little bird // r.keene

viii. the concussion.

"What's your name?" Wren asked, her voice steadier than it was before, the stranger noticed and yet he couldn't tear his eyes away from her bloodied face. He felt as if he should get her somehwere, get her inside and safe.

"Robby, Robby Keene. Who are you?" He answered, hands still in his pockets.

"I am one of the nicest assholes you will ever meet." She said in a sing-song voice and he laughed shaking his head.

"You don't seem like an asshole to me."

"That is because I am 80% sure I am concussed." She said, and groaned, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose as her head began to ache. Wren pressed her hand to the back of her head and felt a large bump from where she had fallen, "I'm not even sure if I'm joking anymore." Wren shook her head. "Oh fuck."

"You never told me your name," Robby said and Wren lifted her hand and began to wipe away a bit of the blood on her face and just ended up smudging it.

"I'm Wren Evans." And she held out a blood-stained hand, he shook it anyway.

"Are you sure you don't need to get to a hospital?" Robby asked as the pair began to walk down the street and towards the main road Wren with a slight limp, but she did her best to hide it.

"No, I'm fine, trust me."

"I don't trust you." He told her which made her throw him an offended look as they walked.

"Aww- come on Keene. Don't I have one of those faces that makes me automatically trustworthy?" He shook his head and Wren sighed.

"So where are you going? I'll walk you to make sure you get there." He avoided the question, not wanting to hurt her feeling but Wren didn't mind all that much, right now she was sure she looked like she had been hit by a train.

Wren thought about it, she could still show up at Eli's 20 minutes late, with a stranger and covered in blood. It was possible but it probably wasn't the best idea. She didn't want them to worry about her, despite being friends with the three boys for a few weeks now- none knew anything about her home life. That she lived by herself or ran a shop with Mr. James or her mum was always gone or her dad owed bad men bad money.

If she showed up at Eli's like she was now- Wren was going to get some difficult questions. She knew she had to tell them eventually, just not tonight.

Wren reached in her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone but the screen was completely shattered. It must have broken when she fell, or when they kicked her, or when she crashed into Robby. There was a multitude of possible causes for her damaged phone. "Fuck." She groaned.

"Do you have a phone I can borrow?" She asked since hers didn't function anymore. He handed her his and she gladly accepted it.

"Thanks," She said and began to type in Eli's number which she half-ish knew by memory and she was praying was right.

The three friends had been sitting playing video games when Eli's phone rang.

"Who is it?" Miguel asked and Demetri pressed pause and Eli looked down at the screen.

"Random number." He answered.

"Hang up, it's probably a prank caller," Demetri said but Eli answered anyway.

"Hello?" He answered and Miguel laughed at the fact Eli had ignored Demetri.

"Eli? Hi, it's Wren." She greeted him on the phone but she sounded oddly quiet to him.

"Hey Wren, you okay?" He asked and Demetri and Miguel listened in at the sound of her name. Curious as to where she was since she said she would arrive over 10 minutes ago.

"Yeah, no I'm good I just- I don't think I'm going to be able to swing by tonight." She said and Eli visibly drooped.

"Oh no, yeah that's cool. Don't worry about it." He answered and Miguel and Demetri could guess she had canceled.

"I'm really sorry but something came up."

"Are you okay?"

"Oh- yeah, no I'm fine. Don't worry about me, thanks Eli- say hi to the others for me." And she hung up abruptly. Eli lowered the phone with a slight sigh and Demetri looked over at his friend, his brows furrowed together at seeing Eli so deflated.

He'd known him since they were young and so knew all too well how few people Eli connects with and the worst thing was, Wren didn't even know how deeply Eli cared for her despite only knowing her for a few weeks.

"Did she say why?" Miguel asked.

"No, she said something came up."  Eli put his phone back on the bed and the friends continued to play, the empty seat between Miguel and Eli was noticeable but none of them thought about it too much.

They knew Wren could take of herself.