Stay With Me ✔

39.

Rave and I help Lexy back through the woods behind her house and into his car. I sit in the backseat with her and try to wipe the blood from her mouth, but she is trembling so badly, that it's almost impossible. As he drove, Rave kept glancing back at the two of us in the mirror, his hands gripping the wheel tighter and tighter each time he did so. 

I don't know what happened, I don't know what a code red is, and I don't know how many times Rave has seen Lexy like this - but I know this isn't the first time.

The girl sitting beside me is not the girl I know, she's not the mean girl that lives to torment me and trip me in the halls. This version of Lexy lacks all her confidence and bitterness, instead she's a hollow shell of the queen bee Lexy strives to be. Her hair is falling out of it's perfect messy bun, her face is bare of her usual mask of make up, and her designer clothes are replaced with leggings and an old sweatshirt. 

She's crying as she grips my hand tightly, her eyes focused on the road outside the car window, watching the lights and houses pass by us as we make our way to the hospital. Rave hadn't given her a chance to argue, one look at her sitting there on the ground, broken and afraid, and he was picking her up, carrying her to the car and telling her that she was going to the hospital to get checked out. Lexy tried to protest once, but when she saw the look on his face, she nodded her head and let him carry her back to the car. 

Rave pulled into an empty parking spot and looked back at Lexy, her face was swollen and I could see the beginning of a bruise form on her cheek. She locked eyes with Rave and after a minute nodded her head. He opened the door for her and I followed her out of the car, keeping my hand in hers as Rave took her other hand and we walked through the doors with her. 

There weren't a lot of people in the emergency room, so Lexy was taken straight back to a room, leaving Rave and I in the waiting area. I took a seat on one of the couches near a window, away from the few other people in the area, and Rave did the same. 

His knees were touching mine as he sat on the edge of his seat and he reached for my hand, rubbing his thumb in circles over my own. "Lexy's dad is...he's really abusive sometimes." 

I remember the time that Rave told me he had to help Lexy with something, something he couldn't tell me about because it wasn't his story to tell. "Is this why you were with her that night?" 

I didn't have to say anything more, he knew exactly what night I was talking about. "Yeah. We came up with the code red thing a few years ago, and there's this tree house behind her house where she goes to hide. I spent the night with her there that night, but all we did was play some games and then go to sleep - I didn't lie to you Ky, I just couldn't tell you because no one knows and she...she always kept my secret so I had to keep hers." 

"I get it, Rave. It's none of my business." And I did get it, there was a past and a loyalty between the two of them that I would never understand. I've been lucky enough to live a life full of love and good fortune, I've never felt scared or unwanted - so I can never fully understand what they have to go through or have been through together. 

"I know she can be a royal bitch, and she's pure evil sometimes, but she has her reasons. They may not make sense to the rest of us, but she has a lot of shit going on in her life, and she doesn't have anyone to be there for her. She can be really kind and sweet at times, and that's who she really is, despite everything else, she's a good person. She's just...lost." 

I'll admit, Lexy has done and said some pretty terrible things, and I never liked her. I never liked the way she treated Rave or her friends, or anyone for that matter. Lexy always acted as if she were above everyone else, and I hated her for it.