𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨

Act 16

"Where does it hurt?" Dice said, dabbing a hot wet cloth on my legs.

"Near the bottom. I think it hit pretty hard," I shakily respond.

"You have got to stop getting up. You'll stay in this bed from now on. You're getting hurt too much," he demands.

"I've never not been able to walk before. This is gonna be terrible," I state, shuddering at every brush of the cloth on my bruises.

"It won't be so hard. You have me to take care of you. Also, we need to replace those bandages on your face," he glances up at me.

"Ugh, it hurts when we do that," I sigh.

"I know, but it needs to be able to heal, so you won't have to wear them at all. Chip is gonna kill me before you even have time to heal," he sassed, then laid the whole cloth over the bruise.

I shook a little at the initial hit of it. Everything was so cold and it just felt worse to have heat on only one part of my body. My stomach turned a bit. Dice left and came back with the roll of bandages. Without warning, he started to peel away the bloody rags on my face. All my thoughts blurred together while he was doing this. To take the pain away, I started to speak my mind.

"What makes you like Agulara so much?" 

"I don't. She's a bitch."

"But you were still having sex with her?"

"I've had sex with a lot of people before who were bitches and I didn't like them." 

"But we were together. I slept with you in that time period,"

"Yeah. I know. That's what makes it so bad. And that's what I wish I could take back,"

"You wish you could take back sleeping with me?"

"No, that's not what I meant. Like, I wanna take back my time with Agulara."

"If you have to say it twice you don't mean it."

"Darling, I'm just upset about it. You know I have a hard time admitting I'm wrong."

"But you told me you loved me. I just don't see how someone who says that can do that."

"I did it because she drew me back into it. I didn't go up to her. She kept flirting with me. She made me cave in." 

"I guess you couldn't stay strong for me then. Some fiancé you are," 

"Look, it's not as easy as you think. She's captivating."

"And I'm not? Am I not everything you ever wanted?"

"You are. No questions asked."

"Then why did I have to find out about your abusive ex by losing my pretty face?"

"You always will have a pretty face. There's no doubt about that."

"That's not the point. Why didn't I know anything about her other than she broke up with you right before we got together?"

"Because I couldn't put that pressure on you. Chips is enough for you to handle."

"I'm fine. I need to know what is going on with you though."

"I'm definitely not fine. The love of my life is hurt."

The new bandages were now on. They were tighter than before, and made my face feel better. Dice kept his hand on my face for a while after he fixed the band-aids. We just looked into each other's eyes in silence. His eyes glistened with tears. I'm pretty sure mine were too, but I was too focused on him to care. I honestly felt like I did wrong. Why did I trust someone again? Dice started crying. I contemplated whether or not I just spoke that aloud. 

"Baby, you're crying,"

"Well, I guess I am. I'm so sorry. I guess I just always find a way to fuck things up, don't I?"

"You know, I would say otherwise but I just found out you were cheating on me, so what do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. I was just speaking my mind. I'm sorry."

"Did you even love me during all that? Was I just a pastime?"

"Century I love you with all my heart and it hurts me for you to even think that I don't."

"Could you just please tell me when you plan on cheating on me?"

"I-"

"You know what? You can keep this ring you gave me. I can't keep getting some bullshit answer out of you."

I throw the gold band onto the sheets. He rushes to catch it and clasps it in his hands.

"This isn't like you. You need rest."

"I didn't think cheating was like you either, but you proved me wrong."

"She forced me into it, ok? Is that what you wanted to hear? That I was just so weak that I let her push me around? She told me she would make sure you were dead if I didn't get with her. She threatened me into touching her. I didn't want to."

"How do I know you aren't lying?"

He unbuttoned his shirt to reveal claw marks all over his chest. 

"This is when I tried to stand up for myself. That's why I couldn't stop."

"Wh-why didn't you tell someone? I would've helped. We could've fixed this."

"I didn't want to be weak."

"Baby, you're always weak when your around me. It's ok to be vulnerable. Do you want me to tell someone else for you? Like my brother or something?"

"Oh no no no. No one can ever know. No one would have respect for me anymore."

"If that's what you want, that's fine with me. But I need to go backstage with you. I need to protect you."

"But you need rest."

"I'm probably going to die any ways. Pieces of my face are on the floor. I could at least try."

"Fine. But, you have to preform too. They won't let you back there without an act."

"Whatever I have to do I'll do it."

My stomach growled hard. I reached for the glass of water by my bed.

"Ooo, I know, I'll go get some soup from the kitchen. Be right back. I'll send Chips in here to come watch you."

He swiftly threw on his coat and walked out the door. A couple of minutes later Chip came in, smoking. He was obviously pissed at me before I said any words. 

"Hey Chip, how are you?" I cough.

The smoke was too much for my weak lungs to handle. I didn't say anything though. I wanted to keep him happy. 

"Fine," he mumbled.

"That's all you have to say to me?"

"Yup."

"Chip I'm about to die"

"Then go to hell already,"

"Jesus, what did I do to you?"

"You're trusting him to take care of you,"

"And? What does that have to do with me being hurt,"

"Century you're so stupid. He just wants to get back with her."

I cough really badly.

"Chip, can you please put out that cigarette? You aren't supposed to be smoking them anyways," 

"Nope, I don't think I will,"

I got really lightheaded. I was gasping for air that wasn't there. My consciousness faded away.