BUILD UP — LIZA
he was reserved, hiding something. i could tell. whether it was on purpose or not, he was hiding something. obviously he didn't need to tell me, david didn't owe me anything. it was just an hour or so that i'd known him, already taking up time and resources in that short span. if anything i owe him something. a lot, at that. but i'm beyond curious and borderline intrusive. something he'd eventually learn about me.
"rough day?" i asked david, as he massaged some sort of shower scrub into my back. my voice had come around amazingly since the tea, and some aspirin helped to ease the pain. he chuckled, shaking his head.
"you don't know the half of it."
i decided to leave the conversation for later, not wanting to pester him, so i simply nodded in agreement as a response.
after some small talk, the water had grown cold. david didn't notice until i began to shiver under his hands, when immediately he got me a fluffy white towel and helped me out of the tub, still being mindful of my injured leg.
"thank you. again. i just.. i don't know how to express it. it means a lot, that you've been willing to help me out." i spoke softly. he smiled back down at me, his arm wrapped around me for support.
"the pleasure is all mine, liza."
+++
soon enough, david had helped me into a fresh outfit, a shirt and sweats of his, and gotten me tucked into bed.
"okay, so there's only one bed in here, so should i go out into the couch or are you fine with me on the ground?" he questioned. i squinted at him, confused, and patted the space in the king sized bed next to me.
"in here, silly." i rolled my eyes at him, as he awkwardly made his way to the bed. his bed. he laid like a board, straight back, his eyes up at the ceiling then on me when he thought i wasn't looking. of course i was looking. i have a knack for catching everything.
"okay, so, hear me out before you decline this, i was hoping tomorrow i could take you to a hospital," david paused, as my eyes widened, "i don't want to force you into anything, but that gash on your leg is... worrisome, to say the least, and i know you're hurting, and even though we just met, i can't stand to see you hurt. we can make up a lie, say we were hiking and you slipped on deer shit, i don't even care." he said, seriously. i giggled at his lame excuse as to how i could've possibly injured myself.
i laughed, for the first time in months. i genuinely laughed. and at the image of myself, slipping on deer shit, of all things. and i couldn't control myself. giggles turned to laughs, and eventually laughs turned to what would be considered a few octaves off of cackling, tears streaming down my face, i looked up at david and tried to calm myself down. he made eye contact with my and gently shook his head.
"it wasn't that funny," he said, giggling a bit himself at my outburst. we held eye contact for a solid few minutes, both of us snickering and eventually bursting into peels of laughter.
"o-okay, i'll tell them i slipped in deer shit," i finalized, attempting to calm myself down, "tomorrow." david sighed deeply, seeming like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.
"perfect." he smiled, gently rubbing my forearm. i looked down at my arm, then back up at him, and grinned. he smiled back and we just sat there, for god knows how long, until the ringing of david's phone broke the silence. he slid off the bed, and as soon as he saw the caller id, his face dropped. he tentatively answered the phone, david's kind, loving aura being replaced with one of anger, or something else negative.
"what?" he grumbled into the phone. the person on the other end of the line replied with god knows what, david's eyes rolling farther and farther back into his head the more the caller talked. "fuck off. alissa, i don't want to hear from you. i don't want to see you. and if you're calling me from my house," he shook his head. "don't call this number. ever again. and get the fuck out of my house. you should expect to be escorted out if you aren't tomorrow. good riddance." david ended the call and groaned, tossing it onto his bed next to me. i looked up at him quizzically, and he sighed.
"so confession hour?" i asked him.
"sounds good to me," he replied, running his hands through his hair before sitting down next to me.
and he proceeded to fill me in on the last six months of his life with his abusive (ex now) girlfriend, trusting me more than he had trusted any other one of his friends and telling me the full story, now completely okay with making her look like the 'bad guy', i'd soon learn.
and for that, strong feelings for him began to build up, i just didn't quite know it yet.
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well hey y'all!!! me, the queen of paying writing dust, is finally updating this book and i'm hopefully here to stay. long time no see or whateva hehe.
not that anyone was wondering, but i took a nice long break from writing cos ya girl has a lot of issues physically and mentally so yeaaa i was fainting a lot (thanks so much anemia) and then puking and having tons of panic attacks every week (thanks so much anxiety) and on top of that was having a LOT of self destructive, suicidal thoughts (thanks SO much depression).
anyways, ik what i wanna do with this book now, so expect more updates.
xx, l
