Letters to Anonymous | ✔️

a little painful

"Hey, what's wrong?" Claire asked as she sighed and rested her back against the lockers before sliding her bum down to the ground. Her arm brushed Adrian's as she did so and she took notice of it but hid her reaction.

"What do you mean?" Adrian asked, looking sideways at her and gave her a small, forced smile.

"Well, you're staring at the wall with your sandwich in your hand. I usually find your face stuffed, with pieces of your lunch falling out of your mouth when I come here. It's quite an attractive sight." She joked.

"Ha ha." He dead panned and took a large bite out of his sandwich on purpose.

"So what's up, huh?" She asked again and nudged him with her elbow.

"I saw the guy." He said after a moment of silence. "The asshole that was...bothering my sister, he had a guy that was always with him. I've seen him a few times but not in the past few months. I saw him yesterday, after I finished with work."

Eyes aware, Claire watched him, preparing herself to be an anchor if he needed one.

"What was he doing?"

"I don't know. I just saw him walk by."
Not knowing how to respond so suddenly, she hesitantly placed her hand on his and said, "if you need some help to kick someone's ass, I'm here for you." She joked, smiling softly at him.

He laughed and stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his bag before standing up. "Let's go for a walk outside. It's too stuffy in here."

Wincing a bit, Claire hesitated with her reply. "Okay."

She looked up at the lock above her and reached her hand up to grab a hold of it. Using the lock to take the weight away from her left leg, she tried to minimize the pain showing on her face as she hoisted herself up.

"Hey." Adrian said upon noticing Claire's discomfort, and slipped his arms around her waist to help her up. "What's wrong?"

She couldn't help the laugh that came out of her. "I literally said the exact same thing just a few minutes ago."

"Well now it's directed at you." He said, making sure she was steady before letting her go. Still, he kept his hand on one arm, just in case. "So?"

"It was just...a little shove that went a long way." She said, letting out a pity laugh. Adrian raised his eyebrows, waiting for the whole story. "Um, when I came back from school yesterday, he got angry because his beer was finished and I didn't get another pack when I was supposed to, so, he threw some empty bottles and then shoved me. Me being the unaware klutz I am, fell into said pile of broken bottle. My thigh got pretty cut up. I managed to patch it all up but it stings...a lot." She said, talking slow because she wasn't used to telling someone about her inflicted wounds. "Anyways, let's-" She stopped talking as she looked up at Adrian's face.

His jaw was clenched as he stared at where her wound would be.

She moved her leg even though the bandages were covered with her jeans and cleared her throat.

"I told you I'd figure out a way to make you happy, to stop this." Adrian said, keeping his eyes on the leg he knew was hurting. "I'm going to do it."

"I know." Claire whispered.

Adrian lifted his head to look at her and she saw a strong determination in his eyes.

"Let's go outside." She said and started walking with the slightest limp.

"Do you need help?" Adrian asked as he moved his arms forward to help her walk, but she shook her head. Feeling the need to help anyways, he decided it was enough to grab a hold of her hand. And with every step she took, she squeezed his hand a little.