Introspective Strangers [h.s.]

Chapter 53

I nodded numbly. It only occurred to me then that Gemma probably had no idea who Isaac even was. That this was probably the first time she had even seen his face.

Despite the ache in my chest, despite knowing that I had watched Harry throw that first punch, it still felt wrong just leaving him behind as I made my way toward Isaac – the sight of whom was no more comforting to my already weary nerves.

He was bloodied and beat, his shirt rumpled and untucked. It made my stomach churn and I struggled to swallow the bile rising in my throat. Harry had done this. Harry had made him look like this. I didn't even think I could brave a glance over my shoulder to see how he was faring. I was sure it would bring me to my knees.

"May!" I heard Harry call my name through the crowd. "Wait!"

Swallowing thickly, I grabbed Isaac's arm harshly. The men who had been restraining him let go and stepped back. Isaac was staring at me, not even breathing from the looks of it, obviously not daring to speak in case he said the wrong thing.

I heaved an inward sigh, ignoring the splintering of my heart as Harry continued to yell out for me and dragged my friend toward the door. "Let's go."

"May–" Isaac started but I just shook my head. He closed his mouth in compliance.

Nobody argued and nobody dared intervene as I pulled Isaac all the way outside, until I could no longer hear Harry's voice and the sound once again turned into silence. This time, the silence wasn't welcome. This time, the silence was deafening, and it threatened to crack my skull right down the middle. Because the silence allowed me to think, allowed me to go over in my head what I had just witnessed.

What in the fuck had I just witnessed?

I wasn't an idiot. I wasn't about to stand here and act like I knew Isaac hadn't provoked Harry in some way to attack him, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know what that reason had been. It couldn't have been good to draw such a reaction from him.

The two of us remained in silence. We remained in silence while I called the uber, while we sat side by side on the way to his house, while I waited for him to unlock his door. The first words he uttered weren't until the two of us were in his bedroom. He sat down on the edge of his bed, watching me carefully.

"I'm sorry."

I didn't answer. Instead, I went to the washroom where I wet a towel and grabbed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. I still didn't answer when I came back and sat beside him, gingerly wiping away his blood and cleaning out his cuts. Every once and a while he would wince. I wasn't entirely sure if it was from the pain or how cold I was being.

"I didn't mean to–"

"Did you hit your head?" I interrupted quietly, "Or did he–" I swallowed, fumbling over my words. "–did he hit you in the head?"

Isaac studied my face for a few seconds. "No." He took a deep breath. "I mean, yeah, he punched me but mainly in the front of my face."

I winced.

"You're sure?" I asked, my voice a pitch too high. "because I just want to make sure you don't possibly have a concussion. How's your nose?" I eyed the dried blood under his nostrils, absentmindedly reaching up to dab it away with the cloth. "If you think it's broken, I, er, actually know how to set it."

He just shook his head. "No, it's not broken. Look, can we just–"

"I should go, then."

I stood up from the edge of the bed, not meeting his eye. He was quick to jump up beside me, reaching out to grab my wrist. It was limp in his hold. I didn't try to pull away. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at this point.