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Kat
"I-I'm so sorry, Luke. Ashton never acts like that. I have no idea why he would hit anyone, let alone you." The nerves from my confrontation with Ashton start catching up to me and attack my already weak voice, and my stutter returns.
I don't really know how to approach anger as an emotion. It makes people violent, irrational, and vile. Anger usually makes me cry, and it's the type of crying that hurts your chest, burning it from the inside out until it reaches your throat and it hurts to breathe. I can't imagine acting upon this emotion the way Ashton just did.
Anger, from my experience, always leads to fighting, which leads to yelling, which leads to many things breaking. One of these things is usually a heart.
"Ah..." Luke groans in discomfort, his lips curling back in a low hiss as I wipe the remaining blood from his now split upper lip. The discoloration and swelling of his nose causes the anxious knot in my stomach to tighten once more. The fact that his left eye is already starting to bruise and redden is a clear indicator that Ashton likely broke his nose.
I can't get that twisted gaze out of my mind. I haven't seen that look since sophomore year. Even then it was never directed at me. That look corrodes his usually sympathetic eyes. It makes my stomach turn.
What the fuck could have triggered his breakdown? I know I'm not observant. I know I'm naive. I know I'm quite innocent. However, even I would know what was bothering Ashton if it was that terrible, as his best friend. Wouldn't I?
"Kat..." Luke's voice is raspy, tired, but mostly dismal as he meets my worrying gaze, "You don't have to be doing this..."
"I...I want to, Luke. I mean we're friends and I watched that whole fucking thing happen, I can't just-" I pull my hand that's clutching a soiled tissue back towards my chest before he silences me, placing a calloused and slightly bloodstained finger in front of my lips.
"You didn't let me finish," he chuckles, following up with a weak smirk, which turns into a grimace of pain as he coughs quite harshly into his forearm before continuing, "You don't have to be doing this, so I appreciate you. I appreciate your help more than you probably know."
My brows furrow as I sit back in the passenger seat of his expensive jeep.
"That's what friends are supposed to do." I shrug as my voice grows quiet, "But, you need ice and pain meds, so we should get going. Are you, um, okay to, you know....drive?"
I feel a burn of shame strike my cheeks as he looks up at me. I haven't driven a car in over two years, and the thought of doing so again turns my blood to ice. Damnit; I feel so selfish for asking him.
