The Smell of Paint

43.

Trigger: mentions of  self harm, fighting, blood, and hurtful names towards non-binary people.
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Genevieve gets in her car. She looks down to see her bloody knuckles holding on the steering wheel. Her stomach starts to turn seeing the blood drip on her pants.

She drives it of the parking lot and to Christen's house. Genevieve is going to be 2 hours early since she couldn't attend practice.

Genevieve drives down the street that looks very familiar. During the drive she goes in and out of her thoughts. She can't get the image of Miranda's bloody face out her head. Genevieve doesn't like to get angry. She feels herself losing control when she does get angry.

She always tells herself that she will never fight someone unless it is life or death.

But Miranda pushed it to far. Miranda calling Simone that name made Genevieve lose her control.

She can feel a little part of her needing to claw at herself. But she can't lose herself into the want. She thinks of Christen and replays his lovely words in her head. She can feel her hands relax their grip from thinking about him.

Genevieve drives through the gate after saying her name. She takes few deep breaths before she parks her car next to Christen's.

She gets out and uses her key to his house and walks in.

The house is quiet. No sound is echoing through the house. Genevieve puts her bag down next to the front door.

Genevieve makes her way under the grand twin stairwells and walks to Christen's office. Since the man is always in there. She didn't tell Christen what happened, and the fact that she is going to be here early.

She decides to knock instead scaring the shit out of him by walking in unannounced.

She knocks on the wood door, she can hear shuffling coming from the inside. She reaches for the door knob but the knob is taking away from her. Christen opens the door.

He looks down confused to see Genevieve. But is taken away when he looks at her hand that is in the air. His eyes look straight at her bloody knuckles. He looks back up to her with worry and angry.

He grabs Genevieve's hand to exam it.

"Genevieve, who the fuck hurt yo-"

Christen looks at Genevieve's face to see that there is no scratches or blood. He also sees that Genevieve isn't making eye contact with him.

"Who did you hurt?"

Genevieve doesn't answer. She can't. She feels if she does he will be ashamed of her.

Christen sees a tear run down the side of her face. He knows that Genevieve won't hurt another if they didn't hurt her first.

He wraps his arms around her thighs and picks her up. Genevieve doesn't fight. She leans into his touch. She wraps her arms around his neck—crying softly.

"Shh, baby it's okay. I'm here."

Hearing Christen's voice warms her heart. She grabs onto him tighter, not wanting to ever let go.

Christen walks into the kitchen and places her on the counter. She doesn't look up to him, she only wipes away her tears.

Christen turns to look for his first aid kit to clean up her wounds.

He places the kit next to Genevieve and tends to her knuckles. He doesn't ask her anything— giving her time to find the words to explain what happened. But he will get a explanation out of her.