Bruises (BWWM)

4

4

Tamra

"You didn't tell Faye yet?" exclaimed Ben as I tried to keep up his pace as we walked in the hallway towards the school doors that led outside. The feeble amount of snow left on the ground was melting eagerly as Spring started to show its face.

"This isn't why I'm here. I simply wanted to know why..."

But he cut me off, sharply raising a slender finger in the air. I was waiting for him to start lecturing me on how much of an horrible friend I was, but his hand made a move towards the pocket of his pants. He took out a cigarette from it and glancing at my face, automatically put it back.

"Well, if you can't even confront your best friend, I guess I'll have to do it myself and tell her that a guy is threatening to leak her nudes to the world. Is that better for you?" he mocked, a devilish grin spreading across his face.

"You know leaking nudes is illegal, right?" I inquired, daring to take a step closer to him as his eyes widened.

But I didn't expect him to do the next thing he did. He laughed. He flashed me his pearly white teeth and let out a genuine laugh that sent shivers down my spine.

"Did you for a second believe I was the one in posession of Faye's naked pictures?" he breathed out, the amused smile not leaving his lips. I observed his majoritarily blue eyes for malice and found none. "Trust me, I'd be the last person wanting to sext Faye Anderson. She's not my type. I tend to save people from trouble instead of pushing them into it."

He passed by me not caring at all about bumping my shoulder on his way back inside.

"Tell her today before it's too late," he conjured me to. I nodded, even though his back was facing me and gulped down my saliva with trouble.

I thought about the words he uttered before leaving me alone inside the school parking lot. I tend to save people from trouble instead of pushing them into it. Was this the reason he harvested bruises like a hoarder?

✱ ✱ ✱

"I know you hate when I come see you in the middle of the day and you refuse to look at me when I do, but I couldn't wait any later to see you. My brain's filled with invading thoughts and I feel as though your presence is, as cliche as it may sound, my sole refuge."

A pause was marked by a silence heavier than usual.

"Oh, I finally told Faye about the nudes. It was a very bizarre conversation. She notified me that the pictures weren't hers. Just those of some random girl's on the internet. She said she wouldn't make the same dumb mistakes as Amber. I guess I had worried for nothing."

There was another awkward beat.

"What about you?"

The silence was my only response.

"I keep forgetting you don't speak. How stupid of me!" I muttered, rolling my eyes at the short skinny stature of flesh whose back seemed bent in two and whose face was looking at the ground.

There wasn't a moment she looked up to meet my gaze. She simply sat there and blatantly ignored me. Each time I came to visit my mom I overwent through different stages.

First came the compassion. This feeling forced me to be welcoming and bring her gifts so she would feel loved. Then came denial. Because of it, I felt obligated to fill up the silence with meaningless words and phrases she probably wasn't paying attention to.

But when I'd get tired of the silence, my voice would raise up and anger would fuel the next sentences that would escape my mouth. Then I'd storm out of the room, and as soon as I'd make a step to get out, a tear would slide down my cheek.