Nice Guy

Sympathy From Strangers

I was in the hospital for a couple days after the fight. My parents couldn't believe that it happened. My brother, Bob, even came to see me. That was new. We would  play fight a lot. It never really got too serious except for one time when he knocked me out. He always said that he was training me for life.I always thought it was a wayhe could fuck me up and get away wiyh it. He walked into the room and hugged my mom who was crying her eyes out. Damn I hate to see her cry. "How many times have I told you 'keep your hands up'?" "Well it's nice to see you too." "Damn kid did you even put up a fight?" "Yeah, I heard he got a black eye, bloody nose, and some bad bruises in his back." "It's not what I hoped to be but I guess you did alright." That's about the best compliment I would get from him. We talked about the fight for a while, then my parents left to work. Bob brought up me going to the army. He said it was a big decision and I should've talked to someone about it. He kept trying to be a parent about it lecturing me about it. On his way out he said, "Do me a favor. Don't die. It'd be like Johnny dying in The Outsiders." Jenny, Mario, Jaslynn, and Abby came to see me they kept saying how they felt bad for me. It actually kinda bothered me. I don't like sympathy from other people. It just bothers me. Even the doctors were saying how bad they felt for me when I was half asleep. I finally got to go home on Wednesday. I was getting get well soon texts from everyone at school. Everyone but Mariah. I was at home alone listening to music when I heard the doorbell. I got up and opened the door. Mariah was standing there and by the look on her face I was pretty fucked up. I had stitches on my lip and the back of my head. I had a black eye and I was holding and ice pack on my head. "Oh my god. Jenny said it was bad but not this bad." "When did you talk to Jenny?" "I stopped by the hospital when they were leaving but she said not to see you because it would make it worse." "It was probably better you didn't. So what are you doing here?" "I need to talk to you." "Ok come in." She walked in and we sat on the couch. "What do you need to talk about?" "First I just wanna say I am so sorry about this. Dick shouldnt have done this to you." "No just stop. I dont want anymore sympathy from people. This whole time I've been getting sympathy from strangers. Actually you just missed the cops. They said that his family was gonna drop the charges bceause they heard how bad I looked." As far as I was concerned Mariah was another stranger feeling sorry for me. "I broke up with him." I looked at her. "Why? I thought he was the one. I thought he made you happy." "Yeah that was before I knew the real him. I felt suspicious because he was seeing his tutor every day and on the weekends and texting me less. I walked into the classroom yesterday to tell him how mad I was for beating you up but when I walked in I saw him and the girl tutoring him half naked making out on a desk." Her voice started cracking and tears were filling her eyes. "Just say you told me so and I'll leave you alone. I'm so stupid!" Tears came raining down from her eyes. I hugged her. "You're not stupid." "Yes I am. I lost my best friend. I didnt believe you. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." "It's ok." Each sentence became harder to understand behind the crying. I couldn't stop myself from tears. Partly because I hate to see her like this and partly because I was still sore from the fight. She cried for a while then we went back to talking. She kept saying how sorry she was for not talking to me and calling me a liar. Before I knew it we were both asleep. She had her head laying on my tear soaked shoulder. I picked her up to take her to my parents' bed. They weren't coming home any time soon. I set her down and turned to leave back to the couch. She grabbed my arm and told me to stay. I laid down next to her. She held my hand and I put my other arm around her. I didnt know exactly what this meant but I knew in that moment we were friends again. And I planned to keep it that way.