Four Reasons (ON HOLD)

Chapter 8

-Tom's POV-

I gently shut the door behind me and the moment I heard the latch click I slumped against the wall, burying my face in my hands as I sunk to the floor. I felt Kate slide down the wall next to me and she put a comforting hand on my shoulder to let me know that I wasn't alone.
"What the hell even just happened?" I breathed.
"I have no idea," Kate replied and I felt her hair hit my arm signaling that she was shaking her head, probably in disappointment.
"I know him, he never does things like this," I muttered, running my hand through my hair. "Then again, he's never drunk that much at once before..."
"It wasn't your fault, Tom," Kate tried to reassure me, but I ended up feeling worse.
I didn't even understand why I cared so much. I just met Elena, and I already cared about her a lot. More than I probably even knew. In a way, her vulnerability towards me last night, reminded me of myself. I wanted to take care of her, because once you lose that piece of yourself because of something that someone else does, you can't get it back. And it hurts. It hurts so bad.
"Tom," Kate finally jolted me out of my thoughts. "It's not your fault, there wasn't anything you could do. None of us knew what was happening, until she screamed."
"What if she hadn't screamed?" I looked up at Kate, my eyes wide open in fear. "Kate, what if she hadn't screamed?"
"She did."
"But what if she hadn't?!"
"BUT SHE DID!" Kate finally almost yelled.
I sighed heavily and set my head back against the wall, closing my eyes and allowing myself to let one tear slip down my cheek.
"Where is he?" I asked quietly after a few minutes of silence.
"Downstairs," Kate answered.
"Good," I pushed myself off the floor and made my way down the hall to the stairs, Kate close behind to make sure I didn't do something stupid.
I got down the stairs and looked toward the double doors leading to the back yard, and there was Harrison leaning against the doorframe. His head was down and his shoulders were slumped in a decrepit looking form. I walked over to him, the anger I felt last night bubbling in my stomach as I grabbed his shirt and turned him around to look me in the eye. His expression showed surprise at first before it quickly melted into fear and sorrow.
"Look mate," he started, but I cut him off.
"No, you don't get to talk. I don't care if you were drunk, she is up there sick and asleep because she didn't get any last night! Because of you! She threw up this morning because she has been crying so hard and so much! You made her sick, Harrison! What the f*ck were you thinking?! Or were you even thinking?!" At this point I no longer cared what happened, all I felt was anger and hate towards a guy who had been my best friend since we were tiny. And now I had him pinned to a wall with the looming threat of murder hanging over him because I was about ready to kill him for what he did.
"I-I," He sputtered for words but couldn't form any.
"Just stay away from her! And if you hurt her ever again, I will kill you."
I let go of him and walked stiffly and quickly back upstairs to my room, where I kept myself from slamming the door shut because I didn't want to wake Elena.
I flopped on my bed and turned onto my side, clutching a pillow to my chest and letting out an angry sigh. I took a couple minutes to breathe and calm down before getting back up and sitting at my desk. I opened my laptop and started doing some work to keep my mind off of everything that had happened.

~Several Hours Later~

A knock on my door broke my concentration of learning my lines and I stood up to open the door. Kate stood there, a bit of a smile on her face. Although I could tell it took her a lot of effort to pull it off.
"What's up?" I asked. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just, Elena and I had planned to go home and get our stuff today. But..." she trailed of at the end.
"But she obviously won't want to go anywhere," I finished for her.
"Yeah. But we still need our stuff, so I was just going to tell you that I'm gonna go."
"When do you think you'll be back?" I looked at my watch.
"Probably late, since I'm getting started way too late," She grimaced.
"I would offer to go with you..." I looked at the floor. "But I'm not leaving her alone with Harrison."
"No need anyway, I'll be fine. I'll call if I need anything," she gave me a faint smile and turned to walk to her room to grab her stuff. But she quickly turned back to me. "Take care of her."
"I will," my face was serious, and I was. I would protect her with my life, even though I still didn't know why.
"And don't do anything stupid to Haz," she looked at me pointedly.
"I— I'll try."
"Bye," She half-waved at me before disappearing into her room to get her stuff. She came back out a moment later and passed me on her way down the stairs.
"Bye," I replied as she went out of sight.
I shut my door and went back to my desk. Sitting there and thinking for several minutes when I heard a soft knock on the door between my room and Elena's. I looked over as the door opened to reveal Elena, still wearing my shirt, and nothing else. I could tell she was at least wearing underwear, but she didn't have shorts on, or a bra either. I instead looked at her face, which was swollen and puffy from all the crying, and it was still a little red. Dark circles underlined her eyes and she looked dead. Behind her eyes, however, was a different look entirely. Her emotions were all over the place, her eyes flashing little bits of fear and complete distress and utter depressed sadness.
I stood up a moment after she opened the door and went straight over to her, wrapping her in a tight embrace that I never wanted to let go of. She gladly hugged me back and we stood there for several minutes, just breathing in each other's presence. I calmed down quite a bit from my earlier frustration, and I could tell that Elena grew much more relaxed than she was before.
"Where's Kate?" She mumbled into my chest as I continued to hold her.
"She left about twenty minutes ago to go back to your house and get your stuff."
"Oh," she said. "Where is," I heard her gulp. "H-Harr..."
"Harrison?" I finished for her.
"Yeah," she breathed.
"He's downstairs. At least I think he is. Although he probably left after what I said to him," I muttered the last part, not really wanting anyone to hear it.
"What did you say to him?" Elena lifted her head from my chest and looked at me.
"Nothing," I didn't look her in the eye.
"Tom," she reached up and grabbed my face, making me look her in the eye. "What did you say to him?"
"I told him that if he ever hurt you again, I would kill him," I replied with a completely straight face.
"Tom," she sighed. "You don't even know me that well." She let go of my face and backed away, looking at the floor.
"Why would you threaten your best friend for someone like me, who, I will repeat, you barely know."
"I don't know. I just..." I reached out and took one of her hands in my own. "I just care about you. A lot. I don't know why, I just do. I don't have an explanation, and I probably never will, but Elena—"
She looked up at me.
"I will always protect you. And I will always care about you."
"I know," she didn't break eye contact with me, but instead gripped my hand a little tighter.