𝐍𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬↠The Rookie

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓮𝓵𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷

When Florentina was six a boy in the playground tried to rough her up, he wanted her lunch money and put his hands around her neck but he didn't squeeze, he pushed with his fingers, leaving five circle-like bruises on her neck.

And yet so many years later she was looking at those familiar bruises again, he hadn't meant to, Lawrence that is, he'd taken roughhousing a bit far in his car, and they'd gone from laughing and playfully tickling each other to a little bit of play fighting. But he hadn't meant to leave marks on her, he told her that, even that he loved her, and it was nice. Lawrence had even bought her some vanilla-scented perfume as an apology.

She didn't ever really wear vanilla as the scent was too sweet for her but if Lawrence liked it, why shouldn't she wear it?

It'd been nice having someone care solely for her for a few months, telling her that she looked pretty at certain angles.

It was nice, being with someone, to not feel so alone, she didn't have to hide certain things from Lawrence, he didn't get mad like her dad would when he found out about her buying three times the amount of something, it was the most normal she'd ever felt with someone, like with Tim, they both just knew and understood one another, Lawrence hadn't known or understood everything like Tim did, but that was okay, they were only four months in. It was nice, being with someone, to not feel so alone, she didn't have to hide certain things from Lawrence, he didn't get mad like her dad would when he found out about her buying three times the amount of something, it was the most normal she'd ever felt with someone.

He even told her he didn't mind that she wasn't all right in the head when he found OCD medication when he was looking through her bag to look for her phone, he only wanted to check that she wasn't messaging anyone else that's all.

The meds, she was embarrassed of the meds, they made her feel less in control because they were supposed to calm her down and reduce her symptoms but she wanted them around in case she felt a bit overwhelmed, she thought he'd see her as crazy if he found the meds. That was a crazy thing to think, it wasn't like she was crazy, she just needed a little bit of help is all, but her mom had always told her that she was fine, she just needed to try and get over it, she needed to get out more and everything would be fine. And even when he called her crazy, he didn't mean it, it was just a joke, right?

"Are you okay?" Sean asked as she sat at her desk, fiddling with her fingers.

"I'm fine," She mumbled in response, phasing back into reality as she grabbed a file and placed it in front of her so she could at least look like she was busy.

"You sure?"

She was clearly zoned out, which was a bit of an issue as they had a deadline today to get their paperwork in, something a little stressful for her but it was her job.

"You really sure you're okay?" He asked again.

"I'm fine, okay?" She mumbled again, "Just reading through."

A long sigh left him, it was clear she wasn't fine, just the way she was acting, he saw all the signs.

"Look, you're zoning out, I need those papers in by today. Are you going to be able to do that? Can't have you slacking."

"Yes Sean, I get it," She spoke barely above a whisper as he walked away, she looked down at her bare and bitten nails as she continued to pick at them, drawing blood in some places when she picked too much.

The sight wasn't a nice one, he stopped walking and turned back around to look at her, he could see that she was trying not to pull at her nails, as if she was trying to convince herself she was fine.