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Brooke had a paper bag filled with Alistair's favorite food from the diner as she stood in front of his front door.
She rang the door bell, anxiously tapping her right foot and fidgeting with her thumb and middle finger. An electric like energy surrounding her as her collar bone and shoulders tingled from nervousness.
The door slowly opened much to her dismay, she tilted her head to the side to catch a glimpse of Alistair as the door was opening.
A gasp left her lips as she looked at him, she almost dropped the paper bag from the shock.
What he said on the phone didn't match what he looked like at all. He was beaten up badly, his bottom lip was busted so were his knuckles. He has a cut above his left eyebrow and the eye under it was a little swollen, it was also purple. He had another purple bruise on his jaw that looked painful, she winced subconsciously as she took him in.
"It looks worse," He offered her a lop-sided grin that caused her to frown at him.
"Al," She sighed. She walked in, too distracted by him to notice her surrounding as they walked to what she presumed is the living room.
She put the food on his coffee table, before turning back to look at him. Her heart felt heavier as she stared at him, he was black and blue. She decided to focus on the positive, he hadn't broken anything or seriously injured him. That was something to lift her spirits up.
"What happened?" She whispered softly as she took a seat across from him on his plush couch.
Alistair debated whether or not to actually tell her because he personally doesn't know why Orion attacked him the way he did. It was so full of hatred and anger, he didn't want to taint Brooke's purity with a fight that merely happened because Orion couldn't control any organ of his. His mouth spit venom and his fists were flaming stones on Alistair's body.
He sighed audibly and decided that she deserves to know. After all, she has come all this way and she also brought him food.
He had been in too much pain to even consider food but he felt slightly better now.
"It was Orion," Brooke watched as Alistair brushed his dark hair back with a shaky hand. "I was walking towards my car, it was after the hours ended in 15 minutes or so, the school consular wanted a word." He rolled his eyes.
"Orion and his gang were coming out of the gym when they ran into me," Alistair exhaled as he closed his eyes. "They were saying words, about me, my dad, and you and I didn't want to fight him so I said 'you're a self-conscious prick who bullies people to feel better about yourself' and I guess the truth got to him." He bit the inside of his cheeks lightly so he wouldn't cause any more pain to himself.
"So he punched me,"
"And he didn't even give me the chance to fucking breath, he just punched and punched until he was satisfied." Alistair looked up from his lap and looked at Brooke warily waiting for her reaction.
Brooke let her heart take care of the situation so she moved closer to him and wrapped her slim arms around his torso. She was cautious in doing so, she didn't want to hurt him. She laid her cheek on his chest and closed her eyes.
Alistair was taken back by the sudden hug, his arms were still up in the air. He smiled as she laid her cheek on his chest, he slowly wrapped his big, warm arms around her in a reassuring hug.
It filled him with the warmth of the sun and the positivity of spring. He gently put his chin above her head and shut his eyes.
"I'm glad you're okay." She whispered, her breath tickling his chest a little. He squeezed her a little harder for a second before they pulled apart.
As he started at the blue-eyed beauty, he wondered how any person could speak such vicious things about her.
She is the most caring, genuine person he has ever met. She isn't afraid to show emotions of love and affection towards the people she cares about and above all she was kind to everybody. She doesn't tolerate discrimination, sexism, racism or any kind of bullying. She is also humble, down to earth so again how could someone dislike her and talk badly about her?
Maybe Orion was just mean.
Although Alistair doesn't really believe that anybody does anything without any kind of motivation behind it, and he couldn't see Orion's motive behind being like that towards anybody.
Again, Alistair is probably being biased.
But still what happened to Orion to make him so angry at the two?
Suddenly, the front door closed which pulled them both out of their thoughts and back to reality. Soft footsteps that definitely belonged to Alistair's mom made their way towards the living room and Alistair breath got caught in his throat.
"Shit." He cursed, Brooke stared quizzically at him.
"If she sees me like that, she's gonna freak out." Alistair whispered, his back and shoulders tense.
As Alistair's mom walked to the room, she got caught off guard by a beautiful blonde girl looking at her from the couch. Her heart started to beat faster as a feeling of excitement started to course through her veins.
"Hello, Mrs. McCall." The girl smiled politely at Alicia McCall.
"Hi, you must be Brooke?" Brooke nodded. "Alistair has told me so much about you." Alicia then glanced at her son and her heart dropped to the floor.
"Oh my! What happened to you?" Alicia rushed towards her son who sighed as his mom began looking over his wounds.
"My baby boy, who has done this to you? Should I call someone? I should call your dad's old friends or Zion's dad..." Alistair grabbed his mom's wrist before she could walk away from him.
"Mom, calm down, I'm okay." She furrowed her eyebrows as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Ali," She whispered softly as she wrapped her arms around her only son. Brooke watched the scene unfold with a heavy heart. She understood his mom's worry.
"I'm okay, I'm promise." He ran his hand up and down her back to reassure her.
It felt as huge weights of guilt dropped on Alistair's shoulders as his mom shook with silent tears. He never wants his mom to worry about him, she has gone through enough as it is.
He could have defended himself, he is well-built and tall but Orion seemed experienced and was extremely fast when he punched. He didn't leave any opening for Alistair to punch back that's why he looked and felt miserable.
A part of him felt like maybe he deserved that, deserved to be beaten black and blue. Maybe it was for all the times he has failed his mom or his dad. Maybe it was for doing something wrong he had forgotten about or unintentionally done. Maybe it was for existing, for being a burden on his mom, his bestfriend Zion and now Brooke and her friends.
Another part of him didn't really care what happens to him, he just numbs everything until it blows up in his face in a raging fire of untended for emotions.
And he hated those parts equally because he knew they were fuelled by his illness but he doesn't have any more will power to get rid of them.
