Simple Games

CHAPTER 16

I woke up slowly with the sun in my eyes. I looked over a bit and saw that I was in a moving car. I slowly moved my head to the other side seeing it was Ian. My head hurt with every move and I felt weak. I'd never been beaten up before.

We got to my house and I heard Ian whisper.

"Hey."

His voice was soft. He must have known I had a shit day. I tried my best to get up but Ian kept me down.

"Don't try to get up. You got beat up pretty badly. Just relax, I'll take you inside. Where's your key?"

Key? Key, key, key... Oh my house key.

"Front... pocket..."

I closed my eyes feeling dizzy. I just wanted to sleep. My head was killing me.

I felt light and I opened my eyes to see Ian holding me in his arms. My front door was open and Ian was carrying me in. I leaned into his hold and took a deep breath. I couldn't control the thoughts running in my head at the moment. I felt tears start to fall and I tightened my grip on him.

"Zach..."

It took me a while to realize I said it out loud. I felt terrible. In the end, this was my fault. At this moment I knew everything.

I liked Zach. Love, maybe. But I couldn't figure that out and I probably would never be able to anymore. I had driven him away. And what for? Because I was scared of what was to come? It doesn't matter now because it's happened anyway. Life wasn't going to be easy anymore.

As we got to my house Ian slowly set me down on my couch. I groaned at hissed in pain. My side hurt. I'm sure I had a bruise there. And my left leg hurt more than usual.

"Hey where's your first aid? Or just any of your medicine and whatnot."

"Bathroom..."

I groaned again and hugged my side that hurt. I moved a bit on the couch and tried to get comfortable. Not long later Ian came back around and handed me a cup of water along with some aspirin. I slowly took the medicine and sat up a bit wincing. I looked over and saw he had some gauze and whatnot. I slowly put a hand up to my nose and saw some blood on my hand as I pulled it away.

"Damn," was all I said. By now I was getting more conscious and I stretched a bit only to immediately wince and cry in pain. Ian laughed a little and poured a bit of something on a washcloth.

"Stay still this is gonna hurt a bit."

He slowly put the washcloth to my cheek and I winced at the sting it brought. He looked directly at what I assume was a cut he was treating. His eyes looked so soft as he tended to my wounds and I felt my heart speed up a bit as he did.

"How are you so good at this?"

He scoffed. "What? taking care of cuts and bruises?"

I smiled a little. "Yeah."

"Believe it or not I used to get in a lot of fights."

I looked at him confused. He was still focusing on my injuries to not notice me staring.

"I picked fights a lot as a freshman. I ended up learning how to clean up after them. Took a while for me to get my shit straight."

I thought back to what it might have been like for him. Ian didn't join the club until late in the school year last year. I didn't know anything about him until he joined. I wouldn't have ever guessed he picked fights though.

After a while I was bandaged where I had cuts and had ointment on my bruises. We were sitting on my couch together. Ian had an arm around my shoulder and I leaned into his hold. He smelled like his jacket. It had a nice smell. Musty and a hint of chocolate maybe. Dark chocolate.