Listen to Dusk Till Dawn by Zayn and Sia
Chapter 31
"Umm I can explain..." was all I could muster assuming he was talking about the kiss. But how in the world would he have known? Unless...
"You took him to the hospital, right? I'm surprised he even agreed to go." He held a nonchalant expression as if he didn't wanna seem like he was showing any compassion towards his brother.
A wave of relief washed over me. My heart going back to its normal pace. Why was I afraid if he found out?
"Cause he'd think you're a hoe. That's why," my guilty subconscious said in an obvious tone shaking her head.
I was beyond confused at this point. "How'd you know?"
"Don't worry, Ryder's not a snitch. My grandad's nurse saw him leave and I quote 'with a gorgeous curly haired girl in a retro outfit by his side', I knew instantly who that was," he used air quotes to describe me. A cute smile formed on his lips making me blush slightly.
"I didn't know your grandfather was admitted in the hospital, Ryder didn't even tell me," I changed the topic with a concerned look.
"No, no its not like that...umm..." he was hesitant for a while as if he was debating whether to confide in me or not.
"It's alright you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," I urged squeezing his palm and placing my hand back onto my lap. I mean he only just met me so I didn't expect him to spill all the details about his family but my inner Nancy Drew was crossing her fingers that reverse psychology would work on him.
He glanced at me appreciatively before releasing a long breath and shutting his eyes briefly.
"It's not meant to be public knowledge so I'm trusting you with this...my grandfather is diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. The symptoms have been progressing for a while now so we bought all the equipment so he'd have to take his regular checkups at home so a few nurses and doctors from the hospital come and go and along with his age we've all accepted it but it still won't register until his actually gone," he clenched his jaw and moved it from side to side.
I nodded understandingly knowing exactly what that felt like.
"The doctor said the certainty of his passing is not certain. It could be tomorrow or a few years from now... so his only wish was that we came back to his childhood town where his family's pine business first began. He wants his deathbed to be his home, Haynesworth Manor." He looked away thinking I wouldn't see his red eyes blinking back the tears.
"You must think I'm an idiot for crying over someone that isn't even my real grandfather...but I've grown close to them, ya know? That's why I decided to move instead of staying back with my mom."
This time I grabbed his hand and held it tightly in my own to be more comforting. "So you're all just waiting?"
"Twisted, isn't it." He responded looking down his soft hair falling over his face.
"You must hate everything about this place," I gestured my other hand around us referring to the town, in general.
"Not everything,"his light brown eyes meeting mine that were filled with so much emotion.
YOU ARE READING
The Risk To Love
Teen Fiction⚫ A Wattpad Featured Story ⚫ Ever since the stranger in school A.K.A - notorious bad boy from the city arrived in Shay's hometown and coincidently became her next door neighbor, she knew that everything was going to change and most probably for the...
