On The Sidewalk Bleeding

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Payton

            I don't know why I did it, I just had the urge to. I didn't plan on kissing him, but I was definitely glad I did because damn, that was the most perfect kiss ever. His lips were softer than I expected and-

            No, I had to stop thinking like this. He's just a guy.

            Yeah, a guy who's taking you out for dinner, buying it, and driving you places. Shut up, I tell myself. Senior year starts in two days and by then he'll forget all about you and what he did for you. He'll go back to being Mr. Popular, and I'll go back to being shy, quiet me.

            I looked over at Kyle, who was waiting by the counter for our food. I stared at him, trying to memorize this moment and reminiscing the moment we had just minutes ago. I watched as he moved forward to pick up the tray, only to wince as he twisted his torso slightly. His shirt slid up a bit as he carried the tray towards me and I could just barely see the outline of dark bruises along his side through his shirt. How had I not noticed before?

            He winced again as he bent down to set the tray on the table, his shirt moving slightly to show a dark purple bruise all along his collar bone.

            I couldn't help but gasp when I saw it, and he moved to quickly cover up the bruise, but I could see it through his shirt.

            "What happened?" I whisper shouted at him. I didn't want to bring more attention to us than I already had by gasping, but I needed to know what had happened to him.

            "Nothing, I'm fine." He told me, but I could see the pain on his face as he sat down.

            "You aren't fine!" I raise my voice slightly. "Who the hell did that to you? I didn't see it earlier!"

            The look he gave me told me enough and made me think back to the note. It's going to happen when you least expect it. I warned you. Now you need to learn a lesson. As I went to speak, he interrupted me.

            "Just stop. Drop it Payton. It's dealt with and it isn't important anymore." I stare at him and he stares at me until I have to look away.

            When he realizes that he's won, he passes my food over to me. Just a chocolate milkshake and an apple pie, the same thing I get every single time I come here. I start to eat after mumbling a quiet thank you to him. The mood was now ruined because of me. It's all my fault. Just like Luke always told me it was.

            As I continue to eat my food, I look around at the people in the restaurant. And old couple sit a couple tables away, a girl and two boys sit at a table swinging their legs back and forth, probably waiting for food, and then in the corner farthest from Kyle and I, there was a figure facing towards me and facing Kyle's back wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up. As I continued to look, I realized that the person was watching us. Whoever it was looked extremely masculine and I watched as he brought his hand up in our direction and made the shape of a gun with his hand and pretended to shoot me. He proceeded to draw a line across his throat, making his statement quite obvious. He got up, and as he passed me, he dropped a piece of paper on the ground, making it look accidental, and acting as though he hadn't realized he dropped it, but Kyle didn't seem to notice him. Then he was out the door and disappeared into the darkness outside.

            I remained frozen for a couple more seconds before I "accidentally" knocked something off the table just so I could pick the piece of paper up off the ground without looking suspicious to anyone.