Welcome to the Neighbourhood

Chapter 4

Slight warning for blood/bleeding injury - character lands on glass (injury is mostly minor)

A few days later Dylan was thinking about Bucky again as she ambled home from running a few errands in Manhattan. The fact he had recognised her distress and given her the sweater unprompted during the fire alarm, and then finding out he was reading her book, had put her in a bit of a tailspin.

Maybe he wasn't such a jerk after all?

But he had still been a jerk. Making little jibes at her expense, watching her with what could only be described as thinly veiled contempt. What did he stare at her like that? What did it mean? He felt like a fever, simultaneously hot and cold – impossible to predict, and giving her constant whiplash.

Did she like him?

No. no. Definitely not. She didn't like anyone in that way, let alone him.

Her head blurred with confusion as she rounded the corner of her street, distracted and trapped in her own thoughts as she battled with her conflicting feelings. She was only half paying attention to the slightly rowdy group of men speeding down the street towards her, slightly inebriated and swaying, singing some sort of sports chant. It wasn't until one of them slipped and lost his footing that she really noticed them – just as the man skidded across the sidewalk and slammed into her as they passed, knocking her flying. She stumbled over the kerb, landing in a heap at the edge of the road. There was a quiet crunch sound as she made contact with the tarmac.

"Oops – my bad, sorry there honey!" cried out the man as the group went by, chuckling at the scene. "Man down!" another yelled mockingly.

"Asshole!!" Dylan screamed furiously after them as they disappeared around the corner. They didn't even flinch.

Dylan suddenly realised she was in a large amount of pain. A few kind onlookers came over to help her to her feet but she waved them away, mortified, insisting she was fine as she stood up. It was then she realised she was bleeding...badly. She discovered her left knee had collided with a discarded beer bottle as she fell, smashing into little pieces and becoming embedded in her skin.

"Fuck" she winced. The wound was throbbing with pain. It looked nasty.

She knew there was a hospital not far from here she could hail a cab to get to...only to remember that actually no, she couldn't.

She'd taken out a new health insurance policy recently which didn't kick in until the middle of next week. She'd also cancelled her old one so she didn't have to pay two premiums at once, meaning she was left without cover for a few days in-between. At the time she'd lazily assumed she'd be fine, as it was only a few days. Of course this had to happen now. Ironically the new policy was far more comprehensive and decent than her previous one, she had even opted to pay more to ensure everything was covered. Something she could do because of her book advance money. 'God, you idiot' she cursed herself.

She could go to the hospital and pay upfront, but that would eat into a huge chunk of her savings and might mean having to work again while she wrote. No. She couldn't do that again. Nothing created a creative vacuum like coming home from a twelve hour shift and firing up your computer.

No hospital then. She would have to do it herself. It was just a cut, it would be fine. She was right outside her home. She could do this.

Dylan limped into the building lobby as the blood slowly dripped down her leg. She grimaced at the sting as she exhaled carefully, concentrating on not bending her knee any more than she needed to. You just need to get up the stairs, she told herself. Then she could clean the wound, remove the glass and wrap it up and everything would be fine. She felt a bit queasy looking at the blood, wondering just how deep the shards were. But she swallowed those thoughts down as she delicately stepped up the first stair.