Not What I Expected

Chapter 7: Bashed and Bruised

9:30 pm:

It was just past sunset, you could hear rain dripping on the roof of the house. Relaxing.

I was sitting in the living room, catching up on the latest season of Stranger Things. They were in the hospital, it was dead silent. Any second the Demogorgon could pop out and kill everyone. Suddenly there is a knock at the front door. I, being a paranoid moron, screamed at the top of my lungs and fell off the couch. I pulled myself together and managed to bring myself over to open the front door.

I'm presented with a wildly injured Leonardo, paired with large bleeding scratches across his face and smaller cuts around his face and neck. He had bruises on his jaw and his hands were red, almost bleeding at the knuckles. His clothing was stuck to his body from the rain and ripped in several locations. His hair was dripping wet, flat against his face. I gasped at the sight.

"Oh my god Leo!" I say as I grab his arm and pull him inside. He was barely managing to place his body weight on his right leg. I lay him on the couch and sit beside him on the floor.

"What happened?" I beg for answers

His eyes were squinting, likely from the pain. He winces every other moment whilst trying to get the words out.

"I got-I got into a f-fight" His eyes were closed, and he was breathing heavily. My survival instincts kicked in and I ran to the bathroom to find disinfectant and cotton pads. After a minute of searching, I finally found it and ran back to Leonardo. I frantically put the disinfectant onto the cotton pan and began patting it on his wounds.

He begins yelling in pain'

"Ouch! Can you take it easy" he pushes my hand away. Normally I would react but I couldn't imagine this being pleasant so I gave him the pass. I continue without saying anything.

"AHH!"

"Hold still!" I command.

"Maybe if you were more gentle I would!" he snaps back, "I had more in me than to let me talk to me like that.

"Well maybe if you hadn't gotten yourself into deep shit I wouldn't have to do this!" I practically yell. It shut him up, I sigh before continuing to fix his wounds.

As I continued to pat the cotton pad on his cuts I noticed him looking up into my eyes, his face was neutral. He almost looked like a baby watching in confusion. I finally look into his eyes and speak up,

"Who did this?" he swallows before answering.

"Jack." I look back at his wounds whilst I pat the cotton pad on them, pretending it didn't bother me hearing him say that name.

"Tell me what happened," I say without breaking focus. I figured the best way to get answers from him was to not pry them out but rather allow him to let the answers out.

"He was spreading rumors...about you." I stopped patting his wounds for a second, the answer was more unexpected than I imagined.

"Why didn't you just let him?" I gazed into his sunken eyes.

"I'm not gonna let an asshold like that disrespect one of the few decent girls I know." I was too conflicted to feel flattered by his reasoning. The sight of a bruised and beaten Leo was too much to feel even the slightest ounce of 'awe'

After I finish disinfecting his wounds, I throw the waste out and sit at the end of the couch by his feet. I began untiring his shoes and placing them neatly on the floor. He watches curiously,

"What are you doing?" he asks softly.

"I'm making sure you're comfortable," I responded without looking at him. " I think you should relax for a couple of minutes and then go have a shower." I look up at him, smile, pat his leg, and then get up to go to the kitchen to make him tea.