Girl In Red (Lerrie)

trust me

Before the last class ended, Leigh told me to call her when I get home. So, when I stepped into my empty home, I immediately FaceTimed her. I kick off my shoes and hang up my jacket as I wait for her to answer.

When she does, her camera's off. "Hey, Pez," she says hoarsely. "Baby! Oh, my God, are you okay? What did the doctor say?" I cry. I've been so worried all day that I couldn't control myself. I haven't heard her voice all day and it sounds so hurt.

"I'll be fine. They said I should hang up my gloves for a while," she says in clear disappointment. "And they're right. I don't want you fightin' ever again, ya hear me?" To my dismay, she chuckles then starts coughing a bit.

"It's not funny. I'm serious, Leigh-Anne. You could've been seriously hurt!"

"Pez, baby, relax. Trust me when I say I've had worse," she says calmly and it just made me more upset. "And that's 'spose to make me feel be'er?! You have no idea how worried I was! How angry I was-!"

"Pez, Pez, calm down. I'm okay, I'm fine. Nothing's broken, I just got a headache from hell."

"Then why won't you let me see you?" There's a brief hesitation before she speaks softly. "I feel okay. I don't look okay."

"Just turn your camera on," I say in mild irritation. I can't help but be upset at her and I don't know why. I hear her sigh out an 'okay' before her battered face comes into view.

Her left eye was swollen shut and purple with a bandage on it, she had stitches on her bottom lip and a bandage over her nose. Her complexion was rather pale.

Somehow, she's still gorgeous.

"I look hideous, I know," she tries to joke, but all I can think about is Duncan hitting her. The only bright side is the extra £1500 she made, but that doesn't dull my anger. "Never mind that. I want you to know that you aren't takin' Duncan to the streets."

Her face falls at that and she she sighs, "Laith told you, huh?" I nod, then got uneasy, "You weren't plannin' on it... were you?" She looks away, "Leigh, look at me," I demand and she reluctantly does so.

"Tell me you weren't goin' to fight Duncan in the streets."

"Then I'll be lying," she says seriously. "Now, you can beg me all you want, I'm doing it. There's lit'rally nothing you can say or do that will change my mind."

The finality in her tone shook me up a bit. "Why? You see that he doesn't fight fair."

"Yeah? And neither do I," she says, now a little on edge. It scared me some, but I should've known better than to ask her not to fight Duncan. It was a shot in the dark, but it was worth one.

"Pez, baby girl, I need you to get used to the fact that fighting's a part of me. All I know is fighting, since I was a kid and I'm good at it. I rather be the one all busted and bruised up than you," she says in the sweetest, sternest voice.

I take in her words, running my fingers through my hair with a huff. "I do this to protect you, babe. Once I beat him in the street, he wouldn't mess with us anymore. Trust me."

I sigh and mess with my hair. "I've done this before. It's not something new in my 'profession'," she uses a single-handed air quote. Her tone was still a tad irritable. "I know... but if he brought brass knuckles to a fight, who knows what he'll bring next time?"