Natural Chemistry

Chapter 18: Cuts and Kisses

The alarm went off just a few hours after I went to sleep.
Grumbling, I sat up on my bed and left to use the shower.

The night before was spent between talking and smiles, I hadn't even realized what the time it was till the sun peeked at the horizon, Vince but good bye and left promising to meet me in a while.

I wondered what would change, were we a couple now? I didn't know. I didn't want to know. Learn from your mistakes, wasn't a relationship my first mistake?

I dressed in a high waisted olive-green skirt and white full sleeved shirt with white pumps.

"Mom, I'm leaving for school." I informed as I left picking up an apple on my way out.
Elle had gotten her car back and said she'd meet me in school to get all the intricate details. The ride to school was uneventful but upon reaching the school I missed the comfort of my car.
High school students would be the worst CIA agents. None of them knew how to keep shut, in fact, they hadn't mastered the art of whispering either.

"Melissa!" Ella called me as soon as she saw me exit the car, our entire group stood as the centre of attention and for the first time, I felt uncomfortable.

Jake wasn't meeting my eyes and the rest probably having heard the fight we're trying over the top to avoid it.

"Hey, how was home?"

"A little this, a little that, dad throws me a guilty look every once in a while. I have to say guys, that's progress." Ella replied, waving her hand.

As the rest of the day went by, I never saw Vince. Not in lunch hour or even in the Advanced Calculus class we shared. As the day was about to end I pulled out my phone and dialed his number,
"Hey, this is Vince. Who gave you a right to call me?" The beep sounded but no words came out of my mouth as I placed the phone back in my bag. Where was he?

What could've happened in that short period of time? Or maybe he was avoiding me? No, that's not possible. Last night was an indication of that.
I called him again, this time with a mission to leave a message.

"Hey, Vince. It's me. Didn't see you at school today, I hope you're feeling well. Call me."

I drove home in silence, I hadn't cleared the air with Jake and it felt wrong to fight with him, yet I knew it was his place to apologize. No way in hell will I give in before him.

I was rounding the corner to reach my house, I slammed the breaks upon seeing a familiar figure sitting on the pathway supporting a battered up body.

"Vince?!" I gasped as I left my car to go tend to him.

My eyes watered in shock as I took in his appearance. His blue shirt was soaked in blood, only patches of the colour remaining. His knuckles were covered in blood and starting to swell, and his face, my god his face.

Hearing my voice he looked up, his eye was starting to obtain a black patch and his cheek had a cut, right below his cheekbone.

"What happened?" I asked, feeling my heart ache at the sight, "never mind, get in the car. We need to go to the hospital." Vince was looking at me with eyes that held no pain, no emotions. It hurt me even more. I hadn't realized how much I'd come to feel for the boy.

"I can't go to the hospital, Jinx. They'll ask me who did this, I can't."

"Who did this?!" I couldn't keep the anger from my voice as I asked.

"Leave me to be, Jinx. I'll be fine, don't worry okay?" I didn't know whether to feel touched at his concern and shake him to tell him the reality of his injuries.

"Stop. Fine, no hospitals, then you're coming home with me. We need to at least wash your wounds." I said in urgency, assisting him to the car, not caring as his blood seeped through my white shirt too.

Vince kept mumbling against it as I reached my home and hauled him to the front door.
I didn't have time to look for my keys and resorted to ring the bell instead.

Stella, our housekeeper pulled open the door as I walked past her and towards the guest room.
"Melissa, what's on?!" She inquired in a scared voice, taking in her appearance and the boy's beside her.

"I need a first aid kit in the guest room, right now. Please, Stella." I pleaded, as I walked towards the guest room on the ground floor.
Instead of making him sit in the bedroom bed, I took him into the bathroom directly and seated him in the stool there, let him rest against the wall.

"Vince, were does it hurt?" I felt fear overcoming my being as my hands trembled.
"No where." He whispered in a nonchalant voice.
Stella placed the first aid kit and an ice pack and asked if she was needed anymore but I shook my head.

"Can you raise your hands?" I knew the answer to that, his ribs were probably covered in wounds.
Before Vince could reply to my rhetorical question, I pulled out the scissors from the kit and started cutting his shirt from the middle.
"Slow down, Jinx, I didn't know you exercised such less control." I glared at him, how could he throw around such jokes at his state?
After getting rid of his shirt, I took a wet towel, the white towel to soon lose it's prestigious look.

I started with his face, every time his eyebrow scrunched up, I pulled my hand back. Though, Vince was handling the pain unbelievably well, it made me wonder how many times he'd been in such a situation. I tried to keep my mind off of his muscled body and onto aiding it but there is a limit to which one can hold themselves.

"What if your parents came around, Jinx? You're sheltering a guy they'd disapprove of." I didn't answer right way, still wiping his face off the residual blood.
"We'll worry about them right after you can start walking properly again."
His face was devoid of blood as I placed an ice pack in his hand, assisting it till his eye. He held it there as I continued lower.

His neck was relatively cleaner. But as I reached lower, I didn't have time to admire his beauty as there were cuts all over his torso.

"Who did this to you?" I asked once again in a desperate voice, taking his face between my hands. I couldn't stop the tears as they fought to run down my cheeks.

"I don't think that's important right now, baby." He replied, looking into my eyes as best as he could.

"No, it does. Look at what they've done!" I ignored the endearment he used and shook my head, realising he'd never open up.
The towel I was using before was now drenched in blood so I picked up another.

He flinched back more as I cleaned up his stomach, I didn't know how to go about this. Thankfully, none of the cuts seemed deep enough to need stitches because God knows I couldn't have done that.
I took the disinfectant and started the procedure all over again, pulling small bandages wherever needed.
"Turn around." I commanded as I finished his front.
He did as I asked and twisted in the stool as I rotated. His back had numerous cuts too, all over his muscled shoulders and ink.
I tended to all of them, then I turned him around again.

"Where else does it hurt?"

"Will you kiss it better?" He retorted with a teasing smirk.

"No. Vince. Stop." I exasperated, "Stop playing it cool. It's okay to be not okay." I looked straight in his eyes as an unknown emotion flashed through them.

"I'll be fine, Jinx. This isn't my first time."

"Is that supposed to calm me down?" I asked incredulously.
He simply brought his tattooed hand up to brush a strand of hair out of my face. He leaned forward and placed a kiss at the corner of my mouth.

"I'm sorry to have dragged you into this." He said in a soft voice, caressing my cheek.

"I'm not. You don't have to be tough all the time, Vince."

"No, baby, I need to be."

*****
I'm falling in love with him. It's too late. I am.

Love,
Rojesta. 💜