The Sunset on the Other Side of Town

Chapter 9

As Nova carefully measured and marked the wood she was about to saw, one of the roofers who was working with Darry and Raf decided to drop down his roofing bundle, though not entirely full, it was still hefty. Hefty enough that when it landed below onto Nova's work table, it sent up a cloud of saw dust and other shavings directly into her face.

With a shriek that came from deep within herself and without her consent, Nova backed up from the table and tripped over a hose, falling backwards into a bush.

"Nova?" Darry called from the roof it seemed..

"Oh shit! Andiamo!" Nova could only assume it was Rafael.

Nova untangled from the bush then reached for the water she had under her work table. Opening one, she poured it over her face, undoubtedly coughing some sawdust and who knows what else up.

Soon she had two hands pressing roughly into her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" Darry asked.

"I'd probably be better off if you didn't break my collarbone," Nova quipped, blinking ferociously as she tried to open her eyes.

"Unh unh," Darry said. "Close 'em. We're gonna get your eyes properly washed out. Raf hand me that."

Darry pressed something cloth to her face, somehow finding a place on her face that hurt more than whatever was trapped in her eyes.

"What happened Novella?" Raf asked, rubbing her upper arm as Darry tended to her face.

"Some asshole dropped his bundle onto my shit. Everything that was on it went flying," she said.

"Why weren't you wearing goggles?" Darry asked.

"Because I wasn't even sawing, I was just measuring," Nova snapped back, pulling back from somewhere Darry had just dabbed on her face.

"Alright. Raf, you stay here, I'm bringing her home."

"What? No," Nova protested. "Just let me wash it all out. I'll be fine to get back to work if you let me just blink it all out."

"No offense but you can't see yourself," Darry said.

"You should go," Raf said. "Besides, unless you want us to raise a bigger fuss with Mr macho man over there, I think you should go."

"Is that a threat?" Nova crossed her arms.

"It's a promise, Novella," Raf said and Nova could feel his kindhearted smile.

She groaned as she felt herself smiling. "Fine."

After what felt like an eternity getting back to the Curtis house, Darry set Nova up on the dining room table so her face could be closer to his eye level.

He pulled at various tiny splinters, cleaning all the tiny cuts and scrapes. He supervised as she rinsed out her eyes before setting her back on the dining room table to administer eye drops and some neosporin on the wounds.

Nova didn't have any smartass quips to provide during this process.

She felt like a blank canvas before Da Vinci. A slab of marble before Michelangelo.

She let Darry work on her, watching as he gently (as possible for him) put the neosporin on her face.
His eyes, that greenish blue color that seems unique to him appeared to darken as he focused. His eyebrows were furrowed, his jaw set in stone.

Slowly the pain seemed to fade because all Nova could feel was his hand steadying himself on her cheek. She leaned into the warmth ever so slightly.

The door opened and slammed and instantly Nova felt uneasy. Darry turned around.