The Real World |5sos fanfic|

Part 15- Bloodied Sink

I took off my scarf and handed it to Michael. He held it against his oozing nose, trapping any more blood from further staining his clothes.

'I'm really sorry,' I repeated over and over again, chewing on my lip as we walked back to mine.

'It's fine,' his words were muffled under the fabric that covered his mouth.

We got to the main door of my building. I fiddled with the keys awkwardly trying to think of how to phrase what I wanted to say.

'Could you wait here for a minute?' I asked Michael, trying to sound casual.

'What?' he said to me, moving the scarf away from his face so I could hear him clearly.

'It's just I want to see if my uncle's there before I bring you up...'

'Jess, I'm clearly not in any state to fuck you so I don't think it matters if he's up there or not.'

My eyes widened, 'Oh my god, I didn't mean it like that, obviously that's not why I need to check if he was!' I said appalled at the thought. 'It's just he's a little...' I didn't know how to finish my sentence. I looked down at ny keys, playing with them in my hands.

'He's what Jess?'

'He's a little broken,' I said quietly, barely more than a whispered. I looked up from the ground to see Michael smiling sympathetically.

'That's ok,' he said walking towards me, lowering his voice. 'I think we are all a little broken, some of us just hide it better than others.'

I nodded. I fought the sudden urge to shed a tear back as hard as I could.

*

'So what does it say?' Michael asked, coming out of the bathroom. I had given him two towels to use to wash off the blood that had started to dry around the edges on his face.

We had got the the apartment and I thanked God when I realized it was empty. All the lights were switched off. There was no evidence that a man who drank himself into a near fatal state every night lived here.

I was hunched over the computer Googling symptoms of a broken nose. I read them out to Michael who poked and prodded his nose after every question I asked him.

We concluded that it wasn't broken, but it would be best to put ice on it.

'Wait here,' I ordered him as I went into the kitchen. I was glad I did. Empty glass bottles lined the kitchen counter. It made my blood boil.

I was fishing through the freezer looking for a packet of peas when I heard the front door open and slam shut. A lump the size of a tennis ball formed in the back of my throat. I gulped but it wouldn't disappear.

I pushed myself off the floor frantically, leaving the freezer door swinging open. I opened the kitchen door, stepping out straight into Jimmy.

'Jesus Christ Jess!' he shouted as he lost his balance and stumbled sideways. He hit a rack of shelves causing a few books to fall off. He swayed but managed, somehow, to stay upright.

My hands were shaking and I could feel cold beads of sweat dripping down my back under my shirt. I looked over at Michael. He sat with his mouth gaping.

'Who the fuck is this?' Jimmy cried when he saw the boy sitting on the sofa. 'Jess who the fuck is this?' He staggered forward, losing his balance and reaching out for random bits of furniture to support himself.

I rushed between him and Michael who had jumped to his feet as my uncle approached him.

'He's just a friend,' I tried to stay calm. It was the only way to deal with him, screaming and shouting would enrage him more.

'What? A little fuck buddy?' he spat at me, 'You're just like your mum, jumping into bed with any man you meet. Fucking anything with a heart beat! You little slut! You useless piece of shit!' He picked up a book that had spilled onto the floor and it threw it at me full force. The corner if it's hard cover hit me just below my eye. I immediately felt a sharp pain and my vision blurred.

I turned to Michael, my emotions were cracking through my composure. I spoke softly with a trembling lip, 'I think it's best if you go.'

Michael stood as still as a statue. Not moving a muscle. I questioned if he was even breathing but I saw his chest raise up and down in an irregular pattern. He shock his head.

'Michael,' my voice breaking, tears escaping my eyes, running down my roaring red face. 'Please?'

He looked at Jimmy and then back to me. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but didn't. He just started walking swiftly towards the door.

Jimmy grabbed his arm, 'I hope you tipped the lady well for her services.' He gave him a stomach churning wink. Michael looked straight ahead, towards the door. His escape. I envied him being able to leave this hell.

Jimmy let go of him and in a flash he was gone. My heart ached and my head was spinning. I needed to lie down. I needed to cry. I needed Ashton.

As the front door closed behind Michael,  Jimmy turned to face me. 'Seems like a nice boy.' He pushed by me to get to his bedroom. I heard the door slam followed by the springs on his bed screech as he collapsed onto it.

I didn't know what to do so I stood where I was staring at a stain on the ground. This wasn't the first time I had been hit or insulted by Jimmy. However it was the first time I had when someone else was here to see it.

The image of Michael's paling, worried face was alive in my thoughts. I was embarrassed that he had to be here to see what had just happened.

After a while I decided I better go wash my face. I walked into the bathroom to see a bloodied sink. The towels I had given Michael were folded untidily and left on top of the closed toilet seat. He had attempted to clean up but it was still a complete mess.

With hands still shaking, I splashed my face with water. I picked up one of the towels and used a patch that was still clean to wipe up the blood that was seeping out of the cut under my eye. I patted it gently, it was tender to touch. It looked like I had fallen into the corner of a table. That is what I told people when they asked what happened.

I looked down at the sink. There was even more red stains around the edges now than their had been before.  I couldn't tell which ones were mine and which were Michael's.

It didn't matter who owned which. I ended up rubbing blood off the bathroom sink at two o'clock on a Friday morning.

Welcome to the real world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a really really important chapter. The mood completely changes and Jess is brought back down to the real world.

I hope you guys liked it, please keep the comments coming I love hearing what you have to say.