Quiet Love BxB

The Knowing Friend

My phone lay on the floor of my room, the blue paint on the wall chipped where the device hit. Still, it wasn't enough to make it stop working completely, chiming repeatedly even after these past few days, with texts and even more frequently it has started to ring from constant calls. If it's not Jake, it's Grams, sometimes my friend Henry. But only one of those have been blocked, and in the end, Jake had gone as far as to call me with a different number to get around that.

I peel myself out of my bed, gritting my teeth the whole time, gasping when I bend over to pick up the offending object. For a moment, I wonder if  I should've just shut it off. Then an unfamiliar number calls, the cell going off in my hand like a screeching demon. Face twisted, I send it flying, this time at the bedroom door. Slowly, I heave in a breath, letting the pain of my ribs fuel my anger, bright and raging now that the shock of everything has worn off and I've actually gotten a couple hours of sleep.

"Fuck him."

I head to the kitchen and grab an ice pack from the freezer, setting it on the counter for now. The new bottle of pain meds already sits there, almost half empty thanks to a momentary splurge the first-day pains. I chug a large glass of water with the tablets before grabbing the ice pack and a towel before resting on the couch. There's nothing I want to watch, but I turn the TV on for noise, holding the ice pack to my aching ribs.

It's easy to doze off, the voices on TV replacing the words in the mess I couldn't quite call a nightmare, but neither was it a dream. When the doorbell drags me back to consciousness, the grip of pain holding onto me no longer tight, leaving some breathing room. I don't think to check the peephole till the last second when I go to answer the door.

"Cass?" I squint at the distorted girl for another second before opening the door to a friend I usually only go drinking with.

"Hey, Haven't seen your pretty face lately." She beams, but her eyes zoom right to just under my eyes, where purple bags have gathered, the lankiness of my hair and my unshaven jaw. She even takes note of my food-stained shirt and sweats. "Do you still have that bug you've been skipping school and work for?"

Cassidy manages to sound worried and condescending at the same time, perfectly usual for her. I just roll my eyes and wave her in, wishing I could scrub life back into my face so she'd stop looking at it.

A brow quirks in response, but she mustn't be too worried about getting sick with my made up illness because she walks right in and plops herself onto the couch. I take a seat in the recliner, pretending I'm comfortable as can be while I lean back.

"You look like crap, but not like you've been sick." She states, tossing brunette waves over her shoulder absently. "...Jake?"

"He... thought it'd be fun to cheat on me and then play with me right after." The words shove themselves through my teeth. A terrible summary to that events that happened only four and a half days ago.

"Oh."

"Not exactly the word I would use." I shift and have to catch my breath. It's more than my chest, my lower back, my ass, even my legs, hurt.

"How bad?" Her elbows are on her knees and interlocked hands support her head. She no longer sits back, concern taking over for once.

"Hospital bad." I huff, already tired of talking.

"Did you tell them the truth?" My silence is enough apparently as she moves on. "Jamie, you need to break up with him! One of these days you'll end up dead."

The feeling of my lips pulling into any type of smile surprises me, even a tight one. "I did."

"Does he know that?" She's standing now, only a foot away.

"Y-Yeah..." It's not a lie, but it feels like one when I remember him saying, "That's what you think."

Cass sighs, settling back down onto the edge of the couch. "You should call that cops."

"I don't have enough proof, what's left mostly looks like a lot of bruises I told the doc was from getting beat up. Not to mention I don't have the care to bring the law into this. It's over, were done, and hopefully, he'll leave me alone and I'll be good."

"But..."

"No. Let it go, please."

"Jamie-."

"Anyway, you probably came over for some other reason, so?"

Her eyes lower into a glare that freezes me, but this is Cass, a girl who's been in her fair amount of trouble in life and understands just wanting to avoid things. She would probably tell me that it wasn't going to help, not in the end, and she's probably right. Still, I only want to curl up on my bed and sleep for days, maybe years, cry some more, forget Jake, heck, I'm even contemplating moving back in with Grandma. After all, I only got this apartment due to Jake's suggestion.

So she lets it go for now, probably already regrouping her thoughts for another argument later. "Brat."

"But you love me."

A deep sigh escapes her as she leans into the couch. "True, but you're still a brat.