When He Showed Up

Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

When I got home, Mom was, of course, worried sick that something had happened to me, which, okay, something did, and it was pretty obvious.

"JESS! Oh my gosh! What happened? Why are you all scratched and bruised up?  And who is this with you?!" she asked, her tone demanding an explanation.

Well, I explained about the bruises, and then Brie explained how I got almost raped (yeah, not awkward in the slightest!).  Mom wanted to take me to the hospital but I assured her that everything was fine.

"Are you sure? You look pale..."

"I'm fine, Mom. I'm just tired." Why wouldn’t I be, I DID just almost get raped.

"Okay.  Well, why don’t the two of you go in the living room and I’ll bring you some supper?"

"Us two?!" we said in slightly horrified unison.

"Yes, you two!  I'm not going to have your hero leave my house without eating something!"

Brie glanced at me sideways, wiggled his eyebrows teasingly and chuckled.  I looked over at him and rolled my eyes, knowing he was trying to get to me, but it wasn't going to work.   Not on this girl.

We ate our dinner in silence, which was really odd considering Brie was a big loudmouth at school. (Course we DO have more people to talk to)  After we finished eating, I grabbed our bowls and put them in the sink, and as I did he got up and said abruptly, "Well, I’d better get going.  It’s getting dark.

I turned to see him to the door, and the next thing I saw was a smirking Asian face extremely close to mine.  I was beginning to see a theme here.

"Unless you need someone to tuck you in..." he whispered, snaking his arm around my waist oh-so-casually.  Or not.

"YAH! [Hey!] How can you do that to someone who just went through something so... so...horrible!?" I snapped, not really meaning it.

He snickered.  "Huh, I thought you might be scared and lonely. But I can fix that... "

"No, Brie, I'm fine!"

Seeing that I was getting really annoyed, he finally released me from his grip.

"Whatever you say, babe.” He said, raising his hands defensively.  “I’ll just get going, now."

"Ok.  Good night.  And thanks...for today..."

For a fleeting moment, he gave me a genuine smile.  "No problem, babe.  Just remember, you owe me."

And with that, he walked out my door into the warm night breeze.

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