Five Feet Apart(48)

I barely finish reading before I spin around to the tropical fish tank, the bright oranges and yellows of the fish jumping out at me as my eyes scan furiously around the outside of the tank for a balloon.

Did I get it wrong?

I think again. The pool.

I hurry out of the room, heading to the gym in Building 1, the last note clutched in my hand as I go. Pushing open the doors to the gym, I move past all the empty exercise equipment and see the door to the pool is promisingly propped open with a chair. Stepping inside, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see the yellow balloon floating on top of the water, a few feet from the edge.

Looking to the side, I see the pool cue from Friday.

Sweeping the cue under the balloon, I grab the string and pull the balloon out of the water, noticing a tug at the end as something on the bottom of the pool weighs it down.

Pulling it up, I laugh, recognizing the bottle of Cal Stat from Stella’s video.

I use the pool cue to pop the balloon, sifting through the dead remnants to get to the message inside.

At exactly forty-eight hours from our first date . . .

I flip the note over, frowning, but that’s it. I check my watch. Eight fifty-nine. One more minute until it’s forty-eight hours from our first— My phone chirps.

I swipe to see a picture of Stella, looking cute as hell in a chef’s hat and holding a yellow balloon, a big smile on her face. The message reads: . . . our second date begins!

I frown at the picture, zooming in to see where she could possibly be. Those metal doors are just about everywhere in this hospital. But wait! I slide to the right edge of the picture to see a corner of the milk-shake machine in the cafeteria. I power walk to the elevator, taking it up to the fifth floor and down the hall and across the bridge into Building 2. I hop on another elevator and swing back down to the third floor, where the cafeteria is, catching my breath and smoothing out my hair in the reflection in the brushed-stainless-steel walls, pool cue still in hand.

I casually swing around the corner to see Stella leaning against the door to the cafeteria, a look of pure joy filling her face when she sees me. She’s wearing makeup, her long hair pulled away from her face with a headband.

She looks beautiful.

“I thought you’d never find me.”

I hold out the pool cue, and she takes the other end, pushing open the door and leading me across the dark cafeteria.

“It’s late, I know, but we had to wait until the cafeteria closed.”

I frown, looking around. “We?”

She looks back at me as she stops in front of a pair of frosted-glass doors, her expression unreadable as she punches a code into the keypad. With a click, the doors open, and a bunch of voices yell out, “Surprise!”

My jaw drops. Hope and Jason, but also Stella’s friends, Mya and Camila, just back from Cabo, sit at a completely set table covered in a hospital sheet, white candles sitting on either end of it casting a warm glow on a basket filled with fresh bread and a perfectly chopped salad. There are even medicine cups with red-and-white Creon pills set in front of three seats at the table.

I am completely stunned.

I look from the table to Stella, knocked speechless.

“Happy birthday, Will,” she says, tapping my side gently with the pool cue.

“He’s real!” Camila (or is it Mya?) says, and I laugh as Hope rushes over to me, giving me a big hug.

“We felt so terrible ditching you!” she says.

Jason hugs me too. Patting me on the back. “But your girlfriend over there tracked us down through your Facebook page and convinced us to surprise you.”

Mya and Camila high-five at his word choice, making Stella shoot them a glare before glancing over at me. We share a look. Girlfriend. That has an awfully nice ring to it.

“This is definitely a surprise,” I say, looking around at all of them, so full of appreciation.

Poe appears, wearing a face mask, a scrub cap, and gloves, and swings a pair of tongs in the air. “Hey! Food’s almost ready!”

We sit down, keeping a safe distance between all CFers. Stella at one end, me at the other, and Poe in the middle with Hope and Jason on either side of him. Mya and Camila sit on the opposite side of the table, securing the distance between Stella and me. I smile, looking around the table at everyone as we dig into the salad and the bread. My heart feels so full, it’s disgusting.

I look across the table, smiling at Stella, and mouth a “thank you.” She nods, blushing and looking down.

Girlfriend.

? ? ?

Poe serves the most beautiful-looking lobster pasta dish I have ever seen, garnished with basil leaves and fresh Parmesan and even truffles! Everyone stares at it in complete awe.

“Where did all this come from?” I ask him as my stomach grumbles noisily.

“Right here!” Poe says, gesturing behind him to the kitchen. “Every hospital has a VIP kitchen where they keep the good stuff for celebrities, politicians.” He shrugs. “You know, the important people.”

He grabs a glass off the table, raising it. “Tonight, birthday boy, it’s for you! Salud!”

Everyone raises their glass. “Salud!”

I look across the table at Stella, winking. “Too bad I’m allergic to shellfish, Poe.”

Poe stops dead midserve and slowly looks over at me. I crack a grin, shaking my head. “Kidding, kidding!”