Smash!

•N I N E T E E N•

Jamie's POV

We stare each other down, both unmoving, and too still. My heart pounds in hard, uneven beats against my rips. I try not to blink, afraid if I do he'll disappear like a hallucination.

"Jamie..." Riley pants, wincing in pain, "we've been standing here for like ten minutes." He hoarsely says in between pants, shutting his brown eyes in pain. Reaching out, I brush my finger tips over his jaw, feeling for myself that's he's real, that he's here. His one good, bruised eye opens at my touch, looking at me like I'm a firework show.

"Why should I let you back in after you left-" I almost utter the word me, but I realize that I'll sound clingy and emotional. So, with an aching heart, and a deep breath, I get a grip on myself. "Left without a goodbye."

"Because you're the better person who takes in an asshole you pepper sprayed, instead of leaving them to rot on a sidewalk." He states, leaning in. I'm quiet for long moment, needing the time to think.

"I don't have to let you in." I point out, tightening my hold on the one sided door knob.

"You don't." He nods slowly. "But I'm hoping you will."

"Why did you come here instead of a hospital?" I stall.

"Because they- nurses, doctors, and on sight police- would want to know how and why I got these injuries." He explains. "Plus, I don't have health insurance." He adds.

"I'm going to regret this." I give in, widening the doorway.

"Most likely." He sighs, limping inside. "You don't happen to have a frozen steak, do you?" Riley asks, limping over to fridge. I hover by the front door, my apartment so small I can easily see Riley dig through my freezer from my spot.

"Just as I suspected. No red meat, but plenty of frozen bags of vegetables." He takes an armful of frozen veggies. I stay rooted to my spot, my jaw clenched, and trying to sort out my feelings. I feel almost disoriented; shock debating with relief, happiness fighting with reason. Should I let myself be happy? Does all that hurt I felt just go away now?

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I was right, Mr. Williams didn't come back. I lazily twist the one sided door knob while Riley showers, not really sure what I should do, not sure how I am suppose to feel. Shutting my green eyes, I rest my head against the door, the wood cool against my skin. Trying to clear my head, I go to the kitchen to check that I still have all of Riley's preferable junk food. I didn't have the heart to throw any of it out.

"I forgot how great low water pressure feels." Riley comes out of my small bathroom, a towel knotted lowly at his hips. I wince at the sight of Riley's bare skin, my heart leaping with concern and horror. Riley looks like a car crash victim. Huge, gruesome looking purple blotches bruise his rip cage. The skin not bruised is an angry, irradiated red. Beady puncture marks the shape of a foot cut into his skin all over his body; on his forearms, his shoulders, his shins, his abdominal, and his back.

"It looks a lot worse than it actually is." Riley muses, wiping his dark hair with a towel. I can tell his every move aches like a bitch from slow and precise his movements are.

"What happened to you?" I gape. Riley pauses, his bruised face stoning over.

"This is the part where you rudely tell me it's none of my business, or I'm too basic to know, or all of the above." I mumble, walking past him. Riley stares after me as I scoop up his bloody clothes off the bathroom floor, the first time I've ever stunned him into a silence. I don't feel accomplished about it, it just makes me feel worse.

"I'm going to go wash these at the laundromat, I'll be back in an hour." Is all I say as I walk out.

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