Luke's POV

I look at my calendar and write a big X over today. I count the days until Delilah is here. It's a little over three weeks. We're almost there. A few more weeks, and she will be here with me. All the days of waiting are almost over.

I get a text from Calum saying that he's here. We're going to the hospital. 

I poke my head into my dad's room. "Calum is here. I'll text you when I'm coming home. Call me if anything happens with mom."

My mom isn't having a treatment today. 

We're taking Jordan out.

The last time I was at the hospital, Jordan and I exchanged numbers. We've been texting a little since then. I've gotten to know more about her as she gets more comfortable with me. The other day she told me she hasn't left the hospital in over three months. I talked to her doctors, and they agreed to let her out for a few hours. I'm going to surprise her. 

I head outside and get into the passenger seat of Calum's car. I'm full of nervous excitement. I hope Jordan is happy with the surprise.

"Got everything?" I ask him.

"All set."

Once we're at the hospital, I lead Calum to Jordan's room. They've never actually met. He's walked past her room once, but there has been no formal meeting.

I knock on Jordan's door that is open slightly and walk in. As usual, she's reading. She's in her pajamas and sitting by the window.

She looks up and scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. "What are you doing here? Is your mom okay?" Her gaze shifts to Calum. He waves lightly.

"She's fine. We're actually here for you," I tell her.

She closes her book and puts it beside her. "What?" Her cheeks blush lightly.

I look over at Calum. He smiles.

"I talked to your doctors yesterday. They said it's okay for you to leave for a few hours," I tell her. "So we're gonna take you out for a little, if you'd like to of course."

Her face gets tightly knit with more confusion. "Are you serious? Of course I'd like to!"

"Completely serious."

The confusion disappears and a smile transforms onto her face. "Oh, my God. I can't believe this! Wait, I'm not even ready. Let me change out of my pajamas." She shoos Calum and me out. "I'll be right out," she says, smiling while she shuts the door. The door opens quickly. "Is it hot out?"

"It's warm. Not too hot," I tell her.

"Okay, thanks," she says, shutting the door again.

Calum laughs. "She seems cool. The few seconds I was in there anyway."

"She is. She seems pretty excited."

Jordan comes out quickly. She has a beanie on and is no longer in her pajamas. She has a backpack slung over her shoulder and is jumping around while trying to finish tying her converse laces. It seems like she was so excited that she just threw a bunch of stuff on quickly.

"Ready!" she says when she's done tying her shoelaces. She looks up at us and smiles.

She looks over at Calum and waves. "I'm Jordan, by the way. An introduction was overlooked by Luke's announcement."

Calum laughs. "Calum. Nice to meet you."

"So where are we going?" Jordan asks, tugging at her backpack.

"It's a surprise. First we just have to check in with your doctor."

"Oh, right. Follow me. She should be over here," Jordan says. We follow her down a short hallway.

Her doctor makes sure she is feeling okay and does a few quick tests. She gives Jordan some things in case anything goes wrong, which I'm hoping doesn't happen. Jordan packs them into her bag and then we're ready to go.

"You really didn't have to do this," Jordan says as we walk out of the hospital.

"I know. I wanted to," I tell her.

"Why?"

"I know what it's like."

She looks up at me, confused again. "What?"

"I know what it's like to be away from everything for so long. I also know what it's like to be in a hospital."

She frowns slightly. "You do?"

"Yeah. That's a story for another time, though."

When we take the first step out the front door, Jordan stops walking and looks up.

"I forgot how nice the sun feels," she says, smiling. "I wasn't sure if I'd ever feel it again."

I feel really bad for Jordan. She acts like she's fine with everything for the most part. But then sometimes she makes comments like that, which shows how she really feels. Jordan sometimes expresses doubt and being scared, which is totally understandable. Right now, she seems truly happy, and she's only been outside for a few seconds. She seems genuinely excited to be out of the hospital right now. I hope today can be a relaxing, fun day without much worries.

Jordan follows us to Calum's car. I have her sit in the passenger seat so she doesn't see what's in the back. 

She bounces her legs. "I haven't even been in a car for awhile. All I've been in is an ambulance when I'm transferred." She says it nonchalantly, like that's a normal, everyday statement. She rolls down the window, props her elbow on the edge, and leans her head against her hand. "One good thing about having no hair is that it doesn't blow in the wind and get all messy if I do this," she says, laughing. She pulls a pair of sunglasses out of her bag and puts them on.

"How much stuff do you have in there?" Calum asks, laughing.

"Anything I could ever need." She pushes her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose matter-of-factly. "If you need some hand sanitizer, tissues, an extra hat. It's like Mary Poppins bag."

Calum laughs.

We get to our destination in a few minutes. Calum parks on the side of the road.

"Here," he says, turning to Jordan then to me.

Jordan turns around to face me. "You're kidding, right? You actually listen to me?"

I nod. "It's no big deal, honestly."

Jordan quickly gets out of the car and smiles widely.

The other day, Jordan told me that if she could have one normal day, she would want to go to the park and have a picnic. When she was younger, her dad would take her and her brother. She said she hadn't been in years. So that's where we brought her today. It's not that difficult, and I wanted to do something nice for her. Being in a hospital for so long can really destroy someone.

Calum and I grab everything for a picnic from the back of the car. Jordan smiles even wider.

"Follow me," she says, quickly turning on her heels. "I know the best spot."

Calum and I follow her to a spot that is under a large tree. She crouches down and looks at the bottom of the tree. 

"Right here," she points, "is where I carved my initials when I was seven years old. This is technically my tree. Ignore the hundreds of other initials. Mine is the only important one obviously." She runs her fingers along the worn letters.

Calum spreads out a large blanket and we all sit down cross-legged. I open up the bag of food and start taking everything out.

"Here's a grilled cheese for you, you said you liked those," I tell Jordan, passing it to her. I pass Calum his turkey sandwich and start to unwrap my peanut butter sandwich. I dump the rest of the contents into the middle of the blanket. Calum and I bought a bunch of stuff last night, like chips, chocolate, soda, water, and some healthy stuff. Jordan seems like a healthy kind of person. I also got stuff I know my mom eats that doesn't bother her stomach. Maybe they're okay for Jordan too.

Jordan reaches into the large amount of food and pulls out the strawberries. I knew she seemed healthy.

"Did you clean these?" she asks, examining the strawberries.

I nod. "Yep, cleaned everything and put them into new containers. They are as germ free as possible."

Jordan raises her eyebrows. "Wow, you're good. I'm impressed. You've learned quickly."

I shrug. 

While we're eating, Jordan tells us stories about when she used to come to the park. It feels like the three of us have been friends for awhile. She seems really comfortable with both of us. She seems to be feeling great too, thankfully. I don't know what I would have done if she wasn't feeling well or if she didn't want to come. Calum and I would've gone on a nice picnic date together, I guess.

Jordan's phone vibrates. She looks at her phone and groans.

"My mom decided to go to the hospital today to visit me," she says. She rolls her eyes and quickly types a response.

I look over at Calum. "We can take you back if you want," Calum says.

She waves her hand. "No, it's okay. I'd rather be here. She can wait a little."

"When was the last time she visited?" I ask, taking a bite of my sandwich.

Jordan shrugs. "Sometime last week. She usually comes every Monday for a little. I'm not sure why she decided to visit on a Saturday."

"Do you get a lot of visitors?" Calum asks.

I glare at him quickly. He looks at me in confusion.

"In the beginning I did. Not so much anymore. My brother comes when he can, but he's at uni now, so it's hard. My dad sometimes comes with my mom. My mom used to always be there. Friends come very little. My best friend used to come every week. After awhile though, everyone has to get back to their lives. It's okay. I'm fine. I'm close with my nurses and other patients."

What Jordan says hits hard. I know what she means. People start leaving little by little when there's something wrong. They realize there's nothing they can do to help. They don't have the time anymore. They just disappear. During people's hardest times is when others leave. A lot of people left me.

"I constantly visited Luke, even when he didn't want to see me. I can't imagine not being there for a friend," Calum says.

Jordan looks over at me. "Is now the time you'll tell this story?"

I sigh and run my hands through my hair. I take a deep breath and get ready to tell her everything. It's not that I don't like talking about it, it's just that it takes so long. Most people don't understand or they get really sympathetic, which isn't what I want. "Last year, my girlfriend passed away and I stopped speaking..."

I tell her everything quickly, leaving out some things so the story doesn't last too long. She makes some comments, but never once says she is sorry. When I'm done, she reaches over and puts her hand on top of mine.

"That's why you didn't wanna scream on the roof, isn't it?" she says.

I nod. I'm surprised she remembers that.

She takes her hand away. "I knew there was something different about you."

Jordan's response surprises me. Most people dwell on how sad my story is, and the mood drastically changes when they find out what I've been through. There's always a bunch of "I'm sorry" or "I had no idea" but not with Jordan. She listened and took it all in. She understands. She knows not to say that kind of stuff. She knows not to focus on the sadness. She's the first person ever to be that way. Usually people have no idea what to say.

"Well," Jordan says, "I'm happy you have such an awesome support group. That's always good."

I nod and look over at Calum.

Jordan stands up and brushes off her legs. "I'm going to make a toast. This is a toast to sunny days and picnics and being happy with good people. And being out of the hospital, even if it's just for a few hours." She takes her water bottle and puts it in the air. Some of the water splashes out and she laughs. Calum and I do the same with our sodas. We all take a sip. She looks down at us and smiles. "Thank you."

Jordan picks up a rock and walks over to the tree. 

"Calum, what's your last name?" Jordan asks.

"Hood."

She crouches down to the bottom of the tree. Next to her initials, she inscribes C.H. and L.H.

"It's your tree now too. I guess I can share the property," she says, smiling. I don't think she has stopped smiling this whole time.

After we're done eating, we walk around for a little. We follow Jordan to a bookstore that's nearby, which doesn't surprise me. She buys a few books and tells us they'll last her the next week. I'm surprised she hasn't read every single book in existence already.

After about three hours, I can tell Jordan is getting worn out. She's talking less and walking slower. We get back in the car and head back to the hospital. Jordan is pretty quiet the whole drive, and she looks out the open window contently. 

We slowly park and get out of the car. Jordan stands on the sidewalk and takes some deep breaths before walking inside. We slowly walk to the elevator and down the corridors. We slowly stand in front of Jordan's room.

Jordan starts to open the door to her room. She quickly turns around.

She wraps her arms around me. "Thank you so much for today. You have no idea how much it means to me."

She goes over to Calum and hugs him tightly too. "It was nice meeting you. Thanks for doing this too and being an awesome friend to Luke."

She stands in the doorframe and looks at both of us. She smiles.

"Today was the best day ever." She yawns. "I'll see you both later. Hopefully." She closes the door, but right before it shuts, I hear someone behind the door.

"Jordan, who's that?" someone asks quietly. I'm assuming it's her mom.

"My new friends," she whispers.

And then the door shuts.

My new friends.

this is the longest chapter i have written in soooo long. i'm so happy with this, i've been feeling like the past updates haven't been my best lately but i love this chapter.

hope you're all loving RTF and have been able to buy it :) thanks for all of your support!

love you!

ashley