OAPD24

24.
The Morning Routine

Thursday August 2, 2001
8:48 am

Oh, porcelain.
Meg rested her head on the cool toilet seat, recovering from the daily routine. Wake up, stumble to the bathroom, throw up dinner, moan for fifteen minutes, cry and feel sorry for myself, pull self off the floor and take shower. It had been this way every morning for a month now. That's what had caused her to lose so much weight in so little time. Chemotherapy had stripped her of most of her energy; she was not looking forward to another 16-hour day on the set.
Her and Paul had stayed at the studio until nearly two, then came back to her apartment and fell asleep on the couch. Last night, she had felt genuine fear for the first time since she'd been diagnosed. The creeping death had begun to take its toll on her senses.
She groaned and wiped away a tear, pulling herself off the floor. She stretched and turned around.
"Paul! You're awake!"
"Yeah, are you okay?" he asked, concerned, hurrying over to her.
"I'm fine; this happens every morning," she shrugged.
He sighed. "I hate that this happens to you."
"It's alright, Paulie," she assured him and took his hands. "It'll be over in a few months anyway."
He smiled. "Yeah."
"Good. Now let me take a shower, alright? I'll be out in fifteen minutes."
"Okay," he said, backing out of the room. "I'll be timing you, Meggie. Go!"
She laughed, "Okay, don't pressure me or anything!"
"Fourteen minutes and 54 seconds left!" he yelled from the living room.
She chuckled and shut the bathroom door. She showered and, in a towel, scurried across the hall to her room. There, she changed into an old concert shirt and warm-up pants and yanked her hair up in a bun. As she walked out, she noticed a note on the door frame.

She smiled. She folded the note and placed it on her dresser. Padding to the kitchen, she made a bowl of cereal and sat in front of the television. Just as the morning news came on, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Meg, this is Britney."
"Hey girl, what's up?"
"Me and Jess are on the way to Reese Hospital."
"Really?"
"Yep. We wanted to know where Jill's room was, specifically."
"Okay, it's in Duncan Tower, sixth floor, room 640. Thank you so much for going, this is going to make her day!"
"Oh, it's no problem! We're probably going to see some of the other kids, too. I'm going to let you talk to Jess, I'm veering off the road."
"Okay."
"What up, Meg?!"
"What up, Jess?" Meg laughed.
"How are you?"
"I'm okay, actually. I'm eating so it's all good."
"Oh yeah, lemme tell ya about it! So what's up with you and Chad?"
"We broke up. He's a wimp."
She laughed. "I'm sorry! He's a wimp?"
"Yeah. He couldn't handle the fact that I have cancer. Big whoop."
"Well if it makes you feel any better, me and Nick broke up."
"You and Nick! That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"Well..."
"I'm so sorry, Jess. Was it the whole long-distance thing?"
"Yeah. Maybe we had what was coming to us, you never know."
"Maybe you'll hook up again..."
"I hope so!" she laughed. "So what about you, how's your love life?"
"Well..."
"Spill it!"
She sighed, "Me and Paul," she heard Jessica gasp, "Paul came to the set and...we got a lot of stuff out in the open and..."
"And?"
"Well, let's just say that Paul and I are no longer just friends."
"Ah!" She yelled. "Meg and Paul hooked up, Brit!"
"I knew that one was coming!" Britney declared.
"I think we all did. Well congratulations, Meghan, you scoundrel!"
"Thank you, Jessica."
"That's just great, Meg, I'm glad for you!"
"Thank you, I'm...glad for myself!"
"Good, good. Listen, we're almost at the hospital, so I'll talk to you later, alright?"
"Alright, give Jill my love."
"I will. You take care of yourself, okay?"
"I love you, Meggie!" Britney yelled in the background.
"I love you, Brit!" She yelled back. She laughed, "Bye, Jess!"
"Bye, girl."
Meg replaced the receiver and continued watching the morning news. Finding it only boring and irrelevant, she turned to MTV. Dana, her publicist, had called her three days ago and said that the day that "Just for Tonight" would be released on TRL, she'd go on the show and announce that she had cancer. That would be in two weeks. Meg was regretting it, as it would be an emotional day. Plus, she knew the rumors would begin circulating about her before she knew it. 'Meghan Whitley battles deadly illness; Hangs on to life'. I hate the press.