Her Brother's Best Friend - Aching Hearts Series #2

Chapter 23- You're not alone

CHAPTER 23 - YOU'RE NOT ALONE

When she finally reopened her eyes, Emily found herself lying in bed, the familiar whiteness informing her she was in the infirmary. She felt slightly better, not that dizzy anymore, able to see properly, no cramps – for now, at least. She tried to sit up as she looked around, but her head spun a little, so she moved very slowly.

There was nobody around, the noises coming from the other room gave away the nurse's presence, but only a moment later the door opened.

"Oh, you're finally awake." Mr. Ferris stated as a manner of greeting, a relieved smile etched on his handsome face as he approached the bed.

Emily, feeling wary, better sat up and covered herself with the blankets, even though she was fully clothed, there was nothing to be worried about.

The teacher gave her a small smile as he stood beside her. "You kinda scared me, Emily, you know." He mentioned, sort of playfully. She blushed, lowering her glance. He explained that he'd been grading some papers, a few minutes after she got out of the class, when he heard a loud whimper, and when he got out of the room, he found her crouched on the floor, barely conscious, therefore he swiftly brought her to the infirmary.

Barely an hour had passed since then, and he coyly admitted he'd dashed out of his class to come see if she was alright, which had her blush profusely as she thanked him, but he shook her head as he grabbed a chair and sat beside her.

"It's part of my job, taking care of students. No thanks needed." He mentioned, getting serious, which had the bigger question follow: "How long?"

She looked up, feigning a confused expression, as if she had no idea what was he talking about.

Mr. Ferris sighed, and grabbed her hand. "It's the first thing I noticed." He pointed out, showing off the abraded fingers, then let go of her hand, sighing once more when she didn't reply. "My sister used to do that a lot. One gets used to the signs." He explained.

She only nodded. Silence reigned for a few moments, the only sounds being heard were the ones of the nurse typing away on her computer in the other room. In the end, Mr. Ferris spoke up: "Like I said, I don't want to push you, Emily, but ... here I am if you wanna talk, okay?" She nodded again, he sighed and stood up "I have to go now, the nurse says you should lay down for an hour more at least. I'll call your parents, so they'll come pick you up –"

"Oh, no! Please." She cut him off, her cheeks flushed. She gripped the blankets, staring at them, as if she wanted to discover the huge secret behind them. "I-I don't want to worry them." Nor fluster them. Having such a mess for a daughter was enough, they didn't need to know about the rest, they'd feel guilty even.

Mr. Ferris stood there, hands stuffed in his pockets, eyes on his student. "They don't know, do they?" He asked. She shook her head. He inhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a moment. The thing was more serious than he thought. "Alright. I'll stay here with you, then, once you've rested, I'll take you home."

Her eyes widened in surprise, and she turned to him. Why was he being so kind?

The teacher cracked a small smile as he sat back down. "Take a small nap, alright? It'll be good to regain your strength. Then we can head home."

"But ..."

"You can't leave on your own, Emily, nor will I take the risk of letting you."

"I-I don't wanna bother you."

He smiled, this time a bit more brightly, as he shook her head. "No trouble, don't worry. I had nothing to do anyway, aside from grading papers, so it's fine."

***

Mr. Ferris stopped the car in front of the Robinsons' house and turned to Emily, giving her a small charming smile of his – the one that had girls swoon. "My offer still stands, Emily. You can come to me whenever you need, my door's always open." He told her softly, then reached for the dashboard, grabbing an old diner receipt and a pen, and scribbled something down on it, only to hand it to her a moment later with an empathic smile. "Here's my number. Call when you need, okay? I'll gladly listen to whatever you're willing to share."

There was such familiarity in those words, it felt like déjà vu. Someone else, a very special person had told her things like those before. Someone else had reached out for her when she felt blue.

Emily nodded, trying to shoo away the thought of that special person that used to have the role Mr. Ferris seemed willing to take now, the one of confidant and healer, the one her childish mind would give Riley and Riley only.

She yelped when she felt someone else's hand on hers, and she immediately slipped it away, confused as to why would her teacher do something like that, but he only gave her another empathic smile as he spoke: "Emily, I know there's something eating out at you. Whatever it is, fight it. Don't let it swallow you. You can win, and you will."

He sighed, staring in the distance for a moment, clearly lost in his thoughts, and Emily couldn't help wondering if it had to do with his sister having suffered from the same thing. Her feeling was confirmed when he turned to look back at her, leaning in. "A demon like that, it may drain out your strength. But you're not alone, okay?"

Mr. Ferris grabbed her hand, this time she didn't pull back, mostly because it was a nice feeling, her cold hand being held by a warm one that conveyed affection ... well, that wasn't the case of her teacher, but it stil reminded her of that other person.

"I'm kinda breaking boundaries here, I think, but it still is my role as teacher to help – ah, forget that. I wanna help you, Emily, okay? Will you let me?"

She caught her breaths, taken off guard. She didn't think she needed help, she could handle it on her own, it was nothing to worry about, but, not to offend him, she nodded, and found herself half smiling as he did the same, clearly glad to be useful.

She stepped off the car with the promise not to be shy and call him whenever if she needed to talk, but in truth, she was pretty sure she'd never keep that promise, be it only not to bother him and for a matter of pride and shyness.

The teacher instead, he watched his student quietly walk towards the house, worried and pensive. She needed help, it was absurd that no one had noticed it yet, and what kind of teacher – what kind of person – would he be if he didn't lend a hand?

Besides, the memory of his sister falling into the same spiral of self destruction was still too vivid to ignore a girl in the same conditions. He'd helped Tania out of that hell, ten years ago, he'd do the same for Emily.

One problem, though. If he wanted to help her, he ought to erase a very simple but dangerous thought that kept dancing in his mind as he watched her walk away: really cute, isn't she?

He reminded himself she was a student, a minor, too young ... but the thought still remained. Well, it wasn't really that sinful, was it? He thought nothing bad. After all, Emily was indeed really cute, why should he deny it?

He found himself chuckling to himself as he shook his head while restarting the engine, once the front door had been closed. Maybe he'd been single for too long, he thought as he drove off. If he noticed his students even now, he was really at his wit's end.

Oh, well, finding her cute wasn't illegal, was it? Till he did nothing, he wasn't guilty. Last time he lingered in such thoughts, he got in trouble because of a student that got vindictive after he rejected her ... the place was nice and he ought to keep his record clean, so no dirty thoughts.

Eh. It'd take a little to get that beautiful face out of his mind. Nevertheless, he'd be professional. The girl needed a confidant, someone that would listen, and that only he would be. Nothing more.