Fall for me

Chapter sixteen

It's been four days since my father hit me. I still shiver when the thought pops into my head, it always being unimaginable to me that he would ever do something like that. I did egg him on, I don't know what got into me yesterday... Normally I would never bring that kind of stuff up, especially with my dad. Stiles had me on cloud nine, thinking nothing could bring me down. When I was forced down in a thunderstorm, winds from every direction took me further down than the last, until I reached nothing; complete darkness. I told Stiles I could stay at Tristans but he said there was no way he was letting me out of his sight, I can't blame him... who knows what I would have done. That night I went from sobbing, not being able to breathe to hysterically laughing. I've put him through so much in our lifetime... I don't want to keep dragging him into all the baggage that comes with me. He's been around my family his entire life... but he's never seen the fullness of it. The fake smiles, the awkward dinners, my parents not being able to be in the same room as each other if no one else is around. The last couple years have gone to complete shit, I just didn't want him to know. I never want to add something else to the plate that's already full, sitting on his lap.
  He went not only through the loss of his beautiful, kind mother... but also his father. When Aunt Sophie died, Andrew died with her. I didn't notice it at first... right after her death, he just looked like a grieving spouse. He was heart broken, and didn't know what to do with himself or his seventeen year old son. He had to think about things he never had to think about before. Like how fast laundry piled up, how to cook at least twenty different meals, how to grocery shop for those meals, how to make his son... who is grieving his mother get out of bed. His entire world crashed down, and even though it wasn't a surprise when she passed... It still hurt like hell. What I couldn't see from my view of the outside... was that Andrews grief was turning into anger. Not at Sophie, but at Stiles. Anything Stiles did was wrong, the house wasn't clean, he hadn't done his homework yet, he was getting into trouble at school... and while with his friends after school. The littlest thing would set him off and Stiles knew that it didn't matter what he did. If he had everything picked up and cleaned, his homework was done, had dinner on the stove; his dad would come home and bitch that the trash wasn't taken out. He could never be perfect so he stopped trying, he was never home if he could help it.
  My sweet Stiles... he doesn't deserve anything life has thrown at him. I don't want to be something that he has to fix over and over again. I don't want to keep adding to his already full plate... I just want him to be able to love me. I can't — I won't be another thing that needs fixing in his life. My phone buzzes next to me and my entire body tenses, my father has been calling and texting me all day and night since he — since that day. Crazy thing is... I haven't got a single message or call from my mother. I wonder if he told her what he did... what I said... Stiles is still asleep next to me, so I quickly make my way to his bathroom making as little noise as possible. For the first time in four days I look at myself in the mirror. My hair is a knotted mess, sticking out every which way, my normally tanned skin is pale and dry. I finally make myself look toward the lower part of my face, and see that split in my lip. I'm convinced it'll never heal because, everytime I move my lips I feel it ripping back open. My eyes flicker toward my cheek but as soon as I see the purple and blue splattered along my face, they flick back to my eyes. Staring at my reflection...but I can't see anyone inside.
  A few minutes pass of this self staring contest and I finally force my head to the side. I have four finger prints spread from my jaw to my cheekbone, and a bigger bruise the size of a man's palm on the apple of my cheek. I feel anger course through my veins at the sight of it, my father did this to me. If nothing was going on... why did he hit me? What a low life piece of shit. There's no way my mother knows about what he did, she would be throwing the entire town upside down if she knew. Just as the thought leaves my head my phone vibrates on the counter causing way more noise than it should. I read the message that just came in... from Mom. "Hey sweetie. I know you guys are still in the honeymoon phase... but you guys do plan on coming back to school before graduation right? I've been getting calls all week from school, it's fine I told them you both caught the same thing, but BE THERE ON MONDAY!" The text reads, she follows up with a winking face. There's definitely no way she knows. I decided to read through the texts my dad has sent me. Most of them being 'call me, please.' or 'I'm so sorry' but a few catch my attention. "Erin, please don't tell mom. Please let me explain everything first, then you can tell whoever you want." I scoff, he really thinks I'm going to let him talk his way out of this? He really thinks I would be around him alone again? What a piece of shit.
  I hear a door close through the door leading to the hallway, I peek my head out the door leading back to Stiles' room and he's still peacefully sleeping in bed. He's so angelic sometimes, the way the sunlight is dragging through the semi open curtains like it's being drawn to him. His limbs cover the entire bed, with his feet dangling from the end of the bed. I have to remember to ask him how tall he is, because he's definitely got at least a foot on me. Which I guess is easy to do, considering I'm only four eleven... and three quarters. I'm standing there drooling over how amazing he looks, when the yelling begins. "Stiles! Out here now!" His father yells from what sounds to be the living room, with how close his voice sounds. Without skipping a beat Stile jolts out of bed, not putting anything on but sweatpants before running out his bedroom door. It reminds me of how a dog reacts when they know they've done something wrong and they're trying to be on their best behavior, so they don't get into more trouble. I linger in his room not wanting to put myself between the two, but absolutely will if I have to. "You have your girlfriend cooped in your room for days, not even cleaning up after yourselves! Who comes into someone else's house and doesn't clean up after themselves? I'm not even going to start with how rude it is to stay somewhere, not coming out of the same room for almost a week! Now Liv is getting calls all day about you two missing school! I've about had it with you!" Andrew yells. I can't take it anymore, I can't let him get in trouble for me. I know he would do it without a problem, or a single word as he's doing now... but I can't be that girl, I won't. I make my way down the long hallway that suddenly feels very short. I see Andrew and Stiles before they see me, and I can tell how angry he is from all the way across the room. I almost retreat, but I have to be strong. Stiles won't let anything happen to me, I know that for a fact. I drag my feet around the corner leaning all my weight onto the corner of the wall, still somewhat hiding incase I need to make a run for it. Neither of them have seen me yet when I speak. "I'm sorry Andrew." My voice comes out weaker than I thought it would or how it sounded in my head. His eyes and Stiles dart toward me, and I see the anger rise up through Andrew all over again. I try to start again "It's all my fau–" But Andrew cuts me off. "You fucking hit her!" He makes his way over to Stiles who's holding his hands up in defense. "That's why you haven't let her leave your room!?!" My voice is stuck in my throat and it feels like pins and needles are forcing themselves deeper and deeper everytime I try to make a sound. In two more strides Andrew closes the space between him and Stiles and he rounds his fist up bringing it back before I finally yell, "It wasn't him!" Andrew stops in his tracks and takes a step back wrapping his hands along his forehead. "I don't understand... what's happening right now?" He says confused looking from me to Stiles and back to me again. I look down to my feet and tell him everything that happened... by the time I'm done he's ready to beat my dads ass, rightfully so. But I have a better plan.
  After telling both Stiles and Andrew my plan I call my dad with both of them in the room as witness. The phone rings one time before the line is picked up and my father starts groveling. I hear nothing, the words he's saying sound like mush. He's still talking when I finally work up the courage to speak. "I'll talk to you. Tomorrow morning, eleven. I don't care what you have going on if you want me to talk to you... and not tell mom what happened you'll be there." I hung up the phone before he could respond. Every bone in my body is shaking and I can feel my breath trembling across my lips. I look at Stiles as he nods his head, in my head I imagine him saying 'good girl' like he's said many times in the last almost week.
  After a very awkward apology from Andrew to both Stiles and I we're back in Stiles' room. He speaks his very first words to me of the day, "Eventful morning, Sunshine." He says as a playful smile strings across his face. I can't help but smile in return, his is so contagious. It's the type of smile to cheer you up when you definitely don't want to be smiling. It's the type of smile that tells somebody how happy you are, and I love seeing it on his face. The butterflies in my stomach go crazy as he pulls me in for the most gentle kiss he's ever given me. I wince back, the pain of my lip being resplit open, affecting how badly I want to jump on top of him and rip what clothes he has on off. " I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I hurt you." He says while reaching his hands out but deciding against it and pushing them into his lap. "How tall are you?" Comes rolling out of my mouth, trying to stop the awkwardness from seeping in. "Uh... I'm not really sure. The last time they checked my height I was around six one. That was— was the year my mom died. They skip all of that and just get straight to why I'm there usually." He says embarrassed, but I'm not sure why. "Okay, we will say... You're six two... and a half." I add. He throws his head back in laughter, "Why the half?" He says while pulling me into him. I shrug my shoulders, "I dunno, just sounds better."
  I don't know how much time passes before he speaks again, but I know I could have spent all day there. "So I have a plan... We still need to find this girl. Even though you're the one who started this investigation that we're doing, don't feel forced. We can find another time to do this." He says while pulling me from him, so he can look at my face. "No, it's fine. It'll be a good distraction. Hit me!" I say trying to make a joke, which falls flat. "Erin." He sighs letting his head fall back just barely missing the headboard. "Sorry, I was trying to be funny!" I respond while trying to keep a laugh in. "It's not funny, you don't know how many times I've wanted to leave you here sleeping and go kick his ass." He lifts his hands over his face, breathing heavy. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But seriously tell me what the plan is, so we can get this over with." I say while laying between his legs. He explains everything and though it may be risky, I agree and hope for the best.