Girl In Red (R.HALE)

8

Leigh was uncomfortable. 

The chairs in the hospital waiting room were stiff and claustrophobic, and too close to one another. The lights were far too bright, the beginning of a headache blooming in the centre of her forehead, and it was both too quiet, and too loud. It was so quiet that every noise was amplified - every shuffle of a foot, every click of the receptionist's computer keyboard, every cough and sniffle from the miserable-looking child huddled into its mother's side. 

She didn't want to be there. 

She didn't like scans. She'd had an MRI before, and it was horrible. Lying deathly still in a colossal metal tube that spins around at thousands of miles per hour, all the while producing a gut-wrenching groaning noise. She hadn't had a CT scan before, though. Her stomach felt as if it were made of water, sloshing around inside her skin and trembling with tension. 

Lorrie sat beside her, tapping out a jumpy rhythm on the leather of her handbag and counting the ceiling boards. Daniel sat on the other side of Leigh, once again buried in his book. His brow crumpled as his eyes scoured over the stained, creased pages, like he was frustrated. Leigh leaned forward a little to see what book he was reading, before snorting quietly. Game of Thrones - of course, he was frustrated. People died every five minutes. 

She was quite impressed, though. It was a massive book. She'd never managed to get through anything even half that size without falling asleep. 

Leigh moved to take her headphones out of her back, sick of listening to the booming quiet, when the automatic doors slid open with a swish. 

She froze. 

Rosalie Hale and Emmett Cullen strolled in, the air conditioning hitting them in a gentle gust of wind and making them look like they were in a ridiculous perfume advert. 

Leigh found herself unable to breath for a second. 

Neither of them noticed her at first, walking right up to the desk to talk to the receptionist. Rosalie was the one to actually do the talking, Emmett hanging back and little and doing a sweep of the room. 

Leigh sank down into her seat, hoping that her mother's shoulder would shield her from view, but to no avail. 

Emmett frowned, narrowing his eyes when his eyes found her, before a bright smile stretched across his face. "Hey! New kid." 

Leigh had to grip onto the arms of the chair to stop herself from sprinting out of the doors. This was a nightmare. 

Emmett waved her over. 

"Who's that?" Lorrie muttered out of the corner of her mouth. 

Leigh sighed, standing up. "Someone from school." 

She walked away before her mother could ask anything else. Emmett's smile somehow widened even more as she approached, despite him already looking a little like the Cheshire Cat. 

"Hey," he said, sliding his hands into his pockets and rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. 

"Hi," Leigh replied, smiling. 

Rosalie looked over her shoulder at the sound of Leigh's voice. The girl's met eyes, but only for a second, before Rosalie turned back to the receptionist without a word. 

Leigh's smile turned coy, Emmett breezing past it. 

"How are you settling in?" 

"Good," Leigh said, folding her arms across her chest. "Everyone's friendly, here." Her eyes flickered to Rosalie's back.