[Sadrain]

December 9th, Chicago. Base.

Over the course of the day, Ryan stopped by Alice's room few more times. He seemed not to care much for Amante's presence, but since the girl was asleep every time, Ryan only lingered for a moment at her bedside, and then left without a word.

Around eight in the evening, Ryan knocked on doors of a small building. Aira opened and brightly smiling, let him in. He half automatically gave her a small compliment, but was quite silent most of the chattering, before the movie marathon started. At first, they sat at different ends of the couch, but over the course of the first movie, Aira got closer to him. She was not cuddling up against him or anything, though.

As he had predicted, the movies were not really so scary, as gory. Ryan watched them without much interest, but they kept his mind occupied, and that was better than nothing. Few times, Aira hid her face in his shoulder, but instead of hugging the woman, Ryan just tensed. Between third and fourth movie, she went to kitchen and returned with few drinks. He took one and thanked her, but avoided eye contact. Ryan knew what he had come for, but, somehow, he just couldn't put the act up. Alice's face came in his mind whenever he got more side tracked from the TV screen.

"Ey, Ryan, look at me." Startled out of his thoughts, the man turned to her, Aira's face very close to his and she kissed him. It was a soft, not persistent kiss, and Ryan was frozen for a moment, but then the woman pulled back. "Sorry about that, I didn't know you liked her so much."
"What?" Ryan stared at her, blankly.
"There are rumors you and Alice are an item. But no one really knows, that's why I asked you out." Aira shrugged a little, moving back from him. "I could tell now you were thinking about someone else all this time. Your heart wasn't really here for sure. I bet it was with Alice."
Ryan felt dumbfounded. Love? He hadn't thought he loved Alice, but Aira was right that he had been thinking about Alice(and wishing she was here instead).
"I..." Ryan cleared throat, feeling extremely awkward. "I better get going." The man stood up, nearly tripping over the low table.
"You aren't bad woman after all, Aira, I am sure you will find someone," he told her at the doors.
"After all?" she quirked an eyebrow, but Ryan had already left the house. With a small sigh, she shut the door behind him and turned the lock. "She sure is one lucky girl."


Ryan tried to fall asleep, but thoughts used his mind like a speedway and after about a hour of a struggle, the man got up. He washed face, changed clothes, as if trying to leave all marks of the awkward encounter behind him. But it had no effect on his thoughts. Confused and angry, Ryan left the hospital, to wander around the base some.