"What else could go wrong?" Ginger asked, draped in a paper hospital gown and shivering from the sterile dry cold all of the rooms were set to. It was Zac's birthday and instead of spending it at home with his family like she had insisted, Zac was sitting next to his sick girlfriend on the sterile examination table.
"Calm down, Ginger, it's just a little check-up. We don't know what this could be."
"It's fricken brain cancer and I'm going to die because of it."
"If you keep thinking like that, then yes, you just might," Zac told her, holding onto her hand. Her nails were digging into his skin but he didn't say anything about it. He didn't even flinch, knowing that she needed to get some of her nervous tension out and that was what he was there for.
"How encouraging you are, Zac."
"You're the pessimistic one." She huffed. "I wouldn't fret about it, baby. Everyone has bumps on their heads. You could be the same. You never know, so that's why we're here."
"I'm so scared, Zac."
"I know."
"What's going to happen�what if it is cancer?" Zac shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know. They'll give you some kind of treatment, I guess. They might operate�it's really all up to what they find and how big it is. You'll be just fine, Ginger."
"I just�I swear could anything else possibly go wrong with my life? You're the one thing that's normal in my life and you're not even normal. You're quasi-normal. Pseudo-normal."
"Whatever, Ginger."
"So what do you think is going to happen to me next? Nothing bad, I hope." Zac shook his head.
"No, nothing bad. You're going to finish school, come out to Tulsa and live with me, and we'll be just fine. That bump on your head would be nothing special and from here on it's gonna be nothing but smooth sailing. You and me."
"My ass."
"No, it's true. We're going to be awesome from her on. We're at rock bottom and there's nowhere to go but up."
"Honey, you can believe that all you want. I'm keeping one foot in reality. You tell me when you want to join me." The door opened and in walked the doctor to take Ginger to her CT scan.
"R�" he began.
"Yes?" Ginger asked, looking up.
"Come with me, I'll take you down to the CT area. Zac, you can follow us there but you'll have to wait in the waiting area once we get there." Zac nodded. He stood up and helped Ginger, her hand still gripping his tightly as they followed the doctor. Halfway there Ginger got so nervous she looked as though she would throw up and she was wobbling a bit, but Zac gave her a kiss and a reassuring look and she seemed to be better.
He let her go when they arrived and sat down amongst the decade-old magazines and misprinted pamphlets that Zac had absolutely no interest in looking at. For a moment he wished he'd brought some paper and something to write with, but he figured it wouldn't take long and if she could be stuffed in a tube to get her head photographed he could wait outside for a little bit.
The minute he felt that bump on the back of her head he knew what was wrong with her. It added up. The nervous breakdown, the way she'd been acting lately�he found out from Kris that a good portion of her family either died or was severely disabled from cancer�but he refused to believe that she could have anything like that. She wasn't even eighteen yet and she'd already gone through so much in her life. She didn't need to add anything like this to her list of problems.
It sucked. Things were going good for the both of them. They had their lives planned out. Once she finished high school she was going to move in with him and once he finished high school they were going to get married. They were going to have at least two children, no more than five, live in a nice house where he could finally settle down from this hectic unpredictable music career and have a simple producing job that he would work until he didn't need to work anymore. If she wanted she could do her career (she was still unsure if she was going to stay at home or have a career) and the kids would either wait or be in daycare until school and things would be good for the rest of their lives. Nothing like cancer or nervous breakdowns were supposed to get in the way of that.
He didn't know how he was going to pull it off, though. It was still another year exactly until he turned eighteen and could leave home if he wanted to, but he still had to finish school and it didn't help that his mother was his teacher. He hadn't asked her yet about Ginger moving in with them, and he was pretty sure that she would say no. That woman still didn't like Ginger�never had�and didn't exactly care for the fact that Zac talked her into having Ginger stay the first time around. Ginger was older and a "bad influence" as Diana had put it, what with her flaming red hair, violet eyes, four tattoos and a tongue ring. As if he didn't have his own mind to control�that she controlled his. In the couple of months that they'd been dating she never said anything about him getting anything pierced or inked or whatever. He made all of his decisions without her supposed bad influence. Sure she wasn't exactly the best thing to bring home to his mother, the good Christian woman that she is, but he loved her all the same and punk or no punk, she was still the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
Ginger came out of the room and Zac looked up immediately. She was led out by a technician, a hand to her head and her eyes droopy. "What happened?" Zac asked, standing up and walking over to his girlfriend.
"She turned out to be a bit claustrophobic while in the tube so we gave her a bit of Valium to calm her down. She'll be just fine in an hour or so, but until then she'll be tired and sort of out of it."
"All right," Zac said, taking Ginger's hand. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Hey baby," she said. "I love you."
"I love you too, dear. Let's take you back to the examination room so we can get you changed and out of here."
"Mmmkay," she said, rubbing one of her eyes. He led her out of the room and down the hall to the room they'd initially come out of. When they went inside, Zac set her down in a chair and handed her the clothes she came in with. "Honey?"
"Yes, Ginger?"
"I have cancer." He paused.
"How do you know? Did they tell you anything?"
"No�but I was listening to them talking and I heard 'that looks like a tumor' coming from somebody." She scrunched her nose a moment and sneezed. "I want to go home."
"That's what we're doing. You just have to get dressed first."
"No."
"Ginger, honey, you can't leave the hospital with the gown on, you have to get dressed. I'll help you out, you won't even have to do anything."
"No."
"I don't care. You're getting dressed anyway." He lifted off the paper gown and started to get her dressed. Halfway through she pushed him away and put the rest of her clothes on herself. Right when she put her shoes on, she stood up, grabbed his hand, and started walking to the door.
"Woah," she said after a step or two. She began to wobble and looked as though she was going to fall over. "Woah�oh God." He balanced her out, a hand on either shoulder, and slowly walked her to the door.
"Slowly now, honey, you're still high off the Valium," he said, a chuckle in his voice. "I was hoping I'd never have to say that in the course of this relationship."
"Never let anybody give me that stuff again."
"Okay, dear."
They went out of the hospital and towards the car Zac had to rent for a few more days longer than he had initially planned. His entire family was still mad at him for not being home for his birthday, and for leaving suddenly and backing out on countless interviews for a girl they didn't even like. To him it didn't matter as much as it did before. Seventeen didn't mean much except being able to see rated R movies without his older brothers and getting to stay out later at night. Both of those rules meant little to nothing to him and he was still feeling quite sixteen, so it didn't seem like such a big deal.
"Honey, I have to get you something for your birthday," Ginger said, suddenly turning around once they were outside the hospital.
"No you don't."
"Yes I do. It's the least I could do. You've been such a help to me these past few days and�"
"Ginger, you don't have to get me anything. I don't need anything. Everything I need is right here with me."
"I didn't ask if you needed anything. I'm getting you something you want."
"I don't want anything." She gave him a look. "I don't." Her look remained. He sighed. "All right. All right, Ginger, I'll think of something you can get me."
"That's better," she said. She stood on her toes and kissed him, then turned back around and continued to walk to the car.
"You're sure?" Kris asked Ginger while Zac was taking a shower later that evening. Ginger nodded. "Well what did the doctor say? What are we going to do now? Is it chemo or something? I hope it's not�"
"Kris, calm down," Ginger said. "The doctor didn't say anything. I overheard them talking about it. They don't know I know it yet. They're probably not even sure what they're going to do about me just yet. I'm just telling you what I heard and it's not good. I mean�I mean of all the times in my life to find this blasted thing I have to find it now! I'm just starting to get a good life and God has to go and fuck it all up on me once again."
"Sis, that's not it. Don't blame God for all of this."
"Then why else is this happening? Why else do I exist? So God can play around with me. Why else would my life be this bad?" Ginger huffed and sat down on Kris's bed. "I don't get it. Why can't I just be happy for once?"
"Everyone goes through shit in their life, sis," Kris said, draping her arm over her sister. "Yours is just happening all at once."
"It sucks."
"I know. I know it does. It'll be over soon. Just look on the bright side. So the doctors found this thing in your head. They can treat it and they can fix it. That's the only thing going wrong with you right now. You have a family that loves you and a boyfriend that'll risk everything just to be with you. It's his birthday for crying out loud and he's spending it here with you instead of with his family. He spent his entire day with you at the doctor and now that you're done with that he's still here and he's going to spend the night here! Now if that's not somebody who loves you, I don't know what is."
"I wanted him to go home," Ginger said. "I didn't want him to spend his birthday at the doctor with me."
"But he did and I can bet you anything he has no regrets about doing that." Ginger laid down on the bed, face down, as Zac walked into the room. He was nice and clean from his shower. "Hey, Mom said that you can sleep in here on the floor if you promise not to do anything funny during the night with me in the room and all."
"Well�I don't know�I might not be able to contain myself, Kris, you're so damn hot."
"Hey! Wait a minute!!" Ginger said, sitting up. Zac laughed. "You're supposed to be my boyfriend! Fricken cheating on me with my sister�" Ginger paused. "Anyway�I'm tired. I think I'm going to turn in." Kris looked at the clock, confused.
"It's barely eight!"
"I've had a hard day." Ginger grabbed some pajamas out of the drawer and went to change in the bathroom. Zac and Kris a confused look.
"What was that all about?" he asked.
"I don't know. She hasn't been herself at all lately. I guess it's this cancer thing. I'm sure she's trying to deal with it." Zac didn't say anything. "Have you talked to her about this? Tried to get her spirits up? She's always had a problem with self-esteem and looking on the bright side of things."
"On the way home I talked her into trying to think of her life after this�asking her what she wants to do when this is over, but it hasn't exactly been working. But she's definitely better now than she was when we left the hospital." Ginger walked back into the room and Zac and Kristina quieted immediately.
"I know you guys are talking about me," she said. "You don't have to pretend like you're not." The two continued to remain silent and Ginger climbed up to the second bunk and got under the covers. She threw down one of her pillows for Zac. "Goodnight, guys."
"Goodnight," the two muttered. Kris opened up the closet and pulled out a sleeping bag for Zac. He rolled out the sleeping bag and put the pillow on the floor, but neither he nor Kris was tired just yet. They decided to leave the room and give Ginger the quiet she needed to sleep.
"She can't get enough of you," Kris said over decaffeinated tea at the kitchen table. Her parents were watching television in the living room not far away, but Kris and Zac had the privacy they needed. "She talks about you all the time, she talks to you all the time�I've never seen her like this before. I mean she's had a lot of boyfriends before, I mean a lot of boyfriends�" Zac gave her a look "�but that doesn't matter. I've never seen her so excited over one person."
"Yeah, well, Ginger definitely is something else." Zac's eyes drifted over to Kris and Ginger's room.
"Why do you call her Ginger?" Kris asked.
"Because I don't know her real name," Zac said. "When we first met�you were there�she told me to make up a name for her, so I did. I've been calling her Ginger ever since."
"You don't know her real name?" He shook his head. "It's R�"
"Don't tell me," he said, interrupting her. "When Ginger feels it's the right time to tell me, she'll tell me. It may be when the priest says it when we get married, but if that's the case, so be it." Kris froze. "What?"
"You're getting married?" Zac smiled.
"Well it's not official or anything like that," Zac said. She let out a deep sigh of relief. "No, I haven't asked, but we've discussed it on a number of occasions. I wouldn't mind it." Kris nodded. "Did she tell you she's coming to live with me after graduation?" Kris nodded again.
"Yeah, she told me all about it. I didn't think you knew, though. She spoke of it as if you didn't know."
"No, I was the one who mentioned it first. I worry about her a lot, even here where I know she has a good home, where I know she's loved and she'll never have any problems." Kris smiled. "I want her to be around. As soon as I finish high school we're getting married. We've already decided that. I just want get over all of this drama first."
"Yes, there definitely is a lot of drama when it comes to my sister," Kris said, taking another sip of her tea. "Definitely."