WILD BUT NEVER FREE

Bruises

The jerk who had got on the wrong side of P on the night of her prom and the guy who had got on the wrong side of my fist only hours ago had a lot in common. They both saw themselves sitting on some kind of pedestal, tougher, mouthier and as having an upper hand against everyone around them.

I was glad I could put a fist in their perception and knock them both down to the level of scumbag they actually belonged to.

After the punch up between myself and P's prom date, I figured she would have been happy to see me show up just at the right time to help her out; but she didn't say a word as I drove us both away from what had just happened. She sat in silence, just staring out of passenger side window, and I glanced over at her a few times, just wishing I could know what was running through her mind.

Eventually I broke the silence as we turned onto a clear stretch of road. I had no clue where we were driving to, but I didn't want to head anywhere near home just yet.

"Are you alright?"

She merely nodded and hummed in agreement, frustrating me by giving me nothing else. I wasn't going to regret what I did, or showing up when I had done; since I didn't even want to think about what situation she would have been in if I wasn't there.

"Tell me what's wrong, P." I begged after a few more minutes silence. I couldn't take the heavy atmosphere which was only accentuated by the sound of the road escaping from underneath the car at speed.

"It's just been a lot to take in in one night." She answered vaguely and very quietly.

"Did that guy hurt you P? I swear to God that won't be the last he sees of me if he did."

"No, York." She said desperately, finally looking over at me from her fixed spot of the window. "He didn't hurt me, please don't go near him again. I'm going to have to face him at some point, don't make it worse."

"Make it worse?" I said dumbfounded at the fact she saw what I did as a bad thing. "Do you know what guys like him would have done to you if I didn't stop him?"

"I don't want to think about it." P snapped defiantly.

I sighed, deciding saying nothing in that moment was better than trying to argue with her. I was leading us down a road that I didn't want to visit tonight with her, especially after the high that still tingled me with finally telling her how I felt only a matter of hours ago.

"Just walk away from him if he approaches you again, P." I advised her but she acted like she didn't hear me and reverted to the silent treatment. A wave of anger flooded through me, causing me to take the next exit from the fast road into a quieter residential area that I didn't recognise at all. I pulled the car up into an empty car park that looked to lead into a country park and P looked over at me questioning as to why I had pulled up into a barely lit deserted space. It was certainly a dodgy move, but my intentions fell far from anything dodgy when it came to P. I just wanted to make her feel better, to know what was on her mind and do anything to make her crack a smile.

"Tell me what the hell is going on in your head, P. I want to know everything, I just don't know how to get you to let me in." I said, placing my hands on the steering wheel in a certain frustration and I noticed how P watched the movement closely, and then slowly looked up to my face in her shy way that drove me crazy.

"I just didn't expect tonight to end up like this." She finally admitted.

"Is that such a bad thing?" I asked worried that she was referring to the night ending up with us spending time together alone and if she was uncomfortable with that I would have taken her home in a heartbeat, even though it would have crushed my initial elation when she seemed to reciprocate my feelings.