Coffee Boy (Dallas Liu FF)

16

"You're lucky, your nose isn't broken," the doctor said to Dallas. The bleeding had stopped by now, and Dallas was holding an ice pack to his face.

"You can wash up if you want, and then you're free to leave. I'll prescribe you some pain medicine," the doctor said, then left the room. I was sitting on a chair next to the door, watching Dallas move to the sink to clean the blood off his face and hands.

"Thanks for coming here with me," he finally said. I crossed my arms in front of my chest.

"You're lucky I didn't break your nose," I said bluntly.

"I ruined your birthday," he mumbled.

"I never wanted to celebrate in the first place," I answered.

"Still... happy birthday," he mumbled.

"Thanks," I said and stood up to leave.

"Can I bring you home?" Dallas asked, walking behind me. I shrugged my shoulders.

"You'll do so anyway," I said. He walked next to me now.

"You should go and get your pills," I said.

"I don't want them. It doesn't hurt that much," he answered. "So, this Jason guy... are you two like a thing?"

"No," I simply said.

"He was very protective of you," Dallas said, a strange undertone in his voice. I stopped to look at him.

"Are you jealous or something?" I asked, confused.

"I just told you that I love you," he simply said.

"I hate to break it to you, but you broke up with me. You have no business being jealous," I said and continued walking. But my heart was beating faster now. He was jealous. He did care about me. That's all I wished for the past months.

"Please let me make it up to you. Please, Cara!" he pleaded. I looked at him sideways. I didn't want to give in. But I also knew how much that pain felt, and just thinking about the fact that he was hurting made me miserable.

"Maybe we can be friends," I finally said. Dallas started smiling. Oh, how I missed that smile. I missed it with all my heart. All of my body wanted to throw itself on him and kiss him, be close to him, but my head refused. I had a little bit of self-respect left. I already knew that I would give him that second chance, and I knew that we probably wouldn't be just friends for long, but that didn't mean that I couldn't make it hard for him. See if he means it.

"Okay, maybe we can hang out tomorrow? As friends, I mean?" he asked.

"I have classes tomorrow, but I have time in the afternoon," I answered. As we came to my dorm, I looked at him.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow at 6 p.m., okay?" Dallas suggested. I nodded.

"Okay," then I turned around and went inside. I badly wanted to hug him, to be close to him, but I convinced myself that I was not allowed to do that yet.

"Where the hell were you?" Sarah asked as I came into my dorm. I shouldn't have given her a key.

"I brought Dallas to the hospital," I simply said.

"And what about Jason?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, don't give me an attitude. Jason punched him first, and he was fine. He just fell," I said, now angry at Sarah for defending Jason.

"Jason really likes you, Cara. He's hurt that you went with your ex-boyfriend and not with him," she explained.

I rolled my eyes. "I told him that I do not like him like that. If he can't accept that, it's not my problem," I said.

"And now what? You're going back to your ex? You don't deserve that," Sarah said.

"Actually, I'm tired of people telling me what I deserve and what I don't deserve. I can decide that by myself," I simply said.

"I thought you were better than that," she said and shook her head.

"Maybe you should leave then," I said. I was done with everybody tonight. I just did not care anymore. Maybe I would apologize tomorrow, maybe I wouldn't. I needed to call Sophie, but all I wanted to do now was sleep, so I was glad when Sarah left without another word. I would call Sophie tomorrow. I changed and got ready for bed when my phone vibrated.

Dallas
I'm home. Sleep well.

Cara
You're alive, that's nice.