Bruises

3

Dad left the house at about four thirty, an hour after I came home, and reiterated that he would be home at around midnight and where he was going. I waited about a half hour after he left to go to the store to pick up some stuff that I needed. It took me about twenty minutes to get to the store and back home about an hour. I returned home at around five thirty with two boxes of band aids, a roll of gauze and another of surgical tape. After putting the items under the sink of my bathroom, I took a quick shower. I was walking through the upstairs hallway in a towel when I heard the doorbell ring. I held the towel close to my body and opened the door only enough so that the person outside could see my face.
“Excuse me young lady, could you please tell me if this is the residence of a Mr. Jeremy Stephens?” the man outside asked. He was dressed in a white button down and jeans, couldn’t have been anyone important. “This is, but he is not home at the moment. He should be home tomorrow though.” I answered cautiously. “Thank you, young lady. Did I come at a bad time?” He asks stepping closer to the door. “I was just getting out of the shower, so yes you did.” I answer. “Okay, sorry for interrupting.” The man says as he steps away from the door and makes his way down the step and away from the house. I shut the door and make my way back up the stairs.

The strange man at the door made me a little uneasy while I was getting ready, but I tried my best to ignore it. Once I got upstairs, I hit play on my cassette player and “American Idiot” by Green Day immediately started playing. I nodded my head to the beat of the song and went through my miniscule closet to find something suitable to wear. I went with a plaid blue flannel with a white undershirt and the same jeans and shoes that I had worn to school. The first three songs on the album had passed by the time I was ready to walk out the door. I had decided to just let my hair air dry instead of actually taking the time to blow dry it.

I stepped outside with a messenger back on my shoulder and my head phones in my ears. “Sad But True” by Metallica was the first song to play on my journey to Dylan’s house. In my messenger bag I had out my phone with its headphones, my wallet, the keys to my house, a pack of gum, and a can of pepper spray. The pepper spray was last minute add, and kind of a second thought that had been triggered by the man at the door. It ended up only taking my fifteen minutes to get to Dylan’s house due to some nervous speed walking and quick shortcuts. By the time I made it to his front steps it was almost six twenty, I was a bit early.

I knocked three times on the door, and was greeted by the familiar face of my best friend. “Hey Mixi, come on in milady.” He said as he opened the door to let me in. “Still keeping the theme going?” I ask. “Of course.” He says as we both start laughing. I’d never been to his house before, so it took me a while to take in the house that I was now inside. The house was in no way small, but it still felt very homey and comfortable. “You’re early.” He said as we walked to what looked to be the kitchen or dining room area. “Yeah, sorry about that. It took a little less time to get here than I thought it would.” I said as we entered the dining room. “Don’t be sorry, it’s cool. I was about to go put away my clothes before you got here.” He said as he grabbed the basket of clothes that was sitting on the floor.
“So, are you just not going to introduce me to your friend or what?” came a voice from the kitchen. A woman that I assumed to be Dylan’s mother was standing in the kitchen by the fridge. The woman had a small 5’5 figure that made her seem tiny, until she walked up to me. She had deep blue, almost gray, eyes that blended well with her shoulder length blonde hair. “Hello, I am Maria Hicks, Dylan’s mother.” she said while shaking my hand. “Hi, I’m Mixi.” I said smiling. “Oh, I know! Sometimes Dylan just won’t shut up about you.” She said.
“DYLAN!!! I need help with my homework!!!” came a squealing girl’s voice from the living room. “HOLD ON!!!” Dylan screamed back “Give me one sec.” He said to me before walking to, I’m guessing, the next room. “Sorry about that, we can be kind of a loud household.” Mrs. Hick’s said. I walked into the kitchen before answering. “It’s fine. Do you mind if I look around a little bit? Your house is very beautiful.” “Thank you very much, of course you can. The living room is just around the corner, Dylan should be in there and he will show you the rest of the house.” She responded.

I turned the corner to be faced with a large living room that was the home to a full corner couch, a loveseat opposite that, with a huge flats screen television mounted to the wall. Dylan was seated on the floor in front of the coffee table. There was a little girl, maybe ten or eleven years old sitting beside him with, what seemed to be math homework, spread out in front of her. “All you had to do was multiply this number by this one, and you would’ve had it perfectly.” Dylan said while pointing to numbers on her worksheet, he looked up to find me leaning my elbows on the back of the couch. “I’m going to go ahead and let you do this, and if you need any more help, just ask mom.” He said as he slowly stood up from the ground. “Why can’t I ask—who are you?” the little girl asks me questioningly. “My name is Mixi, I’m one of Dylan’s friends.” I said smiling. “I’ve heard him talk about you before.” She says before being interrupted by Dylan’s “Iris!” she continued with “My name is Iris. I’m Dylan’s sister. I’m ten, but I’m turning eleven in two months.” She said to me, ignoring her brother’s comment. “That’s really cool, maybe I’ll come by and bring you something for your birthday.” I say, watching a huge grin cover the little girl’s face. “Awesome!!! I like your friend.” Iris said to Dylan. “I do too” He said smiling. “You wanna go upstairs?” He asks me. “Sure.” I say following him towards the stairs.

“Sorry about Iris, she can be a bit of blabber mouth.” Dylan said as he opened the door to his room. “It’s fine.” I said as I walked through the door. Dylan’s room was quite neat, considering he was a teenage boy. His bed was neatly made and there was nothing littering the floor except for a few video game controllers. “You can sit down if you’d like.” He said gesturing toward the bed. I went ahead and accepted the invitation, after slipping off my shoes, and sat cross legged on the corner of his queen size bed. “Your house is amazing, by the way.” I said as he sat down at the head of the bed. “Thanks. So what do you wanna do?” He asked me shrugging his shoulders and raising his hands slightly. “No idea.”
We kind of just sat in silence for about 5 minutes before I said “So, you talk about me huh? At least, according to your mom and sister.” Dylan looked surprised by the question. “Yeah, you’re my best friend, of course I talk about you.” He said anxiously. “Why are you so nervous? I’m not going to interrogate you, geez.” I said poking his leg in attempt to get him to loosen up. “I’m not…kind of…I’m really nervous. There was something that I wanted to talk to you about, but I don’t know how you are going to react.” He said twiddling his thumbs, not meeting my eyes. I reach my hand and lift his chin so that he has to look at me. “Just tell me.”

“Okay. Can you do me a favor first?” he asks me. “Of course, what is it?” I ask with furrowed brows. This boy was getting confusing as hell, but that added to why I liked him so much. “Can you close your eyes?” He asked while looking into mine. I could tell he was serious, but this question made my brain wonder to so many different ideas of what he was trying to do. “Umm…Okay.” I said as I closed my eyes. “Just keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them” He said. What the hell are you doing Dylan?
From the sound and motion the bed made, Dylan had gotten up and began walking. I then heard him pulled something from his closet, and he must have bumped into something because I heard the strings of a guitar hitting something. The bed shifted, thus signifying that he had sat down on the bed again. He ran his fingers across the strings, and begun to play a familiar tune.

The guitar melody of “Hey There Delilah” began to fill the room. I smiled and realized how good of a musician Dylan was. He had told me before that he could play guitar, but I had never heard him play. It wasn’t long until he began to sing the lyrics “Hey there Delilah, what’s in like in New York City” he continued singing, making my heart skip a beat. I adored his voice, it was almost a cross between Shawn Mendes and the lead singer of Goo Goo Dolls. The first time I had ever heard him sing was a month after we met and he had sung this same song. I started to hum along with his voice, until he stopped completely after the first verse and chorus. The bed shifted, but not enough to suggest that he had gotten up. I soon felt his cool breath, which smelled like peppermint, on my face. I finally realized what his secret was.

Before I could say anything I felt his lips brush against mine. Nothing more than a sweet and swift kiss. When he pulled away I had small smile playing on my lips. “You can open your eyes.” Dylan said quietly, almost silently. I slowly peeled by eyes open to see him looking at me with raised eyebrows. It seemed as though he was going to ask me something. “So…. will you please give me the honor of being my girlfriend?”