𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑩𝑨𝑺𝑰𝑺 𝑶𝑭 𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬 | 𝗯. 𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀

𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞;

act one, scene three;

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"never knew i could hurt so bad,"

-

The moment passed, and Ellie mentally gave herself a little shake. Get a grip, idiot. She turned away from his piercing eyes, feeling rattled by their intensity.

"Okay," she agreed, still shaking, "no hospitals," and put her phone away. She looked him over for any injuries, noting that he didn't look like he had sustained any bruises or broken bones from what she could see, but that he was definitely injured under his clothes. They had probably kicked him in his side while he was down.

Ellie reached out, slowly so that he could decide if he wanted to shy away from her touch or to accept it. Her hand settled lightly on his shoulder, and she waited a few seconds, observing his reaction and waiting for her touch to be deemed unwelcome. His entire body tensed, but he didn't move to shrug her hand away. Ellie relaxed a little. Okay, he probably would't hit her.

"Hey, you okay?" Ellie asked softly, and withdrew her hand from his shoulder when he nodded sharply at her and made to stand. Ellie got up from her crouch, grimacing at the pins and needles in her right leg from where she had leaned most of her weight against. The man had gotten up fluidly, as if he hadn't been assaulted by those boys at all.

"Are you hungry?" Ellie stood there in that cold, stinking alley, looking up into this man's eyes, waiting.

And slowly, he nodded.

Five minutes later, they were crammed into a small booth at Ellie's favorite diner a few streets away from her house. Ellie noted that they were very conveniently placed, sequestered away in the corner of the diner with all the entry and exit points in sight. After a stalker had managed to catch her unaware while she was out shopping, Ellie had started to notice those kind of things. It didn't escape her that the man was tense, too, looking around cautiously like someone was going to jump out of the shadows and attack him at any given moment.

Briefly, Ellie spared a thought to wonder if he was a veteran, because he sure as hell was jumpy enough to be.

She got the feeling that he wouldn't exactly be too happy with any waiters approaching them to take their order too, so Ellie had signaled for Josie to give her two of their largest burgers and fries, a large chocolate milkshake, and a huge cup of soda while he found them a seat.

The diner was basically empty at three in the morning, so service was a lot quicker than usual. Josie set the food down ten minutes after Ellie had placed their order and raised her eyebrows at the filthy, bedraggled man sitting opposite her. Ellie could only smile weakly at her, and urge Josie to leave in the privacy of her own mind. Thankfully, she got the hint, and left quickly.

Ellie sipped restlessly on her milkshake, a little unnerved by the silence. She was used to being alone, accompanied by nothing but silence, but there was just something about this man. The person in question wasn't looking at her, too focused on devouring his burger like he hadn't eaten in days, which to be fair, he probably hadn't, but Ellie was looking at him. She had absolutely nothing to do while he ate without pause, and considering using her phone would be the epitome of rudeness, she took the time to study him in depth.

Scraggly brown hair, a thick beard, and those eyes. He looked lost, and so unbearably sad it made Ellie ache. Hunched over the table like he was burdened by the weight of the world, it was all the more obvious that this man was huge. His hulking shoulders were almost the breadth of the table. Saying that he was built like a truck was an understatement. His bicep alone was probably the size of her head. He could have easily defended himself against those boys, but he hadn't.

As far as Ellie knew, this man was going to just take the beating silently without showing any signs of retaliation.

What would have happened to him if Ellie had chosen to walk away? Would he have ended up half dead in that alley, completely alone in the world? Nobody deserved to feel alone. It was one of the cruelest things you could do to somebody.

Ellie fiddled with her straw, gathered her courage and prayed for eloquence. "Hey, you need a job? I work at Le Fae, it's uh–it's a night club a few blocks down. It's pretty fancy, members only kinda thing. Gina's always in need of people." It was a lie, but Ellie could always wheedle something out of Gina. "The pay's pretty good."

The man paused, and put his burger down. He looked up, and Ellie turned away, squirming a little. Those eyes should be labelled as a weapon. They were so arresting it felt like he was pinning her down and looking into her soul. She didn't want him looking into her soul, mainly because Ellie wasn't a nice person. She was petty and selfish and tended to place her needs above everyone else's.

"Well," she said, rummaging through her tote bag, "you can think about it. You know where to find me." Ellie pulled out a wad of cash, her share of tips for the night and placed it in front of him. She stood up and shouldered her tote bag. "That should be enough to tide you over for a couple of days."

The man was just silent, watching her get out of the booth, his eyes locked onto hers. He was looking at her intently, not in the lewd way those boys were, but critically, as if he was trying to analyze her like she was to him, and try as she might, Ellie had no way of deciphering what was going on in that head of his.

"I hope things get better for you from now on," Ellie said quietly, gave him a small smile, and left.

Ellie got home, removed her makeup, took a quick shower, and laid in bed. It should have worried her that he was all she could think about, even as she fell asleep, but that thought didn't occur until much later.