Chapter 16 Heat in the Hallway
I remind him of someone he lost? Sarah? Was that who he lost? I had so many questions about that, but I held my tongue. Now wasn’t the time. The nurse was busy, so I decided to go to the bathroom and check out the damage myself. Cindy came into the bathroom and gave me a look like she wanted to talk, so I let her in. Ezra sat in one chair near the bathroom looking like he would rather be anywhere else. I helped myself to an ice pack and some bandages. Like I told Mr. Griffen, this wasn't my first black eye, probably not even close to the worse one I had.
I think the worse one I had, I made a mistake and got beaten up by the gang my parents ordered me to follow. I ended up losing consciousness, and they were gone by the time I came to. When I went home I told my mom and dad how I failed the mission and couldn’t find those people. They made sure to punch me in all the places I had marks from them to really drive home the point of my failure. I made sure I never made a mistake like that again. I shivered at the memory. Cindy looked at me worry lining her face.
“It is nothing, just an old memory,” I explained.
“Were you telling Mr. Griffin the truth when you said this isn’t your first black eye?” Cindy asked, looking a little upset.
“It is the truth. I have had more black eyes and other injuries than I can count.” I told her, sounding defeated.
“Is that why you live alone?” Cindy whispered.
“Yeah.” I whispered back.
It felt good to tell someone, but also my heart ached at hearing the truth out loud. We stood in the bathroom in silence for a moment then I removed my hand and slowly opened my eye that was punched. When I saw my reflection, my blood ran cold. I lost my contact in that eye. Cindy went to say something, but I slammed my hand over her mouth, shaking my head and putting a finger over my lips to shush her.
“Is everything okay?” Ezra called out.
“Yeahhh... I just didn’t expect her eye to look like that.” Cindy called out. A thank you was mouthed, and an explanation will follow in private. The eye was quickly bandaged. I was so thankful for Cindy. I don’t know what I’d do without her right now. We walk out of the bathroom. I needed to get to my apt to see if I could get a replacement contact.
“Thanks for coming with me,” I said to Cindy as we walked out of the bathroom.
“Do you think Bartise can drive me to my place and back real quick?” I asked Cindy. Cindy went to answer but Ezra cut her off.
“I’ll drive you, I have permission. He does not.” As much as I don’t like it, I don’t have time to argue. Cindy gave me a look. I gave her a nod.
“It will be fine, but if I’m not back by free period, call someone.” I gave her a nudge like I was joking, hopefully she knew I was serious.
Even though I know he knows where I live, I pretended like I didn’t. As soon as we got in his car I told him my address and explained where it was. He didn’t question me or ask questions on the drive to my place. When he pulled up he grabbed me by the arm and looked at me.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” His words sounded like he cared but his tone said otherwise.
“Yea. Can you let go? It will only be a minute.” I asked, pulling my arm free.
“Fine, but I’m coming with you.” He said as he followed me to the door.
“What??? Why.” I asked baffled
“I want to make sure you're not getting a weapon or something like that to go and kill someone,” he gave me a wink at my wide-mouth expression, then proceeded to gesture for me to go ahead.
Like what the hell? I am not going to go shoot up the school or something equally crazy like that, just because I got punched. Such a thing would never be done by me. I would never make others suffer on purpose because I was in pain. It was not in my DNA. It was not who I was. Yeah, I might have hurt my parents feelings when I ran away and faked my death, but it was the easiest and less painful way for me to live a life I wanted to, and not be in their shadows. It was not like they showed me much love anyways. For the most part I was a tool made to be used. The only person who seemed to care for me and love me was my Nanny Elizabeth. My heart hurt to think about that.
“What is wrong? Why did you just stop walking?” Ezra called out from behind me. He was so close he could touch me without reaching out, but didn’t touch me.
“I would never do such a thing.” I told him as I shook out the memories of all the ways Elizabeth was the only one who showed me kindness when all my parents did was beat me and use me for the greater good.
Whatever that was.
“I know,” Ezra whispered, “I just love the look on your face when you are flustered, it is beautiful.”
I turned around to meet his gaze. When I did he grabbed me by the face kissing me. It was rough and demanding, but also had a tenderness about it. Slowly he moved me so my back was along the wall of the hallway. It was hot and passionate. In between kisses he grumbled out a “sorry, want me to stop” I didn’t think about it. I opened my eyes halfway and just proceeded to wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him even closer to me. He groaned in agreement and proceeded to deepen the kiss. My mouth parted at his tongue demand to enter my mouth. I let him. It felt like forever, even though I'm sure only a few minutes passed, and I enjoyed it. I never thought kissing would feel so wonderful.
“Excuse me, this is a hallway. Not a bedroom.” An old voice crooned.
“Omg Sorry!” I hung my head in embarrassment and headed towards my door. I could hear Ezra close behind, trying his best to hide his chuckle. The bastard.
We got inside my place. Again, I felt a little self conscious.
“Have a seat on the couch. I will only be a minute. If you want water? There are some in the fridge, I think.” I ramble on as I head into the bathroom.
I grab some eyedrops and the spare colored contacts I keep hidden. I grab one out and let it soak in the solution from the eye drops in the contacts container. Taking a deep breath, I peeled the bandages from my eye. This was going to hurt a lot. I put some eye drops in my eye. It burned so badly. I let out a hiss of pain. Fuck, that sucked.
It was only going to hurt worse when I put in the colored contact. I took a few more breaths. I braced myself for the pain. As gently and quickly as possible, I put in the eye drop. It was one of the worst kinds of pain I have felt in a very long time. held in my scream of pain. There was a knocking sound at the door. I couldn’t focus on what the voice on the other side of the door was saying. All I could do was breathe until the pain subsided. What felt like an eternity later, the door busted open, and I was being picked up. Strong hands gripped my face and lifted my face up. I couldn’t think or focus on the words. I just kept breathing, praying the pain would go away soon.