Complicated Love

Chapter 2

*Dakota's POV cont.*

We walked to my car in silence. Peter opened the back door and threw his bag into my car. "Hey careful. I just got this car." "Sorry, I'm just not thinking straight," Peter said, shutting the door. We got to my apartment. "You have an apartment?" Peter asked as we walked into my apartment. "Yeah, my parents kicked me out." "Do you live by yourself?" "Yes." "Maybe I should move in with you," Peter said, chuckling. "You can if you want." "You're serious?" "Yes. I don't want you getting beat." "Do you have room for me?" "Yes I have enough room." I walked over to my couch and placed my bag down. "Why did you parents kick you out?" Peter asked. "I came home drunk one night cause I was drinking my pain away." "How old were you?" "Sixteen. And let me tell you, I'm never doing that again." "So you've been here by yourself for two years?" "Well for a year, I had a roommate but he found another girl to room with." "Him?" "Yes. He was my boyfriend." "Why did he leave you for another girl?" "Peter, you ask a lot of questions." "I wanna get to know you better." "Well let's sit down then," I said, walking over to my other couch and sat down. Peter sat down next to me. "So he left me cause I wasn't pretty enough for him and that he didn't like the way I dress." "That's terrible." "Especially when I walked in on him on top of the girl." "That's not how you treat a lady," Peter said. "Okay you can't say that when you were mean to me as well." "I have anger issues. I'm sorry." "You were the reason why I drank the pain away." "How?" "You may not think that some of the words you say to me hurt me but they do. I loved your music and still do but when you were mean to me, I was so hurt." "You love my music?" I stood up and held out my hand. Peter reached up and placed his hand on mine. He stood up and I brought him into my room. "Sit down." He sat down on my bed. I kneeled down by my nightstand and opened up the door. I took out a chest and shut the door. I stood up and placed my chest on the bed. My chest was labeled hooligan. I opened it up. "Look inside," I said, standing back. Peter took out his album CDs, then his posters. I had about 10 posters of him. He pulled out a jacket that looked just like his hooligan jacket. "Where did you get this?" Peter asked, staring at the jacket. "I got it online." "Wow." "Yeah so now you know I like your music," I said. "And that you are a hooligan." "Yes." He placed the stuff back in the box and closed it. "We better work on our project," I said, getting up. "What is it on?" "Something about the play Romeo and Juliet and that we need to research about it," I said as we walked out of the room. I grabbed my bag and we sat down on the couch. I grabbed my laptop. Peter moved in closer to me so that he was against me. I looked up at him. "Is this too close?" Peter asked, smiling. "Not at all," I said, smiling back. I searched up Romeo and Juliet. Peter was playing with my hair. "Instead of looking up information, do you just wanna watch the movie?" Peter asked. "Sure, you can look it up," I said. Peter reached over to get my laptop when his sleeves lifted up. I saw a couple bruises and cuts. I moved my laptop on the other side of me. "I thought you wanted me to get Romeo and Juliet." I pulled Peter closer to me and hugged him. "What's this for?" Peter asked, wrapping his arm around me. "You're strong." "Um thanks." I looked up at him. I grabbed his sweatshirt zipper. "May I?" "Why?" "I wanna see your arms." He nodded his head and I unzipped his sweatshirt. I took it off for him. His arms were bruised and cut all over. "You need to tell someone about this." "No. My brother would kill me if I told someone." "Why does he beat you?" "I don't know. Sometimes, he's drunk when he does." "May I take off your shirt to see the bruises and cuts on your body?" "Sure." I took off his shirt. He had burn marks, deep cuts, and bruises. "Peter, those cuts are deep." "I know." "He burned you?" "Yes with hot pans." "That's it!" I got up and walked into my kitchen. I grabbed a big knife and I walked out. I walked over to the door. "I'll be back." I opened up the door and walked out. "Dakota, wait." I turned around and Peter was standing behind me. "You can't kill him." I took a step forward. "I want him to suffer the way he's making you suffer." "Put the knife down please." I placed the knife down on the ground. Peter walked over to me and hugged me. "Thank you for caring about me." I wrapped my arms around him. I started crying. "What's wrong darling?" "I hate knowing that you are suffering." "I'll be okay. These bruises will go away. Let's go back into the room before someone sees me with no shirt." I let go of Peter. He wrapped his arm around me and we walked inside. We watched Romeo and Juliet. In middle of the movie, Peter got a text. "Dammit, I have to go. I didn't tell my brother I was here." "No! He will beat you!" "I'll be fine. Bye." Peter kissed my forehead. "Peter please." "Goodbye." "Can I at least have your number?" "Of course." He gave me his number and I gave him mine. "I'll text you tomorrow," Peter said. "Okay." He kissed me on the forehead and left. The next day at school, Peter wasn't there. I was working on my math work. "Dakota, may I talk to you?" The teacher asked. "Sure." I walked out of the classroom. Mrs. Anderson shut the door behind me. "Listen, Peter wanted me to tell you that he won't be in school for a couple days cause he fell down his stairs and broke his leg and a couple of his ribs." It hit me. His brother must've beaten him badly. "Mrs. Anderson, I have to tell you something." "What is it?" I stood there, debating whether or not to tell her. "Peter gets beaten at home," I blurted out. "Tell the class I'll be back." She walked down the hall. What have I done?