Tease // Robbie Kay

Chapter 26: Falling

Chapter 26: Falling

Robbie's POV

Zoey didn't waste a lot of time coming over.

Tristan didn't lock the door when he left, I suppose, because I could hear Zoey come in from the bathroom.

"Robbie?" she called.

"Zoey! In here!" I croaked, trying to stretch my legs out but just pushing myself further into the glass.

I heard her footsteps tapping against the floor, farther away, then closer, then saw her turning the corner into the bathroom.

"Oh my god," she whispered, dropping her jacket she had cradled in her arms and kneeling next to me, disregarding the shards scattered beneath her. "What the hell happened to you?" She delicately reached out and touched the bruise under my eye, but jumped back when I flinched.

"Tristan," I said weakly.

"Tristan?" she growled, "you've got to be kidding me. We've got to get you cleaned up," she stood up and pulled a wash cloth off the sink and ran it under the cool water. As she knelt back down and squatted in front of me, she began dabbing the blood off my neck.

"Fuck," I seethed, the water burning and stinging my skin as the blood latched to the cloth she held.

"Robbie, hold still, it's gonna hurt," she demanded, though she rubbed gentler.

After a minute or so, she began applying light pressure to the bruises on my face. I stopped whining at this point and let her do what she needed.

"Why would Tristan want to hurt you," she asked, almost frustratingly, "neither of you were at school today."

"Because I was sick," I said, "and he showed up and started choking me, and I got smart with him, and this happened..."

Zoey frowned and was silent for a moment, but then she sighed. "This worries the hell out of me." She dabbed my skin faster.

"Why? Ah-ow, careful Zoe," I gasped and pulling my head from her hands. She shook her head and just continued.

"Because," she said, "what if Arianna pisses him off one day?"

"What do you mean?"

"What? She makes him mad and he gets angry like he did with you?"

And my heart stopped right then. She's absolutely right. If Arianna infuriates him sometime he could snap on her. Or he already has, though I believe I've stared at her long enough to notice if she'd have a mark on her.

"They need to end," I said, "I don't want to risk it."

"Neither do I," she said, "I'm one of her best friends and I think I've noticed her different behavior more than anyone."

"I caught her smoking," I blurted.

"You did?" she asked, tossing the bloodied washcloth onto the countertop and began sliding the broken glass into a pile.

"No, stop," I said, grabbing her wrist, "you'll cut your hands. There's a broom and a dustpan in the linen closet."

She looked a little shocked, but stood up and grabbed them out of the cabinet next to me. As she began sweeping the glass as I moved to the side, I continued.

"I caught her smoking. This is all Tristan's fault."

"I knew he was trouble from the start," she sighed.

"I don't want her to get hurt," my voice cracked roughly at the end, enough to where I thought I was going to burst into tears right then. Zoey looked up at me and gave me a sympathetic gaze, but she continued sweeping.

"I know," she responded.

And that's when my chest felt like it was on fire, when I began tearing my thoughts apart in my head, when my emotions were typhoons in my lungs...

"Zoey!" I cried out, "I care so much about her! Why the hell doesn't she see that?! I'm doing everything I can for her to see this! I was an asshole in the past, I get it! But I'm crumbling down in shambles for her and she's...she's..."

That's when I lost it. That's when despair took me over like a plague and tears were burning the wounds upon my skin. But that's what happens, I suppose. That's nothing compared to the war building in my throat.

Zoey slowly brushed the last bit of broken mirror into the dust pan and dumped it in the trash can by the sink.

"And when are you going to tell her?"

I looked up at her.

"What?" I breathed.

"When are you going to tell her you love her?"

"Huh? When did I say that?"

Zoey laughed.

"This isn't funny!" I shouted.

"You love her, Robbie," she smiled.

"I don't fall in love," I said, crossing my arms, "I don't know what love is."

"Yes you do," Zoey said, leaning the broom against the wall and sitting next to me on the floor, "love is feeling like your veins are on fire just because they smiled at you. Love is finding perfection in someone even at their worst. Love," she put a hand over my chest and pulled out her phone.

I was confused as hell.

But she pulled up a picture of Arianna and held it in front of me.

It was the night of the pool party, I observed. In her little lavender bikini, dazzling a smile I haven't seen in ages, hair wet against her back...

"Your heart skipped a beat," Zoey said, moving her hand away.

"You're lying!" I said, pushing her phone away.

"That's the girl you love, Robbie," she gripped the edge of the counter and pulled herself up and outstretched a hand, and I took it.

As she pulled me up, I immediately felt dazed and pushed my hands against the wall.

"Hey, hey, Robbie," Zoey nudged me, "are you okay?"

"F-fine," I sighed, the feeling tingling through my back. Any second I'd pass out.

"Are you okay?" she asked again, "are you dizzy? Did Tristan hit your head?"

I nodded slightly.

"Where?"

"Back."

I felt her cold fingers delicately push into my scalp and I cried out, feeling my body shake in a heated twitch that had me leaning on the wall for support.

"Robbie! You're head is cut open! You need to go to the emergency room," she said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the wall. Disoriented, I fell into her chest.

"No emergency room," I begged, "my dad will be home in forty minutes."

"Robbie you're gonna pass out," she said, throwing my arm over her shoulder and dragging me to her car, "that gash is going to need stitches. Tristan almost damn near killed you."

I was in and out of conscious on the car ride to the hospital.

But all I could think about was what Zoey said.

Love is shitty as hell but I guess it's burning in my lungs.

sorry its short haha oops