Down For The Count

Roadblock

Paisley's POV

"Did he sound mad?" I whispered to Anthony, referring to his phone call with Lin earlier this morning.

"If you ask me that one more time instead of watching the movie, I'm gonna say yes." Anthony chuckled, his eyes glued to the television screen. He had a very valid point, this was probably the sixth time I had asked the question. I just...I would hate to think that I made Lin mad at me. I don't want anyone to be mad at me.

I sighed, trying to focus on the TV but I couldn't.

I've been at Anthony and Jasmine's apartment all day. They let me stay here last night too, which was really nice.

But I'm still so nervous, and I don't know why. I just don't want Lin and Vanessa to be mad at me, or for Lin to be mad at Anthony.

Anthony said he wasn't mad, but I don't believe that. It's so annoying that I can't stay by myself, I'm the most embarrassing person I know. Why am I like this?

Anthony and I both looked up at the door when it opened, revealing Jasmine standing there.

"Sorry!" She said quietly, trying not to talk over the movie as she walked over to the closet, hanging her coat up. She made her way over to the couch, sitting herself down right next to Anthony. "Renée's gonna be over soon, if that's okay."

Anthony nodded, not taking his eyes off of the TV. I wasn't even really sure what we were watching, something with a whole lot of fight scenes and yelling. Definitely a quick paced action movie, which I didn't like, but Anthony was very into it.

I cringed a little when a man on the TV started yelling at his wife, his dark close cut hair making him resemble Dad way too much.

I tried not to think about that time. I tried not to think about him yelling at me, the feeling of his hand coming in contact with my face. The feeling of not being able to breath as he wrapped his hand around my neck.

I took a deep breath, shaking my head. We're not doing this again, Paisley. We're not freaking ourselves out again, we're not having another meltdown in front of Jasmine and Anthony.

The deep breathing helped, but my thoughts didn't go away. My mind was racing a mile a minute. I couldn't stop thinking about that day, remembering the feeling of thinking Dad was about to kill me, and he just kept adding pressure.

Sitting on the couch thinking back to it, I found it harder to breath. I took another deep breath, trying to get the air flowing.

Thankfully my thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door, Jasmine excitedly getting up to go let Renée in.

"Oh...you're not Renée." Jasmine said quietly. I looked over at the door, seeing Lin standing in the doorway.

"I'm not Renée, but I love the enthusiasm." Lin chuckled, looking over at me and giving me a small smile. "I'm here to pick up my kiddo."

I let out a sigh of relief, very happy that he was here. He wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow night, but I'm not complaining. I'm glad he's back.

I made my way over to him, hugging him tightly.

"You had a rough night?" Lin whispered. I only nodded, not letting go as Lin hugged me tighter.

"I'll go get her bag." Jasmine said, her footsteps slowly growing quieter as she walked away, probably going to the guest room where my duffel bag was.

It was quiet where we were standing, and it remained that way until Jasmine came
back a few moments later with my bag.

"I'll take it." Lin said, pulling away from me as he took the duffel bag from Jasmine. I walked over to Anthony, who had just come over to the door where we were all standing, giving him a long hug too.