BOXER

eight

Brielle was so concentrated on the hanging piece of skin under her nail that she almost didn't hear Luke. If you were to ask someone to describe Brielle, the fact that she had a short attention span would probably be one of the first things they would say. The only thing that could engross her for more than a few minutes was the T.V., and even then it was only specific shows.

She finally realized what Luke had said and replied a few seconds later. 

"Oh yeah?" Brielle responded, not sure of why he was bringing Michael up. It actually made her quite nervous; the way he said it. His words were a lot slower and he seemed much less confident than before.

"Uh, yeah. He mentioned the little chat you guys had before the match."

"Oh, that." She nodded as she realized why Luke was bringing this up. She wasn't surprised Michael mentioned it. They seemed to tell each other everything. It was understandable, since they were best friends. Brielle and Sam were the same way, for the most part.

"Yeah. He told me you seemed upset and I wanna apologize for-"

"No, it's fine. It's really not a big deal." She interrupted, already knowing how the rest of his sentence was gonna go. Brielle was originally upset at Luke for telling Michael but she quickly got over it. She didn't really care anymore if Luke told someone, as long as it wasn't her parents or Sam.

"Are you sure?" He asked, not expecting that response from her.

"Yeah, I don't really care. I don't know why I got so upset."

"Okay." He gave her a soft smile in which she smiled back, and then continued to play with her hands.

It was quiet again, for about a minute. The way Brielle reacted not only surprised Luke, but made him feel a whole lot better.

And since she was okay with him telling other people, he made the implication that she was okay with talking about the whole situation as a whole. Luke was curious about her and Tyler since the night he met her and he took this moment as a opportunity to talk about it with her. 

"So while we're on this topic, can I ask you a question?" He asked cautiously.

Brielle didn't look up from her folded hands on the table, as she was a bit nervous about the question he had for her. "I guess."

Luke took a deep breath before starting. "This has been bothering me since the night I met you, so." Brielle finally looked up at Luke, giving him her full attention.

"Why did you defend..." He paused, not remembering the boy's name or if Brielle even told him it. "Whatever his name was, you know, the guy. Why did you defend him that night?"

Brielle chuckled. She tried to find humor in the situation, because if she didn't she'd probably start crying. "Because you would've beat his ass."

"And?" Luke raised his eyebrows, not quite understanding the problem.

"I didn't want to see that?" She retorted, matching Luke's questioning tone.

"He was an asshole, he would've deserved it." Luke's clenched his fist under the table at the thought of him not being able to hit Tyler. That was the only way Luke knew how to deal with anger: violence. That night, he didn't care about the fact that Brielle defended Tyler, all he cared about was her safety. Although, he now felt like Tyler got away with what he did, and he didn't like that.

"You don't even know him."

"Yeah, but I know what he did to you. What the fuck is with you and defending this guy?!" Luke's voice had gotten a lot louder now, and Brielle was taken back by his bitter tone. "God, Brielle, do you not remember what he fucking did to you?"