The Rumour Mill - Completed

34. Mistaken

"Morning." I said as he fumbled with his seatbelt.

"Yeah,morning." He said, his voice sounded croaky, not a bit like his usual self assured swagger.

I was expecting his normal obnoxious banter but he didn't say anything else, instead he pulled his cap further down and turned his face so he was looking out the passenger window, I think he was intending to sleep.

"Is everything alright Tom?" I quizzed as I pulled away from the curb.

"Yeah I'm just hungover." He confirmed without turning away from the window.

"So what was the rush to get back, surely you'd of preferred to sleep it off?" I mused.

"You'd think." Was all he said before turning his back further into the chair.

It was a long drive back, normally I loved driving but with Tom asleep next to me I didn't want to wake him with the radio so the silence stretched on. I'd been driving just short of two hours, the only sound in the car was Tom gently snoring. He was starting to get a little restless, the car was probably proving quite uncomfortable. After a couple of minutes of wriggling in his seat he finally turned over so whilst still asleep he was now facing me. He was still snoring so he was obviously still asleep. Out the corner of my eye I could see his cap had fallen off and had landed over my gears. I quickly picked it up and placed it on his lap.

I first noticed hid hands, his knuckles were scanned over and bruised, I chanced a glance at his sleeping face and noticed this was no better. His lip was split and bloody and the side of his face he'd been hiding was purple with harsh contusions, his eye was also blackened. I tried to regain my composure as I sped down the motorway but my mind was whirling with what had happened to him. There were services just a couple of miles up the roads so I would need to concentrate until then.

By the time I pulled into the service station I had put two and two together and come up with seven. I'd pieced the evidence, his dad was a dick at the awards evening and he'd been pissed at Tom for his little spectacle whilst collection his certificate. He'd also not been out on Saturday so it must have happened Friday night and then finally he'd been sat on the step this morning, he was desperate to leave - desperate to get away from him father.

I had worked myself up to a near frenzy by the time I finally stopped the car and turned the engine off. As I sat there for a while whilst I tried to think how I could approach the subject with Tom. I mean I couldn't just blurt out I thought his dad was a prick, even though that's exactly what I thought. I could feel my anger rising again, I hated bullies. It was slightly ironic as Tom and his mates had bullied me for years, but I guess two wrongs don't make a right, perhaps it even explains he's why he's the way he is.

I had been so lost in my thoughts I hadn't even notice Tom wake up, his first movement was to return his cap to try and hide his bruises.

"Don't bother Tom" I dead panned "I've already seen" I added gravely.

"Are we home?" He asked, skilfully trying to change the subject.

"No, we're at the services." I clarified.

"Why?" He asked looking around, "did you need the loo or something?"

"No Tom" I replied slowly, "What happened to your face?" I questioned unconsciously reaching out to touch the dark rainbow mark on his cheek. He quickly moved out of my reach and despite his best efforts he couldn't hide his grimace was he moved.

When he didn't answer I pushed him further. "Tom, what happened to you?"

"It's nothing." He snapped a little belligerently.