He fluttered his eyelashes and fanned his face with his free hand. “Oh, stop. Now I’m blushing.”
"Here," Kira laughed, fanning Seb with a magazine she picked up en route. Only to accidentally knock his coffee from his hand.
Dean backed me up as it narrowly missed falling into my lap.
“You good?” he asked from over my shoulder.
“Mhm."
The puddle in front of us, slowly spreading across the linoleum floor, was dramatically large considering the size of the cup it came from.
Kira stammered; her smile gone. “I’m-I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to— I’ll clean it and you can have mine.”
It was like watching her with Aiden all over again.
Aiden, who was transported to a different hospital two days ago.
Apparently, he buzzed the nurses during the early hours of the morning and was in such a state of panic, that they had to move him to a safer facility. According to Dad, who spoke with the security staff, two individuals in dark clothing were seen on security footage visiting his room. The slightly shorter of the two tall figures was carrying a pair of scissors.
With his jaw surgically wired shut to mend the break, Aiden wasn't able to explain who cut off his man bun, removed all of his clothes, and left him lying stark naked on a bed stripped of all linen.
All that mattered was that he could no longer hurt Kira.
At least physically.
Kira turned to find something to mop up the coffee, her expression full of worry, but Seb gently stopped her. Casually taking hold of her hand as he craned his neck to look left and right down the corridor.
“I don’t think anyone saw,” he whispered quickly.
Everyone had in fact seen and stopped to look in our direction, including my own family up ahead.
Seb, acting like he was suddenly on a secret mission, swiftly motioned for us to keep moving. Tip-toeing around the puddle and bringing Kira with him. Her expression, though confused at first, slowly softened. All tension left her body as she laughed when Seb suggested speed-walking away from what he dubbed “the crime scene”.
I looked up at Dean from over my shoulder, but neither of us said anything. He only shrugged, a smile playing on his lips, and continued pushing the chair down the corridor.
I let my mind go blank during the drive to the apartment. It was the first time I managed to do it and felt odd to not have a million different things racing around my head at once. Odd, but equally pleasant as I rested my head against the headrest and closed my eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face and the breeze in my hair as the steady rumble of the Cadillac’s engine lulled me into a daydream.
As cliché as it sounded, it felt good to be alive.
Seb and Kira were in the backseat, light-heartedly debating the smell of rain.
“It’s not the rain you can smell. It’s a reaction from the plant oils and bacteria when they’re rained on,” Kira insisted.
“There’s no way.”
“Natural water doesn’t have a smell.”
“Uh, yeah it does. Explain to me how the ocean can smell funky sometimes?”
“Again, bacteria. Usually from seaweed which is a?”
“Plant,” Seb muttered in defeat. “Yeah, okay don’t look so smug, miss smarty pants.”
Kira giggled, and then Seb asked her about her love of plants. When she apologized for talking too much about the plants, Seb replied, “No, keep talking. I know nothing about plants, but I’m fascinated.”
I looked at Dean and found he was watching the conversation play out via the rearview mirror.
Kira still had a lot of healing to do, which would take time, but I knew this was something she needed. A friendly distraction without pressure. And Seb had a knack for lifting anyone’s spirits.
