B:
Good god my head hurt. Last night had been mostly a blur, and somewhere in that mess, I had blacked out. As I slowly came back into consciousness, i became vaguely aware of someone holding me, though it was still too much for me to open my eyes and see who. For a terrifying moment, I thought that it might have been Andy. I willed my eyes to open and was vastly relieved to see Zack looking down on me. As the rest of my vision came into focus, I realised we were laying in my bed, in my room. He was holding me, firmly but carefully, and softly stroking my hair.
"Morning sleepyhead." the concern behind his eyes, one black and blue, was barely concealed. I groggily reached my hand up and touched his eye. He winced but let me touch him, "What happened?"
He closed his eyes as if either the thought or question greatly pained him, but he rested his hand over mine, still laying on his cheek.
"You blacked out. That Andy guy punched you and knocked you out. He then came after me." He must've seen the fear and concern in my eyes for he was quick to add, "But I won out I guess. He ran off. Wha-what was that all about? About a kiss and you being his girlfriend?" He gripped my hand, quite tightly, and closed his eyes again. "What the hell was that?!" I winced at the pain in my hand and the tone in his voice.
"Zack, you're hurting me..." I managed to whisper and he instantly dropped my hand. He turned away from me and leaned back on my bed. I was sore but willed myself to sit up and look at him. "I want answers." He didn't even look at me or eloborate on what he meant, but he didn't have to. I knew exactly what he was asking me.
"Andy was one of my best friends back home. And I'll be honest, I had a crush on him for as long as I could remember. And, the day I moved, we finally kissed. It made it so much harder to leave him behind, but it was still nice. I guess he got it in his head that we were dating from that point on and from what i understand, he's pretty... unstable. I guess that was made painfully obvious last night." I finished and touched my forehead and winced at the surpirise shock of pain. For a minute I thought I would faint again, but I felt Zack's strong arm holding me up.
"Careful, he hit you pretty hard. Must've been wearing a ring or something too, he cut you up pretty good." Whatever was in his voice earlier was replaced by concern and softness now as he held me.
"He lives a few blocks over now and goes to our school." I huddled close to him and started crying.
"I called into the school saying we were sick." He said, probably meaning to calm my nerves. It worked to some extent, but it didn't exactly fix the problem.
"What am I going to do?" I was shaking and he held me close to him.
"WE are going to stay together and I swear to god, if he tries to touch you again, he's going to wish he never came here." He kissed my forehead and rocked me as I cried.
After I had calmed down and become more stable, I went and looked at myself in the mirror. What I saw nearly made me sick. My entire left temple was basically a massive bruised bump with large cut through it. Sure enough, the cut had dry blood around it where I guess Zack was too afriad of hurting me to clean. It was still bleeding a bit. And on my right cheek, my cheekbone was badly bruised. 'From where he slapped me' I thought. I softly touched it and realised it didn't hurt nearly as much as my forehead, but it ached all the same.
"I'm gonna kill that bastard." I heard Zack mumbling behind me. I simply went over to the intercom and called for Alfred, however Carson answered me.
"Yes Miss Heartly? My apoligies, but Alfred is currently out."
"It's alright Carson, thank you. Do you mind bringing up the first aid kit?"
"Of course Madam. Is everything alright? Shall I call for help?" He sounded concerned about me. But then again, he was the butler, wasn't that his job?
"Everything's fine Carson. No additional help is needed, thank you."
"Yes Miss Heartly, I'll be up in a moment." and with that, he left.
I went and sat back own on the bed next to Zack, holding my head in my hands and wincing.
"Who was that?" Zack sounded suspicious, and I didn't like it, but I was quick to answer anyway.
"My other butler, Carson. No one too overly important." He seemed to relax a bit and I rested my throbbing head on his shoulder. A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door, and the sound sent bolts of pain through my head.
"Ah.." I held my head in my hands, trying to block out the noise. Zack, noticing my pain, jumped up to answer the door.
Z:
I had carried her inside and silently up to her room. It surprised me, the absence of her parents. But that late at night, I refused to let myself think where they might've been. I got her in bed and set to work cleaning up some of her blood. Just seeing her that way killed me inside and only fueled my anger against this Andy person. As I cleaned her up and got her in bed, pulling her towards me, I couldn't help but think of how much this girl had changed my life; helped give me purpose. My new purpose, to love and protect the girl I loved. And I swear to god, I'd do it with my life. I only slept an hour or two that night. Otherwise, I was to busy watching her and making sure she was okay. It was evident simply by the bruised and bloody bump on her head how hard the jackass had hit her, and apparently while wearing a ring. He was dead. I was so releaved when she finally woke up, but I still felt the need to question her, though I believed every word she said. Not just because I wanted to, but because it really did help everything fall into place. It all made perfect sense now, but it made me even more terrified for her.
When someone knocked on the door, I saw her cringe back in pain;holding her head in agony. So by pure instinct, I jumped up and ran to get the door. A guy about my hight, brown eyes and brown hair, answered the door.
"Oh, I'm sorry sir. I was called by Miss Heartly." Carson. Must've been. So I moved aside and pointed to Brooke.
"Right there." He was holding a medium case with a cross on it. 'First aid kit.' I thought. When he saw Brooke, he gasped and ran over to her, kneeling down in front of her.
"Madam! Are you alright?!" She laughed and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm fine Carson, thank you." I wasn't sure I actually liked how concerned this guy seemed about her, but I figured I'd ask her about it later. I went over and sat next to her. He opened up the first aid kit and started rummaging around inside it. I leaned over and whispered in Brooke's ear, "What's with this guy."
"He's our butler. It's his job to take care of us." She whispered back, apparently getting the gist of my question.
He brought out a cloth and put what I guessed was a disinfectant on it. "This'll hurt Miss." He went to dap her forehead and she yelped. I instinctively grabbed her hand but quickly remembered how holding her hand too hard had hurt her earlier and so I loosened my grip.
"Just call me Brooke." she said through gritted teeth. I got up and went to lean on her dresser and watch from a distance.
"Alright miss Brooke." She laughed slightly as he put a small bandage on her cut. "There's numbing cream on this, so it shouldn't sting too much." After finishing his tending to her cut and bruises he started packing up but noticed me. "Does he need service Miss?" He helped her stand and motioned towards me.
"I'm not sure, but might as well." With that, this Carson character came over to me and started touching all over my eye pretty much. It was beyond weird and I could hear Brooke giggling in the background. I must've had the most stupid expression on my face, because I saw this Carson guy trying not to laugh too.
In the end, all he had really done was confirmed what I already knew, I simply had a black eye and a few other bruises. It was Brooke that both me and him had to be concerned with. In the end, she had sustained more injuries than I had. Carson found that, aside from her head and cheek, she had gotten quite a few cuts and bruises from falling to the ground. I helped him patch her up and then he went off to go buttle or whatever it is those guys do. Brooke came over to me and wrapped her arms around me and I did the same. "Do I look awful now?" She looked up at me and I moved a strand of hair out of her face. "You look gorgeous. You always do." and I kissed her. I loved kissing Brooke. It made me feel so alive. So needed and wanted. It was almost scary. It was then that a certain annoying butler stoped his buttling and interupted us.
"Oh, Carson!" It was so cute when she was all shy and she blushed.
"Pardon me Miss, I did not mean to interupt." It was funny to see the butler lose his composure.
"It's quite alright Carson. What is it?" Well look at that, miss in charge. Now seeing her straighten up and act like that, was hot. As funny as that sounds, its true.
"I brought you some Advil and a soda, for your head Madam." He gave a slight bow and came over, holding the tray out to her. It was funny really; him presenting a simple two Advil and a can of soda to Brooke on a silver tray.
"Thank you Carson." She took the Advil and drank her soda and he went away yet again. I then remembered why I had originally gone to her house in the first place and I pulled her gloves out of my pocket.
"Here. You left these in my car." She put her soda down and took them from me.
"Thanks" She smiled at me and kissed my cheek. How could anyone hurt someone this perfect? This wonderful, It makes me sick.
"Brooke?" She turned to look at me and I gently took the gloves from her hand and set them down on her dresser. I took her hands in mine and looked in her eyes.
"Promise me you'll be careful." She meekly nodded and I held her body to mine. She felt so small and weak against me. I kissed her head and refused to let her go. "I'll never let anything hurt you." I'd never let her go.
