"No, it's fine. Ya didn't know," he said with a small smile.

"N-n-no. It's fine, really, you don't have to --"
"Durand! Come on! You're fine now, right?"
"Uhm, yeah, gotta run and... Yeah. See you around?" Miles said awkwardly, blushing hard. He smiled at her a bit before running off.

(sorry, shorrttt.)

Miles had arrived at the field where the boys were playing, but as soon as he'd set foot in front of them, they all whooped, but quietly enough for Erin not to hear. The ginger haired player who had accidentally kicked the ball in Miles's face practically gave him a joking, soft punch to the arm in a tease.

"Miles, ooh, looks like you've snagged yourself a pretty one," he said, looking at Miles slyly with his suspiciously bubbly, round face.
"Shut up," he rebuffed, trying not to blush as he tried to move the ball along.
"Careful with her, Art," said another teammate, a fellow with dark skin but with surprisingly light eyes. "The girls don't seem to like her all that much. Have you heard what they said about her?"
"I know, Wilkes."
"Well, it seems that she's starting to like you, bub. I mean, she hates you."
"Yeah, thanks for the reminder. As if it wasn't obvious enough."
"Ah, cut him some slack, guys," said Fred with a small laugh. "He's still trying to cope with his feelings."
Oooooohhhh, echoed the team, which earned them a large shock from the air horn that their coach blew.
"Come on, people, get on with it. How do ya expect to win the game against Ferguson two days from now, huh? Get in position."

So, well, as scheduled, Miles had practice with the boys for the game. Sure, he was a bit rusty, especially having talked to the girl who gave him strange feelings every time they met, but after a while he kind of got the hang of himself again. He was getting focused, getting pumped and all that, when Fred suddenly stopped and looked in Erin's direction, seeing her bend over crying. The young guy ran over to her and took a squat next to her, trying to figure out what could be wrong with the girl that he rarely saw crying randomly.

"Hey, Erin, what's wrong?" he asked. Soon enough, Miles had caught attention of this too and ran in Erin's direction, taking a similar spot next to Fred.

"Erin? Rinny, what's happened to ya? Rin. Rin," Fred said, his tone of voice increasingly getting worried as Erin's sobs started to get louder. It was as if she was getting less and less like her as each sob emitted from her throat. The sound made his heart sink so much, but to Miles, it broke his. He'd never actually seen her cry with that amount of pain ever, and now he didn't know if he should comfort her or just leave her to cry or even just to talk to her. He had absolutely no clue.

"Erin, come on, tell me what's wrong..."

"The hospital?" Fred asked. "Oh, right, the hospital. Your wish is my command, madam."
"Fred, uhm, could you stay here with her for a while, I need to go sort things out with the coach," Miles said, and he promptly put a hand on her shoulder before running off a few feet away to get closer to the coach, who was watching from afar.
"Hey, coach!" Miles yelled. "We're ditching practice today!"
"Wha-- You've got to be kidding me Durand."
"Would you refuse to comfort someone crying? Huh? She can't even move. What if it was Lila? Wouldn't you have comforted your daughter?"
The coach paused for a while, a look of hesitation coming over him, before he sighed.
"Go, before I change my mind."
With a smile on Miles's face, he ran back, but it immediately disappeared when he saw her again.
"We're takin' my car," Fred said. He immediately picked up Erin and the two boys ran to the parking area, where Fred's blue pickup was parked. With Miles's help, he got the girl in the rear seat, and Miles followed after to make sure that she was alright. They soon zoomed away in the direction of the hospital.

"E-Erin," Miles said quietly. "Erin, what's wrong?"
"Yeah, Rinny. What's up?"

Miles tried his very best to fight with his conscience. Inside, there was such a turmoil brewing up. So much conflict over what to do; should he comfort Erin and possibly risk a rift between them (which is what he never wanted in the first place), or stay there just asking how she was. He just didn't know. It was just so hard. Sometimes, he wished he'd gotten off on the right foot with her, but now, he didn't know. Maybe it was just from what he'd done for her that she was being nice to him so suddenly. He didn't know for sure. Unconsciously, though, he extended an arm to wrap around her shoulders and pull her closer to him in a comforting hug. He felt very embarrassed for this but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel like the butterflies inside his stomach were about to rip out of him. In that moment, he felt like he could fly, even though the hug was momentary; he could expect the worst from her soon enough.

"Dammit, we're fucking stuck in traffic," Fred said, looking at the slow-moving lines of cars ahead of him. "What the heck. Erin, you hang in there, alright? We'll make it through this GODDAMNED BULLSHIT!" The two last words were uttered at a driver that was honking right behind them.

Miles was surprised to find that Erin had actually leaned into his hug. He couldn't help it. He was so typically hard, but now just seeing her do that small gesture made him melt a little bit inside. He was, if not extremely, happy that he was able to have the chance to hold her like this, even if it was only temporary. He needed this right now too. He had so much running through his mind and this was just the right distraction from it all. His hand made its way to the back of her head, and he gently held it as she cried on his chest, letting all her sadness about the loss of her mother and the possibly fragile state her father was in just flow in all the warm tears and all the painful sobs that sent pangs and pangs of pain and anxiety and worry for the girl. Pulling her in closer, he tried his best not for the moment to seem too awkward. She needed this now. He needed this now.

"Oh, come on, would you believe these sons o' guns? I mean, come on, MOVE IT GODDAMNIT. WE HAVEN'T GOT ALL DAY," Fred yelled out the window of his pick-up. "I'm sorry, Rinny, Artie, it's takin' too long."
Before long, however, he noticed the two cuddling in the back seat and, as discreetly as possible, went back to his yelling. This is greaaat, he thought to himself while yelling. All they need are a couple more nudges. Not that I'm not worried about Mr and Mrs H. Oh, man, what am I thinking? We're here to see if Mr H's alive, goddamnit. Frederick McCalister, sometimes ya just a big prick.
"Erin, it's fine, just let it out," Miles said gently to Erin in, surprisingly, a calm tone of voice. "You're gonna see your... Your dad again."

He hesitated at the word 'dad', primarily because he hadn't much of a father. He wished that he was her sometimes, having a family that cared, but he shrugged it off to try and get her back into whatever spirits she had previous, even if it was just a little bit.

"It's fine," he said to her with a soft smile, holding her back to him. Right now, he was just floating on air. A blush spread right across his cheeks just in the nick of time, and he found it hard to maintain eye contact with her. She was just beautiful to him, but his gaze flickered to so many different places in the car, even the ones he'd gone through a million times. "Y-you just... Uhm... Yeah... Just hold on, relax and... E-everything's gonna be okay, now."

"FINALLY. Dumbasses decided to move," Fred said with a mix of relief and anger as the traffic finally eased.

"Not long, Rin, not long," Fred reassured as they were starting to drive smoothly.

The whole drive was spent silent. Fred was still driving and fussing about people who were slowing them down, and Miles still held Erin close to him. It became so natural to just hold her like this, even if he thought that it'd be wrong just to do so. She could never like him. No, she just needed a hug now. He'd guess that she'd be the same old Erin when they got back to school. She'd probably hate him all over again. That he couldn't exactly bear with, but it was reality and he had to stare it in the face yet again. Pretty soon enough, they'd reached the State General Hospital, and Miles helped the poor girl out, still in shock and could possibly just land on her face if she got out of the car. Up front, they saw a doctor, who apparently recognized Erin.

"E-Erin?" Miles worriedly said as Erin collapsed into the chair. He'd never seen her this devastated about something. What he'd usually see is her crying in the hallway when the cheerleaders and the other popular girls would pick on her and when a certain guy on his team would try to take advantage of her. That was heartbreaking, this was worse. He held onto her hand as best as much as he could. She needed it so much, and he wouldn't bother taking that away from her.

"Erin, it's okay," he said slowly to her. "Your dad's gonna be fine. I'm pretty sure he's in stable condition."

Dr Murphy, calling Dr Murphy, please proceed to Station 3.

"He'll make it. That much I can assure you," Miles said, collecting her in another hug while Fred stood there smiling suspiciously at him.

A blonde woman, who seemed to be a doctor in the hospital, approached the two with a face just dead, but filled with emotion at the same time.
"Miles Durand, shouldn't you be at soccer practice?" she said with an eye raised. "And Jane? Where is she?"
"Relax, ma, she's home with Stuart," he said in an exasperated tone. "Why the heck would I leave Jane alone at school?"
"Precisely. Now, go back to practice or I will personally kick your ass," she said.
"Erhm, Miss Murphy, we're here to accompany a friend of ours. You see, her dad's been in a plane crash. Ya know, the one at sea. Yeah. She needs us now. Not to sound rude," Fred said with respect, but with a hint of mischievousness behind it too.
"Whatever. Just get it over with," she said, ruffling her son's hair.