Autumn • Complete

Apologies

Wow. At Nurse twice, two days in a row. As I stare at the whitewash ceiling waiting for Fabian, Nurse comes in with a mirror.

"Want to look?" She asks kindly, and I nod. Might as well get it over with. I take the mirror from her alarmingly soft hands.

The top of my face is purple, even after all the ice I held on it for a good few hours. Underneath my eye is more of a bluey-green. I might be able to cover most of it up with concealer and foundation in the morning, but the extremely dark parts will be pretty obvious. Great.

A tear slips down my newly battered face, and I quickly wipe it away, handing the mirror back to nurse. The bell rings, signalling the end of the school day, and I slip into a seating position on the bed. I pull on my shoes and jacket when I hear the footsteps of someone, probably Fabian. I turn. It's not.

"I'm so sorry, Autumn!" Alik exclaims, but I just pick up my back and stride past him out of the medical room, almost walking smack bang into Fabian.

"Come on," I jerk my head towards the parking lot, and I drag Fabian away, shooting Alik one last menacing glare. This is one of those times when I wish I have lasers in my eyes.

I suppose it isn't exactly Alik's fault though, it's my own. If I hadn't intervened Christian probably would've ducked and nobody would've go hurt. Except Alik, that is. Why am I so stupid?

I'm about to do up my belt when Christian knocks on the passenger window. I roll it down.

"Hey, can we talk?" He asks, and when Fabian starts to protest he adds "I'll give you a lift." I turn to Fabian:

"I'll be fine. See you tommorow!" I say.

---

Christian owns a sleek black motorbike, and when he points it out I almost black out for the third time in two days. Thankfully I don't, though. That would've been embarrassing.

"I feel really bad for what happened," he gestures to my face, and I instinctively reach up and touch it.

"If I hadn't freaked out about Camille-we're over now-then none of this would've never happened! I need to make it up to you somehow!" He says, and I shake my head.

"It's fine, honestly!" I force a laugh, but he doesn't back down.

"Dinner? Tomorrow night?" He asks, and I start to make up an excuse but realise dinner with Christian sounds pretty good. I might as well go, I mean, what harm can it do? I'll be gone soon anyway, so it's not really going to make a difference.

"Okay, why not," I say, as he hands me a sleek black helmet and his leather jacket. I pull the jacket on, inhaling his scent. A mixture of aftershave, soap, and something else I can't put my finger on. I slip the helmet over my head as he swigs onto the bike. I inhale and clamber on behind him, less graceful and almost falling off. I slip my hands around his waist, making me shiver pleasantly inside, and tell him my address.

When he sets off it feels like we're going a million miles an hour, even though I know we're not. The wind rushes through the tips of my hair, and for the first time in my life it feels like I'm flying. I'm almost upset when Christian comes up in front of my house, swinging off, careful not to whack me in the face with his foot. I pull of the helmet and set it down on his bike. I'm about to pull of his jacket when he places and hand on my arm.

"Keep it. You can bring it back tommorow. I'll pick you up at half five," I don't have enough time to try and give it back to him anyway, as he's off in a quick cloud of smoke.

Inside, Dad is sat at the kitchen island reading a paper, a first for him. I came up here to be alone, which was good as Dad was always away for his job. Even though I wanted to be alone its nice to catch up with him now and then when he's not away.

"Hey honey. New jacket?" Of course the jacket will be the first thing he notices. I won't lie, as I hate lying to him. My mother, on the other hand, I'm more than happy to lie to.

"No. It's Christian's. He's taking me out for dinner tomorrow, so he said I could borrow it." I say, taking an apple from the fruitbowl and biting into it, taking in the delicious tastes that fill my mouth.

I feel like a haven't eaten in days. Before the accident, I wouldn't have done.

"Christian who?" He asks and folds the paper, setting it down on the chair beside him.

"Delancey."

"Aah." He says. "Nice lad. Shame he's with that Camille, though!" He winks at me in a knowing manner, and I laugh lightly, taking the apple with me upstairs with the excuse of homework.

Little does he know Christian dumped Camille after he found out she hooked up with Alik.

Oh well, life goes on.

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