell me what you've been up to."

He shrugged, "Well, I had spaghetti for lunch. And, this afternoon, I took a nap."

"You're annoying. Tell me something interesting."

"Nothing interesting has happened."

"You're sitting next to a girl who's about ten times hotter than you are. I'd say that's pretty interesting."

"Okay, first of all, Maddie is not better looking than I am-"

"Yes I am," I said cutting him off. He shot me a glare.

"Second," he finished, "I don't get how it's interesting."

"I wanna know how you got a girlfriend and when you finally stopped fucking every girl in the state."

"Watch your language! You are thirteen," Carson scolded.

"Hey, I'm just trying to make sure you don't die alone."

Carson cleared his throat, "Well, we're actually-"

"Your brother asked me out a few weeks ago," I interrupted Carson, squeezing his hand.

"That's good," She smiled. "I'm happy for you guys."

"Are mom and dad coming?" Katie asked.

He ducked his head down and scratched the back of his neck in a guilty manner. I looked over to Katie, who found this to be an answer to her question, a feeble expression of disappointment on her face.

"No, I don't think so."

"That's okay, I'd much rather have you here than them."

As time passed, Carson's smile became genuine instead of forced, but you could still see the pain in his eyes; he loved Katie, a lot.

She was quite funny. Every time Carson said something kind of mean (in a sibling-rivalry way, of course), she would hit him right back. However, it was clear that the longer we stayed, the less energy she had.

After about an hour or so, I stepped out of the room, so that Carson could have some time alone with her before we left.

I walked down the hall to the nurses' station, leaning on the wall opposite. Even at night, everyone seemed to be moving in a faster pace. Some of the nurses talked quickly on the phone in hushed tones, others were pushing kids in wheelchairs, some of the doctors were doing their last rounds of the night.

"Hey."

I turned around and saw Carson walking up to me.

"You ready to go?" He asked.

I nodded as he wrapped and arm around my waist and led us to the elevators.

"So, did you tell her?" I asked.

He shook his head, "We're not supposed to. Apparently, if she thinks she's dying, she'll just get worse. But, she's not a little kid; I'm sure she's figured it out for herself."

I nodded my head. We walked quietly through the hospital and out to the parking lot.

"Well, anyways, Katie asked me to bring you next time," Carson smiled. "If you're okay with it, of course."

I nodded, "I'd love to."

* * *

"Maddie, Maddie, Maddie!" Jason repeated over and over as he barged into my house.

"Be quiet! You're going to wake up the devil."

Carson and I had just gotten back from the hospital about an hour ago, and we had both decided to go to bed. My sleep was rudely disrupted when Carson threw my beeping phone at me.

"Madeline, you've been AWOL all day and we need to talk!"

"About what?" I groaned. I was too tired for this shit.

"TK."

I perked up, suddenly forgetting my exhaustion. "Ooh, yes. What happened?"

He sighed as he flopped back on my couch, kicking his legs up over the top of the couch. "I think I'm in love," he sighed.

I laughed, "You went on one date with the guy."

"Yeah, but he's perfect. He's hot, he's funny, oh and when went back to his house, he made me chocolate chip cookies."

Jason went on to describe the date in excruciating detail, even the part after TK made him cookies, most of it, I could have gone without hearing.

"Well, I'm glad you're happy," I smiled. "Does this mean we're considering a second date?"

"That's the catch," Jason said, sitting up. "He wants us to be exclusive. As in seeing no one else. As in seeing only him."

I rolled my eyes, "Jason, you just described your dream guy. Are you seriously going to give that up because it means you can't sleep with random guys whenever you want?"

"The real question is: Am I seriously going to give up sleeping with random guys because it means I might get my dream guy?"

I let him think about what he said for a second.

He shook his head, "What the hell am I saying? Thank you, Mads." He got up from the couch, kissed my cheek, and hurried out the door.

I rolled my eyes, "Boys."

* * *

We sat down altogether outside on the field for lunch. We all really just wanted to get away from everyone. The whole school was buzzing because Carson had come back from his mysterious leave. His fan girls were going crazy.

"So, how is your first day back going?" Dylan asked.

Carson rolled his eyes, "Awful. This is the first time I've caught a minute alone all day."

I laughed, "Aw, must suck to have so many groupies chasing you around."

"I thought you would've loved all the attention," Jason said.

"Yeah, you have your pick of any girl in the school, including the teachers," Zach added.

"Please, I've alway had that. Nothing special."

"Oh yeah, but there's this new girl," Jason chimed. "And I'm just saying, if I was straight I would so... actually no, never mind, I would never choose to be straight. But still, she's hot."

Carson shrugged, "No thanks. She's probably not my type."

I stifled back a laugh as everyone shared looks of confusion. Maybe he was more concussed than I thought.

"Are you feeling alright, Carson?" Luna asked.

"Perfectly well," he answered.

Dylan looked at me. I shrugged. Maybe Carson was turning over a new leaf. Yeah, probably not.

"Okay," Zach said slowly. "Moving on."

Zach started a conversation that was really only directed at Luna, and Jason was showing Dylan something on his phone that was making them laugh.

Carson scooted over closer to me. "Do they know anything?" He whispered.

I shook my head, "No. I figured you'd want to tell them."

He nodded, "Thanks."

"So, you looking forward to all the makeup work you'll have?"

He sighed, "Yeah, about that. I figured I could just bribe you into doing it for me."

"Oh really? What would you bribe me with?"

Carson had his signature smirk back on his face. He shrugged, "I have a few ideas."

I nodded and laughed, "You'd like that wouldn't you?"

"Alright," Jason said, breaking us away from our conversation. "I need to be off. See ya'll tonight?"

"Woah, slow down there, twinkle toes. What's tonight?"

He shrugged, "I figured we'd all hang. Just come to mine whenever." He ran down the hill before any of us could protest. It was the middle of the week. A good rule of thumb is unless you like having to sit through a full day of classes while hungover, you don't go to Jason in the middle week.

Dylan groaned, "Great. Come on, Car. We gotta go, too."

"Go where?" Carson laughed.

"We just have to go. You too, Zach, come on."

Dylan basically dragged both Zach and Carson off the field, neither of them were thrilled about having to get up.

"Just you and me again," I said to Luna, moving to sit closer to her. She nodded, and remained quiet for a minute or so.

"Hey Mads?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking about it and... well, I'm sorry about what I said... you know, about Carson. I really shouldn't have told you to stay away."

"I know, you didn't mean to, Luna. You were just trying to look out for me. I get it."

"Yeah, but you know how you always say I have like the worst advice?"

"Definitely."

"Well, I just think that you should keep that in mind. I guess."

"I'm sorry?"

She shrugged, "I just- well, I don't know. Maybe I was wrong, about the whole you and Carson thing. People change."

"What does that even mean? And what 'me and Carson' thing?"

Luna sighed, "I just meant that I don't want something I said to be a reason you hold back."

"Hold back on what? Luna, I'm so confused."

Her eyes went wide, "Oh my God, you don't see it."

It sounded like it was supposed to be a question, but it came out as a statement of wonder she was telling herself.

"See what? Luna!"

She shook her head, "Nothing, nothing. Well, I gotta go do something... with someone. I'll see you tonight!"

She got up and left before I could even try to get her to explain what the hell she was on about.

See what? What the hell was I supposed to see?

* * *

"Maddie, you ready to go?" Carson asked, walking in my room uninvited (as always).

"How many times do I have to tell you to knock? I could've been undressed."

He shrugged, "Nothing I haven't seen before. Now, are you ready to go?"

I groaned, "I don't wanna go."

He laughed, "Seriously?"

I shook my head. "I'm tired."

He rolled his eyes, "Fine. I'll just text that you're not feeling well or something."

"Thank you!" I called out as he left the room and went back to his own.

I smiled to myself as I threw the shirt I was holding back in the direction of my closet, glad I would not have to change out of my sweatpants. I jumped on my bed and sprawled out on my stomach, resting my face on the pillow.

A few minutes later, I felt a large dip in the bed, and a minute after that, I was being shoved over quite forcefully.

"Move, over, you fat ass," he groaned.

"What are you doing in here again?"

"Watching a movie with you," He stated. He picked up the television remote from the coffee table and switched on the TV.

"Carson, when I said I was tired I meant it."

"How much energy does it take to watch a movie?"

"Your definition of watching a movie and my definition are quite different."

"Relax, I just want to watch a movie."

"And I need to be present?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Well, who else am I going to hold?"

I sighed, "Okay, fine, but I'm not making any promises that I'll stay awake for the full thing."

He laughed, "Don't worry, Princess. If you fall sleep on me, I'll make sure you don't choke on your own tongue."

"How charming," I rolled my eyes, but I could clearly see there was no stopping this. Carson wanted to watch a movie, so a movie we would watch.