Summer Loving

Message in a Bottle

In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far, to change this lonely life

•••

Depending on who you asked, Beth Valentine was a lot of things. Smart, pretty, funny, nice, etcetera. She wouldn't describe herself using any of those words. The word she would use would be lonely. She only had herself for the past year.

Yes, she was usually surrounded by people but that only made her feel more alone. She knew that they didn't know anything about her. They could see what she showed them and never tried to dig deeper. It made her miss Clearlake. It made her miss her father.

"Beth?" Eddie was staring at her with an unreadable expression that left her quiet contemplation to wither away as she gave him her full attention. "Does it hurt?"

Being alone hurt quite a bit.

Beth wasn't entirely sure what he meant until she felt a sort of wetness on her leg. She looked down to see the side of her leg bleeding pretty bad. She cursed internally and tried to asses the damage but found that it was nearly impossible. The blood completely covered the wound and flowed down into her shoe. Gross.

"No." She said shortly, and slowly made her way down the the creek with Eddie following closely behind her. Beth found a large rock next to the water and sat down while the boy stood unsurely next to her as she began to gingerly clean her wound using the creek water. It stung but she needed to actually be able to see the damage to her leg.

"You might get an infection like that. I knew I should've just taken you to my house. I mean, my mom probably would've had a cow but that's better than you using creek water to clean out a cut. Which is disgusting by the way." Eddie wrinkled his nose. She noticed that he had started to pace behind her as he spoke, hands fidgeting at his sides.

After they had rode away from her apartment, he had wondered where to take her while she had stayed quiet. Beth didn't care where they went or would do that day, she just didn't want to go home for a while. Her sister may have just been stopping in for lunch or because she had forgotten something. Going home wasn't an option for her at this point in time. Danny would be furious that she had gotten away from him before he was done with her.

Maybe she'd ask if she could stay the night at Beverly's. They could have a sleepover and she wouldn't have to go home. It was a win-win situation to her. No Danny and girl time. Music to her ears.

"I've got to rinse it out somehow so that I can see how bad it is. It's bleeding a lot and it's really hard to see it when it's all covered in blood." Beth kept methodically cupping water into her hands and dumping it on her leg to rinse off the blood that would just well right back up. The water around her was turning pink and she sighed in frustration as Eddie watched over her shoulder.

"Shit Beth, that's bleeding too much. I don't think I've seen that much blood before and that's saying something. Ben was bleeding a lot before you showed up. You might need stitches or something. You need to go to the hospital."

"I can't go to the hospital. Sam can't know I'm hurt like this or she'll lock me in the house for the rest of the summer. I can't stay locked up like that." He put a hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him pleadingly. "You can't make me go, please Eddie."

Eddie looked as startled as he felt. She looked so hellbent on not going to the hospital that he wasn't entirely sure what to do. She definitely needed some form of medical attention but he didn't have the supplies that he needed with him. They were at his house and he couldn't even focus properly with her looking at him. Beth's big green eyes had him dazed, so much so that he decided to just take her to his house so that his mom could take a look at her. Consequences be damned.

"Let's go. To my house. I have stuff there to clean out your leg. My mom can help. I don't think she'll make you go to the hospital but I can't guarantee anything. Is that alright with you?" Beth beamed at him and leapt up to hug him. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her before she pulled away and grabbed his hand.

"I am totally okay with that! Really Eddie, thank you so much. If it wasn't for you I'd be locked in my room trying to stanch the bleeding with my t shirt." She laughed quietly and began pulling him back up to where they left his bike. "What were you doing there anyway? Not that I wasn't happy to see you or anything," she quickly amended with a wave of her free hand," but it was surprising to see you there with my sister."

Eddie laughed nervously as she stared at him, waiting for an answer. "I was.. worried about you. You hit your head and still seemed pretty out of it when you left. Stan told me if me that if I was still worried then I should just go and check on you. So I did." He shrugged lightly and she laughed, hopping onto the back of his back and putting her arms around him as he pushed off down the street.

"Well, I tried to but once I got to your building I realized that I wasn't sure which one was yours. While I was standing outside wondering what I should do your sister showed up and asked if she could help. She introduced herself as Samantha Valentine and I knew that she must've been your sister. I told her that I wanted to see you and she lead me to your apartment and then you came bolting out of the door like a bat out of hell after we rang the doorbell."

Now it was Beth's turn to be embarrassed. She knew that he wanted to know what she'd been running from but she chose not to answer his unspoken question. It wasn't as if she didn't trust him, she just didn't want him to have to worry about her. She had survived alone for this long so she was sure that she could live a little longer dealing with things on her own. Right?

She would have to be able to. Though maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell him some things. Little things. She could build her way up to the bigger things. But first she needed medical attention. Priorities.