What the *** is a kilometer?

~6~

POV Lizzy:

After the plane lands, I say goodbye to Alex and Logan. "Promise you'll text me if anything happens, I'll come get you right away." He whispers in my ear as I hug him. When I let go of him I grab my suitcase and walk to the taxi, the courage I had when I woke up this morning is nowhere to be found, the thought of having to be back in a house with Dominic gives me a terrible feeling. Luckily I had managed to hide the dark spot under my eye with my make-up, I didn't want Alex to see it and get involved in it. All the way home I hold my cell phone in my hands, I keep looking at it as if I already know that the conversation with Dominic will be hard later, I expect him to be pissed that I left him alone, but what else was I supposed to do, I've had enough of being his bitch all the time. "Long trip?" I nod. "On the road for work, so not a lot of rest." I smile a little uncomfortably. We talk about my trip, and for a moment I forget about how nervous I am to be coming home.

My legs feel heavy as I make my way to the front door, turn the key in the lock, and open the door gently. I leave my suitcase in the hall, as I always do when I come home, and tiptoe into the living room. "Lizzy." Dominic looks at me with eyes that almost shoot fire. "Dominic." I try to keep my composure as I feel my heart pounding in my throat. "I'm sorry, okay." I'm surprised by his comment, but I don't think much of it. I look at him with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry? You're sorry!" I go to the kitchen and grab a piece of paper, which I wet and then run over the foundation under my eye. "Look what you did!" "I didn't hit you that hard." "Look at me Dominic, look what you did!!!" He looks at me and I see the horror in his eyes. "Your eye is all blue and swollen." He approaches me and I take a few steps back in fear. "Stay away from me." My breathing is erratic and my hands start to shake, I want to cry but try to swallow the tears. "How can I ever make this right?" "Maybe you can work on your jealous behavior for once, put your self-pity aside and start making something of your life instead of always interfering with mine, after all I'm doing nothing wrong!" "Nothing?" "Then what am I doing wrong?" "Shall we talk about Logan again?" "Sure, what about him?" Dominic sighs. "You think I'm blind, you think I don't see how you look at each other all the time, how you look at him and how you laugh a little too hard at his jokes that aren't funny at all?" "At least he still tries his best to make me laugh, I can't say that about you." He comes closer to me and I'm pressed up against the fridge, he grabs my wrists and looks at me angrily. "If I had ever known that you were so physical when you were angry or jealous, I would have dumped you a long time ago." The words seem to hit him and he lets go of me immediately. "Sorry." That's all he says and he leaves the room. I try to regain control of my breathing and decide it would be better if I went outside for a while.

POV Alex:

Logan told me all about Lizzy and her boyfriend on the way home when she fell asleep on the plane. "Really? That's not right, you know, she shouldn't stay with him anymore, you shouldn't hit your girlfriend!" Logan gestures to me that I shouldn't talk so loud. "And now? What can we do to help her?" "I promised her I'd show her she deserves better, I can't stand to see her with that boy." I study Logan's posture and smile at him. "Not your type, right?" I see him looking away and he doesn't seem to be able to give himself an attitude. "No, but you can't treat someone like that anyway, she'll be traumatized by it." I nod, knowing that he's right on one level, but I can also see that maybe he likes her more than he dares to say, the last few weeks we've been working together they've been hanging out a lot and I've seen them laughing a lot, especially on the days when her boyfriend wasn't around. "Do what you need to do if you think it will help her." He nods, and before we can continue our conversation, Lizzy wakes up, and I watch as he immediately checks to see if she is okay.

At home I tell Lily about the weekend and she looks at me in amazement. "That can't be, imagine if you treated me like that! Alex, you have to help her, this is not good for the girl!" Lily clearly feels sorry for her, but I'm not sure what I can do to help. "I'll let Logan know that we want to help her too, he talks to her the most." Lily nods and I give her a hug to calm her down a bit. bit. 

POV Logan:

I am lying on the couch and have almost fallen asleep when I am startled by the sound of my cell phone, I sigh and get up to take it off the charger, after this weekend I don't really feel like doing anything with anyone for a while. My thoughts stay with Lizzy, the solution to her problem is so simple in my eyes, but I understand very well that she doesn't dare after what happened on Sunday. I arrive in the kitchen too late to answer. I see that I have some missed messages and I open my whatsapp, all the messages are from Lizzy and she asks me to please answer. I call her back and she sounds panicked, I ask her where she is and she says she is walking down the street somewhere and has no idea where she is going, I ask her if she will share her location with me so I can see where she is. "There's a cafe nearby. Can you go there? Then I'll come to you." I quickly put on my shoes and stay on the phone with her until I am sure she is safe.

An hour later, I arrive at the café where Lizzy is. I come running in, my cheeks flushed, I rushed to get here as soon as possible. When I get in I look around and find her hiding somewhere in the back corner. I go up to her and see that she has been crying, I sit down next to her on the bench and put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her a little closer to me. "Are you okay? What happened?" She starts to sob quietly and tells me what happened. "Liz, can't you stay with your parents or friends for a while until you figure out what you want?" "The house is in my name Logan, if anyone should leave it should be him, I think it would be best for both of us if we don't see each other for a while, who knows what will happen after that." I notice that she is trying to hold on to a 'what if' again. I don't want to interfere anymore, but it's hard not to say something. "Liz?" She looks at me and I wipe the tears from her face. "You shouldn't hold on to all this stuff. If you want to move on with your life you really need to take other steps, I know I might say things now that you don't want to hear, but if he continues to act so physically it's going to end badly one day." She rests her head on my shoulder. "I know you're right, but I'm finding it very hard to take that step." I try to calm her down a bit and give her some extra courage, I won't be able to take her in today, my apartment is still far from finished after my move, I'm lucky that my bedroom and living room were finished before I moved in, otherwise if I had an extra room I would have taken her in with all my love, but it's what she says herself, the house they live in is in her name, he should be the one who has to leave for a while.

I took her to the bus and she would try to talk to Dominic again. She would let me know tomorrow. I walk back to my own bus stop and wait for the bus, my thoughts even busier than before this day. I don't really understand my own feelings either, my body is screaming to be near her, but I know I'm doing something wrong, especially if she's still with Dominic, so I don't try anything before I get into more trouble. I try to clear my mind and think about the upcoming race weekend and how I can do better there.