Guest: Thank you. I do really like their friendship. Thanks for reviewing.
ReadingxTherapy: Thank you soooo much. I did really like Max's one-liners and felt as if he was the perfect person to say something like that. Aww, there will be loads more Lily and Iain scenes to come. Thanks for reviewing.
Citylightsonthew: I really like Elle, and her friendship with Alicia. They are good friends and another scene with them in this chapter. Thanks for reviewing.
Chapter Five
It wasn't the easiest of nights. Every time Alicia closed her eyes, she'd wake up screaming five minutes later.
Lily was at a complete loss of what to do. She felt useless, like she wasn't doing enough to help Alicia. After Alicia's forth nightmare, Lily felt that it was pointless to try and get back to sleep, so the two of them just stayed up and watched some more of Lily's Friends boxset.
The next morning, Lily was sat with a bowl of cereal in the kitchen whilst Alicia was having a shower. She wasn't that hungry though, and instead was just spooning the soggy cornflakes around the edge of the bowl. Alicia soon walked into the kitchen, in the middle of tying her hair into a messy ponytail, and took a seat opposite Lily at the table.
"Do you want some breakfast?" Lily whispered.
"I'm not that hungry," Alicia whispered back.
"Yeah, me neither," she sighed and pushed her bowl away.
"I'm sorry that I kept you up all night," Alicia said. "I'm sorry for everything."
"You need to stop apologising," Lily said and folded her arms across her chest. "None of this is your fault."
Alicia just shrugged her shoulders and Lily held a hand to her chest.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"I'm fine," Lily said. "Do you want a cup of tea or anything before work?"
"No thank you," Alicia said. "I might go for a run though."
"A run?" Lily narrowed her eyebrows at her. "We have to be at work in forty five minutes."
"I won't be long," Alicia said and stood up from her chair. "Running helps clear my head though."
Lily was still worried though.
"Take your phone with you," Lily said.
Alicia grabbed her phone from the kitchen side and held it up to show Lily, before stuffing it into the pocket of her trousers.
"I'm not a child," she said.
"I know," Lily sighed and gave her a small smile. "But just in case you need me."
"Take a seat, Alicia," Elle said and gestured to the sofa in the staffroom.
Luckily for them, the room was deserted, which meant that Elle was able to have a proper chat with the young doctor. She wasn't sure if and what was going on with Alicia, but this was her chance to tell her. Elle just hoped that the reason for her upset was the fact that she and Ethan had broken up, and nothing more serious than that.
"What's this about?" Alicia asked and folded her arms across her chest.
"I spoke to Dylan earlier," Elle said, as the two of them sat down together. "He seems quite concerned about you."
"Why?" Alicia asked, trying to act dumb.
Of course she knew why. She'd screamed at him yesterday, hadn't she? Because she was stupid enough to think that he would hurt her. The thought brought tears to her eyes.
"You seemed almost scared of him yesterday," she told her. "He said that you screamed at him. Is everything okay, Alicia?"
"Things are fine," Alicia whispered, her whole body tensing up. "You don't need to worry."
"Well, I do actually," Elle said. "You're not just my colleague, but my friend as well. If there is something wrong, then I would like to know."
She received no reply.
"Well, is there something going on between you and Lily?" Elle asked. "The two of you suddenly seem pretty close. Has something happened to her?"
"No." Alicia shook her head. "Lily's fine. Great actually. She might not be back for long though, so I guess we're just trying to put the past behind us and start over."
She prayed that Elle would believe her lie.
"Right," Elle sighed and nodded along to Alicia's words. "Are you missing Ethan?"
Alicia shrugged her shoulders. She missed Ethan terribly, but she knew that she was to blame for their break-up. If she hadn't have been stupid enough to write that stupid blog, then they'd still be together.
"It's okay if you are," Elle said. "The two of you were a great couple. Things will work out in the end, I'm sure. They usually do."
Alicia nodded, forcing a smile for Elle's sake.
"If there is something going on and if you ever need anyone to talk to," Elle said and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Then you know where I am."
Meanwhile, as Lily stood outside and watched the two of them talk, she felt a rush of anxiety come over her and her chest tightened. What were they talking about? Was Alicia telling Elle what had happened? She wished that she was able to lip-read.
She placed a hand on her chest and tried to control her breathing, but it was no use. As she turned to lean back against the wall, she caught sight of Charlie crossing reception. He walked over to her, a look of concern on his face, and cleared his throat before talking.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I...I don't know," Lily croaked out, her chest rising up and down.
She gasped for air and choked back a small sob that was lodged in her throat. What was wrong with her? She couldn't help but cry at how completely stupid she was being.
"What are you even doing here, Lily?" Charlie asked, as if he'd suddenly realised that Lily no longer worked in the ED.
He received no reply.
"Come on," he said gently and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go and get some air."
"So, Lily had a minor panic attack earlier," Charlie said, as he walked over to take a seat beside Connie's bed.
"Well is she okay?" Connie asked, alarmed and concerned for Lily. "What brought that on exactly? It's not like she has a lot of work on at the moment, is it?" She sighed and narrowed her eyebrows at Charlie.
Charlie shrugged his shoulders.
"Something is going on with her," Connie added. "You may not think so, but I know Lily, and I am certain that she is hiding something from us."
"Like what exactly?" Charlie questioned.
"What if something happened in Hong Kong?" Connie asked. "Why else would she come back? Or...?"
"Or?" Charlie raised his eyebrows.
"What if something is going on with Alicia?" Connie then asked, lowering her voice slightly. "Since Lily came back, the two of them have been inseparable. They never used to be that close, did they?"
"Elle had a chat with Alicia," Charlie said. "Dylan asked her to apparently, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her. It's been really busy in the department today and being back here must be strange for Lily, so maybe she just worked herself up over it."
"Hmmm." Connie didn't seem to be listening. "We'll see. I'll be back in the department soon, so I guess I'll see for myself. I should be allowed to go home tomorrow."
"That's great, Connie," Charlie said and gave her a gentle smile. "But please don't rush back to work. You've been extremely ill and you still need your rest. We can take care of things until you return, don't worry."
Iain pushed open the door to Connie's office and saw Lily lying fast asleep on the sofa. He eyed up the messy desk that Ethan had taken over in Connie's absence, and then looked towards the water and biscuits that sat on the coffee table. Charlie had obviously been looking after her well.
A small groan escaped Lily's lips, and her eyelids slowly began to flutter open. A small smile spread across her face when she saw Iain standing in the doorway.
"Hi," she whispered.
"Hi," he whispered back.
She ran a hand through her hair and sat up slowly, allowing Iain to sit down beside her.
"Charlie told me what happened," he said. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything is fine," she said, faking a smile for him. "It's just strange, being back here, that's all."
"You had a panic attack, Lily," Iain stated.
Lily nodded faintly and choked back a sob. Iain gently wrapped an arm around her, and she slowly rested her head against his shoulder. Iain stroked at her arm with the tip of his thumb and the two of them just sat there in silence.
"I'm sorry that I got angry," he said. "I guess I was just really looking forward to seeing you for that drink."
"You don't need to apologise," Lily said. "I shouldn't have cancelled on you like that. It was wrong of me."
"You wanted to look after your friend," Iain said. There was a pause before he spoke again. "Is Alicia okay?"
"She will be," Lily said. "In time."
"Ethan?" Iain asked and Lily nodded.
What was she supposed to say? She wished that she could tell Iain the truth, but a promise was a promise.
"I know that you think there's more to it than that," Lily said, before Iain could start asking questions. "But there isn't," she lied. "Alicia is just upset about breaking up with Ethan, that's all. She loved him, she still does."
She hated lying to Iain, lying to the man that she loved, but it was all she could do.
"Break-ups aren't easy, are they?" Iain said and reached out to give her hand a gentle squeeze. "I think we both found that out the hard way."
"I think we did," Lily said and lifted her head to make eye contact with him. "What time do you finish work?"
"Two," Iain said. "I started early this morning."
Perfect. Alicia didn't finish until five.
Lily smiled at him lovingly. She hadn't smiled at anyone that way before, but then she hadn't felt that way about anyone but Iain. He smiled back, his grip tightening on her hand. Lily wanted to kiss him, she wanted to feel the warm touch of his lips on hers again, but something was stopping her.
She just wasn't sure what.
She wanted to see Iain again though, outside of work, outside of the ED. She felt sorry for Alicia and she loved being the one to help and support her, but she wanted to escape from the hurt and painful memories that were slowly filling her brain.
She needed to escape.
Iain was that escape.
He kept his chocolate brown eyes on her, and she felt herself slowly sink into them. They were like little droplets of heaven.
"Did you still want to go for that drink?" She asked.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I found the scene between Alicia and Elle quite hard to write but I hope it was okay. Thank you for reading so far and let me know what you think x