Falling for my Best Friend

Saved by Snowballs

Kilian

Wren takes a shaky breath and continues, "I got the rest of the juice from the fridge as fast as I could and I was going to dump it, I don't know what came over me, I was just so livid. She caught up to me and grabbed me by the hair to stop me. I think that's when Quin came in, she asked mom not to hurt me and mom said she wouldn't if I would listen to her. Quinny looked so scared, I begged her to go upstairs and she finally listened."

"Wren... you don't have too," I say because I can see tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's okay," she takes another breath, "Mom just grabbed my hair harder and closer to my neck and it pissed me off so I started to pour the orange juice on the floor and she lost it. She spun me around by my hair trying to get the juice away from me and I slipped in the juice on the floor, she held me up with my hair then flung me towards the corner of the cabinet. That's when I hit my shoulder, I guess I hit my head too but I didn't really register it happened."

I'm starting to cry again now. She must have been so scared. I was just in the backyard, if only I somehow knew what was happening I could have saved her from this.

She sees that I'm upset but she continues, "I just sat there crying, I didn't really know what to do, and my body hurt so bad, I don't know how long I was sitting there before Quin came downstairs to leave and I somehow managed to keep her from coming into the kitchen so I don't think she saw anything else. Then you came and, well, you know the rest," she finishes.

I know that I probably shouldn't but I lean over her bed and hug her tightly. She winces a little as I squeeze but she relaxes into the hug and seems to calm down a lot.

"I'm sorry, if I had known, had any idea, I'd have been there in a second," I start to sputter out every thought in my head again.

"You saved me," she says.

 "What?! I didn't. I was so helpless once I saw how hurt you were, I'm so disappointed with myself," I say.

"The last thing I saw was your face, you saved me," she insists, "Don't beat yourself up, this is not your fault, I heard you talking to the boys, this is not your fault."

I sit up from the hug even though I know I'm blushing now, "Oh, you heard that, huh?"

"I did, and you're too sweet, but don't take any of this blame, if you hadn't been there when you were, imagine how much worse it could have been," she continues, "Thank you."

I'm so overcome with emotion right now that I can't be held accountable for what I'm about to say, am I about to say this? My heart is beating so fast, I want to tell her I love her, I should tell her, but what if she thinks it's just because of the situation? That would be terrible, she deserves more. I have to wait.

"Of course," is what comes out of my mouth, and I feel so dumb.

Just then, Gael and Declan return with four pink snowballs, and Wren's face lights up. At least they are back now, so the attention is off me enough that I can calm down.

"You're my heroes," Wren says exaggeratedly with a huge grin.

"I'm sure there are healthier things you should be eating but I suppose we can all look past that for now," Gael says, chuckling at her.

"Kind of a vibe in here, huh?" Declan chimes in.

"What?" I ask, alarmed.

"Never mind," Declan says.

Since he backed off, I'm certainly not going to push it.

Wren

The next morning I woke up to see Kilian sleeping half slumped in the chair next to my hospital bed, I can't believe he stayed here all night. It was so nice to have all my friends with me last night; I can't believe we managed to have so much fun given the situation. Gael's face when he bit into that snowball was priceless, I know he hates coconut but he did it for me. 

I watch Kilian sleep for a little while and then realize how creepy I'm being, "Psst," I whisper, "Kilian...Kil..."

He startles awake and cracks his neck.

"I'm sorry you slept in a chair, you must be miserable," I say.

"Good morning, sunshine," he says back with a smile.

Just then my dad knocks on the door then comes in with Quin. They both have massive smiles when they see me sitting up, alert. Dad has breakfast in brown paper bags and it smells amazing, I'm so hungry.

"Good morning, sweetheart," dad says, "I'm glad to see you looking better."

"Sissy, you're really okay? Kilian said he would take care of you and he did!" Quin says excitedly.

I reach my arms out signaling for her to come in for a hug, she runs over to me and hugs me hard not caring about my shoulder at all, but I don't mind. "He sure did," I say.

"Thank you son," Dad says looking at Kilian, "Are there any updates I should know about?"

"Doc said early this morning that she might be able to go home today but since she was asleep he's coming back later to check her out," Kilian says.

"You could have woken me," I reply, "I had no idea."

"Exactly, you were supposed to be resting," he says back to me like a testy parent. 

I cross my arms and huff, "I just wanna get out of here!"

"I know, baby girl, but breakfast is going to have to do for now," Dad says as he starts unpacking and spreading food around. "This is probably the first food you've had since lunch yesterday, I bet you're starving."

"Well, I may have had a snowball last night," I admit, laughing.

We sit in comfortable quiet, smiling and eating. It always amazes me how at home with my family Kilian is, it's like he was always meant to be with us. Maybe he was. My thoughts drift back to how nice it felt to sleep next to him and when he hugged me to comfort me but they quickly turn to memories of his chiseled body working outside. Stop it, Wren, your dad is right there!

After we finish breakfast, dad says, "Kilian, mind taking Quin for a walk? There are some things I have to talk to Wren about."

Killian looks at me, almost as if he's asking me what to do.

"Dad, do you think Quinny could stay with me? I think Kilian can answer your questions and I really don't feel up to going through it again right now," I continue looking at Kilian now, "Is that okay?"

Kilian smiles and nods, "Whatever you prefer, Wrenny."

"Okay, son, let's go for a walk and let the girls catch up," Dad says.