Emma

Chapter 52

Emma sat on the large, black beanbag with her knees against her chest as she flipped through the pages of the slightly bulky sky blue book with the words 'Northern Lights' imprinted on it in bold black and hovering over a quite accurate photo of a ludicrously large compass.

She let out a sigh of frustration, trying to find the page she had stopped and immediately regretted not putting a book mark.

She had previously been sitting in that position for quite a while and had decided to get herself busy by picking one of the many books positioned on the large bookshelf by the corner of the light grey room.

She wasn't a fan of reading, but had found the book surprisingly intriguing, and the fact that it had given her something to do in order to pass time, had greatly added to the effectiveness of it, hence why she sat frustrated with the unluckiness of not finding that particular page.

A loud groan was heard by the opposite position where she sat, causing her to quickly look up at the body that seemed to lay quite uncomfortably in front of her.

Cole had been discharged from the hospital the next day, the grump for a doctor stating that all he needed was a little rest and he would hopefully be up on his feet once more. He had stated the 'hopefully' part due to the oddness of the situation and the fact that he had never seen one as peculiar as that.

They had thanked him before struggling to get Cole into the car, because of his considerably large structure, it wasn't an easy task, and driving him back to his home.

Therefore, explaining Emma's situation.

She had volunteered to stay and make sure that he was okay, which lead to her struggle to lead him upstairs and to his bed and now waiting quite impatiently for him to wake up.

She looked back at him, fighting the urge to shake him awake and reminding herself that he was still recovering from whatever had happened that she still didn't understand.

He had promised to tell her exactly what had happened and she had promised herself that she would muster all the patience she had, in order to wait for him to wake up.

Another groan was heard and she stifled a laugh as he shuffled round in his king size bed, trying to get into a more comfortable position.

Cole suddenly jerked up, causing Emma to slightly jump back in surprise.

He scanned the room as though looking for something awfully precious, before he smiled as his eyes landed on Emma who sat at the foot of the bed still trying to hold out a giggle.

"Good morning." Emma said, her words mixed with the laughter that finally escaped her lips. Cole couldn't help the adoring smile that masked his face has he didn't shift his gaze from her.

He shook his head, wishing that her laughter would be what he woke up to each morning.

"Good morning to you too." He said, sitting up and leaning his head against the bedhead as he pated the side of the bed, gesturing for her to sit by him.

Emma's laughter had calmed down by now and she made her way towards him, a smile still playing on her lips.

As soon as she sat down on the bed that was covered with a pure black duvet, Cole's arm found its way round her shoulder, pulling her closer to him and leaning his head against her shoulder.

"You're awfully happy all of a sudden." She said giggling once more and interlocking her hand with his that dangled at her opposite shoulder blade.

Cole was about to respond before she let out a sigh that sounded the complete opposite of her previous mood.

"Cole, when are you going to tell me what happened to your arm..." She shifted her gaze to his neck and let out another sigh,

"...and your neck..." She then glanced at his ankle,

"...and your ankle" Emma finally looked back to look at Cole who seemed to have frozen in place but slowly thawed when he noticed Emma's gaze still on him.

He let out a sigh and lifted his head from her shoulder along with his hand, before slowly rubbing down his temple with his fingers.

"Emma, I honestly don't know where to start."

He had gone over this conversation in his head so many times when he was at the hospital, and now that the time came for him to explain how it all started, he was lost on what to say.

"Start from when you started playing the ring toss." She said after a moment of contemplating the closest period before he had passed out.

"I don't remember much, I know I was trying to show off my magical throwing skills..." Andrew said grinning at Emma who was now rolling her eyes.

His shoulders relaxed as some sort of burden seemed to lift off his shoulder. Emma was his friend, even though he was hoping to change that into something more...advanced, he still had to keep reminding himself that he was not in a police station being interrogated.

He had known her for almost a year now and he knew she wasn't asking to investigate him or make him confess to some sort of sin, she was asking out of care, and he was slowly trying to adjust to the feeling that someone actually cared for him in a non-selfish way, and the fact that that person was Emma, made the situation much more bearable.