Blue // Daniel Seavey

Chapter 36

Tori

"I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?" Daniel says as he holds my face in his large hand, his thumb grazing my lower lip, before he grants me a gentle kiss.

"Yeah," I reply, my mouth automatically wearing a small smile. I stroke the hand that rests on my face, looking into his blue eyes, until he winces. His nose scrunches up as he hisses between his teeth.

Instantly, I pull his hand off of me, holding it to closely observe the cuts and dried blood I soon find.

"What's this?" I question, eyebrows furrowed.

"Nothing," he answers dryly, retrieving his hand in immediate obstinacy. He clutches onto the steering wheel as he temporarily looks away. "I just cut my hand when I was cleaning the mess I made earlier."

I mentally tut, forcing his arm in my hand again as I study it once more. "That's not nothing, Daniel. The cuts look deep."

"It's fine," he sighs, clearly already agitated with my prying. "Just leave it, shit like this happens all the time."

"It does?" I raise a brow. Who am I kidding? Of course it does. "Well, don't you at least want to put a band-aid on them?"

"I don't need a band-aid, Tori." He responds flatly while rolling his eyes, a lot like how I do it often. "Like I said, it's fine."

"But what if it gets infected?"

"It won't." His jaw muscles tighten. "This shit happens all the time, I get hurt, I don't wear band-aids, and my wounds never get infected. So drop it."

Hostility, irritation and coldness is layered with quite some clarity in his voice, his eyes piercing through me as if it's a serious warning.

"Well, why does this happen all the time? Why do you have to hurt yourself?" I ask, annoyed with his stubbornness.

"I didn't mean to do it." he says deadpan.

"Yeah, not this time." I turn my body slightly more to the left so I can face him properly, but he only stares out the windscreen. "But I have a pretty strong feeling you're the type of guy to punch walls."

"And so what if I am?" he snaps, quickly turning to look at me. "Would it scare you? Would you not want to be with me anymore?"

"No, of course not," I grimace in disbelief at his words. "I just don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Alright, I get it." He turns away from me once more, clutching the wheel tighter in agitation. "Just drop the whole thing and go inside."

"Fine, but if you ever feel angry about something, just know you can talk--"

"Just leave it," he abruptly cuts me off, clearly not listening to what I'm saying. My nostrils flare, the inside of me angered by his careless act.

"You're not even listening to m--"

"Tori." he scolds.

"Daniel." I retaliate with just as much harshness, my voice raising an octave.

Intently, his fiery but cold eyes roam over my face, studying my expression, his own indecipherable. A moment later, I think he notices my own annoyance as he suddenly lets out a loud breath, relaxes his body, and looks straight into my eyes with some sort of sincerity.

"Look, I shouldn't get so annoyed when you're just concerned," he says, his voice now soft and comforting. "It's just, I'm used to doing what I want without having anyone else's input on my actions."

My own body relaxes and I let out a content breath of relief when he places his hand on my thigh.

"You have every right to be worried about me. But when I ask you to stop asking questions, or to drop something, please just spare me and drop it." Slowly, he rubs my thigh. "Okay?"