glitch | jack hughes (rewritten)

chapter 76

disclaimer: mention of scars

josephine lee

After getting punched in the face I ran to the nearest liquor store treated myself to my favorite tequila and bought a cup of ice to put over my cheek and eye. I used the ice to reduce the swelling but nothing could've shielded anyone from this nasty bruise. If I could cover this up then I could save myself from consequences from my ex but I can't. 

My black eye is noticeable, it's the first thing you see when you look at me. This isn't my fault and the minute I get downstairs to the lobby with my sunglasses over my eyes Theo knocks them off of me. "Jerk!" I shout, picking them up to put them back on. My younger brother pulls me to the side and narrows his eyes at me waiting for me to tell him what happened. 

"It's honestly annoying and embarrassing how this happened." I say building the foundation of my lie. Theo urges me to continue so after a quick deep breath I tell him what supposedly happened. "All I had to eat was cake, I performed my heart out and felt faint. I walked into my dressing room and fainted. I hit the coffee table." I say, turning red because of how easily the lie came to me instead of being embarrassed by the fake circumstances. 

Theo looks me up and down, lifting my glasses up to examine the bruising. "If someone did this to you, you can tell me." He says, his tone full of hurt. I look away from him and swear that I did this to myself before promising to eat something on my flight to Los Angeles. He waves Marjorie over to us and tells her what happened, giving her the task of forcing me to eat on the plane. 

"How did the table win?" Marj asks, examining the bruising on my cheek, already worrying about how we can cover it up so I can make it to the award show. "Babe, we might not be able to go if you look like this." She says, softly tapping the bruise with the pads of her fingers. I sigh at how quickly she came to the conclusion. 

She bites her thumbnail, trying to come up with a solution for me before saying, "If Stass can make you look like you on the plane I won't call off your performance." Marjorie says as our car service pulls up in front of us. I give Theo a quick hug and slide my sunglasses back on before waving goodbye to the other boys. 

I get in the SUV which is taking us to the airport, taking small sips of my water bottle which is full of Tequila and strawberry lemonade. Marjorie sends text after text on the car ride and doesn't stop. I walk into the plane and give everyone a warning before pulling my sunglasses off. " Good lord Rocky, who'd you fight?" Rome says before I tell them the lie I'm claiming is my story. 

Marjorie zooms past us to get to where the staff on the plane starts heating up a microwaveable meal. I sit in front of Stassie and smile. "Let's see if you can work your magic extra hard today." I say pulling the ice away from my cheek. Once I set it down Marj takes it and puts it in the freezer while I see if my face is redeemable. 

The bruising is easy to cover what's tricky is the swelling but since I'll get to the award show in a few hours it won't be at its peak until the days after. As long as I can ice my face every chance I get and my makeup is full coverage I think I'll be fine. "Let me know if I'm hurting you." Stassie says as she starts applying a color corrector to my skin. 

I dig my nails into my arms but stay still while she lightly blends the pigment with a brush instead of a beauty blender. After blending everything in she used a powder to set it before adding foundation over it. "You're a god, Stass!" Marjorie exclaims, setting a cup of macaroni and cheese in front of me. 

Marjorie's reaction causes me to reach for my phone, ignoring every message I have on my screen before clearing the screen of notifications. I swipe to the camera and take in the left side of my face. "Like I never fainted and crashed my face into a coffee table." I joke, before thanking Marjorie for the food. "Now we know this can work so just keep icing it Jos." Marjorie says, taking a deep breath as she slouches into her chair after pocketing her phone.