I Broke The Girl I Loved

Thank You

"Aydrian?" I questioned. Confusion clearly evident on my face.

She stepped inside, walked past me and started staring at the floor and pacing in my living room. I closed the door.

"Aydrian?" I asked again. "Are you okay?" I knew nothing about this girl and she knew nothing about me yet here she was standing in my living room.

"Jayce I just came to say thank you," she looked up but her eyes landed on my knuckles. "Oh no, you're hurt," she said as she took my hands in hers and observed my bruises.

"It's nothing really, I'm fine. Who was that guy? And wait, how did you know where I lived?" I asked hoping to get an answer. She just showed up at my door after I beat up some possessive guy who wouldn't let her go; I was more than confused.

"He's my boyfriend. Well ex boyfriend now, Jake," she told me. "Um and I might have followed you home."

She went quiet and I didn't know what to do. Clearly she just broke up with her boyfriend and even though he might have been toxic it's still gotta hurt. I moved over to her side to give her a comforting hug and as soon as I touched her she flinched.

As I backed away I realized something "No. Please don't tell me this guy hurt you."

My mothers' new husband Michael abuses her so I've seen first hand the kinds of things people are capable of. Aydrian stared blankly at the floor and didn't respond.

I ran a hand through my hair. "Okay look, you don't have to tell me, I get that stuff is personal I respect that. I just- you know what, never mind. It's almost midnight why don't I give you a ride home?"

"Um, I was actually wondering if I could stay?" She said in a questioning tone. Her eyes were still fixated on the ground beneath her feet.

I was speechless. "I- um," I stuttered.

She looked so vulnerable standing in my living room; staring at the floor, fiddling with her hands.

"Sure," was the only thing that came out of my mouth before the oven beeped. She jumped.

"It's fine, it's just the oven. I'll turn it off," I said, rushing to turn the oven off.

I pulled the pizzas out and put them on a cutting board. Then I grabbed a bag of chips and a bottle of water before walking with the food to the couch.

"Here, sit," I told her. She sat down and started fiddling with her thumbs again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

Of course, no response. Only silence.

"Okay, we don't have to talk about it. We'll just watch something instead. You choose." I handed her the remote and she stopped fiddling with her fingers to take it.

At first she only scrolled through whatever popped up on Netflix but then she clicked out of Netflix and on to VUDU where she typed in Titanic.

"Can I rent it?" She asked looking over at me. "I'll pay you back."

"You can rent it. You don't have to pay me back, it's fine," I said and she rented it.

I sat at the opposite end of the couch as her and put the food between us. I grabbed a slice of the pepperoni olive pizza and bit into it. At first she didn't eat anything. She just blankly stared at the movie. I watched her as she slowly shifted her gaze to the pizza. She looked reluctant to grab some so I pushed the cutting board towards her. That caused her to pick up a piece of the one with pickles. She took a massive bite and I could've sworn that she smiled.