“What can I do? I’ve tried many times to end this, but he always makes me want him, it drives me crazy, seriously. All the time I feel the need to hug him and kiss him. He’s playing with me, I know that. But I feel things I’ve never felt with anyone and sometimes he tells me he feels the same about me and it seems so sincere, Eva. I feel like he’s very sincere. Besides, I live under the same roof with him, it’s not like I can just avoid him.”
“Make it clear to him. Tell him that you can’t continue with this, that he has to stop playing with you.”
“I did. But he always finds a way to make me fall at his feet and that drives me crazy because I’m not like that, I never let anyone control me, especially a guy.”
Someone opened the car door and pulled me out by the hair. I fell to the ground and my forehead hit the pavement. I touched it and it was bleeding. I looked up to see Cady smiling at me. She grabbed me by the hair again and forced me to stand.
I could barely see, but I could make out Eva coming towards me, but two girls grabbed her by the arms preventing her from helping me.
“So you’re Samantha. You’re not all that, honey. I don’t know what Nick sees in you. Let me make something clear, if you come near him again, that bloody forehead of yours will be the least of your injuries. Do you understand? I’m his girlfriend.”
I couldn’t say a word. My head was throbbing, and my feet could barely keep me standing. Was she doing this over a guy? Damn it, she was crazy.
She slapped me so hard that it caused the left side of my face to hit the roof of Eva’s car. I tasted blood in my mouth, so I figured she’d split my lip.
“Cady!” A voice I knew too well shouted.
She let go of me, and I fell to the ground.
“My love! You won’t believe what happened, she attacked me and I had to defend myself.”
Nick, without even looking at her, came running towards me. I could barely keep my eyes open. He put my arm around his shoulders, looked at me, and I saw his eyes get glassy. He started biting his lower lip and opened the door to Eva’s car. He very delicately placed me in the seat.
“Wait here for me,” he whispered to me as he touched my cheek. I winced in pain, and he let go of me right away.
“So, you check on her first?” Cady shrieked.
There was a silence, and as best I could, I opened my eyes. There were a lot of people around us, and I saw Nick grab Cady by her blouse.
“If you touch her again, I swear to God you’ll regret it,” Nick said. He let her go, and she fell to the ground.
“You, Cady’s friends. Let her go.” Once the girls let go of Eva, Nick asked for the car keys and she got in the back while Nick buckled me in and closed the door on my side. I felt him get into the car.
The car started moving.
“We’re going to the hospital, right? She’s bleeding a lot,” I didn’t look at her, but I realized that Eva was crying.
“Sam, listen to me. You took a hard hit to the head. You can’t fall asleep.” I could barely hear what Nick was saying to me. “Damn it. Sam, please don’t close your eyes.”
I no longer heard Nick’s voice. Everything went black.
***
Upon opening my eyes, the first thing I see is an overwhelmingly bright white light. I wanted to shield my eyes with my hands, but moving hurt, or at least it did when I tried.
“She’s awake,” said a female voice, probably Eva.
Seconds later, Nick’s face invaded my vision. I would have preferred if his were the first face my eyes saw when I woke up.
“How are you?” he lightly touched my hand. It was just a slight touch, but I didn’t mind. Any touch, no matter how small, was comforting, especially coming from him.
I tried to reply “Fine,” or something to wipe the frown off his face, but when I tried, I started coughing. I needed water.
Nick, as if reading my mind, took the water that was on the small table beside me, and with his hand behind my neck, he helped me lift my head so I could drink. As soon as the glass touched my lips, I started drinking desperately, as if I hadn’t done so in days.
“Calm down, don’t exert yourself,” he whispered.
“Why…? What am I doing here?”
“Nick’s bitch attacked you,” Eva growled. Images of me against Eva’s car and my face on the pavement came to my mind.
“She’s not my bitch.”
“Well, she smashed Samantha’s head because of you.”
“My fault?!” They both started yelling. My head… it started throbbing again.
“Yes! Cady hit Samantha because she thought you were screwing her!”
“Enough!” I tried to yell, but it came out as a mere whisper. I started coughing again, which caught Nick’s attention even more.
He came over to me and gave me water again. “You’ve been like this for a day.”
I gave Eva a look that meant she should leave for a bit so I could talk to Nick. She reluctantly turned around and left the room, and Nick pulled up a chair to sit next to me. “I’m sorry for what happened. Eva is right, it’s my fault.”
He looked at me for a few seconds, expecting me to deny it, but I wasn’t going to. It’s his fault.
“Yes, it is,” I retorted.
“I was hoping you’d deny it,” he half-smiled. I tried to sit up in bed, and he immediately got up to help me. Once I was comfortably seated, he sat back down.
“You have no idea how worried I was about you,” he kissed my hand and started to stroke it. “Are you going to press charges?”
“Eh?”
“Against Cady. Will you press charges?” He asked, worried? This has to be a joke…
“Are you afraid I’ll press charges?” He didn’t answer. “You… are… Get out of here.”