Neighbors at Night

6. Sage

"Hi?" 

It was Rafael, only he looked a bit different. 

He wasn't drunk, there wasn't blood all over his face, and I could actually see him. 

I glanced over his shoulder when I heard the sound of laughter, my eyebrows furrowing as I realized it was the group of guys. 

"Are you guys," I hesitated, "Friends?" 

He grinned as he looked at them for a brief second, "Yeah." (So he was Emma's Rafael.) He turned back towards me with a confused expression painted across his features, "Don't you know us?"

I shook my head. 

"But you," he paused for a long moment, "Remember me?"

I laughed just a little bit. "Kind of hard to forget about the guy who's blood is still currently in my carpet." Yeah, I still hadn't been able to get it out. 

I'd tried scrubbing it clean that same night, but it had left a small stain despite the fact that I didn't go to sleep until five in the morning. (Safe to say that I missed my appointment at the dealership.) I left it soaking in cleaning solution for a few hours the next day but it hardly seemed to do a thing. 

Yesterday evening I tried cleaning it one more time with the stuff I had at home, before deciding that I'd just need to go to the store today to pick up some Ammonia. 

Rafael visibly cringed, directing his attention to the floor as he took a small step backwards. "Mierda. I mean shit, I mean," I pressed my lips together to hide my smile, "Sorry. Sorry, that's what I meant." 

I shrugged, "I was the one that hit you so-." I closed my eyes, internally groaning when I realized I did not mean to say that out loud. 

I blinked my eyes back open at the sound of his laugh. "Did you go to the hospital? I can pay for the bill," sort of, "Or maybe I could treat you to a meal or something?" 

"I'd like that." 

"Really? Wait," I reconsidered my question, "Why are you talking to me?" His head shot back up and I watched as his eyes widened. "Do you want me to pay you back? I'm kind of tight on money right now but I can-." 

"No!" I flinched and he appeared to realize how loud he'd been. He cleared his throat, "No, of course not. I didn't even go to the hospital so there's not really anything for you to pay back."

I gasped, "You didn't go to the hospital? What if you have a concussion or internal bleeding or an infection or-."

Rafael suddenly placed his hands on my shoulders and I practically froze. "I'm completely fine. My mom's a nurse so she knows what to look for in stuff like that and so far I've had no symptoms." 

He let go of me then, "Lo siento. Sorry." 

But I instinctively stepped towards him to better examine the bandage underneath his hair. "Are you sure?" I frowned when I noticed the obvious dark red mark on the center of it, "It still looks like it's bleeding." 

"Totally."

"Okay." I met his eyes, "So then you're talking to me now because," I trailed off. 

We'd never talked before; at least from what I could remember and one would think that after getting hit by a glass bottle, they wouldn't necessarily want to see the person who threw it. 

It strangely seemed to have the opposite effect this time. 

His gaze jumped from my eyes to the ground, to my locker and whatever was behind me before he finally looked at me again. "Well," he hung on the word and I raised my eyebrows imploringly when he didn't continue. "We're neighbors now, right?"