The Life of Charlotte Diaz

Chapter 7. Added Bonus

Shock wouldn't even begin to describe how I was feeling at the moment. To be completely honest, I wasn't even sure myself. But oddly enough, I know that the feeling wasn't exactly a bad feeling. Odd? maybe. Unfamiliar? possibly. Disgusted? not really. In fact, it felt, dare I say, nice. It felt nice to have someone actually need me for something. Whether the situation was a good one or not.

I stiffened up a bit when his arms tightened themselves around me, but continued to pat his back awkwardly. Of course, I knew that the after-effects of all of this would more than likely end badly, but for the time being, Luke needed someone to hold onto. I just so happened to be the closest person for that.

As my mind proceeded to race with unnecessary thoughts, I felt Luke's tears slowly begin to stop, but the quiet sniffles he kept making didn't let up. I didn't know why he was crying, or why he looked so beaten up, but I wasn't going to dwell on the thought for long. I couldn't. Not with a guy like him.

"Why are you here?" I jerked away from Luke when I heard his raspy voice. It sounded so... weird. So broken, and unnatural. So... unlike him. My eyes took in his tousled golden strands, smudged blood that was beginning to dry on his cheeks, and the large ugly bruises that began to stick out more promptly. Than, I heard a curse pass from his lips. "Never mind. You won't answer that," he mumbled, and I felt my throat burn at the thought of talking. He glanced up at me, and my breath hitched at his unnaturally, dark blue eyes. A sudden though popped in my mind: It's because he's crying. It wasn't an uncommon trait for someone's eyes to turn darker when tears ran down their cheeks, but the dark shade of Luke's eyes had my own staring in amazement. I knew it was stupid but I couldn't help but think the shade of his eyes were... pretty; beautiful, even.

My eyes finally moved from his own when he let out a hiss of pain. "Sh!t, I think the b@stard broke my nose," I heard him mumble under his breath.

I bit my lip when I heard him. So he had gotten beaten up. But, by who? I knew the question wasn't going to be answered, but I could at least wonder about it. I looked him over again, grimacing at the amount of pain he must be in. Blowing out a sigh, I contemplated whether I should clean him up or not. It seemed like a stupid move, considering this was the Luke Carter, but there was no way he would actually hurt me, especially with the current situation he was in.

"I'm sorry," Luke whispered, and I blinked my eyes at him, realizing I was totally zoning him out for a minute. He sighed," for... doing that. for crying. I just, I- I don't know. Damn." He blew out a breath, and I watched as he bit down on his bottom lip angrily. It seemed he bit his lip a lot when he was undecided about something.

I cocked my head to the side in questioning at him. He looked back up at me, and a sheepish smile made its way to his lips. "You don't think you'd mind if I stayed with you for a bit, right? Ya'know, just to, clean up?" He asked, his voice pitching up a little.

This time, it was me chewing on my lips as I pondered over things. Immediately, alarms were blaring off in my head, sirens going off all over, but I knew that there was something about Luke that assured me he wouldn't try anything to hurt my physically.

In the end, I ended up shrugging, before pushing off of my hands to stand up. I then outstretched my own hand him to grab.