#our parents are friends n we went to the same uhh was it pre-school or kinder idk the term bcs we used different terms but yk yh 🤍

[noxtivagus]

TODAY IS SO SO GOOD

[mcwriting]

The Marriage Project (10)

Hellooooo! For 300 followers, I decided to drop chapter 10! Please enjoy!

Masterlist

Word Count: 2202

Warnings: maybe some language? 

% approximately the last weekend of october %

By the time everyone and their families had gotten to the city and eaten dinner, it was around 8:30 pm, so you and Tom decided to try and knock out your project work.

You sat in the breakfast lounge next to each other at a table as other team members and families conversed. You noticed Nikki and your parents talking and gave Tom a glance.

Since this was your last ever volleyball tournament (at least for high school), your parents had come and you were getting to stay in their hotel room instead of a team room.

You mostly worked silently when you and Tom overheard some people talking about homecoming.

“Who’re you taking to homecoming?” he asked casually. “And don’t say Paddy or Harry.”

You laughed at that one.

“Uhh, no one. I don’t really have anyone to take so guess I’m flying solo with the girls again. Why? Who were you gonna go with?”

“Eh, nobody. The guys brought it up earlier to me and I was just curious.”

“Oh, really? I thought you had girls lined up at your feet. And a couple guys, too.”

“I’m pretty sure I could say the same about you. And you mean freshmen? Yeah right. I’m not about to catch a case, not that I’m remotely attracted to any of them.”

That comment made you laugh again.

“Yeah, well, those same freshmen are the ones spreading rumors about us. It’s stupid. We oughta stick it to them somehow.”

“What are you getting at..?” he trailed, suspicion in his voice.

“I don’t know… What if we just went to the dance together? I mean, we’re already on homecoming court and are most likely gonna win, so what if we just showed up together to annoy them? It’s not like we have to make it some big deal or anything.”

He looked at you for a minute, like he was doing calculations.

“So… you and me, no matter whether we win or not, go together? You don’t think that’s just gonna make things worse?”

“I’m pretty sure anything we do will keep causing rumors so long as we’re doing this project. We don’t have to, I just thought it would be funny to see everyone’s reactions.”

“You know what, let’s do it. There’s nothing for us to lose. Let’s just not tell people we’re going together and then just show up there. If anyone asks just say we’re going solo?” He suggested.

“That’s not going to work completely… what if you came to dinner with me and my friends beforehand? We can surprise them all and then the rest of the school at the dance. It would be really sus if I bailed on dinner and I’d like for your mom to take some pre-dance pictures.”

You decided to shake on it and get back to work, but your stomach was doing the same fluttering it had been the past couple weeks. By the time you two finished, it was just past 10 pm and most of the parents and even some of the team had gone to their rooms. 

The only people you knew nearby were Sam and Julia, who were sitting on a chair together watching something on her phone, and of course Tom, who was watching snap videos from friends at the Halloween party that had just started.

“I think I’m gonna head upstairs. Even though top seed doesn’t play the first round, I have to be up kinda early,” you explained as you stood, gripping your laptop across your chest.

“What’s your room number, I’ll walk you up. Some of the people here have been giving me weird vibes.”

“Umm, let me check,” you pulled out your phone with the text your mom had sent earlier. “415.”

“Oh that’s perfect. We’re in 416. Just across the hall.”

You said goodnight to Sam and Julia as you passed and went to the elevator. As you waited, a young couple, probably in their mid twenties came up, obviously drunk. They were dressed up for the holiday, and you were surprised that they were seeming to cut the night short. 

“Oh my God babe, look, they’re like younger us!” the girl attempted to whisper, giggling. Your face burned as you glanced at Tom, who looked as uncomfortable as you.

“That’s so dope! How long have you been with this little lady?” the guy said directed to Tom, giving you a once over, as all four of you entered and pressed the buttons to your floor.

“Oh we’re no-” you began when Tom interjected.

“‘Bout a year, man,” he smiled, tossing his arm over your shoulder and pulling you in tight. The elevator doors closed.

You simultaneously wanted to push him away and fall into his tight, warm grip. You decided to play along as you continued to hold on to your computer. 

“Best year ever!” you exclaimed, leaning up to give him a peck on the cheek.

“Oh come on! You can do better than that! Kiss him! Kiss him!” the girl egged on. You both chuckled nervously and gave each other a look. There seemed to be a silent consensus to just do it for the bit.

Tom moved his arm to your waist and lightly pressed his lips against yours, smiling as he pulled away. You were left a little stunned as the inebriated couple clapped and cheered.

You could tell they were going to say more when the doors opened on the fourth floor.

“Well here’s our stop. Nice talking to you. Come on, princess,” Tom said, the both of you rushing out of the elevator, his arm still around you. 

Once the door closed, you both let out a sigh as you turned down the hall towards your rooms.

“Well that was...  weird,” you stated, the both of you walking pretty slowly. You were keenly aware of the way his hand tightly cupped your side as you clumsily knocked into him a few times.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself. Sorry about that. I didn’t know what they were gonna do and that guy had creepo vibes and I panicked.”

“I get it. We are married, after all,” you said quietly, wiggling your left hand. “Well, here’s my room. Thanks for keeping an eye out. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, see you at breakfast. You’re gonna kill it tomorrow,” he said softly, squeezing you in a side hug one last time before letting you go. Your side tingled from where his warm body was no longer touching as you entered the hotel room.

It wasn’t long before you were also saying goodnight to your parents and laying in the dark room, reflecting on the wild day that was Friday. 

You knew that back home everyone was still partying, as you’d received pictures and videos of your friends dressed as Guy Fieri, but you’d had a whole different kind of experience, unsure if it was a good or bad one.

Tom’s lips were kinda soft though

And his big hands around my waist fit nicely

You pushed the thoughts away as you finally fell into deep slumber.

%

You headed to breakfast wearing sweats, a baggy tee, and a pair of socks and slides. Looks were not a priority right now. While you waited on your waffle to finish cooking, someone appeared next to you, yawning.

“Morning, princess,” he muttered, stretching and rubbing his eyes.

“You really aren’t a morning person, are you?”

“Nope. Now how much longer are you gonna be here because I’m in need of a waffle,” he asked, nudging your sides. It seemed as though you were both pretending the previous night had never happened.

Once you both built your plates, you went to sit with some of the team when Tom plopped into the seat next to you. He immediately began digging in, but paused when he realized the whole table was starting at him.

“What’s wrong, you want me to bless the food or something?” he looked to you.

“No it’s just surprising that you’d come sit with us is all,” one sophomore said. “I mean, you’re like the most popular guy in school.”

“Yeah well the real legend is this bit-” your glare stopped him in his tracks, “...I won’t call you that word, but anyways y/n ranks above me. If anything, she’s the intimidating one.”

The girls giggled and went back to their conversations, occasionally looking at Tom still. 

“Sorry I almost called you a bitch. I meant it the good way,” he whispered into your ear.

You stared at him for a few seconds as you finished chewing a bite of apple.

“I’m just confused as to why you came over here with all the girls.”

“Well it might come as a shock to say that you’re the only person here that I’m friends with other than Sam, and he’s on thin ice after hogging the bed sheets last night,” he explained, shooting a glare to his younger brother, who was obliviously eating with Julia and his mom.

“Today’s gonna get real boring then if I’m your only friend.”

“Hey, remember our conversation Monday? Cute uniforms?” 

You slapped him on the chest for that one.

%

A long, hard day of games had led up to this moment. A whole season. A big portion of your life.

It was probably between 7 and 8 pm. You weren’t sure. All you knew was that the scoreboard said 24-23 your team. Meaning, one point for you equaled a final win.

You wiped the sweat from your brow as you stood on the back line of the court, nervous and determined.

There were cheers from all sides of the gym as you prepared to serve one last time, hopefully for the better.

The upper ref blew her whistle and motioned her hand for you to serve.

One

Two

Three

bounces on the gym floor. A toss in the air. A slap to the ball.

The ball passed the net and sunk right to the gym floor without a single person touching it.

It took you a second after the whistle blew and the scoreboard changed to realize that you had won the game. You were snapped back to reality by the loud cheers of your teammates and supporters.

The team came and congratulated you, slapping your butt and squeezing your shoulders. They pushed you to the front of the line to shake hands with the other team and refs under the net.

You didn’t realize until the team went into a huddle that there were tears slipping down your cheeks and everyone reached out to love on you and Anna. All those years working for this moment and it had finally ended. 

Coach made her speech short and sweet, because you could tell she was holding back tears as she looked between you and your co captain.

The two of you led one last cheer for your team. A tournament official came to hand the team the trophy, give you another tournament MVP medal and both you and Anna all tournament and all state awards. You hung them on your neck proudly, happy to feel their weight.

Upon turning around, the first person you saw was Tom, who had a big smile on your face. You immediately rushed to hug him, jumping a little into his arms.

“Told you you could do it!” he exclaimed, wrapping his arms over your sweaty frame. You pulled away, arms still loosely holding each other.  He casually brushed the residual tears from your cheeks.

“And what’s this? Some new ice?” he asked, grabbing all three medals in one hand. He raised one up pretending to bite it.

“My drip is just too clean,” you joked, flipping your ponytail over your shoulder. You heard someone clear their throat behind you. It was your dad.

You went and hugged your parents and talked for a few minutes, then were called over for Nikki to take team pictures. 

Everyone showed off their fiery hair ribbons (you had stayed true to your joking promise) and got pictures with the trophy. You and Anna also took some biting your medals and alone with the large award.

You finally headed to the locker room, changing and packing up your volleyball bag one last time. 

The end of an era was a sad one to say the least.

You said goodbye to everyone as your parents got the car ready. Tom came up.

“Hey. Good job once again. I’m proud of you. See you Monday?”

You felt yourself blush as your stomach flip flopped.

“Thank you, Tom. I’m glad you were here this weekend, especially last night. See you then.”

You gave one last side hug before getting in the car and preparing for the long ride home. You were sitting still for a while reflecting on the day when your phone lit up.

“How’s the ride so far?” Tom asked over text.

“It’s been 20 minutes, Tom.”

“Well if I’m going to be stuck third wheeling Julia and Sam I’m gonna need someone to talk to.”

You rolled your eyes and smiled, continuing the conversation all the way home until you were falling asleep in bed.

%

A/N: ahhh thank you all again for 300 followers! I genuinely can’t believe that there are that many people who are so interested in my writing! Especially those of you who have been around since the beginning, when my writing was especially bad haha. Love you all!

Send a message or ask if you’d like to be added to my permanent or series taglists so I can verify you’ve been added!

Story tag list: @jackiehollanderr, @one-big-fangirl, @l0lmk, @primadonnasdream, @bookworm06, @thenoddingbunny-blog, @agentnataliahofferson, @spider-babe, @stxfxniexreads, @justafangirlduh, @supraveng,

[journeywithrenee]

July 30, 2017

BEFORE YOU START READING

If you haven’t read my previous post, I would like to encourage you to consider donating blood this summer! It will benefit many patients in the various hospitals within Toronto and can save lives. Here is an article about the current shortage of blood:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/critical-blood-shortage-1.4164669

Truthfully I’ve been putting off writing this because it’s been so long and updates have accumulated since I last wrote. It’s my fault for being lazy haha but I’m back now with a fresh update right off the press. A fair warning: I’m not sure how long this update is going to be but something is telling me that it’s going to be a mini essay. Grab some tea or something as you’ll probably need to sit and read (I mean, if you want to).

Shorter Days

My days at the hospital are shorter now that I’m in consolidation. It also helps that our appointments are always in the wee hours of the morning (okay not THAT early but it’s early for me…) Getting in early usually means getting out early. Blood work and ECGs (something used to monitor my heart) are only done on Mondays and Thursdays. Those days are a little longer but we still get out before rush hour. I now usually have the second half of the day to myself to do what I want to do (which is usually not much because I’m usually rather tired when I get back from the hospital). 

Medical Updates

That being said, this past Tuesday (my birthday) was the last day of my first consolidation phase. I now have 3 ish weeks off before I start my second cycle. I am eating my oral chemo pills during this time off but I do not have to go to the hospital to get chemo through my IV. I go to a clinic three times a week to get my line flushed (just so nothing bad gets into my picc line and infects it). My dressing also gets changed once a week. I’m doing pretty well consider it’s only my first phase. I am experiencing no major side effects which is great. I will talk about this in a subcategory but for now I can proudly say that although I’m more tired than usual, I have not experienced any side effects from the chemo. The only thing that has been a little tricky is my picc line. My skin developed a sudden reaction to the adhesive from the dressing that protects the site (where the pipe uhh, goes into my body LOL) from germs. I got rashes under the dressing as well as around it. I put some prescribed ointment whenever my dressing is changed underneath the dressing. The rashes around the dressing have subsided and the type of dressing has been changed. It’s still kind itchy underneath the dressing as there are still some remaining rashes but it’s nothing that I can’t handle. Fair warning: the picture is kinda gross.

My birthday

As some of you know, my birthday was this past Tuesday aka July 25th aka my last day of chemo for phase 1. Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! This birthday was a little weird for me. It’s something that I have to repeat to the nurses on the daily (actually literally everywhere in the hospital. It’s for safety reasons ofc) and when the day actually came I was like YUP WOW I’m 22 now. Anyways, I’m incredibly blessed with amazing family and friends. My parents bought me this BOMB NEW LAMP. I’m so stoked about this lamp, it might be the best thing that happened to my room.

this picture doesn’t do it any justice. It has 12 different dimming settings AND there are 5 different types of light. Natural light, cool light, warm light, idk what other light but there are 5 settings. It’s amazing ok?

A group of my close friends surprised me the Sunday before my birthday. They blew up 22 helium balloons as well as many regular ones and hid in my basement, scaring the living daylights out of me. I love them. (they bought me the kpop albums that I’ve been wanting from my favourite group). Did I say I love them? Well I’ll say it again. I love them.

I also received a package from the States from a friend that used to live in Canada. (If you’re reading this I hope it’s okay to post this picture!)

I may have shed a womanly tear or two. 

I received a touching card that also made me cry more than one womanly tear. Why are my friends so amazing? 

Lastly, two of my friends actually dropped by my house on my birthday to give me some cheese tarts from Uncle Tetsu. (Don’t be mad at me Uncle Tetsu cheesecake lovers but I think I like the tarts more.) (Also, Carmen and Tiff, if you’re reading this I hope it’s okay that I post this picture too HAHA)

I’m not sure what my hand is doing and I really need to stand straighter but THANKS GUYS! I love you so much! *sends heart eyes your way*

my “cake” cutting process (although I already too two huge bites as you can see LOL)

Imminent hair loss

It’s not really imminent, it’s already happening. I used to watch movies and stuff where someone had cancer. The sad parts are always when they run their hand through their hair and chunks of hair are tangled in their fingers. WELL THAT’S HAPPENING TO ME RIGHT NOW and even though I said I was ready in my previous blog post I am Not Ready (capital N and R for emphasis).  I fortunately don’t have any bald spots yet, it’s a even hair loss I guess but once it gets really patchy this hair will be gone from my head. Come on Renee, you can do it. 

My carpet after every shower. This amount has now doubled. 

My future plans

Some of you have heard already but I am officially enrolled in an online course for September! I’m excited to get my schooling on again, even though it’s only one course this semester. My hope is that by January, I can take 4 courses or so and be a full time student again.

My days off

Now that I have three weeks off, I’m going to be pre-studying for the course that I’m taking. I’m worried that my brain has not been worked as much as it should’ve been during the past few months. I’ve also picked up bullet journalling/photo journalling again. The process is soothing and it allows me to be creative in my own way. 

this is my title page for the month of August. It’s the first time I’ve drawn something with pencil crayon (I find the medium really hard to work with LOL).

Someone suggested to me that I write a book/memoir about my experience with leukemia and the more I think about it, the more I’m considering doing it. Sometimes I narrate words in my head and it sounds kinda good LOL. Renee the author…I feel like my parents would be the only ones that would buy this book LOL

My wishes came true

I’m going to say it. I ate gon chow ngau ho for the first time since I got diagnosed. 

LOOK AT THIS BEAUTY. 

I also was able to go out for the first time in a really long time. I went to Unionville with my parents and we ate ice cream. Even though I’m mostly still house-ridden I’m glad for opportunities like this.

My mom said I need to change my smile immediately. 

Annoying insurance companies

My chemo pills are were covered by my mom’s insurance company. They’re really pricy and I was glad that they covered it UNTIL they told us that they will no longer cover it. Long story short, I just turned 22. That means I will not be covered anymore unless I am a full time student even though the reason why I need to be covered is the reason why I cannot be a full time student. It’s…frustrating. We’re still sorting it out.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for my parents as they have SO much on their plates right now. Pray that God will give them the wisdom and strength to make it through all of it.

Please pray that something will happen with the annoying insurance company. I feel so hopeless about the situation

Please pray that I will not cry if I lose all my hair HAHA

Please pray for me as I prepare to start studying again. I’ve never been the greatest student but I want to do well despite the fact that I’ll be studying/going through chemo at the same time. School kinda scares me. 

Thanks for reading friends!