Another day of covering the bruises. But today you had a black eye and a long red scrape across your cheek that only looked worse with make-up on so there was nothing you could do but lie. You saw the looks you got as you walked down the hallways. You heard the whispers. But you decided to ignore them and just hurry to get through the day. You went through your first 5 periods of school just fine. When you were asked how your eye ended black and blue you said you tripped over a chair. "Silly me," you would say. It was the last period of the day and you were happy about getting out of there, but dreading going home for another night. It was English, your favorite subject. You were busy pre-writing your short story when you felt a hand tap your shoulder. When you turned around you noticed it was Luke, the schools bad boy. You were a good student. A smart girl who did her work and got all A's so you knew he wasn't the type to be friendly to you."What?" you snapped, not in the mood for his shit today."What happened to your eye Y/N?" He said with a smirk plastered to his face,"Did daddy get upset when you got an A- on your math test?" You snapped. You slapped him, hard. You slowly rose out of your seat staring at him, everything was a blur. A tear rolled down your cheek and your bottom lip was quivering. The whole class stared at you in shock, including Luke, who now had a bloody lip. "Mrs. Y/L/N!" your English teacher yelled. You snapped out of it and turned to face the teacher. "I'm sorry." You barely whispered, and ran out of the classroom with your hand tightly wrapped around your bag.
You had nowhere else to go so you just sat in your old truck. It had a bench seat and when you were little, before your mother took off, you used to cuddle up next to your dad while he was driving. Everything from last night rushed back to your mind. The fight your dad and brother were having. The noise of plates breaking. The look in your little brothers eyes when you tried to get him away from your dad. The blood from your face trickling off your chin. The ache in your stomach from the beating. You had to. You had to get in the way so your little brother could get away.You snapped out of your trance at the sound of a tap on your car window. You jumped and looked up with weary eyes to see Luke. You quickly wiped the tears from your face that you hadn't noticed had started falling from your cheeks and turned the key to start your car."Y/N, please. Let me in." Luke said with a sad look plastered to his face. You were disgusted with him and how he could make a joke out of this so you just stared at him. "Please," he said, deeper this time. You leaned over and unlocked the passenger side of your truck and quickly returned to your seat, looking out your window. Luke sat down, turned the car off and sighed. "Y/N, please. How did you get that black eye?" He begged. "None of your damn business," You growled. "Okay, I kinda deserved that." He answered. "But please, you can tell me. Its okay." You sucked in a shaky breath and held it. Despite your efforts to stop, tears were free falling down your face again, stinging your cheek as they hit the mark on your face. Luke scooted closer towards you on the bench seat but it didn't register until he put an arm around your shaking shoulder. That simple gesture of kindness broke you. You burst into sobs and cuddled up next to him, putting your head on his shoulder. "hey, hey, its okay." Luke whispered into your ear. "Y/N its okay. I'm here." Once you calmed down you explained everything to Luke. How your mom left and broke your dad's heart. How he turned into an abusive alcoholic. How you always had to protect your little brother. How your dad used to be so kind and gentle but turned into a monster. You told him everything. "You're coming home with me tonight. I can't let you go back there," Luke said. "No Luke, I can't." You answered. "I can't leave my brother alone with my dad." Luke sighed and whispered "He can come too. My dad is on a cruise for 3 weeks. You guys can stay with us until they get home. Then I can talk to my dad when he gets home. I'm sure he'll be okay with you staying until we can get your dad some help."
You gave in and went to pick up your brother from his school. Luke insisted that you shouldn't be driving in the state you were in so he drove. Luke explained everything to your brother on the way to his house. You must have fallen asleep because you jolted awake laying on a strange couch with a blanket draped over you. You got up confused and followed the amazing smell of food until you found Luke in the kitchen. "Well hello sleeping beauty!" Luke said once he saw you sit at the counter behind him at the stove. "Luke?" you questioned. "Yes?" he chirped stirring whatever concoction he was making at the stove. "Why are you being so nice to me?" He stood still for a moment until he turned to face you, biting his lip ring. "Because I don't... I can't let it..." He stuttered. I leaned over and grabbed his arm and he looked up at me. "My mom... She got pregnant with me when she was 17 and ran away with my dad to have me. After I was born my mom went back home to tell her dad." He paused and a tear rolled down his cheek. You wiped it away with your thumb and stayed quiet. "fffffewwwww, I'm sorry" he breathed before continuing. "She went to tell her dad that she was okay and that if he wanted to meet his grandson that he could. But he got mad. Really mad. So mad that he beat her. He beat her so much that she died in the hospital 3 days later. My dad never would have let her go alone but he didn't know that she was going to see him." Luke was sobbing now. I still stayed quiet and walked around the counter to hug him.
We all ate dinner and talked about random things to fill the silence but didn't mention our previous conversations in front of my little brother. Luke had a guest room that we gave to my little brother and I got Luke's older sister, who was off at college, old room. After I washed up I realized I had no clothes there. I always keep a couple pairs of my little brothers clothes in the truck but never any of mine. I slipped my sports bra on from my gym bag and my gym shorts and left the bathroom to go into my room. I stayed up reading for a while before Luke knocked on my door. "Yeah?" I called. He came in and opened his mouth like he was about to say something but only sighed and grinned at me. "Come here," He said as he left the room. I followed him into his room and sat on his bed while he was rummaging through his dresser. "You could have asked for something to wear to bed, Y/N" Luke said handing you one of his band shirts. "thanks..." you awkwardly smiled and took his shirt. "Let me look at your eye." Luke said sitting down next to you. You bit your lip and looked nervously at the ground while he looked closely at your eye. "Does it hurt?" He asked in such a sweet voice that your heart melted in your chest and dropped to your feet. "Yeah," you answered. "I'm so sorry Y/N" Luke whispered and rested his palm on your cheek. "It's okay... I'm just gonna go to sleep now, see you tomorrow morning, bye!" You quickly scurried to your room and closed your door.
It was 3am. You had to wake up at 5 to get your brother to daycare and go to school and you had been waking up every 40 minutes due to nightmares. You were sweating and you could feel the dry tears around your eyes. You grabbed on to the collar of Luke's shirt you were wearing and held it up to your face. It smelled like soap and boy. Your mind wondered to Luke. It wouldn't hurt to check. You got up and walked over to his room. Just as you were reaching for the doorknob Luke opened it and almost hit you. "Y/N?" He questioned. "I was just seeing if you were awake." You said shyly. "couldn't sleep?" he asked. "Nightmares," you answered. Luke sighed and grabbed your hand to pull you into his room. He pulled up the covers and motioned you to lay down. You crawled under the blankets and he tucked you in before leaving the room. He returned a couple minutes later with a glass of water which he set on the nightstand next to you. "Thank you" you whispered. He just nodded. You felt him get in bed next to you and pull you closer to him. Your face was buried in his chest and he had his arms securely around you, making you feel safe. Your legs were tangled with his and his chin rested snuggly on top of your head. "We'll skip school tomorrow, k? You need some sleep." Luke whispered. "Okay" you said, your voice heavy with sleep. Your eyelids felt heavy and you could feel yourself drifting to sleep. Luke kissed the top of your head and you were fast asleep.
I'm really sorry if this sucked guys. I only read it over once because I'm super busy!
XO, ABBY~
