Life & Photography

Coffee and News

I decided to meet with Lily at the coffee shop early this morning over some coffee so we can talk about her results.

I woke up a little bit earlier than I usually do in the summer to walk Roxy, feed her, and make sure I had time to get ready for the day and whatever it brought me.

💬Hey Lily I'll be over soon ~Rose.💬

💬How soon?💬

💬About 10:30🕥.💬

I walked into the coffee shop and went to the booth at the back where Lily was sitting. Her hair was up in a messy bun and her sunglasses from H&M or keeping her flyaways away from her face. She was wearing a black romper from H&M which looked neutral and basic along with some sandals. Lily looked exhausted. I could see the bags under her eyes that usually had makeup on them, especially eyeliner especially if she was feeling minimalistic.

💭Is Lily okay?💭

"Honey you look wrecked." I said to Lily as I sat across from her at the booth.

"Well hello to you too." Lily says. "I had a ice cold glass of mom's homemade lemonade before leaving the house this morning with a pounding headache and a bottle of orange juice on the way over here yet I still don't feel awake."

"Had a rough night?" I asked.

"I barely got any rest." Lily said while rubbing her eyes. She yawns then says, "I ordered iced coffees for us when I came in."

About a few minutes later, a waitress comes with our iced coffees. Lily took out an Advil, popped it in her mouth, and swallowed it with her first sip of her iced coffee.

I sigh before asking Lily the dreadful question, "Did you find out the results?"

"I actually overheard my parents talking about the results." Lily says. "Mom seemed distressed by the tone of her voice and body sound when they were at the kitchen island."

"You went to see what was up." I said. I knew she was going to do that. That was why she always listened into conversations her family had in private even if it was wrong and none of her business.

"That's right." Lily said. "She made me sit down with her and dad."

"And?" I ask anticipating for Lily to spill the beans already for God's sake.

Lily goes into her purse. She takes out an Manila envelope. At the center of the manila envelope was the Lily's address handwritten and the upper right-hand corner had the address of the hospital. Lily slid over the envelope across the table toward me. I took the envelope into my hands while my cheeks were filling up with heat and my skin started to feel cold as it crawled like a civilization of ants.

💭Uh oh.💭

"It just came in last night on my father came home after a long day of work." Lily said. "Open it."

"I hope this is a joke." I said.

"Open it." Lily says. "This is far from a phone call anyways."

I slowly open up the envelope and take out the papers that made the envelope bulky. I skimmed through the top page which was a letter summarizing how to look at these results. The next few pages were her record with the hospital, her past treatment, family medical history, and Lily's lengthy medical history which included all the checkups proving she was cancer free since the third grade the age of eight. Then the next four pages were pictures of the head CT scans showing how the tumor was strong then weakened.