Warped Sins

Chapter 3: Bandages

While Sean was finishing up devouring his food, Eve and Bale were talking. Bale was enjoying his delicious caramel coffee. The cafe was pretty empty and it was getting late, so Eve decided to sit down next to Sean. Eventually, Sean finished his food and joined in on the conversation. Despite the fact that Bale just met them, he was talking and laughing as though they were old friends getting back together.

"Hey Bale." Eve said, grabbing Bale's attention, "I've been meaning to ask... how did you get those injuries?"

"Huh? Did Sean not tell you when he brought me here?"

"Nope." Sean cut in to clear things up, "I just dropped in and left you on the counter and told Charlie to fix you."

Sean seemed to find it very funny and seemed pretty proud of himself.

"What? Did he really...?" Bale looked at Eve.

Eve put her palm to her face and said, "Yep. It was crazy sudden and Charlie got pretty mad."

"Heh...heh...yeah." Sean laughed to himself.

"Hey! Don't act like you're gonna get away with that. You scared off a bunch of customers."

"So, you really did just bring me to a cafe all covered in blood." Bale rolled his eyes.

Eve pouted angrily at Sean and said, "You're just lucky she wasn't here when you arrived."

"Yeah, but instead I got you." Sean smiled at her.

Eve rolled her eyes away from Sean and focused on Bale.

"So... What happened?"

"Oh...Right. It was pretty dumb when I think back on it." He lowered his head in embarrassment, "I broke into the base of some gang and shot a few people."

Eve was surprised.

"Really? You did that?"

Bale started scratching the back of his head. "Yeah... Like I said, it was pretty dumb. It wasn't long before I was tackled to the ground. Once they had me, they took me to an alley and started beating me. As sad as it may be, I was ready to die at that moment." Bale then looked down, thinking about how close he had come to death. The three sat there quietly for a minute.

Sean suddenly cut in, breaking the silence by asking, "Why?"

Bale looked at Sean, "Why what?"

"Why did you do it?" Sean stared at Bale intently.

Though his question was simple and reasonable, Bale didn't know how he should answer. He then looked out the window and rested his chin on his hand.

As he smiled, he answered, "I dunno. Thought it'd be fun I guess."

Sean's head shot up. "Fun? Really?"

Bale turned back at Sean. "Well... it felt more satisfying than fun, but yeah. Why?"

"They were barely any fun when I played with them." Sean looked disappointed.

"What do you mean played?" Bale's earlier distrust of Sean was building back up. "I thought you said they just 'killed themselves'?"

Bale obviously never believed that, but he wanted to know how the man sitting across from him managed to kill three armed men single-handedly. Sean realized his mistake and was trying to think of how to clear it up. Eve was just sitting there, confused at why they were suddenly at odds with one another. She was watching as the tension slowly grew between the two new friends.

"I-"

"Sorry to cut things short, but it's closing time."

Sean started to talk but Eve quickly cut him off.  As she did so, she got up and awkwardly signaled them to the door. Both of them sat there confused. They then looked at each other and then both simultaneously smiled.

Bale chuckled as he said, "Too bad. I had fun tonight."

As Sean got up, he nodded in agreement then said, "It was definitely a good decision to help you in that alley."

Bale attempted to get up but fell back down in pain.

"Agh! Almost forgot about the injuries."

Bale looks towards the counter to see if Charlie was still there. When he realized that the spot was empty, he asked Eve if she could thank Charlie for him. She smiled and nodded her head. Sean moved to Bale and reached his arm out to help him. When Bale saw this, he was hesitant, but eventually accepted his new friend's help once more. As he got up, he then reached behind his head.

"What is it?" Eve asked.

"Don't...worry... I'm just...There!"

Once he finished speaking, they realized he was beginning to unwrap his face from the bandages. Eve tried to tell him that he should wait until he's fully healed, but she was too late. Bale finished unwrapping his face and let the bandages dangle off the back of his neck like a scarf. His face was mostly undamaged besides a few bruises.

Bale looked at them and asked, "How do I look?"

Eve grinned as she answered with, "Well considering the only other time we would've seen it was when it was covered in blood, you look pretty good."

She then went up to him and poked his bruised cheek.

Sean cut in and said, "I dunno? I liked it better covered in blood."

He then stuck his tongue out as he smiled. Bale couldn't help but smile back. Bale then turned around and headed for the door. He placed both hands in his front jean pockets and headed off.

As he walked away, he waved and said. "Thanks. Honestly. I needed this in my life right now."

And as he was walking out the door, he looked back and said, "I'll definitely be coming back sometime soon."

Eve and Sean waved back, but after he had left, Eve realized something.

"Dang it! He just casually left without paying."

Eve was pretty frustrated but calmed down fairly quickly.

Sean could only laugh as he said, "Yeah. He's pretty fun, isn't he? Well I'd better get going as well."

Sean started to casually head to the door, but was stopped by someone grabbing the hood of his sweater.

"Don't even try it asshole."

Sean looked back to see the same cute girl looking at him, however the delicate smile was gone, and replaced with a fierce scowl. The hair that had covered her left eye now covered her right. Only two words filled Sean's head when seeing her.

"Oh no."