i was staring blankly at one of the hospital walls and there was commotion all around me. nurses were talking about their patients, mothers and fathers were bringing sick children in to be examined, doctors were frantically strolling down the halls trying to find out which person was coding and which person just had a bad case of the flu.
"thank you," i heard a voice say next to me, and when i looked up demetri was standing with a couple things in his hands that he wanted to bring to miguel.
"for what?" i asked, confused.
"well i was hiding in the computer lab from hawk and i heard you trying to get him to not kill me and i just wanted to say thank you. it means a lot."
"you heard all that?"
"well not all of it... just a few words here and there, lots of screaming, but i knew you wanted to protect me so yeah i don't know... thank you." demetri placed his hand on my leg and looked longingly into my eyes.
"yeah no problem... you're my friend," i drew out the word a little concerned with how he was looking at me. "and i didn't want you to get hurt, i guess i wasn't very successful though," i said, grabbing his hand off of my thigh and examining a large scrape across it.
"oh yeah, eli still came after me once you left and he seemed even angrier than before. we fought a little, but i managed to kick him into a trophy case and i guess i just got hit with one of the glass shards. it's no big deal though."
"you kicked him into a trophy case? that's badass dem."
"it was just self defense," he said shrugging his shoulders. i wish i could have seen the look on hawk's face when he got beaten by someone as... oddly skilled as demetri who he thought so little of, but at the same time i had a gnawing thought at the back of my head wondering if he was ok.
"come with me we need to get this cut cleaned up and i am not waiting around until a doctor gets here." demetri nodded and the two of us walked off until we found a family restroom and went inside. "take off your shirt."
"excuse me?"
"you heard me, take it off, i have to see if you have any wounds on your chest."
"i don't think i'm comfortab-" i was getting a little annoyed so before he could finish talking i started lifting up his shirt and yanked it over his head. "DAVINA!"
"just shut up it's not like i out of all people would care demetri."
"fine, just make it quick it's chilly in here."
i laughed a little as i looked around his body and saw a small gash on his lower back right above the waist band on his pants. it was already dried up but the blood was smeared a little so i put some water on a paper towel and wiped around it, trying to be as gentle as possible.
"OW!"
"dem i didn't even touch where you got cut."
"yeah, but you were squeezing my arm," i looked and noticed my hand wrapped around his arm to try to get it out of my way to see the cut.
"oh please, you're fine," i threw his arm down and chuckled a little. "i'm done now though, there was only a small cut. you got lucky after what happened to everyone else." i moved to sit directly in front of him now, but then spotted an incredibly large bruise starting to form on the side of his neck. "how the hell did you get that?" i ever so gently ran my fingers across it, moving my face closer to his and causing him to wince in pain a little.
"well don't touch it!" he yelled, grabbing my hand, ripping it away from his neck.
"sorry."
he didn't drop my hand which confused me a little and then before i even knew what was going on he leaned in and kissed me. i pulled away immediately and ripped my arm out of his grasp.
"um what was that?"
"i um- sorry i guess i just- just... forget it. sorry, i don't know what i was thinking."
"hey no, don't worry about it, we all get caught up in a moment every once in a while, no sweat," i said, wanting to make sure he knew i wasn't mad.
"thank you v," he said and then he went in for a hug. i hugged him back, but then pulled away and furrowed my brows.
"did you just call me a nickname?"
"huh guess i did," i went back and hugged him even tighter with a bright smile on his face. "you should probably get that back on," i pointed to the shirt that he was still holding in his hand and he looked into the mirror concerned.
"oh god my mom's gonna kill me if she sees this thing on my neck," he inspected his bruise in the mirror.
without even thinking i pulled off my sweatshirt leaving me just in just a sports bra and handed it to him to put on.
"here."
his eyes widened when he looked at me, but he still took the hoodie.
"well now i see why you didn't want me kissing you," shit i forgot about my hickeys again. i quickly grabbed his god awful striped shirt and threw it on feeling embarrassed. "am i gonna get to meet the lucky bastard or?"
"no," i said abruptly. "you don't know him, it was an old friend i ran into and things just... escalated i guess." talking about it reminded me of that night and i tried to push the memories away, but my brain wouldn't listen.
"you're so beautiful davina," hawk said, tracing my body with kisses.
i grew tense trying to focus on demetri, but couldn't stop replaying each moment over and over again.
"i'm glad you were my first skirt," hawk brushed my hair behind my ear and gently kissed my lips.
shivers ran down my spine.
"if we keep that up i'll never have to go into the dojo again! i probably got an 8 pack after the first go."
"you're the most beautiful girl i've ever seen, davina campbell."
"i could do this all day, princess." (a/n: HELP CAP IS THAT YOU?)
"good girl."
"um davina? hello?" demetri was shaking my shoulder and i broke out of my trance and met his gaze.
"oh sorry i was just... sorry we should probably get going." i walked away from demetri before he could respond and the two of us stepped out of the bathroom and made our way back to the waiting room. to my surprise i saw johnny and miguel's mom, carmen, arguing near where our seats had been. i assumed we probably shouldn't get involved so i pulled demetri away and we both left the building.
it was pouring outside and it matched the tone of the evening. everything with demetri and thinking about hawk had taken my mind off of miguel for an instance, but stepping out into that waiting room just brought it all back again. my heart ached thinking of everything that happened and everyone who was hurt by it. i just wanted this nightmare to be over.
demetri drove me home, but neither of us spoke much after being a little shaken up by everything at the hospital. once i got back we made plans to hang out again soon and i quickly made my way into my house and went up to my room without speaking to anyone.
i pulled my phone out, wanting to text tory, but not knowing exactly what to say. i hadn't spoken to her since our call before the fight and even though i wasn't too happy with everything she'd done i still cared about her deeply and wanted to make sure she was ok. even though i didn't understand her ways, i knew she thought she was doing what she had to to survive out there and didn't always think straight. i wanted to be there for her and try to reason with her, but i knew that she wasn't the easy person to persuade otherwise.
i layed in bed staring at my phone and then decided to call liam and explain everything that was going on. i didn't know if i'd be able to talk about miguel without crying, but liam always knew the right thing to say and i needed someone i could finally be honest with right now.
"hey you," he said with a big smile, but then it quickly faded when he saw the look on my face. "hey, hey, hey what's wrong? i know that look it's either relationship troubles or someone got hurt, spill."
"well i mean it's actually both... which do you want first?"
"hit me with the worst then we'll go from there."
"ok well," i started speaking and i could feel tears well up in my eyes so i stopped until i could pull myself together.
"there was a big fight during school... um..." i sniffled a little. "something happened between sam and miguel and tory wanted to get back at sam, but then everyone just started fighting... robby and miguel fought because robby was upset over thinking he liked sam and then..." a small sob left my mouth so i took a deep breath and then continued as best as i could. "miguel won the fight, but then robby kept going and... kicked him over one of the railings on the second floor. he's in a comma liam."
"oh my god dav, i'm so sorry. is he gonna be ok?" i wiped my nose a little and dabbed my eyes with a tissue.
"um it's not looking great right now, but miguel's strong i know he'll be ok, it's just... really scary."
"i wish i could be there to cheer you up i'm so sorry about everything, but hey is there anything that could get your mind off of it? what about the relationship stuff? i wanna hear all the drama you've gotten yourself into."
i laughed a little at how curious liam was and then wiped the last tear from my eye and started explaining everything.
"well you see... you know the um... mohawk guy?"
"oh god davina don't tell me he tried something."
"actually... i kind of um..." i scratched the back of my head nervously. "slept with him," i closed my eyes not wanting to see liam's reaction and then slowly opened one clenching my teeth and saw his mouth wide open.
"YOU WHAT? DAVINA CAMPBELL!"
"keep your voice down idiot!"
"sorry, sorry i just- was this some sort of mid life crisis at age 17? are you feeling alright? i saw the way he looked at you, there was no question about if he was into you or not, but you, you only ever looked like you wanted him executed or something."
"as awful as he is i know he wasn't always like that and he can be so sweet with me. i just got swept up in it i guess."
"have you told anyone?"
"no, only you. miguel's practically dead, tory's off the rails, sam's traumatized, robby's on the run from the cops, i'm not that close with any of the other cobras or miyagi-do students, and demetri kissed me."
"wait wait wait he kissed you?"
"oh yeah i guess i left that part out. it happened today while we were at the hospital. i pulled away and he knows we're just friends, but i couldn't tell him that i was sleeping with his ex best friend. it would crush him."
"hold on, sleeping with or slept with, davina?"
"sorry, slept. past tense. never again."
"right... ok well maybe if you got a job you'd have enough money to fly me out there again. seems like you need moral support right about now." i giggled a little and smiled. i didn't know how he still managed to make me happy when my life was shit, but it's why i loved him so much.
"hey, you could get a job too you know. how did this become my problem?" we both laughed a little more and it felt good to just be careless with my best friend.
"i miss you so much l."
"well obviously, i'm awesome," he smirked and i rolled my eyes.
"i should probably head to bed though. I've had a pretty sucky day."
"oh yeah? you see hawk today?" he said, raising his eyebrows.
"LIAM!"
"i'm sorry i had to, it was wide open! just like your l-"
"liam i hate you! i'll talk to you soon asshole, goodnight."
he was laughing hysterically now and i just rolled my eyes. "later dav, i love you."
"love you too li." i hung up the phone and smiled for a second, but then just felt the same sinking feeling in my chest knowing that being happy right now was just a fantasy.
i loved being here, but now more than ever i wished so deeply that i never left missouri. i'd still have all my best friends with me and i would still be with lucas. everything was so much easier back there when i was at my old dojo and in my old town and i just wanted to forget everything that happened here for one moment. i started to feel tears forming in my eyes, but took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling until i could control my emotions. i knew in order to get through everything from here on i'd have to just put all my emotions aside until i knew miguel was ok. i couldn't handle it all and now i had no one around to help me.
i looked in the mirror and touched my hair a little. i could barely even recognize the girl in front of me because of how much crap i'd had to deal with and how much i let people walk all over me. enough was enough. i needed a change, and i needed it now.