bruises // heathers

nine // promises

"You're still so good." Veronica said into JD's bare chest. "Holy fuck."

"You don't have anything to compare me to." JD reminded the blushing Veronica.

"Who the hell cares?" Asked Veronica. "I know when it's good."

"Well I'm just saying, you're the best I've ever had." JD smirked, but Veronica bit his neck to get him to stop mentioning his other fucks. "Ow! Shit Veronica!"

"Sorry." Veronica giggled, she felt like a teenager again. That high and airy feeling that he gave her was back.

"Why didn't you move on?" JD asked softly, causing Veronica to be quiet.

"I couldn't." She answered honestly. "Did you try to move on?" She asked quietly.

"I didn't try to be with anyone else. I didn't want to be with anyone but you." JD replied.

"Did you sleep with anyone else?" Veronica asked, knowing in her gut that she would not like the answer to this.

"Veronica, it was almost ten years and I'm just a man. There were times I needed human touch." JD sighed.

"Why did you do it?" Veronica asked, feeling jealousy well up inside of her.

"It was just one-night stands with a few women over the years." JD told her to try and get her to relax, he could feel her body getting hot with anger.

"But if you found out I slept with other men, would you be happy?" Veronica asked.

"Did you?" JD asked in response.

"No. I didn't." Veronica looked up at him. "I already told you I couldn't move on. I went on a few dates when I was in college, I couldn't even let the guys touch my hand without it feeling wrong. Let alone allow them to fuck me."

"I wouldn't have been happy if you ever were with other men. I'm glad you weren't, you're mine." JD said.

"And I thought you were mine." Veronica bit her lip.

"I am." JD groaned and Veronica snorted in disbelief. "There were girls before you, Veronica. There were women after you. But there will never be anyone after you again because we're finally together."

"You really mean it?" Veronica asked, ignoring the part about the fact that she wasn't JD's first. JD slept with many girls before her, but none of them left the impact Veronica did on him. They were disposable dolls. Same goes for the women after Veronica. He didn't love a single goddamn one, he loved her. She was who he wanted to be with.

"Yes." JD said his one-word reply. "I love you, Veronica. No one could ever replace you in my heart."

"I love you too," Veronica smiled into his skin and moved closer to him.

"We should probably get up soon." JD mentioned.

"Shh, let's just stay here a little longer." Veronica whispered, her eyes shutting slowly.

"You're falling asleep," JD chuckled at Veronica's sleepiness.

"Mama?" Their daughter asked through the door, knocking softly.

"Seems like we've got to get up now anyways, Ronnie." JD said, causing Veronica to let out a loud groan.

"Mom? Dad?" Giselle asked louder through the door. "Can I come in?"

"No!" Veronica and JD yelled at the same time.

"We'll be out in a minute." JD told Elle, who said okay in response. Him and Veronica stood up and began to get dressed, before opening the bedroom door and seeing what their daughter needed. "What's up?" JD asked her.

"I'm hungry." Elle answered.

"We're going to the store in a little while." JD replied.

"But what if someone sees my arm?" Elle asked him, holding up her bandaged wrist. The bandages didn't stop all the blood, her pain bled through and stained them.

"You can wear long sleeves, Ellie." Veronica answered before turning to JD. "We should probably put new bandages on it." Veronica said to him. JD nodded and went to get the first aid kit.

"Sit." JD told Elle, who did as she was directed. "Hold out your arm." She did that as well.

"Is it gonna hurt?" Elle asked, worry prominent in her cute face.

"Probably." JD replied, pulling off the bandages gently but still causing Elle to yelp out in pain. He began to clean off the deep cut, which also caused Elle to whine, before putting butterflies on it to close it. After the butterflies, he wrapped it in bandages.

"That hurt a lot!" Elle cried.

"It's a deep cut, I have to make sure it's clean so it doesn't get infected. It's going to hurt a lot worse if it gets infected." JD responded. "Listen, you need to never do this shit again. You hear me?"

"Yes." Elle replied softly.

"I'm not even kidding. This is serious, kid. You could have killed yourself, you scared the shit out of your mom and me. You are to never do it again. It becomes an addiction." JD explained, his blue eyes meeting with his daughter's. "Trust me, I know."

"How?" Elle asked, to which JD sat his arm in front of her.

"See those little lines?" He asked, Elle nodded. "That's from cutting myself. Years ago. I'll have these scars for my entire life. I don't want that for you."

"Ellie, you have so much to live for. Please promise us, promise me, you won't ever do this again." Veronica interrupted, crying a bit at the thought of her baby being covered in scars.

"I promise." Elle mumbled.

"You can't break promises." JD reminded her.

"I know."

"Go get dressed and then we'll go to the store." JD told her. Elle hopped down from the stool and went to do as told.

"Where did you learn how to deal with kids?" Veronica asked JD.

"I didn't. I treated her the way I would have wanted to be treated. I treated her like a human being not defined by their age." JD answered.

"How were you treated?" Veronica asked.

"Well once my father saw my fresh cuts one time, he smacked me in the face for acting like, and I quote, a pussy." JD said in a very monotonous voice.

"Oh my god." Veronica gasped.

"Yeah. He wasn't exactly a good father. He had no idea how to raise a kid. My mother did that before she died. I was only ten, going on eleven." JD swallowed the lump in his throat.

"How did your mom die?" Asked Elle, who had snuck back into the room once she got dressed.

"My pop demolished buildings for a living. He was about to blow up a library and she went in two minutes before it blew up. She waved out the window and... boom." JD answered.

"I'm so sorry." Elle whispered.

"Don't apologize." JD said loudly. "I've heard that so many times, I'm sick of it. She died, it was a long time ago but it happened." JD lowered his voice a bit and explained why he hates sympathy before grabbing his trench coat off the couch and putting it on. Veronica picked up her jacket that was also dropped on the couch and Elle already had on a sweatshirt. The little family walked out of the apartment, locking the door behind them. Elle kind of walked a few steps in front of her parents, who were lovingly intertwined like they were in her Polaroids.