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"𝔚hat did you just say?" The blond man had gone pale, his blue eyes wide. Arabella turned around, cocking an eyebrow at the scared look on his face. It was a stark difference from the annoyed, and slightly disgusted look that had been plastered across his face mere moments ago.
Arabella didn't know what to make of the change.
"What? Did you not hear me?" Arabella's eyebrows furrowed, hurrying back over to the boy and looking at the wound on his head. "Where did you get hit? How hard? If so, there might be the possibility that you're experiencing tinnitus due to a minor concussion."
"No...No..." The man reared his head back, stepping away from her hands as she continued to visually check him over, looking for other injuries. "No, that's not it at all."
"Are you sure?" Arabella met his eyes, watching the man suffer. "Most head wounds bleed a lot, but it's best to get it checked out to rule out a concussion."
"I don't have a concussion!" The boy spat out. "How can you see this? You shouldn't be able to."
"See what?"
"The sword." He motioned to the glowing blade. "What about the thing in the alley? Did you see that?"
"Why did you think I was coming to help you?" Arabella sighed and rolled her eyes, glancing wearily back and forth between the alley opening and the entrance to her apartment building. "That injury looks bad, are you sure you don't need to get checked out? It could need stitches."
"I'll be fine." He swayed unconvincingly on his feet, before stumbling forward. Arabella forgot all of her misdeeds towards the man, rushing forward to grab his other arm. "Get off."
"You're injured. If you won't go and get it checked out and least let me patch you up." She huffed, straining under the weight of the boy. He was a lot taller, and heavier than she was. "I don't want you dying in some alley way. Not when I went through all this effort to save you."
Tugging, Arabella managed to pull the blond haired boy into her apartment building, up the stairs and into her home without attracting any attention to herself. Setting him down on the couch, as he was still slightly stunned, Arabella hurried to turn off the oven and throw open the windows.
She may, or may not have, accidentally burnt the pizza in the oven. It was still edible.
"What's your name?" Turning the oven off, Arabella turned at his voice. The man was hovering at the edge of the kitchen, eyebrows furrowed. She could see him in flickering light of her home, which cast a long shadow against the scar on his face. He wore a long sleeve shirt, despite the summer heat, and cargo trousers that looked as if they had seen better days.
His eyes followed her movements, tracking everything that she did.
"Arabella." She smiled, before grabbing her medical pack. "Sit down. I'll treat that for you."
Reluctantly, he obeyed.
"What's your name?" Arabella opened up her kit, pulling out some rubbing alcohol. His skin was warm under her touch, blond hair ticking her fingertips.
"Luke-" He cut himself off, hissing as Arabella began to clean the would. "Luke Castellan."
She hummed, motioning for him to continue. He shot her a blank look.
"I'm nineteen?"
"Huh, so am I." Arabella muttered, being careful of the large scar that covered the left side of Luke's face. She wanted to ask about how he had gotten it, and how long ago that had been, but decided that was probably a little too rude to ask. It wasn't a first meeting sort of question she didn't think. "I would shake your hand, but I think it's a bit dirty. Good news however, you don't need stitches."
"What are those?"
"Painful because I don't have anything to numb your skin." Arabella replied, grinning at her own little quip to herself, though Luke shot her a blank look. "Do you want some burnt pizza?"
"I-" His stomach grumbled before he could protest.
"It should taste fine." Arabella stood up, putting her kit away and pulling two plates from her cupboard. This was a rarity for her. Not many people came round to eat at her apartment, so curse her luck that one of the first people to eat at her new place was some random stranger that she had, quite literally, picked up off the street. "Here."
She slid him a few slices, disappointed at having to separate with them but knowing it was for good.
Luke seemed to pause for a moment, looking at the end of the table, as if something were going to appear, before tentatively beginning to eat. Arabella watched him carefully, before devouring her own pizza slices and reluctantly eating her salad.
"I hope that was alright?" Luke glanced up, nodding quickly as Arabella licked her lips and looked at the time. She wanted to get to bed early because of her exam the next day, but at the same time, she wasn't exactly comfortable leaving Luke alone in her home. "If you want, you can have a shower? Get the gold dust out of your hair."
Luke shot her a strange look. "Is that alright?"
"Sure, I'm going to clean and then put a movie on." Arabella smiled gently at him, before showing Luke where the shower and towels were. He seemed a little stunned by it all, but he nodded and closed the door all the same.
Arabella sighed, before cleaning up, pulling her revision out and settling down in front of the TV. If she had to be up for a while anyway, she might as well put her time to good use.
∘☽༓☾∘
Sunlight assaulted Arabella's eyes as she hissed, moaning at the pain that was in her back and neck. It was shortly accompanied by another beeping from the alarm clock in her room, reminding her that she had a long day of exams again. Tugging the blanket tighter around her, she froze at the feeling. She had not put her blanket on last night.
Luke.
Shooting up right, Arabella almost tripped over the blankets, as they tangled around her legs Jumping back up, she began to search the apartment for any sign of the tall blond, but came up empty. He wasn't there.
Going back to the kitchen, Arabella's eyebrows furrowed at the sight of all of her dishes cleaned and left in the drying rack, the pizza box put in the rubbish and a note left on the table. He had left without waking her?
He had given her an address and a note to say how much he owed her, and that he'd pay her back, in scrawling handwriting. Why he couldn't leave a phone number was beyond her. Did he not trust her that much?
Her alarm beeped again and Arabella was reminded of her upcoming anatomy exam. She had more important things to think about than this boy.
∘☽༓☾∘
Hiya,
I just really love Arabella. She's a sweetheart, and Luke is slightly stunned by her. I just love this book and them. This is where the changes start to happen, so to my rereaders, I hope you guys enjoy.
