Love Goes On

Chapter 32

Laurine's P.O.V

I jump at the sound of my name and footsteps crunching in the snow behind me.
"Shush it's okay it's just me."
I turn to face Brendan and he hugs me gently.
"Sorry for scaring you."
I cling to him, pulling him closer to me.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be horrible to you."
Brendan shakes his head and pulls away from me.
"Laurine you did nothing wrong." He rubs his hands back and forth with mine between them to warm me up and I shiver.
"C'mon let's get you home."
He passes me a cup of half finished hot chocolate and I take it gratefully.
The warmth of the cup against my skin is so comforting.

He starts to walk and I follow him.
"So I'm going to talk to Cian and straighten all this out." He tells me matter-of-factly.
"He loves you too much to not believe us."
I hope he's right.
We walk for a few more minutes before Brendan decides to make a pit stop. I follow him into the cute little cafe and he grabs two more hit drinks for us.
And then the rain hits.
We decide to stay in the shop until the rain dies down and eventually the sun emerges.

I slip into the coat Brendan forces upon me and sip yet another hot chocolate as we walk back into the street.
I hate this part of the walk as its all hills and in this weather that's not very favourable. Everything has turned to sludge and black ice and my coordination can be dodgy at the best of times.
We trudge up the hill and eventually reach the top.
"We have completed our mission." Brendan grins.
I giggle, stretching my arms out at my sides and spinning around.

I feel my foot slip and all of a sudden I can no longer control my footing. I reach out with my hand to catch my fall but fail miserably. I see Brendan rush to catch me but he's seconds too late.
I fall and tumble over and over again until eventually it stops and Brendan is at my side.
Blood flows from my hairline and I have a cut on my cheek but the pain is nothing in comparison to my arm. I must've done more damage when I reached out to stop my fall.
I try to stand and my head spins uncontrollably.
Brendan catches me and sees me wince as he touches the arm. I realise a second too late that I shouted too.
He scoops up what's left of the snow and spreads it on the arm, anxiously staring at my face.
He starts to wipe the blood away with the corner of his top.
"I'm sorry."I breathe.
He shakes his head. "Don't be silly. Are you okay Lau?"
I hear him phone somebody, oh please not a hospital, don't bring me to a hospital, but it's a mere distraction to the pain.
I feel myself lose consciousness as his breathing grows nearer and he mumbles words to me quietly, words I can't comprehend.