Im sitting alone in the cold apartment, replaying in my mind of what had happened just an hour ago. I take off my jacket and check to see if my arm has any bruises, which it does. I rush to the bathroom and attempt to cover up the purple circles on my arm with makeup. I cover most of the bruises, but not well enough. At least for noe it eill ne hidden from everyone.
"How was your day?" Peyton startles me, nearly giving me a heart attack. I think im just paranoid about getting hurt.
"It was alright. Did you guys find any houses you liked?" I smile towards Peyton and Carson. Carson oulls out papers from his pockets that the owners put out with information on them. He hands me a total of five papers, each one so beautiful. Only two has a yard, and that's what I want. I want acres of land for my kids to run around and play on and I won't have to worry about anything happening to them.
"Maybe later today we can go check out these two." I show them both the houses I like the most, and they agree with me. Carson runs off to do his own thing in the kitchen,
"Do you have any dirty laundry?" I ask. Peyton grabs a laundry basket that seems to be on the edge of breaking. He walks away from me and into his bedroom where all three of our dirty clothes lie. He picks each article of clothing up and tosses them into the basket. I watch him as he slowly cleans up the bedroom. He looks so happy to not be alone in this place anymore. As soon as he finishes, he turns and picks up the basket. He smirks towards me.
"I have some quarters in that jar over there." Peyton points at the small clear jar filled with change on the counter. I take off the lid and pour a handful of change into my hand, and I pick out all of the quarters. There's a total of 15 quarters, meaning we get about 3 loads of laundry. Luckily, since we are tenants in the apartment, we get to dry our laundry for free.
I shove the change into my pockets and I grab Carson. He fusses a little because he doesn't want to leave until I m ake a compromise with him; I have to buy him candy if he goes. I grab a little more change for the candy, then all three of us leaves to the laundry mat across the street. It appears to be alock on the door, meaning that we will need a key to get in. Probably for safety for us all. Peyton tells me not to panic because in the mail, the lanlord sent a key to allow us inside.
There's no one in here, meaning the place is silence, as usual. I don't think I ever see anyone else in here except late at night. Carson runs straight to the candy, so I follow him and hand him the loose change. I save the quarters for the washing machines. Peyton sorts out our clothes by hot and cold and pours the soap on top of our clothes. I shove the quarters in their designated places and push them in, allowing water to start pouring on top. We close the lids and then we sit down in the chairs and begin to talk.
"What happened to your arm?" Peyton points out at me. I look down at my arm to notice that the makeup has rubbed off onto my clothes. Damn it.
"Nathaniel had visited me at work today. He grabbed me and threw me on the floor. He threatened to take Carson away from me." I briefly explain to him. I can tell the anger he has inside of himself, but the sympathy for me because I got hurt. In all honesty, the bruises don't even hurt, so it's not a big deal. I just need to keep that little boy safe.
"I'm going to kill him, Dakota." Peyton snarls. I grab him by both of his hands and shake my head. I rub his hands with my thumbs, hoping that it feels good to him. I agree that I want to hurt NAthaniel, but killing him is too excessive. I can't hurt him in the way that he's hurt me. I just can't.
"I'm okay, really." I inform him. He moves one of his hands out from mine and places it on my cheek. He moves my hface so that I'm staring him in his eyes. They're glisening under the light, shinning bright like the stars at night.
"You may be okay right now, but one day you might not so lucky." My heart nearly stops as he says that. It hurts hearing those words come out of Peyton's mouth. Especially since he's the person who makes me feel safe and away from danger.
"I'm aware." I choke out. All of a sudden I hear something hard fall to the floor. I look out at Carson who's crying because he dropped his candy. I know he must be getting tired because he normally doesn't cry like this or cranky. I walk over to him and sit down beside him. He stops crying and hugs me. I smile down at him, and he smiles back.
"get this cleaned up and I'll take you back to the apartment, okay?" I tell him. He nods hi shead then starts picking up each piece of candy, one by one, I stand up and walk back over to Peyton who's kept his eyes on us. He gets up and out of the chair to stretch out his legs. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into a hug. I hug him backa nd enjoy every second. I'm still unsure about the whole dating situation I have with him. Are we a couple, or did we just go on a date and realize that being a couple is too much? I want to be his girlfriend, the one he possibly sees a future with and would pne day want to marry me, just like how I want to marry him. I want to come home everyday from work and hug him and kiss him hello, then make dinner and have pointless arguements over stupid stuff.
Maybe he doesn't feel like that about me, and I guess that is okay, because his happiness means everything to me. It means a lot more than my happiness. I know what it tastes like to be married, and maybe I just didn't have a good enough experience or something. Maybe I'm just not destined to be in love with someone.
"Kota?" Peyton whispers in my ear. I pull out fo the hug, but keep my arms wrapped around him.
"Yeah?" I look up and gaze into his eyes.
"I love you."
YOU ARE READING
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Teen Fiction"Hurry up Dakota!" Peyton banged his fists on my bedroom door. I quickly glanced up then back down at my bag again. I shoved my clothes in the bad and zipped it up. I slipped the step on my shoulder and ran to my door. Peyton was sweating from nervo...
