The Devil's 5'5

Chapter 51 - The Truth

April 6th, 5:00 AM - Chicago General Hospital - Chicago, IL Preston's POV

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"Hey, why don't we get some coffee, stretch your legs a bit."

Preston gave himself a shake as he stood up, the drowsiness from his nap still swamping his mind. Noble's offer was appreciated since he had fallen asleep in the very spot he sat down. But Preston hesitated as his gaze lingered over Azura.

"Amir and Johnny are going to sit here till we come back, so she won't be alone."

Right on cue, the door to the hospital room opened and Amir, followed by a girl, entered.

"Right, okay." He didn't want to create too much trouble, given the scene he had made when his emotions took over his sanity. Reluctantly he rose from his chair before following Noble out of the room.

Silently they made their way to the cafeteria where soft chatter scattered around the room.

Because of his sluggish reaction time, Noble had already paid for his coffee and pastry treat, simply smiling when he offered to pay him back.

"Come on, let's take a seat."

Sighing quietly to himself, he dropped the matter and followed his lead. Sitting in that cool metal chair, he sat erect, as he took tentative sips from the steaming cup. His eyes also followed a similar hesitant pattern from darting to Noble then elsewhere. But as he caught a glimpse of the boy, he could hardly read his expression as he quietly typed away on his phone.

"Sorry about that," he said, his sudden apology making Preston quickly shake his head.

"Just had to sort somethings out," he added on, as he gestured towards the phone that he finally had placed on the table in front of him.

"Don't worry about it." Preston tried to give him a reassuring smile, but the expression on Noble's face seemed to mirror that of sympathy and pity.

"How are you holding up?"

Preston took a second, suddenly overly conscious of how he appeared to the calm individual in front of him.

His nerves had somewhat settled down, and his mind was able to finally rationalize all the out of character behaviours he had displayed from the moment he had seen Azura.

"I'm good. I...I'm sorry for before. I realize now, how emotional I was."

Noble shook his head, denying the apology he offered. "No need to apologize. Listen, this is a lot to take in. And like I said before, I'm glad that you care deeply for Azura. She deserves to have someone like that in her life. So please, continue to take care of her."

The last comment earned a slight scoff as Preston, made a small smile of disbelief. "Yeah, I haven't been taking care of her at all. She's been doing that all by herself."

But again Noble rejected this claim. "No, you've been helping her, in your own way," he began slowly. "Hell, she even told me you took care of her during her period. She's a scary beast during that time."

The playful tone that brought forward that memory, finally allowed Preston to offer a real smile. "No kidding. But, I wasn't about to let her overdose on Tylenol. She was rather adamant on not receiving help."

They shared a light chuckle, agreeing on the stubbornness of the girl they both knew.

"Yeah, but she's not the only one. Our entire lot is like that for the most part," Noble offered, shrugging lightly. "Just, keep pushing. Especially now when she wakes up. She'll be happy to know that you stuck around."