Into the Light

54

What a night. I felt the bed dip and opened my eyes to see Corey. He took his lighter and lit the blunt. After hitting it a few times, he passed it to me. I hit it, and inhaled the sweet smoke into my lungs. I held it for a few seconds, then blew out. When I did, I started coughing automatically. My side ached with each forceful cough. "Whoa, maybe this isn't a good idea," Sam said, taking the blunt from me. "It's fine," I said, when I caught my breath. "The pain isn't that bad." I was lying. My side hurt like a bitch, but I really didn't want to be completely sober. As soon as the weed kicked in, I knew that the pain would subside and my mind wouldn't be in overdrive, the way it was now. I kept seeing Anna lying on the ground with that greasy asshole clawing at her dress. The same damn dress she was wearing right now. None of us had changed clothes. She had, however, somehow tucked in the torn bodice part to her collar. She was still covered in blood and grime from the dirty sidewalk. It didn't seem like she was even thinking about any of that right now, and I was grateful. My problem was that I couldn't think about anything else. First chance I got, I was going to trash that damn dress. It was a shame because she was beautiful in it. She was beautiful in everything though. I felt the anger at those assholes building again, so I motioned to Corey. He got the hint and took the blunt right out of in between Sam's lips. "HEY!" he exclaimed. I laughed and took it from Corey when he offered. "He's bleeding. You're not," he said to Sam, and shrugged. "S'fucked up," I heard Sam mutter. "Come dance with meeee,' Kat said, appearing in between the beds. She grabbed Sam's hand and tugged. "We didn't dance enough at the club?" he asked. She shook her head, with a beautiful smile. "Nope. Here, drink up." She shoved her almost full plastic cup at him. He took the cup and smiled at her. "As you wish," he replied. He turned the cup up and downed half of whatever was in it, then smacked his lips. "Shit," Jake half whispered, when Tara crooked her finger at him. I laughed again, enjoying the floaty feeling that was beginning to cloud my brain. "Show us your moves, Jakey," I said, and waved my fingers at him. "Fuck off," he grumbled, before he went to join Tara. There wasn't a lot of room for all of them to be dancing, so they ended up being spread out in different areas of the floor. Brennen had moved over to the space in front of the balcony with Anna. My eyes followed every movement she made. From the laugh on her lips, to the swish of her dress, it was like I was trying to cement the images in my memory. Maybe I was. Who even knew if her being actually alive would last? I had no clue what Amethyst had done and I hadn't spoken with her since. That had only been two days ago though. It felt longer for some reason. Brennen picked Anna up, and swung her around when the current song ended. She laughed some more and wiped the sweat from her brow. He poured her a drink, then passed it to her. She sniffed it, then took a sip. "Ooo, this is good!" "I'm a bit of a mixologist," he boasted, then winked when he caught me watching them. "How?" I called out. "By making your own mixed drinks?" He shrugged. "Gotta start somewhere." I chuckled lightly. Anna caught my eye and smiled softly, before walking over to her side of the bed and sitting with her knees under her. "Still feeling okay?" she asked. "I feel a lot better," I answered. And I did. Corey offered the blunt to me again, but I declined. I was good. Brennen darted over to him, and snatched it out of his hand. "Bro, what the fuck?!" Corey exclaimed. Their good natured arguing started, but I was lost in Anna's eyes. She had her legs tucked under her, and had lost her shoes at some point. Maybe right when we walked into the room. I had no clue. She reached up and let her tangled hair down, so that it swung over her shoulders, before falling down her back. "Ugh, my hair is a mess," she groaned. "I kind of like the bed head look on you," I replied. "You say that about everything," she retorted. "I know, but I also always mean it," I whispered, lacing her fingers with mine. She smiled, and leaned forwards to press her lips gently to mine. "Thank you for today. It was amazing, seeing all of those things from my time. And for tonight. Even though it didn't end the way any of thought, I still had a great time. I even had a great time kicking that bastard in the balls!" she exclaimed. "Oh, but can we talk about that for a minute?!" Brennen chimed in, overhearing the last part. "Did you guys HEAR that POP?? She actually busted his nut!" "Is that what that was?" Tara asked, her eyes going wide. Jake turned the music down and everyone sat down in whatever place they could find. "Oh yeah," Brennen replied. "I saw it when it happened. Sam and I both. We had just put in our last kick, and looked over because Colby was screaming for Anna." "Then we found her just in time to see her raise her knee into this asshole's junk. Had me wanting to cry and fall down, if I'm being honest. I don't think I've ever heard someone's ball actually busting," Sam replied, shaking his head. "It was bad ass, is what it was," Brennen said, nodding at me. "You've got one hell of a woman." "I smiled and brought her hand to my lips, while I met her eyes. "I know," I said. She started to blush, just as I knew she would. We sat around, rehashing the details of tonight for a while. Anna and the others kept drinking, so the night got funnier and funnier. At one point, Tara actually straddled Jake and started to kiss his neck. Everyone made cat calls and laughed when Jake stood up with her attached to him. "I think we're gonna call it a night. Sam, Kat...don't come to the room for like an hour." Then he walked into the next room, and slammed the door.