Euphoria: Rue and Lexi

~8~

Lexi's POV

I can't believe this. I cant believe Rue just said that. That's all I've wanted; to make her feel happy.

I want to tell her everything. I want to tell her that when I wake up every morning, she's my first thought. I want to tell her about how worried I was when she disappeared. I want to tell her about how I wished I was Jules, dancing with her at prom, I want to tell her about how my heart does little flips when she smiles, and how it breaks into a million pieces when she cries. I want to tell her that I love her.

I kiss her before she can say anything else. She grabs my face and kisses me back. We stay like this for a moment, until I pull away. 

"I love you," I say.

"I love you too," Rue says before she kisses me again.

Then I snap out of my daydream.

"That wasn't weird that I said that, was it?" she asks, looking embarrassed. 

"Not at all," I smile as I say this.

We just look at each other for a minute.

"I'm glad you came," I say.

Rue lifts her head and smiles.

"Thanks for not hating me," she says.

How could I ever hate her?

I pull her into a hug and she rests her chin on my shoulder.

"I could never hate you."

Rue left a little while later. I guess Cassie spent the night with one of her friends, because she never came back.

I brush my teeth, wash my face, and change and crawl into bed. I fell asleep and am dreaming about Rue and I in preschool together. 

I'm suddenly woken when my phone's ringer went off. I look at the clock on my bedside table and see that it's one in the morning. I see that I have a call from a random number. I hang up and try to fall back asleep. The phone rings again, the same number. I groan and finally answer.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Lexi?" Oh shit.

"Dad?!" I whisper-yell.

"Hey baby."

"What do you want?" I'm furious. The last time we heard from him was two years ago, when he stole from us.

"I was wondering if you could do me a favor-"

"Forget it. I know what you made Cassie do, last time you called."

"Lexi-" he sounds drunk and angry. "I'm outside the house and I just need you to open the garage door. I just need to grab some things of mine."

"Dad! We aren't children anymore! I'm not going to fall for that," I say as I look out the window.

And sure enough, there he was. He's standing next to his car and is obviously very frustrated. He hits the roof of his car with his fist.

"Lexi! Open the fucking door!" I flinch.

Before he can say anything else, I hang up and throw my phone on the bed. I still watch him through the window.

He kicks his car repeatedly before looking up at the window where I'm standing. He looks at me with so much hatred, I hardly even recognize him. He bends down and picks something up.

The next thing I know, I scream as the window is shattered and I feel a sharp pain on my cheek.

I look down and see a rock on the floor. He threw a fucking rock through the window! I look back up, but him and his car are already gone.

I start to hyperventilate. How could he do that?

I go to the bathroom and look in the mirror. There is already a purple bruise on my cheek bone and a little blood.

I touch it but immediately shriek and pull back.

What am I going to tell mom? I can't tell her it was dad, she's got enough problems already.

So I call Cassie.

"Lexi?" she finally picks up.

I told her everything that just happened.

"Oh my god... I don't think you should tell mom," she said.

"Isn't she going to notice the window is broken??'

"Oh, well just say a kid was throwing a baseball and broke it."

"At one in the morning?"

"Just say it happened after school and you just noticed."

"Okay, but what about the bruise on my face?"

"Cover it up with makeup. Look in my makeup bag, and there is some green concealer that I use for hickies. You can use that." 

"Thanks Cass."