Indebted To Him

24//Sparks

After everyone had left with looks of sympathy on their faces, it was just Anthony and I all alone in the room. Nina had pulled Keith with her, who was reluctant to leave me alone. While I sat on the bed, Anthony was across from me leaning on the wall.

I could feel holes burning into my head, he was staring at me. I was too embarrassed to look at him, I just stared at my fidgeting hands which were resting on my lap. I looked up at him to see his observing eyes and my face immediately started heating up. 

I cleared my throat, "So..."

Way to go.

"Are you okay?"

My eyes widened, "Yeah, I'm c-completely fine."

"Liar," he said. 

He could read me like a fucking book with just a stare. Maybe I'm just a really bad liar.

I want to open up to him, I really do. I'm just afraid. Afraid that he might not want a broken girl, all I wanted was love. I had learned to put up a front and act like I was always happy, I bottled up all of my emotions.

I heard footsteps getting closer to me and I felt the side next to me on the bed dip. He put his index finger and thumb on my chin to make me look up at him, I felt time stop for a moment there. I looked into his eyes and they held the same sadness as everyone else's did. His other hand wiped away a tear I didn't know that fell.

"You don't have to tell me now. I'll wait for you," he murmured.

"I'd like to tell everyone today," I could barely hear my own voice.

He gently pressed his lips against mine and my eyes closed. I felt them, the sparks. Our lips were moving in sync and it felt like we belonged with each other.

"Wow... they finally kissed," I heard a familiar voice.

Our eyes snapped open and we pulled away.

"Ethan, you just couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?" Penelope glared at him.

Everyone else laughed, even Damon and Tank chuckled. 

"I'd like to tell everyone what happened earlier."

Nina and Penelope looked at each other, then back at me. 

"You don't have to, please tell us when you're ready," Nina looked at me worriedly.

I quietly shook my head and looked at Keith whos jaw was clenched. "When I was 12 and Keith was 14, my dad used to abuse me. He loathed me, but he wasn't always like that. We used to be a loving family, until my mother died. My dad always blamed her death on me, he loved her more than he loved himself and it broke his heart."

"It wasn't your fault!" Keith spat out. 

I sighed, "That day, I begged her to get me ice cream. Then, w-we got into a car accident and I survived. My mom took most of the damage and instantly died," I wiped my tears away, "Since then, my dad always hit me every chance he got. If it wasn't for Keith who always protected me, I'd be d-dead by now. He always called me u-useless, pathetic, a whore, anything that was negative. One day, he tried to kill me but Keith called the cops and he hung himself before he could get sent to prison."

I looked up at Damon who had a guilty look on his face, "I guess that was a trigger for me, it felt like I was back to the day when he tried to kill me. I'd get bullied at school and all the kids would call me a m-monster, I had no friends."

Anthony stood up and he looked insanely calm. None of us knew what was going to happen until it actually happened. One minute he's standing by the bed, then he's throwing punches at Damon.