The Evergreen Lion

☀️Juniper: 4

"So tell me again how your face got injured like this, miss?"

I sighed. "I already told you. I was riding my bike, and I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and I slammed into a wall."

"Repeatedly?" The doctor questions skeptically.

"There were a lot of walls."

I hear Leo sigh in the chair next to my bed in the ER. The doctor kept swapping my bruise and scraps with some medication, and kept asking me questions about how this happened. And I've already told him many times, why won't he just let it go!?

"Oh, it seems I'm out of swabs. I'll be right back for more." He says and excuses himself from the curtain walled section of the ER.

Leo hasn't said anything to me since I dragged myself to his house again. He just grabbed his keys and took me to the hospital, even though I refused multiple times. It was basically like I was being kidnapped.  I could sue him.

"I'm gonna have to tell someone about this." He says after a few minutes.

I sit up from the patient bed with my arms flailing. "Oh god! Please don't Leo! You don't even understand what's going on." I don't want Leo involved. I don't want him getting involved in things he can't control.

He stands up out of the plastic chair, "I don't understand?" He points to himself. "What is there not to understand? He's hurting you and I can't sit back and watch this happen anymore."

I stop looking at Leo. I can feel the disappointment, and anger radiating off of him. He's breathing heavy, and he's looking down at his white sneakers trying to calm himself down. But he's had enough of biting his tongue.

"And you've been beaten so much that your used to it, and that's disgusting." He spits out the bitter sentence like it left a bad taste in his mouth. "You don't even cry anymore. You're num to it. Doesn't that worry you? Because it worries me."

I'm still not looking at him and I'm letting my brown hair cover my face like a sheet. "And what are you going to do about it?" I softly mutter. "If I go to court, I could lose, and be labeled a liar, and he would still be walking around, more pissed than ever, and I-"

Leo cuts me off, and runs up to me and grabs my face gently. "But you could win! Don't you see?! You could-"

"I could lose." I release myself from his grasp, and I sit down on the bed and start laughing. Of course, nothing was funny, it was more like out of hysterics. I feel like I'm going insane. "His dad's a lawyer, you know? And Adam's just like his father.... so good with words. So good with twisting words."

"Oh Juny..." The black haired boy sits on the hospital bed right beside me, and grabs my hand. I let my hand lay in his, limp. "You know you're my best friend, right?"

I nod.

"And if you really don't want anyone to know, I won't tell them."

"Thank-"

"But, as soon as you have a chance to leave him, you do it. Promise?"

"You know I don't like promises..."

"But this is my promise, my promises are bullet proof." He grins at me, and joins me on the bed.

I roll my eyes. "Stop showing off your pearly whites."

"Hey," he raises his hands defensively. "I didn't spend six years in braces for nothing." His smile fades, and he becomes a little more serious. "Seriously, promise?"

I sigh. "I'll only accept if you promise to come with, when I leave."

"Of course. I'm only staying in this dump of a town for you."

I take my pinky and wrap it around his, like a chain. Comparing my pinky and his, they look the same but different. His fingers are larger, and longer. He has bumps and calluses, from playing too many instruments all the time. But they look strong. On the other hand, mine are dainty and worn out. They look pale and tired.

We bring the ends of our connected hands to our lips, and seal the promise with a kiss.

"Now can we get out of here, before the doctor comes back?" I already start to gather my things, and hop off of the bed. Leo's hand lingers in mine, but I pull mine away.

"Juny..." Leo looks at me pleading me to stay.

"Leo..." I mock his concerned tone.

He reluctantly gets off the bed, and grabs his jacket from the chair he was sitting on. "Here, put this on to cover your face. People will notice."

I take his jacket, and put the hood over my head. "Thanks Leo."

"It's what I do."