The Dark Willow (A Matt Smith Fanfiction) *SLOW UPDATES*

Chapter 20

~Matt's POV~

Brooke leaned over and gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek. A warmth spread through my chest. I pulled her into a side hug, with her face now buried in my shoulder.

I felt guilty for what happened. Not punching that guy in the face. He had that coming. No one should punch a sweet and innocent young lady. Rather, I felt guilty it all happened in the first place. If it wasn't for me, nothing would've happened.

I was also afraid of what would happen if Steven found out. He specifically warned everyone not to get directly involved with the media outside of organized interviews. I could lose my job over this. More importantly, I could lose a large portion of my fans over this. It was a bad example for children, who I knew admired me in some way.

But in the end it would all be worth it. She couldn't defend herself. She was already on the ground, helpless.

I looked down at her, still buried in my shoulder. She was obviously underweight. It looked like any amount of pressure could break her bones.

I moved my hand through her auburn hair. It was fragile, but soft at the same time.

At first glance you wouldn't be able to tell she had an abnormal life besides her being really skinny. There were a few visible bruises, but nothing that would cause concern.

She finally looked up at me. Her eye was basically swollen shut. I felt anger brewing deep inside but I tried to keep calm.

"I'm kind of hungry. How about you?" She said, wiping the remaining tears on my face dry. I looked at my phone. 11:45.

"It's almost lunchtime already? Wow. Well I don't have actual food here. They serve all three meals in the cafeteria on set. Lunch is in 15 minutes."

~Brooke's POV~

"They serve all three meals in the cafeteria on set. Lunch is in 15 minutes."

I was hungry, but I didn't want to go out with my eye. I've already had enough embarrassment. I clutched Matt's shirt.

"I don't think I want to go out with my eye looking like this."

Matt thought for a moment before he had a lightbulb go off above his head.

"Wear my shades. It'll hide your eye. At least temporarily. Until we get out of the huge crowd of people."

I wasn't sure about this. I already embarrassed myself once on set. What if people ask me why I'm wearing his shades? What would I tell them?

"What if we run into Steven? I still don't think I'm ready to talk to him again." My voice shook. Matt gave me an assuring look.

"I promise Steven doesn't hold grudges. He won't be mad. He's a really nice guy deep down."

I still had a feeling inside of me that said 'don't go Brooke, you're gonna ruin it once again', but I pushed it aside.

"Okay. I trust your judgement."

Matt quickly jumped up. He reached for his shades and gently put them on my face, being extra careful not to cause me pain.

Matt slipped on his jacked, and I slipped on the jumper he got me to keep warm. He took my hand and dragged me out the door.

The chilled air touched my face, and caused me to shiver a bit. I continued walking forward until I suddenly ran into something and fell on my face.

"Brooke are you alright?"

He grabbed my hand and helped me back to my feet. "Yeah. I'm alright." I lifted his shades off my face for a moment and seen that I had run into a tree. I knew something like this would happen. My vision is already impaired, and these dark shades aren't helping. I should've known better. I should've stayed at the trailer. Better yet, I probably should've stayed at my father's house.

I looked down at my hands and saw they were scraped from the bark of the tree. Great. Now there's another thing people are going to question me about. I looked up at Matt.

"Sorry. My vision is already messed up and the shades aren't helping." He had a sympathetic look.

"Don't be sorry. It was an accident. I can help guide you if you like?."

I accepted his offer and he pulled me close to himself, with his arm around me. We walked the rest of the way to set with me directly at his side.

When we entered the building my sight became even more impaired. I reached up and moved the shades down my nose a bit so I could see in front of me, but so it was still covering my eye. There were still crew members working. People were moving props from place to place, chatting about possible scene changes, and just looking busy in general. A few of them greeted Matt and I as we walked by.

As we continued moving forward the smell of fish and chips grew stronger. My mouth watered. I haven't eaten in forever. The last thing I ate was Italian with Karen, and by now that was ages ago.

We finally entered the cafeteria through two large doors. The walls were deep blue, and the tables had a distance between them. Directly in front of us I saw Steven chatting with another writer. Great. Just what I wanted to see. Left of them in a secluded corner I saw Karen, Arthur, and a woman with curly blonde hair.

Matt and I walked pass Steven. I hid behind Matt as much as possible.

"Hi Matt." Steven greeted him. "Hi Brooke." He didn't seem too angry. Or at least he wasn't showing it. I'm surprised he even remembered my name. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Good to know.

We went up to the serving area and grabbed food. I went as light as I could so if I felt sick again I would have at least less of a chance humiliating myself again, which I was convinced by now that I was good at doing.

We walked over to where the others were sitting. They greeted us and we sat down.

"Hey guys." Karen said. "Hey Brooke, why are you wearing sunglasses inside?" I felt a knot form inside my stomach. By now the other crew members were piling in for their lunch break, and I was afraid they would overhear me. This cafeteria isn't huge by any means.

I looked over at Matt who was looking back at me, waiting for me to answer on my own. Next to us was a window, where the sun was shining through. I had an idea.

"I have a really bad headache. I woke up this morning and was really sensitive to light for some reason, so Matt let me borrow his shades." Matt gave me a slight smile saying he would go along with what I said.

"Aww Matt you're such a gentlemen." Karen teased Matt. All of us laughed. I could tell they had a good relationship. Like a brother-sister thing. It was cute to be honest. The blonde lady introduced herself.

"Hello, my name is Alex. And you're name is Brooke?" I shook her hand.

"Yes. Nice to meet you Alex." She seemed nice. We continued chatting while Matt, Arthur, and Karen had their own little side conversation.

"So, are you coming with us to London next week?" Alex took a sip of her drink, but her eyes were still on me.

"I think so." I looked over at Matt. He was still chatting with the others. "It depends if Steven lets me I guess."

"Why wouldn't he let you?"

"Well I don't know if you've heard, but I kind of went vom.com on him yesterday."

Alex almost spit out her food from laughing.

"That is so funny! There's been times I've wanted to do something like that. He can be tough." We both started laughing. Alex and I got to know each other. I knew instantly we would become good friends.