Lanos

Introduction: Fioré and Nick

The before times; Beggining of junior year.

"You never tell me anything about you. Fioré, where are you from?"

Nick finally breaks the barrier, the two of us squat down on our skateboards on the big hilltop, the neighborhood is still and silent; no cars, no disturbances. The sun gold and pink sets in the horizon, over the pulsing city lights and buildings ahead of us. Nick, he sees through my mask; the charades I burden myself with. We only met last year, but I feel the urge to latch onto him and spill the beans, like I've known him my whole life.

'I was born right here in Ohio!'

I spark up one of the blunts we rolled earlier, entaking the sweet cannabis before coughing my lungs out; peering over to nick whose dressed in soft emo boy attire, attempting to ignore his utter reckoning question. Nick chuckles a bit at my dramatic cough, his face and eyes glazed over with a  mellow tone. I pass the blunt off to him, he, who complicates my simple reply.

"But, you have a different accent! You were raised here as well?"

Nick shoots me his now, well known concerning eyebrows, the bulky smoke swirls above us in the dim sky instigating the queasy vibes we just entered. I'm at a lost for words, everytime I want to out the details of my life; I restrain myself. Nick takes one last gulping inhale and passes me the roach, he stands up and places his feet on his wiccan skateboard. I think he knows I'm lying, that I always manage to divert his attention away.

"Mind accompanying me, my lady friend?"

Nick holds out his hand, his smile wide and cheeky under his silky, golden brown curls. He pulls me to my feet and onto my skateboard, and I nudge his shoulder with my elbow. It's impossible for me to be soft, I appreciate the change of mood; once too dark, now, light and bubbly without a care in the world.
Two days later: 

Nick's POV:

"Hi, Jan, I was just wondering if fioré is home! Haven't seen her, or heard from her in a couple of days. She hasn't came to school, everything alright?!"

Jan, fioré's mom, opens the house door and waves me inside. She looks exhausted and tethered, Jan places her hands on her hip, and points up the staircase to fioré's room.

"She'll be glad you stopped by, it'll show her that you care!"

I knock on fioré's bedroom door, and she invites me inside with a quiet, monotone voice.  She is curled into a ball on her bed, her silky black hair intertwined, still dressed in her pajamas. Soft nostalgic music plays in the background, and the lights are dim.

"You okay?"

I sit down beside her, feeling the intense energy of sadness she is entangled with, rub off on me. She just 'mhm's' me, leaving the two of us in a void of silence. I glance down and see prominent bruises line her neck, I stand up on my feet instantaneously.

"It's that fucker, dextin, isn't it?"

I begin to pace around her bedroom; always aware the guy she chose is a fuck boy, and now he is beating her. Fioré begins to get pissy with me, she pleas with me to calm down; and claims that he won't be a problem anymore, that she left him.

'Can you just go?!'

She screams out at me, her baby blue eyes watery and all. She shoves me out of the room and slams the door in my face; Her mom meets me at the top of the steps at the commotion we caused.

'What happened?!'

"Why is fioré so guarded, why does she put herself through those things?"

Jan grabs my shoulder and assists me down the narrow steps to the front door, her eyes begin to tear up a little at my emotional request. Jan tries to calm me down, knowing the two of them have kept so many secrets from me about her life since I met her.  

'She's been through a lot, I know she wishes she could tell you. Just be there for her, be understanding; she will grow as she goes. She just needs a break to regenerate!'

End of junior year;

"I swear, you two are a couple, how pathetic that is!"

Annemarie coos and giggles out from across the classroom, casually interrupting me and nick's conversation about an up coming rave.

"Let's just hope he doesn't leave bruises like the last!"

Libon, annemarie's bitch of a best friend cracks a harsh joke about my pain, my ex boyfriend, Dextin. Nick gently insists I ignore them, but my face is blank; and I can literally feel the steam rolling from my ears while they hawk me down; the pressure of their stares are more than I can handle in my mental state. How can someone laugh at someone else's storm. 

"Fioré, leave it! You know more than anyone that hurt people, hurt people! "