Dysphoria

Chapter Twenty Four

When we got to Fez's place, I reached into the back seat to gently nudge Ash awake and the three of us went inside. The lights were still on and when I thanked the guys for picking me up I noticed both of them were staring at me wide eyed.

"Yo...who the fuck sliced up your face?" Ashtray screeched.

I had completely forgotten the cut. I lifted my hand to touch the painfully jagged skin.

"Oh. It's nothing. I feel asleep before cleaning it up." I tried to cover my injury with my hand, uncomfortable with the worried look on Fez's face.

He took a step closer and removed my hand, gently looking over the damage. "Who did this Nia? What the fuck happened?"

"Can this wait until the morning?" I say awkwardly wishing they wouldn't make a big deal out of it.

"Nah it won't cuz that shit don't look good. You gotta let me look at it or it'll scar up." Ash said folding his his arms in annoyance.

I roll my eyes and sit down at the table and gesture for Ash to come over.

"Remember how I said my mother got sick on the couch?" I look up at Fez who nods his head. "Well I went upstairs to try and get her into the shower and she didn't want to so she slapped me but her ring caught on my cheek."

Fez sighed heavily and turned away from me, leaning his hands against the counter top and shaking his head in frustration.

"Man I hope you smacked her bitch ass right back." Ash muttered raising his eyebrows.

"Be honest, does it make me look bad?" I ask him quietly feeling a bit self conscious.

"Nah you still cute enough." Ash said pulling out a pretty intense first aid box, there was all kinds of stuff in there, sutures, needles, tapes and gauze. He went to the sink, washed his hands and pulled on some latex gloves. This clearly wasn't his first time patching someone up.

"Aight this is about to burn like a bitch so stay still." Ash warned before dousing some cotton wool in isopropyl alcohol and dabbing it against my face.

I took a deep breath through my nostrils and closed my eyes ignoring the scorching sensation. After some more dabbing and flushing the area with a little nozzled bottle of water he was happy he had cleaned it all.

Fez came over to check on me but Ash got annoyed at him for blocking the light.

"So it ain't too long, abouta half an inch it just bled a lot cuz it went down deep in one spot. So I'm gonna put on a couple paper stitches so it'll heal up straight, you might still scar up but it won't be nasty lookin I promise." Ash assured me confidently in his appraisal.

I look at him affectionately, feeling very grateful  for his cantankerous caretaking. "Go ahead Ash, I trust you."

I tried not to move too much but it was definitely uncomfortable feeling the tug and movement on my injured skin as he attached the paper stitches.

"And now since we're all confessing shit to each other, do you mind telling me what the fuck all this is?" I gesture at the mountain of drugs on the table.

"Mouse wants me to start movin more weight." Fez muttered, he couldn't even look at the amount drugs in the room. "He gave me a month before he comes to collect."

I knew enough to realize this must have cost a fucking fortune. And I don't know how Fez was going to pay it back. By the far off stare in his eye, he didn't know how he would pay Mouse back either and still have any profit.

"Look I can give you the money to pay him back." I said to him genuinely.

"Nah that won't work." He shook his head.