Thin Lines

You know her???

She starts to argue when her stomach growls, protesting against her words. I look at her, "You were saying?"

She rolls her eyes and sits down at the island of the kitchen. A minute later I place the steaming hot noodles in front of her.

"Thanks" she mumbled as she starts to eat. Once she is done she hops off the stool to bring the dish to the sink, and visibly flinches.

Our eyes meet and she knows what I'm thinking, "It's just my feet from running barefoot." she says quietly, obviously wanting me to drop it.

I walk over to her and take the dish from her hand, placing it in the sink to clean later. Then I pick her up and set her on the counter, almost laughing at her surprise.

I start to look at the bottoms of her feet, which look terrible. They're bloody and cut everywhere.

"I'm going to put some stuff on these okay?" I ask. She just nods as I look through a first aid kit we have in one of the drawers. Once I find what I need, I gently wash the dirt off and apply cream. I can hear her breath suck in, probably in response to the stinging. I wrap both feet in a light gauze before putting everything away.

"All better" I say, stepping away from her.

She gives me a weak smile, "Thank you"

She hops off the counter, "We should get to bed" I say, realizing how late it is. We both make our way upstairs, thankfully Blake and Denny are asleep so I don't have to answer a thousand questions.

Tomorrow I plan on asking Mia what happened, I know it sounds invasive but I need to know. It's not every day a girl you like shows up with one of your employees half naked at one in the morning.

I say a brief goodnight to Xela before leaving her to sleep. I think back to this morning about how I found her sleeping on the floor. She is very odd.

As I drift off to sleep, I can't help but think about her. How when we met she was nothing to me, and now I don't know what to feel about her.

———

Xela

I passed out last night.

The second my head hit the pillow I was fast asleep. I guess I was tired from sprinting around town and nearly getting attacked by several creepy men.

I didn't wake up any less tired, either. In fact, I woke up to Blake knocking on my door barely loud enough for me to hear.

He explained how he didn't want to 'startle' me but he was trying to wake me up. Apparently Ryder had to leave early to go work so Blake is taking Denny and I to school.

I was given nearly a full closet of clothes to choose an outfit from, and now I'm ready and waiting for Blake by the front door.

"I didn't hear you come in last night." Denny says, walking down the stairs into view.

"I didn't get here until late." I respond. "Are you excited for tonight?" He asks.

I look at him, confused. "The bonfire...?" He continues, noticing my confusion. The bonfire is tonight??

"Shi- shoot I completely forgot about it." I sigh, knowing I won't be in the mood to go out tonight.

I mean the whole thing sounds like fun, but I've never been a party girl and I already know Annie will ditch me. I don't blame her either, nobody goes to a party just to sit around and do nothing like I do.

Denny and I talk for a little until Blake comes and drives us all to school. I make it just before the bell, thankfully.

The classes go by slowly, and Ryder is nowhere to be seen. I'm so confused about everything after last night. Mia had called Ryder 'boss', on the phone. I didn't want to be pushy so I dropped it, but it's bothering me not knowing.

The end of the day couldn't have taken longer to come.

I didn't really talk to Annie or Max today, besides lunch and during classes. There is too much stuff I can't explain to them.

Surprisingly, as I walk outside the school, a familiar black car is waiting for me.

"How was school?" He smirks at me. I walk towards the car and get in. "You sound old when you say that." I respond, making him laugh.

He starts driving, "How would you feel about going and picking up some of your stuff?" He asks. My eyes widen at his question, "From my house?"

He nods, "I would be with you, I mean no way I'm letting you stay there again so if you want your things..." he trailed off.

"Ryder I can't stay at your house forever." I tell him, knowing it is unrealistic to think I could.

"Okay not forever, but for a while."

It does sound nice to live in their house, with them, but I feel like I'm overstepping. For once though, I ignore those thoughts and choose to be selfish. "Alright, we can go get some of my stuff." I sigh. In truth, I'm not scared of facing Paul, but I'm scared of Paul and Ryder interacting.

All I can do is pray that Paul is either asleep or out.

We pull up to my tiny little house and Ryder parks on the curb outside. "Don't do anything stupid." I tell Ryder before he gets out. He gives me a look that makes me laugh.

I can see Paul's car parked outside, letting us know he is definitely in there.

My heart is beating out of my chest as we start to walk to the door. I feel Ryder's hand on my back, calming me down a little.

I put on my brace face that I always have in front of Paul, and put my hand on the door handle.

A big part of me hopes Ryder beats Paul to a pulp.