Red

Chapter Eighteen

Chandler POV:

That may have been even better than last time.

It's around two in the morning, and I know I shouldn't still be up. Veronica feel asleep a few hours ago, not even bothering to ask if I had a shirt she could sleep in. She's curled up beside me. I'm basically spooning her. I smile down at her sleeping form, relishing in this. In her. She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my entire life. 

I know I should get all of this makeup off of my face, so I slowly and carefully move myself away from Veronica, going into the bathroom. I pick up a washcloth (one of the red ones that had been on my bed when I'd first gotten here yesterday) and wet it under the faucet, using it to scrub my face. I audibly express my pain with a hiss as I accidentally scrub too hard near my eye. My mom may have been drunk, but she sure packed a punch. I gently remove the makeup from around my eye with the cloth before scrubbing the rest of my face. Once I've finished, I go back into the bedroom.

I'm careful to be as quiet as possible as I move around the room, not wanting to wake Veronica. I go over to where my suitcase is lying open on the floor, clothes having been thrown about in a frenzy while I was trying to get ready for the date yesterday afternoon. I spot a grey t-shirt in the mix (something I would never wear in public but have worn on more than one occasion to bed) and slip it on, and then I make my way back to the bed quietly. 

I slip back under the covers, noticing that Veronica has turned over in her sleep. I smile to myself, getting back under the covers and putting my back to her. To my surprise, she drapes her arm over my waist while asleep, mumbling something about being tired before nuzzling her face into my hair. I put my hand on top of hers, trying my best not to laugh. 

My eyes close, and I finally drift off to sleep.

***

Veronica POV:

When I wake up in the morning, I realize that I'm not really wearing clothing. 

Sure, I'm still in my undergarments, but I guess I never tried to ask for something to sleep in. Chandler is tucked under my left arm, and I realize that I must have put an arm around her waist at some point during the night. She's in a t-shirt now, so she must have fallen asleep after me. I smile, moving to kiss her on the cheek. She turns to face me, eyes still half-closed. I must have woken her up. This would usually amuse me, but then I see her eye.

Her left eye has bruising all beneath it, spreading from a slight bit in the inner corner to about a half-inch of bruising just beneath the outer corner. I sit up almost immediately, caressing her face with my hands as I assess the damage. If she wasn't awake before, she definitely is now.

"What?" she mumbles. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Your eye, Chandler! What the hell happened to your eye?" I ask, the concern evident in my voice.

"Shit," she mutters. "Stop. Hey, seriously, I'm fine-"

"Who did this?!" I ask, raising my voice more than I had intended to. She flinches when I raise my voice, and I can't believe what I'm about to ask. "This wasn't your mother, was it?" I ask her gently.

She reaches up and moves my hands away from her face, not answering my question. She walks into the bathroom, and I hear her messing around with her makeup bag. I get out of bed, following her. 

"What are you doing?" I ask. When I walk in, she's applying makeup to the area around her eye. She'd hidden it from me yesterday. Dear God. "Please tell me this wasn't-"

"She was just really drunk, okay?" Chandler says suddenly, turning around to face me. There are tears in her eyes. As they start rolling down her cheeks, she puts the makeup brush down again. "She was just really fucking drunk."