One Last Breath

Skylar

Noah must have been totally crazy if he thought I wasn't going to freak out when he showed me the needles he had in his hands. They weren't the normal needles, the ones attached to a syringe with medication inside, because I was not afraid of those. But the normal ones were in his hand, and that was what I found scary.

"You must be kidding if you think I'm going to let you do that to me!"

He looked at me, all innocent like, and tried to assure me that everything was alright. "Come on Skylar, it's known to be very therapeutic and relaxing."

"Read my lips. I. Don't. Care. You are not coming anywhere near me with those! Are you even qualified to use them?!"

The man looked down at the acupuncture needles in his hand for a second before looking back into my eyes. "We'll, no, but I'm sure it's not that hard."

I was pretty surprised that my mouth did not fall to the floor at that, and my eyes were wide while I took in his serious expression. That was when I burst into laughter.

"Noah, what the fuck is wrong with you?!"

He joined into my laughter then, shrugging his shoulders at the same time and putting the box of needles down on the table beside my bed. When he sat down in the chair next to me, he automatically took my hand in his, and that made me smile.

"I'm just kidding. We have a specialist here that I got to come down and work on you. He's one of my friends and he comes with high praise."

Did he think that mattered to me? Someone was going to poke me with a sharp object, how the hell was that supposed to relax me? What if I fell off the table and—god, I didn't even want to think about that.

I was about to voice my thoughts, but the pleading look on my doctor's face stopped me from doing so. He cared about me, and he was doing all he could to try and help me. If he thought that this was really going to help, then I guess I shouldn't complain.

"Okay, fine, whatever. You're the doctor, I'm the patient. I guess you know best."

"I'm not used to you being this cooperative," Noah confessed, surprised I had just given up so easily. Was I really that big of a pain in the ass?

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it," I said, getting off of my bed and standing next to Noah, who had stood up when I had. Our hands were still intertwined.

My blue eyes glanced over to the empty bed next to mine, and Julia's boisterous image came to mine. I looked in Noah's brown eyes, question on my mind.

"Do you think Jul would have approved of this?"

Noah looked down at me, his face serious once again, and I could tell that he was thinking about my question, trying to find the right answer. Then a small smile graced his lips.

"Are you kidding? She was rooting for it the minute I walked through the door."

I laughed and nodded my head, because that was so true.

"Alright, I'll admit that he's hot, because that he is, but it's not that big of a deal Julia."

"You say that now, Skylar, but during your first hour together, you'll both fall in love and live happily ever after."

Noah

"That was… more relaxing than I thought it was going to be," Skylar confessed as we walked out of the room. Some random points on her body had pin pricks on them and were just a little red, but the girl didn't seem to mind.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her, my hand on the small on her back as I guided her through the hospital halls.

She nodded her head, turning and giving me that diamond like smile. "I feel better than I ever have in a long time, actually. Maybe I should make Aaron my personal doctor from now on."

I could see the teasing in her eyes and watched at the innocent smile turned into one of mischief and I could help but laugh at her. "I think you enjoy looking at me more than a 47 year old Chinese man."

"This is true," She confessed, wrapping her arm around my waist and pulling me closer. To anyone in the hospital, it was a friendly gesture, something good friends did. To me, it was something more, an action that was more than it seemed.

I smiled at her again, and she did the same, a small blush on her pale cheeks for a brief moment before she looked away. "So, do we have something just as fun for tomorrow?"

"What, you expect me to just go and spoil you?"

"I was hoping so," she said, pouting her plump lips.

"You will be crushed then, because we're only going to take you to the workout room and work there."

"Ugh," she groaned, pulling away from me and walking backwards in front of me so we could still keep talking face to face, "but I hate working out."

"No wonder your arms are so noodle like," I teased.

Skylar's mouth was open wide as she took in the insult I had just thrown at her playfully. "You, Noah McKnight, are a horrible person!"

I started to laugh at her statement, but it was cut short when, out of no where, she fell to the floor, her legs crumbling under her as she did so. I ran to her, along with another nurse who was in the hallway.

"Oh dear, are you okay? That looked like a nasty fall," the nurse cooed, helping Skylar to sit up while looked over her worriedly.

"It's strange, there's nothing on this hallway to trip on," she continued.

"Noah?" Skylar got out quietly, making me strain my ears to hear her.

"Yes?"

"I—I can't feel my legs."