Fuck Up The Friendship | Tom Blyth

8

Bella could hear Tom talking behind the door. But, everything sounded like she was underwater. Panic. That's all she could feel and focus on.

"-Didn't mean to scare you" she heard Tom mumble from behind the door as she tried to take deep breaths.

"Fuck" Bella breathed out, coughing as she tried to just breathe. She was angry, confused, scared. Panic attacks were nothing new to her but so far, she'd always had an excuse when she felt like one was coming on. Fuck Tom and his persistence, she thought. Her anger kept building and Bella felt herself punch her mirror, breaking it into pieces. She finally started to calm down as she watched the blood drip from her knuckles. Her breathing was slowly becoming even again.

"Shit" she mumbled as she realized she was bleeding quite heavily all over the bathroom. She needed a towel, but she kept them in her room. And, she couldn't go out there in case Tom was still around.

"Tom?" she called out, trying to listen for any sounds coming from her room. When she heard nothing, she slowly unlocked the door and stepped into her room. She walked over to her walk-in closet, turning on the lights and getting a towel, still bleeding.

"What happened?" a voice made her jump and drop the towel. She turned around and saw a horrified looking Tom staring at her hand.

"Accident" she mumbled, picking up the towel and walking back to the bathroom quickly past Tom, trying to close the door, but again, Tom was too fast and stopped it with his hand. He gasped as he stepped into the bathroom and saw the brutal scene; it looked like someone had been murdered.

"Come on, I'll help you" Tom gently said, taking a step towards Bella, who took a step back in return.

"I sure as hell don't need your help" she spat, turning around and turning the faucet on. She heard Tom sigh before she was picked up.

"Hey! Put me down, you dick!" she yelled as she tried to get out of his grasp. Tom ignored her as he gently sat her down on the part of the counter that was not covered in bloodied glass. He frowned as he wet the towel and softly put it on Bella's knuckles, making her wince slightly.

"I can take care of myself" Bella snarled as she tried to take the towel from Tom's hands.

"Clearly not" Tom breathed out, grasping the towel harder, making Bella give up her efforts. She reluctantly sat on the counter as Tom patted her wounds.

"Why'd you do this?" Tom asked, biting his lower lip as he looked into Bella's eyes.

"None of your business" she stated, her gaze burning into Tom. Tom sighed as he put down the towel and rummaged through her cupboard for gauze.

"Stop going through my things" Bella complained as she got down from the counter, trying to pull Tom away from her things. She kept her anxiety and ADHD medication in there, and she did not want Tom to know her weaknesses. Tom ignored her again as he got a roll of gauze, gently taking her injured hand into his, wrapping the gauze around it.

"Bella" he spoke up, making her look up at him.

"I care about you" he just said, finishing up tying the gauze around her hand.

"Of course. We're friends" Bella spoke out. She'd been acting rude towards Tom, but their friendship had always been built on them teasing each other. And, he'd been messing with her head.

"Not just as a friend" he casually said, finally letting go of Bella's hand.

"You should go" Bella muttered, looking down at her hand.

"Why's that?" Tom asked, his gaze burning into Bella.

"Rach will be home soon" she lied. Rachel always spent the weekends at Josh's.

She heard Tom sigh before walking out of the bathroom. She expected him to leave. They always did if she pushed them far away enough. Bella left her room when she thought Tom would finally have left to get a drink of water from the kitchen. She frowned as she saw him set up on the couch with a blanket. She stopped in her tracks and sighed.

"What? Friends can spend the night on the couch, right?" he spoke. Bella decided to ignore him for the rest of the night, locking herself inside her room.