Blood and Roses

Chapter one- That man is not my father.

" -clyn. Jocelyn. Jocelyn! "
The chair shook under the weight of the sudden jerk and let out a screech again as the tile floor as the girl pushed against the table. Her head darted to the side to see who her sudden visitor was. Her hazy eye sight met up with bright red sneakers. She knew those shoes. Her eyes wandered up his body, going past his slightly muscular frame. He was fit, and his slender body was definitely a sight for sore eyes. Blue eyes met hazel and the world slowed down for a second as they maintained eye contact. Only for a second before Jocelyn regained her composure.
" Roman. "
He smiled a bright blinding smile.
" Jocelyn. "
God. Hearing her name come from his mouth was nothing less than beautiful. she bit back a smile.
" What are you doing on my house, dumbass? It's...."
she glanced down at her phone. 5:15 in the afternoon.
" 5:15. Never mind? I'm sorry, I just woke up."
She let out a hearty little laugh. His hand grabbed her cheeks and brushed a stray piece of hair away from her face.
" I can see that."
He pinched her nose and handed her a water bottle.
"Drink water. You have sleep marks on your cheeks, stupid."
Her face flushed and she yanked the water away from him with a snarl.
" You're the one who decided to come over unannounced."
Roman walked over to the sink to rinse his hands off.
" You're the one who decided to invite me with you to the park at 5:00 and bailed on me.. the least I could do was go to your house instead."
Her already burning cheeks flared with embarrassment for a brief moment before averting her eyes.
" Whatever."
The two paused as a ringtone made its way through the air. From the table, Roman's phone buzzed. Curiosity lit up in Jocelyn's eyes but she said nothing as the male picked up his phone. It didn't last long though because before she knew it, he was walking into her living room, now on the phone with someone. Jocelyn let out an annoyed huff but turned away from him in favor of walking to her room. She was still wearing her practice clothing. yuck. She had a couple of minutes to change before he got there anyways so she closed her door, slipping into a pair of comfortable leggings and an oddly large hoodie. It clearly was his. She let out a triumphant huff as she recalled stealing it from him two nights ago when he slept over. Quietly, she opened the door and peered out of the doorframe. He was still on the phone.
" Don't worry about it. Yes, I cancelled because of family issues. Yes Brittney, I'm fine. No, I don't need you to come over."
Uhg. His stupid clingy girlfriend who was repeatedly questioning the relationship between the two. Technically she's wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean that it wasn't annoying with her constantly breathing
down their necks. Jocelyn was there before her anyways. No. Jocelyn was in no way jealous of their relationship.
" Yes honey, I'll see you at school tomorrow. Bye."
She look up to him and he made a goofy smile.
" my hoodie, huh?"
She smirked and threw an arm around his shoulder.
" where are you, babe? Are you ok? Your not with that bitch Jocelyn, right?"
She mocked that monotone voice that Brittney had. Roman shoved her arm off him.
" Jocelyn, it's not like that... She doesn't like you but it's because..."
" Because we're make out buddies. I get it. We're nothing and you're just... a friend. My bestfriend."
Jocelyn replied before Roman could finish his sentence. She smiled a sad smile before turning on her heels and leaving her house, leaving Roman in her kitchen to himself. Oops. She didn't mean to do that. Haha. A warm trail of tears wet her face, sliding down her cheek as she switched paces from a walk to a speed walk then to a run. She ran until she couldn't, and even then she kept running.
" oh fuck"
She uttered as she fell onto the pavement. Her leggings were all torn and her knees got scratched up but otherwise she was fine. Looking around, the area was unrecognizable. Maybe it was because of the salty tears making her eyes blurry that She couldn't see, but this place wasn't somewhere she'd ever been. Great. She lifted her sore limbs up and made her way to an abandoned playground where she sank down on her knees. The grass sort of stung but it didn't matter.
" God why did I do that.... I'm so Fucking dumb."
Her arms wrapped around her body and she cried and talked to herself. Hardly giving any comfort, she criticized everything she did. How long would this relationship continue? Days? Months? Years? This wasn't ok, he wasn't supposed to get a girlfriend. She wasn't supposed to catch feelings. Her mind screamed at her. Why was everything so loud? Why did it have to be this way? She sucked in a shaky breath and got up. It was dark. The street lights were on. ok, that's how it's gonna be, she'd just have to walk home in the dark. The pain in her legs that she had been ignoring started rushing back. He let out a hiss when she tried to move her right leg. Maybe she had actually twisted it somehow. Jocelyn walked in silence to where she had assumed her house was. Not too much time passed before her warm porch lights met her gaze and she limped to her door. Why were the porch lights on in the first place?
'Must have been Roman thinking about me, I guess.'
She thought to herself. She jiggled the handle. Her door was always unlocked since it was just her and her sister home the majority of the time. The door clicked but didn't open.
" What the fuck?"
She let out an angry yet pained screech and dig around her pockets for her spare key. Nothing.
" are you fucking kidding me right now? This is bullshit."
She fumbled around with the lock before letting out a frustrated scream. She kicked the door but yelled in pain when her knees burned and now her toe ached. Giving up, she slumped against the door. Her eyes grew heavy with sleep deprivation. Who knew what time it was until she realized she had a Bobby pin. She jammed that little bastard in there till she heard a click and kicked the door in. She was so fucking done. Without looking up she made her way down the hallway. Until she heard a shuffling in the kitchen. There should be no one home for a couple days, what the fuck. Peering into the kitchen cautiously she saw a man with a beer bottle on him, watching tv in his loungewear. Fear flashed on her face and she couldn't help but utter the words.
"....Father"
He looked up. His face was stressed and he had dark eye bags.
" ....Jocelyn? Is that you?"
Something wasn't right, his voice was slurred and looking around, there were several empty bottles of beer and even a barely full bottle of brandy.
"I haven't.... Seen you in 10 years since the... why... why are you here?"
His demeanor changed and suddenly he was right in front of her, pulling her long hair towards the floor.
" Is that how you greet me? Asking me why the fuck I'm in my own house? Do you think I wanna be here with your sorry ass?"
Her wrist clamped his and shook his hands off her before she fell.
" This.... isn't your house. You don't pay the bills. I don't need you. I don't want you. Why are you here...."
Her voice shook as she remembered his violent tendencies in the past. He reeked of alcohol and he always hit harder when he was drunk. She gulped and stepped a few paces back.
" Didn't Julian tell you? I lost my fucking house. Everything burnt down. I had no where to go and now your mother is letting me stay with you guys for a couple weeks, won't it be great? I've missed you so much, Jocelyn."
Jocelyn shivered. No fucking way.
" Oh yes. I like that. Do it again."
He pushed her to the floor and she let out a sob. She curled into a ball as he started kicking the shit out of her.
" yknow, I missed kicking you. It always was fun to hear you sob and beg me not to. Didn't stop me from continuing though."
" Please... stop..."
His lips quirked.
" you and I both know that's not how this works"
She felt a snapping sound before he gave up on her for another beer.
" Pathetic. Get up fucking brat. You know what happens when you disrespect me."
Jocelyn got up in fear of getting kicked again. She ran to her room, shutting the door before she could cry in agony at the horrible pain she felt both mentally and physically. He can't be back. He couldn't be back, he was supposed to be hundreds of miles away but yet there he was, in her house and the burning all over her body where bruises were already forming proved that. No fucking way. She laid onto her bed, ready to cry herself to sleep when her phone that she had managed to leave on the charger through this whole ordeal chimed. She picked up the phone and saw 13 missed Calls and 12 texts from none other than Roman. She could bear to read anything and replied to him with simply the words ' We're fine. I'm fine.' Before going to sleep for the night, her warm tears cooling on her skin. She didn't feel like facing anyone about the bruises tomorrow. She wouldn't face anyone tomorrow.

——

Rapid knocks on her bedroom door awakened her from her slumber. She glanced out the window, checking if it was proper time or not. It wasn't.
" wake up you ingrate. Make me breakfast, I'm hungry."
Realizing that she had no choice, she got out from her bed and made her way to the door where she opened it just a crack.
" ok. I need ten minutes to get ready."
He growled.
" Fine."
Just as soon as he came, he left. Jocelyn rubbed her face where her tears still stained her skin. She made her way out of the room to wash her face in her bathroom with cold water. She switched her clothes and checked her wounds. This used to be a normal Thing for her to do everyday. She grabbed the bandages that were always in her cabinet along with hydrogen peroxide. It stung but then again it alway did so she bit through her pain.