It All Started With A Tampon

(24)

We pull up in front of a house, after a short drive.

"Come on." Ben says. The triplets run out, and let themselves in, obviously familiar with the house. I get out, and follow Ben inside. The house is pretty nice, normal.

"Hi Beeeeennnnnnn!" I turn around, to see a chubby guy, in his early twenties, grinning off his face. He sees me, and his grin gets even bigger. "Hi hot chick I don't know!" I laugh slightly, and look at Ben.

"Gemma." He says smiling slightly. "This is Chuck. Chuck, Gemma."

"Sup?" He says. "What brings you guys here?"

"We kind of need a hide out." Ben says nervously.

"Of course." he says, becoming more serious. "What's going on?" Ben explains, and I think about Liam. We shouldn't have left him. We haven't even talked the kiss.

"So the rest of the gang are meeting you there?" He asks.

"Yeah." Ben answers.

"Cool." He says. "You guys can use any room, but they're limited, so go get the good ones." He walks off into the kitchen, and Ben leads me up the stairs.

"How do you know Chuck?" I ask wearily.

"Me and him went through cooking school together." He says. "He's a honorary member of the gang." He lets me into a room, and I gently sit on the bed. 

"We should have stayed." I say quietly.

"No." He says seriously. "Liam and the guys know what they're doing, they'll be fine. I promise." 

"What am I going to do now?" I ask, fed up. "I can never go back."

"It will all work out." He promises. "Now get some sleep. It's late, and when you wake up, Liam will be here, and it will all be perfectly fine." He leaves, closing the door, and I lay down, and shut my eyes. Maybe if I sleep, I will wake up to see Liam.

<><><><><><><><><>

"Gemma?"

"Gem?"

Gemma?" I'm gently shook awake and I look up to see Chuck's face, smiling down at me.

"Chuck what are you doing?" I ask, surprised. He crunches on a packet of chips, and he grins.

"You slept all night, it's morning." He says. "And Liam's back." I sit up quickly, and jump out of bed.

"Where is he?" I ask, confused. Why didn't he come up here?

"He's downstairs being treated." He says.

"Treated?" He looks at me frightened.

"Umm." He stutters. "Yeah. He got.. umm..." But before he could finish, I was out the door, and I run down the stairs into the kitchen. I look around to see the gang, a couple with wounds, and blood on their clothes. They were fixing themselves up, and chatting slightly about the fight. I wildly spin, until I spot Liam, sitting with his wedged up on the table. There is massive gash in the upper part of his arm, obviously made by a knife. Oh god.

"Liam!" I yell, running over to him. He looks up, and smiles.

"I told you I would come back." He grimaces, in pain.

"What happened?" I ask frantically, picking up a cloth socked in antiseptic.

"I was right." He explains. "Drew called his gang, and they play dirty. They came, with knives. We held up a good fight, but we had to leave, we weren't prepared. Some of us got a little hurt."

"A little?" I exclaim, looking at the gash.

"I can barely feel it." He boasts, and I slam the cloth into his wound. He yelps, and flinches.

"Ok, it hurts like a bitch!" He lets out a sigh, and groans. I giggle, and clean it more gently. He looks at me, and smiles. "Later on." He says. "We need to talk."

"Yeah." I say. "We do."

"Ok idiot." Nathan says, slamming a medical bag. "Time to sew you up." I look at him confused. "I'm a doctor." He explains. "Well, at least a medic."

"Why is he an idiot?" I ask.

"He wouldn't have this cut if he didn't dive in the middle of me and Mark." He snorts. "Idiot." Liam sniggers, and sighs.

"Nice apology dude."

"You're welcome." I see other people who need a little help, so I start to help out, cleaning things, handing out pain meds. Everybody seems pretty happy, excited even. I can hear some of their conversations.

"Pussies."

"Can't even win a fair fight."

"We'll get them next time."

"Yeah. Liam will get us there." I smile. They really look up to him. I'm tapped on the shoulder, and it's Liam.

"You wanna go upstairs?" He asks. "Nathan can handle the rest." I smile, and nod. We go upstairs, and we go to the room I slept in. He groans as he sits down, resting his arm. I sit next to him, and sigh,

"I still wish I had stayed." I say stubbornly. He snorts.

"Gemma. We were fighting over you." He says. "I wanted you safe." I stare at him, and smile.

"I... Thank you. " I give in. He grins, and reaches for my hand.

"So." He says, playing with my fingers. "I never thought I was so bad at kissing, you would avoid me for a week."

"Hey." I protest. "I wasn't the only one." He laughs, and agrees.

"So what are you thinking?" He asks, almost nervously. And then I do something totally unplanned. I kiss him. He reacts immediately, running his fingers through my hair, and smiles against my lips. We break, breathlessly, and he grins.

"So does this mean..." I trail off.

"Yeah." He finishes. "I like you."

"I kinda like you too." I tease, as he plants his lips on mine.

<><><><><><><><><>

"What am I going to?" I ask, cuddled into his arm on the bed. "I can't go to school I can't go home. I don't even know what's going on with my parents."

"You stay with me." He insists. "Until we figure this out. And then if you want to... you can go to college. NYU. Like you've always wanted. You took your exams, you're smart enough to graduate." He says. "It will work out."

"And what about Josh?" I ask. "We can't let him do this." He tenses, angrily.

"He's going to pay."