chapter 6

The door to my room opens again. Declan and I immediately look up to see who it is. My mom and Thomas enter the room.

Declan unclasps our hands and stands up, he takes a couple of steps back and sits on the chair in the corner. He sends me a small smile, then glares at Thomas. What's that about?

"Ella, thank goodness you're alright." My mom rushes over, sitting on my bed. She embraces me in a hug in which I weakly return.

"Hi, mom."

"You gave me a heart attack." She says with worry laced in her voice.

"Sorry," I mutter.

"Who is this?" My mom points at the chair where Declan is currently sitting. I don't know what to say. Do I tell her he's my friend? Am I his friend?

"Declan, he's a friend," I mumble nervously.

"Oh." My mom says looking surprised. But she quickly recovers her attention on Declan, "Thank you for taking care of my baby."

Why did my mom have to say that? My face ignites with flames and Declan smirks at me saying, "It's not a problem."

My mom smiles at him in content. Uhh, this is so embarrassing, well my mom is so embarrassing.

Declan stands up his attention on me, "I got to go Lil' one, but I'll be back later." I can tell he means it by the promising look in his eye. He comes over and squeezes my hand reassuringly, then exits leaving me with my mom and Thomas.

Him squeezing my hand in front of my mom had my heart racing, and not in a bad way. He probably felt the need to leave since my family was here, but that's okay, I'm just glad he was here at all.

My mom eyes me, giving me a suspicious look. "Why didn't you tell me you made a new friend, and a boy at that."

"It never came up," I muttered trying to avoid the question. My mom just grins at me, which makes me confused.

"What?" I question.

"Nothing." She shakes her head.

She's not fooling me, she knows something. But I know she's not going to tell me. So I give up and acknowledge Thomas for the first time since he's come in. It looks like something is bothering him.

"Thomas are you alright?" I ask concerned.

"Can we talk?" He asks, not looking me in the eye.

"Of course."

My mom stands up. "I'll take that as my cue." She kisses me on my forehead and hugs Thomas. "I have to go back to work Ella, I wish I could stay longer but I'll be back tomorrow."

I nod telling her "okay" and she walks out the door.

"What's up," I say to Thomas. He comes over and hugs me which takes me by surprise. But I wrap my arms around him and hug him back. We stay like that for a minute and he pulls away.

"I'm so sorry Ella," he mumbles apologetically.

"For what?" I ask because I genuinely have no idea what he's talking about.

"I shouldn't have got you worked up, I should have known." Thomas's voice is full of guilt. "I know how you get when in public, how people make you nervous." He says, "But I kept pushing, and for that I'm sorry."

"It's okay Thomas," I tell him truthfully, I don't want him to feel guilty. It's not his fault, it's my brain and my body.

"It's not, I should've just left it and asked you later. I caused your anxiety attack and I'm so sorry."

"Thomas really it's okay. It's not your fault. When it comes it just takes over and I can't control it." I say honestly. I take his hand and again say, "Trust me, it is not your fault."

He gives me a small smile, then walks over to the chair in the room and sits in it.

*

Thomas left about an hour ago. He went to go see his girlfriend.

I don't remember the last time I ate but I'm getting hungry. The doctor came in about fifteen minutes ago and gave me a pill to keep me calm. I didn't want to take it but he said it would help subside my anxiety. So I took it. Pills really weren't my thing, I don't like taking them because I feel like they're going to get stuck in my throat.

The door creaks open and I open my eyes. I must have fallen asleep. I was so tired earlier and must have dozed off. Declan peaks his head through and then walks in. He has a paper bag in his hand along with a drink.

"Declan, what are you doing here?" I ask, my voice sounds so unattractive.

"I'm not letting you stay the night here alone." He mutters, putting the bag and drink he's holding on the bedside table. He opens the bag and takes everything out. It looks like chicken tenders and fries. He puts them all on one big plate and then squirts some ketchup packets on the side. After he brings the table in front of me.

"I thought you might be hungry, that hospital food sucks." He says with a grin.

I sit up, "Starving." I mumble as a big smile takes over my lips. He's right, hospital food does suck.

Declan chuckles and takes a seat on the bed, the hospital table separating us. I take a piece of chicken, dip it into ketchup, and take a bite. It tastes so yummy and I'm so hungry I eat the rest of it at record speed.

Declan's eating too, and dipping in the same ketchup. I notice, blushing at the thought of having his saliva in my mouth. I take a sip of the drink, which turns out to be a chocolate milkshake. My taste buds dance in glee.

I gaze up, Declan is watching me. He shakes his head, "You're too cute, Lil' one."

My face flushes ten shades darker than before. He just called me cute, again. I know it's just a simple word, but it still made my insides flutter. I stop inhaling my food for a second, to take my time to actually chew it. Declan stares at me before reaching his thumb up to my lip, he rubs off a spot of ketchup hiding in the corner. Now I'm actually burning up.

"Thank you for the food," I whisper through my embarrassment.

He smiles that heart-melting smile.

After Declan and I are done eating, he throws away the trash and takes a seat in the chair. Grabbing the remote, he turns on the Tv and flicks through the channels. I, on the other hand, am about to fall asleep. I fight to keep my eyes open, but it's a losing battle.

"Go to sleep Ellie." He murmurs.

This time I don't hesitate to close my eyes. I feel the sheets moving and then I feel myself being placed on a hard comfortable chest. I curl into it and let sleep take me.