Die for You

Chapter 35

I came around to find Becky fussing over me as I lay on the ground.

"Freenky, babe, are you ok? Fuck I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

I struggled to my elbows, the lancing pain in my leg being replaced with a dull throb. I looked down to see a bright green blotch on my thigh, a dramatic contrast to the black material of my combats.

"I'm fine, Bec," I said without thinking, "I'm not hurt, I don't really know what came over me."

I'm lying, I know I'm lying. I know exactly what came over me, a bad fucking memory overloading my brain, and a very sensitive spot; mental and physical scars that still hadn't healed. So I'm lying to her about it, but it's not something I'm enjoying, I don't like lying to Beck, it feels wrong... all fucking wrong.

"Did I hurt you? Shit, babe, I'm so sorry. It just went off in my hands." She said pulling me into a tight hug. "I nearly died when you collapsed then. I thought I'd really hurt you."

"I'm fine, babe," I said hugging her back, running my hands up and down her spine comfortingly. "It was just a bit of a shock that's all, hit me in a painful place ,you know? Sort of physically and mentally."

She held me tightly for a few seconds before our moment was interrupted by a voice.

"Well, it's nice to see you two acting normally finally, even if it did take Becky shooting you with that bloody paintball gun, Freen. It's about time you two stopped pussyfooting around each other."

Jenna, 'shit', I had totally forgotten about Jenna in all the embarrassment. Quickly, I twisted my head around to see her smiling at us indulgently.

"You two do make a lovely couple you know, but then I thought that last time you were here." She said cryptically, holding out a hand and helping me to my feet when Becky disentangled herself from me.

"Jenna, I erm..."

"Oh, shush Freen, dear. Did you honestly think that Becky hasn't been on the phone to me almost every day since you left here?"

"No, she did mention..."

"Well then, you don't have to pretend around me. I told you the last time we spoke that you seem to make my daughter happy and that's good enough for me. Now then, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, honestly, I'm absolutely fine; apart from feeling a little embarrassed at myself, and my own stupidity," I said wiping at the green blob with the end of my sleeve. Both Jenna and Becky eyed me suspiciously, as if knowing that I wasn't telling the whole truth, Jenna went to speak but Becky cut her off quickly.

"Well, now at least you see why I don't think I should be allowed around real guns, Freenky. If that had been real, I might have killed you."

I grinned at her, hoping that the pain in my leg didn't make it look like a grimace, "Yeah, remind me to teach you some range safety next time you ever pick up a weapon again, starting with the use of a safety catch and never pointing a rifle at someone unless you mean to use it."

"Like mother like daughter," Jenna said, "I seem to remember your very first words to me were something about pointing guns down range."

"Yeah, I don't know what it is about you Armstrong women," I said trying to alleviate the tension that hovered over us because of the accident and my extreme reaction to it, "but you both seem intent on getting me killed."

The nervous laughter that started suddenly broke into good humor as we relaxed, and I thought it was time to take the initiative again and try and remove some of Becky's embarrassment, as well as my own.