"I still don't understand why you had to pick me up," Ellie says, glancing to the driver's seat to admire her companion's profile. "I could have driven myself."

Cooper spares a glance in her direction, raising an eyebrow before facing the road once more. "My parents can be a lot to handle. I just wanted to make sure I at least had the drive home to convince you not to break up with me."

A lively chuckle passes her lips. "I'm not going to break up with you, Cooper. Why would I put myself through all this emotional turmoil if that were my plan? No way. I would've left you by now."

"That's reassuring," he says dryly. Ellie reaches over the center console, enclosing her hand around his and resting her head back against her seat. "But really, El. I have to warn you about my parents."

"You've already warned me about them."

"Not really. All I've said is that they're cold, which they are, but there's more to it." He pauses, collecting his thoughts before continuing. "My parents love me. It's just hard for them to show their love in a warm and affectionate way. They take more of a tough love approach, but they haven't always been like this. Things just haven't really been the same since my brother—"

"Wait," she says, holding a hand up in the air and turning to face him, "you have a brother?"

"Well, technically he's my half-brother, but yeah. My brother." His eyebrows furrow as he looks over at her. "Surely I've mentioned him before."

"No. You definitely haven't mentioned a brother."

"My mom was married before my dad. She had my brother, Steven, during that marriage. Her husband passed away and then she met my dad and had me. I probably haven't mentioned my brother because he left when he turned eighteen."

She frowns. "What do you mean left?"

"He just left." Cooper shrugs, a look of pain making its way across his features. "He never liked my dad, thought he was too strict. When he turned eighteen he packed up his bags and took off. I don't even think he knows I have cancer."

Ellie doesn't say anything, instead leaning back in her seat and focusing her gaze out the window, trying to wrap her head around what it would be like to have a brother who doesn't even speak to you.

"My mom has been extra protective of me since Steven left. She's scared of losing her other son, understandably I guess. My dad is just sort of a silent guy. He only speaks when he deems it necessary. Together, they aren't winning any awards for world's most loving parents." He looks to her briefly. "I just want you to know that they aren't assholes. It's just how they are."

She nods her head in understanding just as Cooper pulls up to the driveway of his house. With a sudden sense of nerves, she takes a deep and calming breath, readying herself to meet his parents. Just as she reaches for the door handle, Cooper's hand shoots out and wraps around her arm.

When she turns to him, he's wearing a reassuring smile, one that almost completely settles the butterflies in her stomach. "My parents will love you. But if for some reason they don't, I still will. So don't worry, okay?"

She nods slowly, swallowing down the lump in her throat. "Okay."

He nods once, his smile of reassurance still on his lips as he pulls on the handle of his door, getting out of the car. Ellie is quick to follow after him and connect her hand with his as they approach the house. He reaches for the front door, giving her one last look and squeezing her hand for good measure before he's pushing it open.

"Mom, Dad, we're here!"

The sound of dishes clanking fills the foyer as they stand at the entrance, Cooper shutting the front door behind them. Ellie is sure that his hand has tightened arounds hers, and she wonders if maybe he's not as calm as he's claimed to be. She doesn't have another moment to overthink it as Cooper's parents step into the room, polite smiles adorning their faces.

"Hello, Ellie," Cooper's mom speaks first. "It's so lovely to finally meet you. We've heard so much about you."

"Mostly bad things," Cooper says, sending a playful wink in Ellie's direction.

She laughs, trying her best to keep the nervous blush from spreading onto her cheeks. "It's nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Clarke."

A tight smile sits on her lips, and it almost looks painful to wear. The petite woman looks to the man at her side briefly, who stands tall and broad in a dress shirt and dark slacks. "This is my husband, Richard."

"Hello, Mr. Clarke." Ellie takes a second to study his features, noticing that Cooper resembles his father much more than his mother. Her imagination takes over and soon she's wondering if this is what Cooper might have looked like when he was his father's age.

"Nice to meet you, Ellie," he says, his voice deep and intimidating, nothing like the Clarke boy's voice she's grown accustomed to.

A silence falls over the room after that, pushing someone to be the first to break it. Ellie looks nervously to Cooper, whose hand has grown clammy at this point, and he clears his throat, looking to his mom. "So. Dinner then?"

"Yes!" She says, clapping her hands once and making her way to the kitchen. "The dining room table is set, go take your seats. I'll bring out the meal."

Cooper wastes no time in taking off towards the dining room, eager to escape his dad's looming presence. Ellie forces her legs to keep up and soon they're both seated next to each other at the expensively decorated dining table. Just as she notices how far apart the chairs are, Cooper scoots his closer to her's, resting a hand on her knee and sending her another smile.

His dad takes a seat next, his steady gaze trained on the young couple as he places his napkin on his lap. Ellie tries to avoid his stare by looking around the house, noticing that everything looks strategically placed, as if they just pulled all their rooms directly out of a catalog.

"Spaghetti Bolognese!" Cooper's mom's voice booms as she approaches the room, a steaming pasta dish in her oven-mitt-clad hands. "I hope you guys are hungry because we've got a lot of food here."

"Smells good," his dad says blandly, reaching for the spoon to dish up his plate.

Cooper's mom stares back at him, an appalled look on her face before she's quick to wipe it off. "Honey. Maybe we should let our guest dish up first."

"Oh, no. That's all right. Go ahead," Ellie says, waving her hand in the air to dismiss the suggestion.

His dad looks between the two women, ultimately tossing the spoon back into the bowl and nudging it in Ellie's direction. At this point, an embarrassed blush is on her cheeks and there to stay for the remainder of the dinner. With that in mind, she reaches for the spoon and begins dishing up her own serving before handing it back to his dad.

Once everyone is seated and digging into their meals, the real fun begins.

"So, Ellie. Tell me about yourself," Cooper's mother says, dabbing the corner of her mouth with a napkin.

"Oh there's really not much to tell." She laughs shyly, glancing to Cooper for help. Amusement is evident on his face as he reaches for his water. "Okay, um. I go to community college, it's cheaper so I thought it'd be best to go that route. I'm hoping to transfer next year, maybe to the University of Washington. I'm not really sure."

"Cooper got into UW," his mom says, the proud smile on her lips fading in an instant. "Though he wasn't able to attend. Maybe once all this sickness stuff passes."

Ellie stops eating at that, turning to Cooper with a questioning stare. He avoids her gaze, staring down at his plate as he pushes his food around with his fork.

"Why aren't you eating?" His mom asks, though her question sounds like more of an interrogation than a casual question. "I spent a long time on the meal, Cooper. It's very rude of you to not eat."

"Mom." He sighs, dropping his fork from his hand, sending a loud clink across the table. "You know that I don't have an appetite. I can't just force myself to eat."

"Well, please. At least try and eat something."

Another tension-filled silence falls over the table, the only sound coming from the forks scraping along the plates. Ellie looks up, noticing the stoic expression on both of his parents' faces. Just as she makes to look away, Cooper's mom's gaze finds hers, a fake smile returning to her lips.

"So. You guys spend a lot of time together," she says, a cheerfulness to her tone that wasn't there moments ago. "Things are pretty serious then?"

This time, Ellie looks to Cooper for an answer, putting the pressure on him. He looks back at her, eyes lighting up when he realizes how lucky he is. "Yeah. I'd say they're pretty serious."

"Serious enough for you to consider going back to your chemotherapy?"

His gaze turns cold as he turns to face his mother, all of the color draining from his already pale face. "What?"

"If you love her then surely you don't want to leave her," his mom says, casually taking another bite from her meal.

"Are you kidding me?" He says, his voice void of all emotion.

She frowns slightly, turning her attention to Ellie. "And you. Do you love my son?"

Ellie stays frozen, unsure how to respond to the question. Of course she loves Cooper, she wouldn't be here if she didn't. Turning to him, she sees his rage-filled glare trained on the table in front of them. "Yeah. I do."

His mom's lips twitch up slightly. "Well then surely you want to see him live."

Cooper's fist slams down on the table as he shoves his chair back, shooting out of his seat. Everyone flinches back at the sudden outburst and when Ellie looks to him wide-eyed, she sees an anger she's never seen from him before.

"This is fucking low, Mom," he says through gritted teeth, seething with rage as he stares back at the woman who raised him.

"Don't speak to your mother like that," Cooper's dad says, standing from his own seat with an intimidating hunch. Cooper's angry eyes leave his mother's to find his father's, no part of him willing to back down from the fight.

"Is this why you guys wanted me to invite her here tonight?" He asks with a dry laugh. "So you could use her as a pawn to guilt-trip me into going back to chemo?"

"We're worried about you, Cooper!" His mother shouts, tears springing to her eyes as she rises from her seat to join them, leaving Ellie as the last person still sat in their seat.

"Good!" He shouts back. "You should be worried about me! I'm dying, Mom! There's no use in denying it anymore. Everyone can see that I'm dying. Walking around like it isn't going to happen won't change the outcome!"

"Why won't you just try chemo?!"

"I tried it, Mom." He shakes his head, his rage turning into something much more dark. Sorrow. "It didn't work. I'm not wasting the rest of my life in that hospital. I don't get why that's so hard for you to understand."

Tears begin falling from his mother's eyes and his dad is by her side in an instant, arms wrapped around her to console her. Ellie's heart breaks at the sight but her sadness is short-lived as his mom's eyes connect with hers and an angry scowl makes its way onto her face.

"You," she seethes, pointing an accusatory finger in Ellie's direction. "Don't lie and say you love my son. If you loved my son you wouldn't be sitting back and watching him die. You would convince him to keep with his treatment, not gallivanting around going on all these stupid adventures—"

Cooper's hand wraps around Ellie's arm, pulling her up from her shell-shocked position in her seat and pushing her behind him—as if shielding her physically will somehow help her emotionally.

"You're way out of line, Mom," Cooper says, fuming. "We're leaving. I'm not going to let you talk to her like that. Sort out your own emotional baggage, don't take it out on her. C'mon, El."

Ellie doesn't say anything as Cooper drags her out of the house. When the fresh night air hits her, a few of her senses return and she makes her way over to the car, buckling herself in just as Cooper speeds off down the road. She wants to tell him to slow down, that being reckless won't solve anything, but instead she remains quiet in the passenger seat.

She watches as his knuckles grow white gripping the steering wheel. He drives right through a stop sign, eager to get away from his house and back to Ellie's. When it finally comes into sight, he pulls up to the sidewalk and turns to her. "Can I stay the night?"

She nods and he turns the car off, taking a moment to breath before making his way out of it. The couple walks to the front door, careful to be quiet so they don't draw her mom's attention. A television sounds from the other room and she hears her mom mutter a half-hearted greeting.

"Hi," Ellie says back, her throat dry. "I'm tired. Heading to bed."

Her mom responds with a bid goodnight and a reminder that she loves her but Ellie hardly hears it as she makes her way up the stairs and to her room. As soon as they're inside, she locks the door and turns to face Cooper. His usual smile is absent as he sits on the edge of her bed, leaning down to untie his shoes. Ellie reaches down to undo her own at the reminder.

Next to come off is his shirt, and then his pants. His bleak eyes stare back at her before dropping as he climbs into the bed, pressing his back up against the wall to make room for her. She stares at him lying in her bed for a while before reaching for the button on her pants and stepping out of them. Her hands then find the hem of her shirt and she slips it over her head before crawling into the bed with him.

He's quick to pull her body tight to his, his arm secured around her waist and his face pressed into her chest. She rests her chin on top of his head, only pulling back when she starts to feel him shake beneath her. When the wet sensation hits her chest, she realizes shortly after that he's crying.

Her hands find their way to his hair as she begins running her fingers through it, tears forming in her own eyes at the sight of him crying. "It's okay."

"I'm dying," he mumbles, his words shaky as they leave his mouth. "I'm actually dying."

She gulps, a tear slipping out and rolling down her cheek. "I know."

A broken cry leaves his lips as he buries his face further into her chest. "I don't want to die, Ellie."

She holds back her own selfish tears, deciding that this moment isn't about her. It's about Cooper. Her hands stop running through his hair and he looks up, his tear-brimmed eyes meeting hers. She stares back at him with a sad smile before her fingers begin exploring his locks once more. When the words from one of her favorite childhood movies comes back to her, her lips begin moving before her brain can stop them. Quietly, she mutters, "To die will be an awfully big adventure."