The day I wrote a song about you

Chapter 11: Lips

Friday morning and Cara hadn't seen me yet. Maybe I had been avoiding her, I admitted it. I wanted to see if my face could get any better before our 'date'. Well, it did, but not as much as I would've liked to. My eye was still purple, yellow around the edges. The part that was supposed to be white, still had a red stain that looked like I was crying blood. The cut in my lip was almost invisible now, but the one in my eyebrow only seemed to get worse. It also had a bruise around it, and it seemed to have spread in a greenish color. My ribs hurt a little less, and I had to thank Monsieur Grincheux for that. He actually gave some useful tips on how to rest them.

I still hadn't gone to therapy as Luca wanted me to, but I felt better. I didn't get why I was so upset the other day. I knew I could be fine without help. Everything was gonna be alright.

I waited for the skater outside the clinic as I smoked and scrolled through my texts. Caden was telling me how he had broken up with his girlfriend and now his and hers family hated him. I tried to cheer him up but to be honest, my mind was somewhere else.

"Hey." I heard someone say behind me. While I turned around quickly, I realized I had totally forgotten my face was a mess. "Oh my god." Cara opened her eyes a little wider. "I didn't know it was that bad."

"You should've seen me on Friday." I chuckled.

She didn't. She kept studying my face.

"You're making me shy." I laughed nervously as I put out the cigarette, avoiding her gaze.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I'm gonna be able to stop staring."

"Thank god I'm cute." I smiled at her and pushed myself forward from the wall. A faint pink color appeared on her cheeks. "Are you ready? I'll follow you."

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That girl drove fast. I was scared she would crash. Blinkers were non existent and red lights were optional. I didn't know if she did it on purpose or she just didn't pay much attention.

When we finally arrived, I was glad I was the one driving for the rest of the day. I had feared for her life and for those around her.

I waited patiently for her to park outside the garage, hoping we could go have lunch already, but someone knocked on my window.

"Come inside, I just need to do a few things before we go."

I nodded surprised and got out of the car. Since the other day she had pretended she didn't know me, I really thought today she was going to make me wait in the car. Maybe it was just around his older brother Brandon.

"I leave pretty early in the morning and my brothers are not exactly the best at cleaning, tidying up and stuff." She opened the door with a key under a pot and let me walk inside first. I let my eyes wander around. It wasn't too big, a staircase close to the door, an arch leading to a cozy living room, with furniture that didn't exactly go well together. "See? A mess." She gestured to the room. It wasn't that big of a mess, to be honest, my room had looked worse. There were baby stuff on the floor, toys and clothes around the staircase and what looked like baby food spattered on the coffee table. "Just wait here. I'll clean this up in a minute."

"I can help you."

"Really?" She stared up at me with a smile as she picked up a one-piece from the couch. If I could see that smile once again, I'd clean the whole house for her. I nodded, a little smile of my own. "Thank you so much." She put a hand on her chest. "If you could pick up the toys and put them inside that blue chest."

"Sure."

I was almost done when I heard someone walking down the stairs. "Who the hell are you?" My stomach clenched and I stood up quickly. I wasn't expecting to meet anyone. I turned around and saw a blond guy, tall but not taller than me, green eyes and freckles all over his body. Ben.