Unbreakable

Chapter 7

I woke up to a noise. 

And then another noise kept me awake.

And then finally the sound of someone cursing made me turn over to investigate. 

To my surprise, I was met with a half dressed, West. He was bent over rubbing his knee, as if he banged it, which would explain all the noises. He was standing, shirtless, by a small plastic dresser rummaging through the clothes in it. From this angle, I could see his lean shape, his toned muscles and, surprisingly,  a scar that ran the length of his torso. I wondered idly what that was from and Gary's words from earlier, about West having a rough life, returned to mind. 

Just how "rough' had his life been?

After finally deciding on a shirt West closed the drawer. Not wanting him to know I've been eye-raping him, I quickly closed my eyes and faked sleep.  I knew it wouldn't work though I'm a terrible actress. 

"Did my astonishingly good looks make you pass out?" West said, amusement clear in his voice. 

Without opening my eyes I grabbed the pillow from beneath my head and threw it in West's general area. I opened them in time to see him catch the pillow with no problem. Of course, he'd have lightening fast reflexes too. 

"No, I bumped my head on your oversized ego," I said with a smirk. 

"Hey-hey-hey, is that any way to talk to someone who helped your butt out? Wheres your appreciation?" West said jokingly as he leaned his shoulder into the wall. 

"Yeah, well maybe I would have appreciated it more had I not gotten woken up so early," I said through a yawn. I sat up, stretching as I did until my back popped. 

"Early? Cupcake, you do realize it's almost eleven o'clock right?" West said with a cock of his head. 

"Eleven?? West! We have school why didn't you wake me??" I said jumping out of bed. West just laughed and shook his head. 

"Chill, I figured you could use your beauty rest. Plus I didn't really feel like going anyway," he said with a slight shrug as he scratched the scruff growing on his chin.  I sat back down on the bed. I never missed school; only once when I was hospitalized with dehydration in the third grade. Lets just say my dad was evil enough to withhold water as a punishment and had It not been for bird-brain Robin noticing I was near death, I would've been a goner for sure. 

I liked school. It gave me a break from my dad, from my step-mom, from everything that comes with living in that house. It's the only place I've ever felt safe which is saying a lot, so I never missed. I mean what was the alternative? Staying home to get beat by my dad, ridiculed by Robin and cleaning the house spotless? I rather not; weekends were bad enough I couldn't deal with any more than that.  And now I had to go back to my house, where no doubt my dad would be waiting for me. 

I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I didn't wanna go back. I didn't wanna go back ever. I wish I had more options, any options. I'd chose anything over living in that house.

"Earth to Cass," West said snapping his fingers in front of my face, "Are you okay?" 

It was then I realized I had started to cry. I didn't answer his question, I'm crying, it's clear I'm not okay.

West seemed to realize that and instead of asking again, he got down in front of me, honest concern evident in his features. He grabbed my face with both hands taking me by surprise. His hands were rough but warm and I welcomed the warmth. His closeness mesmerized me, that feeling from earlier swirled again in my gut, taking over my mind. From this close I noticed his crystal blue eyes shined with flecks of gray. I noticed he had a small dashing of freckles across the bridge of his nose. I noticed he had another small scar above on of his eyebrow. 

I tentatively reached my hand up to trace the small marking. 

"What happened here?" I said in a small voice I didn't recognize as my own. 

"Its a long story. Not a very interesting one either." He said casually but the look in his eyes told me he was lying, "Why are you crying?"

"Its a long story. Not a very interesting one either." I said mocking his tone, except my voice cracked in weird places.

"Touche' cupcake," he said with a smirk poking the tip of my nose, "well if we ever run out of things to talk about maybe we should trade stories." I nodded and wiped my face. West went over to his drawers again and pulled out another shirt. He tossed it to me along with a towel he pulled from a hook nearby. 

"Here, go shower, then afterward you're coming with me," West said with a smile. He motioned for me to get moving and I made my way to the bathroom just outside his door.

I locked the door behind me and twisted the handles of the shower so it could warm up. Looking in the mirror was a mistake. My makeup was smeared down my face and my hair looked like it could foster a family of birds and all I kept thinking was West was mere inches from this mess. I hurriedly stripped down and stepped into the steaming stream. These boys didn't have much to choose from to wash with so I settled on a half used bottle of old spice, it was better smelling than the  Axe wash available but not by much. I quickly washed, rinsed and got out. I dried myself and put on my same pants and the shirt West gave me. I wish I had some perfume, some makeup, really anything to make this a bit more girly. I finger combed my hair and put it up with a spare hair tie I found in their medicine cabinet. Since I didn't even have a toothbrush, I squirted a dollop of toothpaste into my mouth along with a swig of mouthwash, hoping beyond hope that it took care of my breath. Deciding that this was as good as it was gonna get, I finally stepped out of the bathroom.

West was waiting for me in the living room and when I walked out he smiled brightly at me. He reached his hand out for me to take, I grabbed it, feeling its rough warmness yet again. He made his way out of the apartment leading me with him.