Did he just hang out on this road or something? Maybe the flat he'd moved into after ageing out of the care system was somewhere down here. At least he was on his own this time, but that didn't make me feel any better really considering he could easily beat me up one on one as well.
"You little shit. I wondered when I would see you again," Henry said. So, this was all just some horrible coincidence that we would be here at the same time? I mean I knew I would probably end up seeing him again at some point, but I had hoped I wouldn't have been alone. If only Roman were here. What was going to happen now? "Your little faggot boyfriend broke my nose. You're gonna fucking pay for that."
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I was fucked. Roman wasn't here to protect me and fuck knows I can't protect myself. Henry would kill me if I stayed here. I turned to take a step with every intention of running but suddenly I was grabbed by my collar and pushed into the wall beside us.
"Let go of me," I demanded desperate enough to beg. I should have known he wouldn't have done as I'd asked.
"Let go of you?" he teased. "Well sure, once I'm done with you."
"Please. Please, I didn't do anything."
"You didn't need to," he seethed beside my head. "Your faggot did enough," he said making me all the more angry at my boyfriend being called such a nasty word. But what could I do when Henry pulled my head back only to push my head harshly into the wall, harsh enough that I almost saw stars and I knew I would be left with a bump?
"Roman!" I called hoping he hadn't gotten too far ahead that he might somehow have heard me. But Henry just laughed in my face when a few seconds passed, and he hadn't shown up.
I was so fucked.
"Looks like you haven't got anyone to protect you now, bitch," Henry said.
"He'll kill you," I warned hoping my lack of confidence in that sentence wasn't palpable. I had no idea what Roman was thinking right now and if he decided I had betrayed him somehow then maybe he would think I deserved this and would do nothing about it. It's not like I could tell Dahlia. She might act strong but against Henry she would still lose. Maybe Charlie would have my back but if I died before then, then none of that really matters.
Henry just laughed until he forcefully smashed my head against the wall again. I could already feel how my eyes watered at the pain as my head throbbed. If I didn't die, then I was going to going to get brain damage or something and I couldn't figure out what would be worse.
And then suddenly Henry presence wasn't on my body anymore and when I turned around Roman was there with Henry on the ground. Roman looked so angry and I had never seen Henry more scared.
"Didn't I tell you to fucking stay away from him?" Roman asked in a deathly tone.
"C'mon mate, it was just a joke you know. It was just-"
Before Henry could finish his sentence, Roman had kicked him in the stomach and made him hunch over in pain as he curled up into a ball. It reminded me vaguely of exactly what I had done before Christmas when Henry and his friends had beaten me up. And as Roman continued to kick uttering phrases along the line of 'stay the fuck away', I almost didn't feel the need to stop him. I wanted Henry to feel what he had always put me through. But I didn't want Roman to get into trouble either. I didn't want to let him hurt Henry to the point that Henry might actually consider pressing charges or something.
"R...Roman," I called my voice hoarse. I could feel how dry my throat was and how wet my cheeks were now. I didn't realise I had been that scared. "Roman. Stop."
"Why? Why the fuck should I?" Roman replied.
"Please."
Roman sighed but he did stop. And then he grabbed my arm harshly and pulled me away. I turned my head to look behind me and almost felt bad for leaving Henry there like he was, but then I remembered how he had done the same for me and didn't care anymore.
"How did you know I was in trouble?" I asked.
"I didn't. I was walking back when I saw."
"You were walking back?" I asked as he let me go and wasn't dragging me along by the elbow anymore.
"Yeah."
"Can we talk?" I asked with a sniff which made Roman actually look at me now. He hadn't made eye contact with me for even a second before.
"Are you alright?" he asked. "How bad did he hurt you?" He brought a hand to my face and wiped my tears away.
"It doesn't matter," I tried to say.
"It matters. I'll give you something to ice it with at mine," Roman offered.
"Okay. Thank you."
We walked back to his in mostly silence. I was too worried to talk to him again. I had no idea what was going through his head, and I didn't know how to make him talk about it. He still seemed so angry.
——
When we were back at his, he sat me down on the kitchen stool and I asked him if anyone was home. He told me they were all out with his dad at work and his mum gone to get Genie from nursery. At least we were alone for this slightly uncomfortable conversation.
"Here," he said handing me a little ice pack which I took with a 'thanks' and used to hold against my head which was very much sore. I could only hope any sort of bump I grew would be under my hair so no one would see. I didn't want to have to explain to Carrie and Mike again that I had managed to get into another fight.
"What happened to your hand?" I asked just now noticing that it was heavily bruised again like it had been a while ago. "I don't think I saw you punch him so..."
"It's stupid."
"What happened?"
Roman didn't look at me when he talked. "Just got angry. Punched a brick wall."
"Oh," I replied with a frown taking the ice pack away from my head and putting it on his hand. Roman tried to get me to put it back on my head but I wouldn't let him. My head didn't hurt nearly as much as Roman's hand looked like it did. It was already forming rich purple bruises. Roman just sighed when he couldn't get me to do what he wanted and finally let me hold the pack against his skin instead of mine.
"Roman," I began after a moment of silence. "Please, you have to understand that when I said I believed her for a second, it wasn't to do with you."
"How does that make any sense if it was me that she was saying it about?" he asked.
"It's... any doubt I had it was because of what other guys had done to me. It was not feeling confident in myself that somehow maybe I missed the signs again or something. But then she carried on saying shit about you and I knew none of it was true. I promise."
"Then why didn't you talk to me right away? You were ignoring my messages and when I got the text from her, I tried talking to you again but still no answer. I got worried."
"I..." Fuck. What do I say? I can't just tell him I love him like this. I wanted it to be perfect and this wasn't perfect at all. But if I didn't say anything, then he was going to keep thinking that I could somehow believe he could be so vile.
I mean, what if I was just confused as well? What if I wasn't exactly in love with him yet and my words just got jumbled up earlier? It's not like I could take it back without it hurting him.
But then looking at him now, his brown eyes so enchanting, I was reminded of every little ounce of happiness he brought me and knew that I wasn't confused and definitely hadn't jumbled up my words. I'd probably been in love with him for a while now and just didn't know that's what it was until today. Every touch, every look, every moment of laughter all coalesced together into a love that my heart couldn't hold in any longer. I was overflowing with gratitude for Roman Kinglsey to have brought such joy into my life, so much light when before there had only been a suffocating darkness.
"I forgot how to talk to you, and it was freaking me out," I told him. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for hurting your feelings and for not communicating."
"It's okay. I'm sorry I didn't let you talk before. If I hadn't left, then Henry wouldn't have found you when you came looking for me," Roman said with a sigh. "It really hurt when I lost so many of my friends because of this, but it would hurt so much more to lose you. I just...just couldn't handle even the thought of it." Roman took the ice pack from his hand and placed it back at my head. I didn't stop him this time and let him take care of me. My head was slightly throbbing, and the ice brought me some relief. "What do you mean you forgot how to talk to me?"
I can't tell him now. If it can't be perfect, it at least has to be better than this. So, I opted for another truth instead. "How was I supposed to bring up that someone told me you forged yourself on someone? It's not exactly a casual conversation starter. I was scared you'd think that I was accusing you of it or something. I don't even know."
"I still made my assumptions anyway," Roman said putting the ice back onto his hand now. I wonder how much it hurt him. It looked worse than when he had beat up Henry. Evidently punching a hard brick wall is a lot worse than punching a person.
"I should have still said something earlier though," I said. "Nothing's broken right?" I took the ice from him and went back to holding it against his hand myself.
"Nah," Roman replied. "It will be alright." When I looked up from his hand, he was staring straight at me. "Can we make up now? I'm really sorry about, just everything."
"I'm so sorry about everything too," I replied not taking my eyes off his for a second. "I'd really like to make up."
Roman smiled then, a small and shy smile unlike I'd ever really seen on his face before. And then he leant in for a gentle sweet kiss and hugged me afterwards close to his chest. I was so relieved that whatever had gone wrong, we'd managed to sort it.
I mean, I was still worried about Henry showing up again, but if he knew what was good for him then he would stay away. I don't think Roman would let him off as easily a third time and truly worried about what might happen to my boyfriend because he might actually kill my bully for hurting me again.
There was one particular thing that was nagging at my mind the most though, one thing I couldn't not ask about. So, I pulled back from Roman's chest and asked him. "Roman, will you tell me what really happened with this Louis guy?"
~~~~~~~~~
I don't know how long I should have like kept this friction between them going but I honestly just hate making my characters fight for so long especially when they could sort it out so easily by talking