Butterflies

Chapter 6

Chapter Six:  11:30pm, Friday April 13th - Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney Australia

Rylee’s POV:

“So…” Rylee said, looking around the room. She was struggling to start conversation. Niall was sitting facing Liam, holding his hand. The repetitive beep of the heart monitor was the only thing breaking the silence.

“Was what you said before, about Liam’s kidney being under more stress while he is in this coma, true?” Niall asked, only turning his head towards Rylee when he had finished his sentence.

“Yes” she replied, knowing she probably shouldn’t have said anything. Rylee saw concern sweep across Niall’s face. He had pale skin that nursed a light amount of freckles. His blue eyes looked at her through his long eyelashes.

“How do you know?” 

“Well…” Rylee started “Like Liam, I also have only one functioning kidney. The doctor told me that if I ever went into a coma, it was likely my other kidney wouldn’t cope, because of the stress it would be under.” 

“Oh…” Niall said, turning back to Liam.

“I’m sure Liam will be fine Niall.” Rylee said, moving her chair next to Niall’s. She knew she shouldn’t have said anything; she didn’t want to worry Niall. She could tell he was worrying though. She could almost hear Niall praying for Liam to wake up.

Niall’s POV:

He could smell her perfume as she moved her chair closer to him. She smelled sweet. Niall tilted his head slightly to look at Rylee. She was staring down at Liam, lost in thought.

“So how old are you Rylee?” Niall asked, wanting to start conversation.

“I’m 18” she answered, looking over at Niall. Her messy blonde hair framed her face perfectly. Just then, her phone rang from her bag that was sitting at the window sill. She stood up and walked over to her bag to answer it. Her long, thin legs ran out from under her little black dress, and finished at her beige heels. 

“Woah” Niall thought. Rylee bent down to pick up her bag, and Niall forced himself to look away, as much as he didn’t want to.

“Hi Chloe. Yeah I’m fine. I’ll be home soon, stop worrying.” Rylee talked into the phone. “I’ll catch a cab. Yes I have money. I’ll be fine. Okay bye.” She hung up. “I have to go, im so sorry. I hope you don’t mind if I come back tomorrow, and then I won't bother you guys anymore.”

“No! No.” Niall said, standing up. He couldn’t let her just walk away like this. “Actually, I know this is a bad time and all, but I was wondering…Would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow?” His heart felt like it was beating a million miles an hour. Rylee smiled.

“I’d love to,” She giggled. “I’ll come around here about 11?”

“Sure, could I maybe get your number?” Niall swore his heart was about to jump out of his chest. As Rylee wrote down her number on a piece of paper, he watched the concentration on her face, and then her perfectly manicured nails dance around on the paper. “Rylee, I won’t let you catch a cab either, I’ll get Andrew, my driver, to drop you home.” Rylee looked up, and handed him the folded up paper.

“Oh no I’m ok…” Rylee started, but Niall had already pulled out his phone and texted Andrew to meet Rylee outside.

“Too late,” Niall smiled cheekily “He’s waiting”

“Thank you,” Rylee said sincerely as she picked up her bag. “Tell the other boys I’m so sorry I couldn’t stay for Nandos. I’ll see you tomorrow”. Niall watched Rylee walk out of the room, before slumping back into his chair, and looking back down at Liam. He knew this was the wrong time for him to be dating. He needed to focus on helping Liam recover. But there was something about Rylee, something that made him want to be with her, talk with her, kiss her. He wasn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste.