One of the Guys

Chapter fourteen

"Mom, please. Calm down. Seriously, it was nothing," I lied. As if on cue, my head started to throb.

"I knew I never should have agreed to this. If anything happens again, you are coming straight home! That Leo boy was always getting into trouble . . ." She ranted.

I took that as a good conversation ender, not needing any more scolding, and knowing that my heads sudden throb was because of her, I said, "Um well, love you Mom. Bye." And him up the phone.

I decided it was as good a time as ever to get ready for bed considering the fact that it was 10:00.

I threw on a black pair of Victoria's Secret caprices, and an old purple theatre top that said 'page to stage' and had a picture of the drama masks, then pulled my damp dark brown curly hair into a loose ponytail. I was about to go downstairs when I saw the screen of my home flash.

The caller ID read 'Dad' and if inured I should probably answer. After all, he wasn't to ecstatic about this whole situation either.

"Hey, Dad," I answered casually.
"Hey Rory. So are you having a good time in North Carolina?" He asked, though it sounded forced.
"Yeah," I replied, and in all honesty (fight aside) I was.
"Any trouble?" he inquired.
"No," I lied, tensing up a bit.
"Alright, so what how was your day?"

At this, I knew I had to go. There was no at I could go without telling him about the fight. And a furious Dad, was much worse than an angry Mom.

"Um, gotta go Dad, we were, uh, just about to watch a movie. Talk to you later," I closed hanging up.

I stepped out of my room, going to head downstairs when I ran into someone. Literally.

Leo.

In a towel.

"Sorry!" I exclaimed, looking away. Oh crud. Oh crud. Oh crud. Oh crud, I thought. Awkward.

He chuckled. "I'm fine, Ror, I'm decent."

I looked up, and hoped I didn't drool. He may have looked slightly scrawny, but he was ripped.

Six pack abs, and muscles were what I saw. But as my eyes reached his face, I gasped.

He had a black eye, and the other was swollen. Cuts and bruises were all over his face.

"I - I'm so sorry. How- uh, what hurts the worse?" I blurted out.
He paused a miner before answering.
"My head."
"Me too," I agreed.

He sighed, "Rory, this is all my fault. I dot even know how to apologize for this. Really, I'm sorry," he gushed.

"It's fine. Really. It's - it's just a little headache." Okay so maybe I lied about the headache part but he felt bad here.

That's when he pulled me into a hug, wrapping his arms over my shoulders. I breathed in the scent of Pine in his black curly hair as I leaned in and put my arms around his bare muscular back.

"I'm so sorry," he told me. I didn't reply because, what can you say in this situation?

He pulled away abruptly then left.

Wait, what just happened? I thought. I hugged Leo. When he was shirtless.

Ok then. With that I went downstairs.

~>~>~>~>

I can certainly say it was a sight.

Ice packs were laying everywhere, along with numerous first aid kits. It looked like a hospital had thrown up an left me to clean up the mess.

Just then Nicolas came and grabbed an ice pack. He was still in the blue shorts we whore this morning (which were now covered in mud, dirt, and blood), but his top was off revealing a six pack.

Why aren't these kids Abercrombie models or something?

"Hey Ror," he said casually holding up the ice pack to his head. Like he just hadn't gotten beat up and come from a fight.

"Are you okay?" I asked.
"I should be asking you the same question. You're the one who passed out."
"For like, two minutes. I'm fine," I assured.

He gave me a quizzical look, indicating that he didn't believe it, but he let it go.

Noticing that his arm was bleeding badly right threw is gauze, I went to unwrap it.

I immediately cringed. "What happened?" I gasped. This was not your normal scrap or cut from a fight. This cut was deep and looked like something had torn threw the skin.

"Oh that? That was nothing," he said forced.
"Nicolas." He really needed to drop the tough act. he was hurt.
"Fine. One of Calvin's friends picked up a piece of broken glass and slashed my arm."

"Did you clean it out?!" I asked.
"Yes Doctor. It just won't stop bleeding."
"Gee I wonder why," I muttered sarcastically. Then I wrapped a new piece of gauze around his muscular arm.

"Thanks."
"No problem," I answered.

"Rory? Nicolas? What are you two still doing up, you two should get to bed," instructed Mrs. Easthom as she entered the kitchen.

I stood abruptly, not wanting to get into anymore trouble and went up stairs.

I don't think I realized how tired I was until my head hit the pillow.