broken home - j.f✔️

ten.

"I apologise, my dad doesn't speak a lot of English," Elizabeth apologised. "If you don't understand what he says, just shoot me a look and I'll translate." Zach nodded, chuckling as they bought the movie tickets.

"Your dad actually made me feel very comfortable." Zach admitted, holding the theatre door open. They had candy bars, popcorn, and drinks, ready to watch a movie.

She'd woken up, close to 4am, it was usual for her to do so on Saturday's, as her dad left for work at 4. She'd gotten out of bed, just hearing her dad's car leave. The sound of her phone erupted from her room, Elizabeth ignoring it as she thought it was her alarm. It hadn't hit her until she realised, she doesn't have alarms for 4am. She rushed upstairs, seeing 2 missed calls from Justin.

Furrowing her brow, she rang him back. Within a few seconds, he answered and began breathing heavily. "El, I'm so sorry for waking you. I need your help, I have nobody else." She rushed to grab her shoes, ready to leave the house in minutes. "Can I come to your house?"

"Yeah, I'll send you the address." After ending the call, she sent him her location and found her robe, wrapping it round her body. She was in shorts and a bra, not wanting to expose herself to someone she hadn't known for even a week yet.

She sat in the kitchen, waiting for a text or call from him. Until she saw him from the kitchen window. She noticed blood over his face, scattered across his cheek, eye, and chin. Gasping, she ran to the door and let him in. He staggered in and was still breathing heavily. "Justin, what happened?"

"I know I'm pretty much a stranger to you, but there was nobody else I could go to." He spoke, his hands on her shoulders. "I just had to get out of my house." She took him upstairs and into her bathroom, sitting him on the edge of the tub. She hovered over him with Q-Tips, tissue, and plasters. She slowly blotted away the blood, careful of hurting him.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"My mom's boyfriend, Seth, I call him Meth Seth for obvious reasons, he's violent. He's always had an issue with me, and he just kept hitting me." Justin explained, a stagger in his voice, as if to stop him from crying. "I didn't know who else to call."

"I'm glad that I've made this much of an impact on you this early on." She mentioned, looking at his cuts, which were most probably from the connection of a fist with rings. He looked up and smiled at her weakly, hissing as the movement in his face hurt. "I'm so sorry this happened to you."

"Nobody has helped me like you have, like with homework, and this, and my relationship. You've helped me so much in only a week." Justin explained.

"Justin, that's the type of friend I am. It doesn't matter how long I've known you, if you're in need, I will always help you." She comforted him, sitting beside him on the tub. "You can stay as long as you need."

Justin nodded his head. "He probably won't be there soon, he disappears for days at a time." Elizabeth reached for his hand, they both slowly locked their fingers together. "Jess and I are back in shit, again."

"Are you happy with her?" She asked. Their hands still linked. There wasn't any awkward tension, surprisingly. He hadn't responded for a while, Elizabeth almost feeling the need to repeat the question.

"I don't know. A lot happened between us, I feel indebted to her. No matter how unhappy I am, I remember everything that happened and I blame myself." Justin had his head in his hands.

"You can't blame yourself. And if you're really unhappy in the relationship, it's better for the both of you to end it. You'd be dragging her along with false feelings. And you both deserve to be happy." Elizabeth suggested. "You don't have to take my advice, but think about it."

"Do you want a shower and some breakfast?" She asked. Justin nodded and stood up, pushing the hair out of his face.

"Thank you, El."