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Chapter Three

Anita continued to stare up into his green eyes, mesmerized by the color of them. And they were such a beautiful color and so oddly familiar too, causing her to not look away anytime soon. She simply couldn’t, wondering curiously who this person was.

“Excuse me,” the man said again, “I’d like to go out side. Could you please step out of the way of the door. I’d really kind of appreciate it.”

Anita shook her head to clear it, rubbing her eyes, looking at him more closely, studying him almost. She almost had it. She’d seen this man somewhere before. She just couldn’t place a name with that face...and those eyes. She wasn’t going to give up until she could remember who it was. If she did, it would drive her insane. The name was at the tip of her tongue, and suddenly she had it, stepping back a few inches in shock. But before she could speak, the man did.

“Please,” he asked, irritation rising in his already rude tone, “I’d like to talk a walk around the pond, if you don’t mind...today...while I’m still feeling up to it.”

Fire burned in Anita’s veins. His attitude stunk, causing her to lose respect for him already, even though she’d just met him for the first time, for real. All she’d known about him in the past, or thought she’d known, made her wonder if she’d been taken for a fool, thinking this man was kind and sweet when in reality, it was all an act to make himself look good. Without moving, standing her ground, Anita finally spoke boldly towards him.

“Just because you’re a pop star doesn’t mean you can treat people like crap,” Anita told him, her tone a frosty cold. The man’s eyes widened in shock, and he started to protest. Anita held her hand up though, stopping him before one word could exit his lips. “I know who you are. Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys. I’m a huge fan,” she paused, “I can see past your lame excuse of a disguise.”

“Oh...um...don’t tell anyone though. I’m trying to keep a low profile.” Kevin pleaded, “Which is why I’m all the way out here in this small city. I don’t want word to get out that I’m in the hospital. Management figured that this was the most exclusive place I could go...to keep it all on the down low. I want it to stay that way, if you don’t mind.”

Anita could still sense a superior attitude in his tone, and she didn’t like it one bit. Anita snorted, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody. Besides, take a look around. I am the youngest person here. All the other people are old...just like you. So chances are, they don’t even know who you are, and even if they did, they probably don’t give a flying fuck. So why don’t you just get over yourself already and get to steppin’.”

She put one hand up, waving in the air as she turned and started to walk away. Kevin turned and watched in amusement as the young girl left. Nobody had ever spoken to him in such a harsh tone, let alone a fan. Something about her fire and attitude irked him beyond belief yet made him want to get to know more about her. And he had every intention on doing just that. All he had to do was
figure out where he could find her.
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Anita rolled her eyes as she turned off the television. It was eight o’ clock and she was bored. There was nothing good on, beings it was mid-week. Nothing that interested her anyways. Or maybe it was the fact that she was in the wretched place, and her mind was on nothing but what was going to happen to her. Either way, her mind was on anything but whatever had been on the TV. Sitting there, Anita wished that there was something she could do. She would go back to the activity room, but was terrified of the chance of running in to Kevin, the egotistical asshole. She crossed her arms over her chest, wondering where he got his nerve to speak to her like he was so much higher up on the chain than she was. Sure, he was famous, however, it didn’t make him any better than her. That was how his attitude came off as though. It made her mad. It made her want to punch him, and Anita wasn’t so sure that she wouldn’t do just that if she ever came in to contact with him again.

Then there was the fact that she was lonely. She missed her friends, wondering if they would even come and see her to check on how she was doing, or if they would even care enough to. She sighed. It had been four hours since she’d checked in, six since she had called them. Anita wondered why it was taking them so long to get there. If they were truly her friends, wouldn’t they have been there hours ago? She was already beginning to become paranoid at the thought of being left alone with nobody to be there for her, and it hadn’t even been a day. She shook her head in disgust with herself, wondering where all of her confidence had gone to. She felt so alone in fact, her mind in a daze of thought, that she could have sworn she’d heard Madison’s voice calling her name. She squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head roughly to clear her littered mind. She heard her name again though more clearly this time and she wondered if it was more than just her hearing things.

“Anita?” came voice, and then three people came in to view, stepping in to her room. They all took one look at her before running over to her in concern, “Anita, oh my god. What happened to you? Are you okay?”

She was smothered by hugs from all three of her friends and she laughed, glad they had shown up after all. She hugged each of them back and when they pulled away, she could tell by the looks on their faces that she had a lot of explaining to do without even being asked first. Anita took in a deep breath, not knowing where to begin exactly.

“You know how ya’ll talked me in to coming to the doctor days ago because you were worried about me?” Anita began, figuring that there really was no other way to start the particular topic of conversation. Her friends looked at one another and nodded slowly, agreeing that they did remember what Anita was talking about.

“Yeah, and you went to the doctor. You never mentioned anything after your appointment though, so we figured everything went fine.” Kimberly stated.

“They ran some tests on me,” Anita corrected, “I didn’t bring them up because I figured everything was fine and didn’t want to cause worry for no reason at all. I was told to come back today to find out what the results were.”

She stopped. She feared speaking the next part out loud, for it would be the first time she did. It would be like admitting to herself as well just how sick she was and how serious her condition was. Her friends looked at her, urging her to go on with supportive eyes. She just couldn’t force herself to speak though, afraid to.

“I’m...we’re guessing that the results weren’t just nothing, huh?” Juanita asked, her eyes showing fear, “I mean, if you were admitted in...” her voice trailed off.

“I...they found...the doctor said.,” Anita stuttered, having a hard time finding the right words to use, “I have leukemia.” she finally spat out. She looked up and watched as her friends eyes widened in shock mixed with disbelief. She couldn’t read their faces easily though. Her heart rate had slowed down yet was beating faster at the same time out of nervousness, if that was possible. Juanita was the first one that she got a reaction out of.

“Oh my god,” she whispered, tears forming in her eyes, “A...are they sure?” Anita nodded sadly, “One-hundred percent positive?” Anita nodded again. This caused her to get another round of hugs, only they were tighter and more forceful this time. They each pulled back, their eyes shimmering in tears.

“Wha...what’s going to happen to you?” Madison had the nerve to ask, speaking what everyone else was thinking.

“From what the doc says,”Anita started, “I’ll start chemotherapy tomorrow. If all goes well, I can go in to remission after a few months and live a decently normal life again.” She could see Kimberly sigh in relief and the other two nod, swallowing the information that was so new and scary to them.

“Why are you so calm about this?” Kimberly asked, “You’re the one it’s happening to and all.” she looked confused.

“Still trying to accept the idea, I guess,” Anita shrugged, “Still in a denial state.” As she finished speaking, someone walking in to her room caught her eye. She rolled them, recognizing him as Kevin right away. “What are you doing here?” she asked cooly.

Her friends looked around in confusion as to whom she was talking to, seeing the man, eyeing him in curiosity.

“To apologize for earlier,” he stated simply.

“Unaccepted, amigo,” Anita replied, turning away from him, “Sorry. I don’t forgive asshole’s like yourself.”

Slowly, Kimberly, Madison and Juanita all looked towards Anita, their mouths open. For a moment, Anita thought that they’d seen past his disguise too, and part of her hoped that they had. The man deserved to be turned in to the press. With how he treated people, she would feel no sympathy seeing him in magazines, tabloids in the news. In
fact, she’d get pleasure out of it.

“You’ve been here for less than a day and already meeting hot men,” Juanita breathed, “You bitch.” she joked, “I can’t even find a decent guy on the street.”

“He’s hardly a man,” Anita muttered. She saw Kevin wince out of the corner of her eye, glad
that he’d heard her. Now if only he’d leave her to visit with her friends in peace.

“We gotta head out,” Madison stated, “We’ll come by in a couple of days.”

No such luck. Her friends hugged her goodbye and then they were gone, leaving her alone with the man she used to love and admire but now despised. Funny how one conversation could turn someone’s opinion around so suddenly.

“What do you want?” Anita asked again.

“To say I am sorry.” he told her, his reasoning not changing. Anita looked at him, and for the first time, realized that he was in one of the hideous hospital gowns, an IV pole next to him. She’d been so angry with him before, she’d missed the minor, or maybe important details.

“Whatever,” Anita replied, “You were a prick. You are now on my list of people to hate.”

She could hear Kevin sigh, yet he didn’t leave. He just stood their, which made Anita ncomfortable. She just wanted to be left alone if she had that option compared to his company. She obviously did not have a choice though.

“What’s your name?” he asked, trying to make conversation, “You already know mine.”

“None of your business.” she stated.

“Just tell me,” Kevin asked, “So I don’t go around calling you ‘chick’ or ‘hey you’ or something.”

Anita really didn’t want him to call her anything t all. She figured if he had to though, she would rather it be her real name than anything else. Especially some nickname he came up with for her. She feared to know what that would be if she allowed it to happen.

“Anita.” she replied simply, not saying any more than she absolutely had to.

“Nice to meet you, Anita,” Kevin grinned, “So, why are you here?”

“I’m sick,” she replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. There was no way she was telling him how she was sick, “And you?”

“Cancer,” he told her.

“No shit, Sherlock?” Anita asked with sarcasm dripping in her tone, “Who would have thought you, a cancer patient, would be on the cancer floor.” she gasped in mock horror.
Kevin chuckled, “Yeah, well, your answer wasn’t any better.”

Anita raised an eyebrow, “You aren’t very good at taking hints, are you?” he looked at her blankly, “Typical male.” Kevin still didn’t move, “So what kind of cancer do
you have?”

“I’d rather not talk about it right yet.” Kevin told her.

“Ditto, so don’t even ask.” Anita replied sourly.

Kevin bit his lip, already able to tell that she was going to hold a grudge against him over their first encounter. Her attitude was making him feel uncomfortable. He looked around, trying to think of an excuse to leave. Nothing came to mind though. “I gotta go,” Kevin informed her, “I hope to see you around. Maybe we could talk some more.”

“I could only hope that we don’t.” Anita muttered.

“Bye.” Kevin stated, ignoring her nasty retort.

Anita said nothing and finally, after a long pause, Kevin turned around and left. She rolled her eyes. The man seriously could not get the clue. This was going to be a long next few months, taking in to mind he could be there just as long as her. She could only hope that he left her alone. It would make her stay a lot more stress free and her concentration on getting well more in tact. If he didn’t, she would have his annoying presence on her mind, enabling her to focus on getting rid of the leukemia. Right now, she didn’t need any unwanted distractions and that was exactly what Kevin was. A very much unwanted distraction.