When It Rains

Chapter 16: A Black Eye

I walked down to the lobby and saw Dimitri standing outside, looking away from the windows.  I walked out the door and let him in, "Hey, what's up?  Is everything ok?"

He turned around and his left eye was slightly swollen and black.  "Umm, yeah."  He gave a strong smile.

"Wha-Dimitri!  What happened?" I asked as he walked into the building. 

"Nothing too serious!  I just got into a little tussle..." He drifted off.

"Alright come on, your coming up."  I grabbed his hand and dragged him through the lobby.  I rounded the stairwell and headed for the elevator.

"Ryan, I'm not worried about it!  You don't have to be."  He assured me with a smile.  Something about it told me he wasn't just talking about his black eye.

"No we're gonna take a look at this."  I said as the elevator came down and beeped as the door open.  I got in and dragged Dimitri in behind me.  I buzzed my card and pressed '2' as the doors began to shut.

I busted the door open to see Bella was, of course, no where to be found.  I pulled Dimitri in and sat him down on my chair.  The clutter of clothes made me embarrassed but I did little to fix it.  I bent over to get a better look at his eye.  "It doesn't look that bad up close... I don't think."  I said examining it.  *What am I doing?  I don't have the qualifications to do this!*

I walked over to our mini fridge, opened it and grabbed a water bottle.  I handed it to him and said "Hold that against your eye.  Does it hurt?"

"No, just a little sensitive."  He said bluntly.

"I have some Advil, do you want some?"  I asked quickly.

"No, I think I'll be fine."  He smiled as he raised the water bottle to his eye.

Without knowing what to do I took a quick inventory of everything in my room.  *Hydrogen Peroxide, bandages, Advil, and a cold water bottle.  I think Bella said she had to Neosporin somewhere... Wow I'm a doctor.* I scoffed to myself jokingly.  I spun around and walked back over to Dimitri who had a much bigger presence in my tiny little dorm than anywhere else I've seen him.  He held the water bottle to his eye as I bent back over to look at it.  A scrape ran along his temple and he had a small shallow gash in his eyebrow.  I reached toward it trying to see how deep it was.  He jerked away when he saw my arm going up.  "Just stop.  And hold still." I said reassuring him.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him close so I could look at it.  I could feel the curiosity and concerned look on my face as I poked his eyebrow wound.  It bled just slightly.  *This must've happened recently.* He jumped a little and muttered, "Ow!"  I stopped and turned to grab a cotton ball.  I quickly dabbled some hydrogen peroxide on it.  I came back to Dimitri who was eyeing me with his right eye.  I could tell by how puffy his face was that his left eye had already gone down some.  But the black color was still very noticeable.

"When did this happen, Dimitri?" I questioned him as I brought the cotton pad up to his wounds.

He jumped back, "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to make sure this doesn't get infected.  Now stop moving!"  I said giving him a glare.  He smiled in returned as I kept going, "This may sting a tiny bit."

"Wha-?" I didn't give him time to argue as I dabbed the cotton pad to his eyebrow.  I dabbed it a couple times to make sure it got in there.  His eyebrows almost blended into his skin.  But the gash was noticeable.  He jumped back as I retracted the cotton pad.  I heard a slight sizzling as his eyebrow began to puff up in white bubbles. *It was infected.*