SOS

Eight

Elodie jumps hard as the door to the roof is thrown open with a loud clang. She'd been overly jumpy since Amy trapped her in the bathroom to threaten her, but she was trying to work through that. Frowning when she hears sobbing, she quietly stands, eyes going wide as she sees the unmistakable form of Luke. He's standing against the edge of the building with his back to her, his left arm seems to be cradled against his chest as his right hand rubs very gently through the curls on the back of his head.

"FUCK!" She startles again as he yells out angrily into the night, slowly walking towards him slightly as he continues to mutter under his breath.

"Luke?" She can't help but speak, feeling the agony radiating off the troubled man.

"Elodie." Luke spins on a dime, his eyes wide as he sees her, "I, I didn't know you were up — Wait, did you just say my name?"

Elodie nods timidly, her eyes tracing the red marks on his jaw, the blotchiness of his eyes, and then down to the arm he is cradling. Rushing forward as she takes in the sight of his left arm, she pulls it away from him gingerly, assessing the blood slowly beading out of a few cuts.

"It's okay." Luke tries, "I pulled away, I knew it would happen."

Looking up at him she shakes her head, pulling him gently by the hand to where her blanket and bag sit, the abandoned notebook she'd been writing in laying beside it.

"What is this?" Luke asks softly as Elodie pushes him down to sit on the blanket, pulling her bag towards her without answering.

"Do you often hang out on the roof of hotels in the middle of the night?" Luke chuckles softly, feeling a calm he didn't think he would find washing over him as he sits beside the silent girl. 

Turning back to him Elodie nods softly, blushing in the glow of the yellow light over their heads. She lifts a couple things from her bag, asking with her eyes if  he would like her to wrap his arm in the bandages she pulled out.

"You carry that stuff in your bag?" Luke frowns, nodding though and offering out his arm, the cuts are deep enough to need cleaned, but not too deep, they'll heal within a few days, a week at longest.

Elodie sighs, nodding softly, her eyes clouded in something Luke can't quite pinpoint. Silence falls between them as Elodie's small fingers clean his cuts, placing ointment over them and then wraps his arm in some gauze and coban tape.

"Thanks, El." Luke offers, leaning back against the wall beside her once she's done, but hisses slightly as he jerks away, the spot where he'd hit his head stinging at contact with the brick. He sees a million thoughts flash through her bright green eyes before she very gently grabs his jaw, pulling his head forward until she can see the back of it, her fingers cool against his hot scalp as she combs his hair away from the sensitive spot to assess it.

"Is it bad?" He asks after a minute, as she guides him to lay down on her thighs, his head resting so that the bruised spot is between her barely parted legs, comfortably supported but not being touched.

With a small smile she shakes her head, no, combing her fingers through the front of his curls now, brushing them away from his face.

"It's not bleeding right?"

Again she shakes her head, no.

"Good, a headache and a goose egg I can deal with." He sighs, "I sent her home by the way, she can't do this shit to you or anyone on tour again. I'm going to have Andrew ban her from the rest of the tour too, for safety reasons."

Luke glances up to Elodie as he feels her fingers pause in the way they are running through his curls, seeing concern in her eyes, "It isn't your fault, Elodie. She was being a bitch to me and to you, and the way she reacted to me calling her out on it isn't your fault. Please don't blame yourself." He whispers, reaching up to tuck a small strand of her hair behind her ear. "Something in my gut tells me you've had experience with abuse before, sorry if she triggered you at all when she did whatever she did to corner you and threaten you. I never wanted that. I can usually control her attacks, I'm sorry I couldn't do that for you this time. And I'm sorry she was messing with my guitars and trying to make your life harder. I am very impressed that you did so well fixing it that I never noticed, but I'm also sorry I never noticed, because I should have."