Losing Her Wings

Chapter 6

By the time they’d all had a good sleep and recovered from the previous nights events, Skylar wasn’t surprised in the slightest when Niles showed up at her dorm room alone, and asked her if walking to the ice rink was acceptable. She felt like she needed the fresh air after recalling the mixed dreams she had had the night before and so she agreed, quite happy to hear him talking about campus life and telling her about all the people he was going to introduce her to. He didn’t hesitate to put his arm around her shoulders and she couldn’t deny that the oddly compelling warmth and protection that came with it was something she felt like she needed. So he wanted to be her hero, it couldn’t be all that bad, surely and he took it well when she admitted that if he was trying to seduce her it wouldn’t work because she wasn’t planning to date until she had at least settled on campus and found her feet. He just laughed it off and acted as if he didn’t care. And it was that carefree vibe she got from him that made her realise that just maybe her time on campus wouldn’t be as awfully hard to deal with as she had thought once Link had left her alone.

“There’s Ryan there…” Niles noticed that Devin’s little brother had shown up after all, when none of them had really known what he would do after going off in a tantrum and ruining their game. He let the guys say their hellos as he passed them, leading Skylar off by the hand to meet Ryan, the only one she hadn’t already met. But she couldn’t help but feel nervous as he introduced them, having been waiting for the moment for a long time and much to her disappointment he barely noticed her. “This is Skylar…she’s new and a little feisty.” He mentioned with an approving smile, making her blush in a way that Ryan didn’t exactly approve of. He couldn’t be bothered with being set up with anyone, particularly a girl who blushed at being called feisty by a womanising jock.

“Hey.” Was all he could be bothered saying, barely glancing at her before turning back to the few guys who had gone onto the ice already, playing a mock game of ice hockey. “Dude, are you serious? That cross check was totally illegal. Where’s the ref?” He protested, heading off onto the ice as Niles tried to make light of his rudeness, telling her not to pay any attention to him but she couldn’t help but do just that. She had come back for him, to help him in his life and maybe even be with him. She had fallen in love with him ever since she had started watching over him and tried to make his life better, taking over from the mistaken hopeful who had let him find out about his girlfriend cheating on him.

They were supposed to make their charges lives better, not ruin them and albeit he had to know the truth at some point, they had been advised to make him break up with her before he found out the truth so that it would hurt him less because he wouldn’t care. The way they had gone about it had resulted in him changing charges with Skylar, who couldn’t help but fall for the sad, lost Ryan she had been asked to watch over. Now that she knew it would probably result in nothing, she didn’t know what to do and almost wanted to ask Niles to take her back to her room again because she couldn’t bear to be around Ryan if he barely even noticed her. But admitting it, would be admitting to having fallen for him and when everyone knew she was new to campus and hadn’t met anyone yet, there was no feasibly way for her to explain her feelings for him without admitting to who she was.

“Come on, we’ll get you some skates and then you can show us what you can do.” Niles teased her sweetly, taking her over to the counter to get her skates, even helping her put them on after he witnessed her struggling to remember how to tie a knot. Since she had got back she had been using the slip on ballet shoes and clipped on sandals that Wendy had bought for her and she hadn’t realised until she attempted to put on her skates that there were some simple things that her brain just couldn’t remember. That morning she had forgotten to rinse the shampoo out her hair until she’d gone to brush it and wondered why there was something collecting on her hair brush. She had been so confused that she’d looked it up on the internet, using her mobile phone only to realise that it was something she should have naturally known to do.