He Calls Me Lu

Chapter Thirty-Eight

In the week that had passed since the "incident" after winning states, Brenden stayed true to his word and never left my side. I could hardly go to the bathroom without him standing over me. "Bren, you can relax. There's no way Jackson is out of the hospital. They're required to let us know, remember?" I had told him this countless times, to no avail. Ashtyn finally talked us into reporting Jackson and I had a restraining order against him. He was currently still in the hospital with internal bleeding and a concussion from Trevor's beating, but afterwards he was to be admitted to a psych ward after observations and therapy sessions. They hadn't released his diagnosis, but my best bet was a personality disorder that is likely accompanied by some sort of anxiety disorder.

"It's only been a week, Lu. I'm still a little tense. Can you blame me?" Brenden always had a response similar to this. He firmly believed that he wasn't overreacting in the slightest.

"Can you at least let me go to the bathroom without you standing guard outside the door in my own home?"

Brenden blushed, looking away sheepishly. "Sorry, babe. Maybe I have taken it too far." I gave him a look. "Alright, alright, I'll back off a bit. But we need to tell your parents."

"Do we have to tell them everything?" I asked, dreading his answer. It's not that I wanted to keep my parents in the dark, but I didn't want them to be worried about nothing. Jackson was being put away and I was fine.

"Yes, we're telling them as soon as they get home this afternoon before the rally." Our school was throwing a huge party thing in honor of both our teams winning states and it happened to fall on the same day my parents were returning from their latest trip.

I groaned, walking out of my room towards the bathroom. I heard Brenden get up to follow me, so I shut and locked the door behind me and turned on the shower. Looking at myself in the mirror, I saw a drastic change in my appearance. The stress of Jackson over the past month and a half had really taken a toll on me. I had bags under my eyes and I hadn't gone to the salon to get my hair done since before it all happened. As I stood looking at my reflection in disbelief, I felt a tear fall down my cheek. Whether because of the backed up stress or my appearance or something else entirely, I broke down and began sobbing uncontrollably.

Within seconds, Brenden had unlocked the door and entered the room, pulling me into his arms. "What happened?" he asked, running his fingers through my hair as he held me to his chest.

Once I had calmed down a little, I pulled back from him. "Just look at me, Bren. I'm a disaster. I've been so preoccupied with stupid Jackson and his stupid notes and his stupid stalking that I've completely let myself go. I'm so gross and ugly and I don't know how you can stand to look at me."

Brenden laughed a full, hearty laugh-something I hadn't heard in weeks. My gaze shot up to his and I glared at him for laughing at me. "Babe," he said in between his laughter, "You're kidding right?" I looked down at my feet, not answering. "Courtney Ann Nelson, you are the most gorgeous person I have ever laid my eyes on. Even with your split ends and bags under your eyes, I wouldn't want to look at anyone else in the world."

I punched him lightly in the shoulder for picking out the specific gross aspects of my appearance, but after the first blow, he grabbed my fist and pulled me towards him. He grabbed my face in both hands and wiped the tears from my cheeks. He kissed me softly on the lips before pulling me in tightly for a hug.

"Now, Lu," he said, his eyes twinkling with amusement, "How about we get you cleaned up?" He annoyingly wagged his eyebrows as he made that comment and I couldn't help but laugh. He ran his fingers through my hair and started trailing kisses down my neck as he began to strip me of my clothing and shoved me into the shower before following me.