Don't Let Me Push You Away (Simon Minter Fanfic)

Chapter 11

The most change I've seen in myself from living in this house was my sleeping schedule.  Going to sleep around 6 am with everyone else and waking up at 2 in the afternoon became the norm for me.  Even though it was approaching the time, just as the sun was coming up, for me to sleep, that just wasn't happening.  I'd liked to say it's because I couldn't stop thinking about everything that went on, but really it was because my face was throbbing in pain.  To be honest, I was fucking exhausted and would probably sleep for a few days if I hadn't been punched in the face a dozen times.

    JJ finally came home, not wasting anytime barging through my door.  His face was full of concern and it only got worse when he got a look at my face. 

    "Kells, I'm so sorry."

    "Can you just come over here and hold me?"  A fresh wave of tears came over me in the middle of my sentence.  Of course it took him only a matter of milliseconds to basically sprint and dive into my bed.  He snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me as close as he could.  I shoved my head into JJ's chest and allowed myself to sob away any left over self pity I had within me. 

    His fingers brushed through my hair, only getting about a quarter of the way through before the knots stopped him.  "I should have been here, I could have prevented all of this."

    "No Jide, you have your own life.  Nothing anyone did could have changed what happened tonight.  I'm just glad you're here now."  It was true, my face even seemed to hurt less now that he was next to me.  Nothing has changed from the way I felt about him, he was still my knight in shining armor whenever I needed him.  Even if he wasn't always there.  No matter that, he dropped everything to come rescue me when I felt myself going under.  My best friend.  I was so lucky. 

    With JJ's arms around me I was at least able to get a couple hours of sleep so I wouldn't go insane.  In fact, it was the only way I slept since that night, with JJ close by me.  I barely left my room for days after everything, being serious when I didn't want anything to do with Simon.  Making videos became sort of an escape for me, I enjoyed making them and editing them, happy that it was time consuming.  JJ stayed close by me, he was the only one who was pissed at Simon too, even though I didn't want him to be.  That was his best friend and whatever happened between him and me shouldn't affect them.  When I tried to express that to my best friend he just shook his head and said that it was still fucked up.

    Today though, Josh and Vik decided amongst themselves that they were forcing me out of the house.  Even though Jide didn't want me anywhere out of his sight, he had things to do so agreed to stop breathing down my neck.  Going out gave me a little anxiety for the reason that my face wasn't healed and was nearly all black and blue.  People were going to stare already because of who I was with, and then they're going to see my face.  It was kind of the perfect test for me to keep my cool.

    All in all I was looking forward to going to the mall.  Being cooped up in my room all day was starting to make my head spin and with all the extra money I had saved, I wanted to buy some new clothes.  This was also the day that Josh wanted to introduce me to his girlfriend, Freya.  It was terrifying because there was a chance she could hate me because I live with her boyfriend, but I'd be really happy to have a female friend to talk to and get different advice. 

    It was mid afternoon on a Thursday so the mall wasn't packed.  There was still a lot people but not enough to where I noticed everyone's eyes on me.  I subconsciously looked at my reflection in passing mirrors to make sure my makeup was staying intact.  I couldn't wear as much as I liked because I read somewhere that it effected the healing process and the sooner my face was back to normal, the better.