Angel

Chapter 12

The first thing I noticed when waking up was the soreness in my upper arms, and a pain in my shoulders. The second thing I noticed was the sleeping form of Will still lying next to me. Sometime during the middle of the night, Will had turned onto his back, one hand folded across his chest, and the other was curled beneath me. It seemed I had moved as well, placing me on my side comfortably pressed to his side.

I did my best to slip out of the bed without disturbing him from his sleep. I grabbed something to wear and headed into the bathroom to take a shower. I finished undressing as the running water began to steam up the bathroom. I made the mistake of looking at myself through the mirror. I hadn't noticed how bad it was last night in the dark of the bathroom downstairs. Looking at it now with the lights on, I saw my lips were swollen, and the bottom one was split. My shoulders were spotted black and blue. I held back tears and stepped into the shower, letting the heat of the water soothe the aches.

Will was still sleeping by the time I had finished my shower and gotten dressed, which had taken me a bit longer than normal. I sat on the edge of my bed debating on waking him up or not. Instead, I got him a glass of water and some pain relievers, setting them on the nightstand next the melted bag of ice. I threw that in the trash. After a minute or so, I began to wake Will gently.

"Five more minutes please." He mumbled sleepily. I smiled, but shook him again, this time with more force. Will's eyes slowly blinked open and focused on me.

"Morning sunshine. Take those on the nightstand." I said, nodding at the painkillers and glass of water I left out for him. He didn't say anything, just sat up, grabbed them and swallowed them, following it up with the water.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Silence settled over us. Will ran a hand through his hair a couple of times, then rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Nicosia?"

"Yes?" Will scratched his chin.

"Are you going to talk to him today. About what happened?" So Will had remembered last night's events as clearly as I did.

"Yeah. I am." Will's cheek, like predicted, didn't bruise. Well at least not on the surface anyways.

"Are you going to stay with him after hearing his apology?" I shook my head.

"I don't know. I don't think my brain has fully processed it all yet."

"If he tries to hurt you again I swear I'll kill him."

"Will." I placed my hand over his thigh. "It's okay."

"No it's not."

"You're right. But I can take care of myself." I said. It was strange but comforting to see worry shine in his eyes.

"I know." He said quietly. I smiled at him and straightened up, removing my hand from him.

"Will you be able to climb through the window back into your room? I'm not sure if my dad and Evan are up yet."

"Yeah I'll be fine." I stood and walked over to the door.

"I'll see you later, okay?" I said to him over my shoulder. He didn't say anything, but I could tell he nodded.

[chapter break]

Joey had sent me a text during my shower this morning to meet him at the diner. It was a public space with people watching, but it was a neutral ground. Despite the heat, I wore one of my own zip-up hoodies so that I could show him just what he had done. I carried his sweatshirt in one hand, and I gripped my phone in the other.