I stared unsurely from the girl on the bed, to Kent who leaned quietly against the wall.
When he said over the phone that something happened, I definitely hadn’t expected to find a grinning girl in front of me. And from the look on Jason’s face, he seemed to think the same.
“B,” Sunny called out cheerily – a little too cheery if you asked me. But I didn’t voice that. I simply threw her a smile, moving over to sit beside her on the bed. She, however, was now asking, “what are you doing here?”
“Kent called me,” I answered, only that it somehow ended up sounding like a question. I couldn’t help it – the entire situation had rendered me quite confused.
“Oh,” she said simply, all the while juggling her phone idly between her hands.
“Sunny,” I called, gently tipping her chin. “What happened?”
“Oh, it was just some jerk,” she answered, voice seemingly light but for the slight quiver in it.
“He thought we were going to sleep together or something, and when I didn’t want to, he was being so creepy.”
Her words were coming out faster now, and even though I knew it’d probably make no difference, I gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
I was beginning to get where this was going now. And if I wasn’t entirely sure, one look at Kent who was seething in a corner, confirmed it.
“But don’t worry, you should have seen him; Kent came flying in like superman, and beat him up so bad, he was practically crying on the floor like a kid. His face looked like a rotten mango when Kent was done with him, you should have seen it.” She finished with a laugh, but it wasn’t long before it changed to another kind of throaty sound.
“Hey, come here,” I urged, gently pulling her into my arms, leaving hers to wrap around me in return.
“It was so horrible, B,” she choked out between sobs. “I tried to scream, you know. I kept trying to push him away, and he just kept coming, pinning me down and putting his dirty hands all over…” The rest of what she was saying, drowned into her soft cries.
I’d never seen Sunny like this before – so vulnerable, so broken. The sight was heartbreaking to say the least. So much so, that despite my best efforts, the burning glossiness at the back of my eyes persisted.
“It’s ok,” I soothed. “You don’t have to say anything now.”
But she shook her head in protest, saying, “no, it’s fine. But he was such a creep, B. He kept trying to take all these stupid pictures and…god, it was all so fucked up.”
“Pictures?” Kent piped up. He hadn’t spoken all this time, and now that he had, he looked like he wanted more than to get his hands on that creepy guy and wring his neck. “Why didn’t you tell me about that?”
“I don’t know, it all just happened so fast. And at the time you came in, I wasn’t even thinking of that. I couldn’t think of anything else but that I…”
A short silence followed that, and it was clear that we were all pondering on the unspoken words: almost got raped.
“I’m so sorry that I wasn’t here with you,” I found myself saying, the guilt nibbling at my insides.
I’d assumed she wouldn’t want to come to this party after that of yesterday, as she made no mention of wanting to attend. But I should have just asked anyway. If I had, then she’d probably not have come alone. And maybe then, that creep wouldn’t even have…
“It’s fine. You’re here now,” she remarked softly, smiling up at me.
“Yeah,” I breathed, giving her head a small kiss. “I am.”
“And so am I.” And of course, that was Jason, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze, his eyes offering a silent comfort which reflected in his smile.
Sunny must have seen it too, because she placed a fond hand on his in return, saying, “I know.”
Soon though, her attention was moving towards something else. “Oh my god,” she suddenly cried, startling the rest of us.
“Are you guys seeing this?” She asked, to which we just stared confusedly back at her, and honestly, a bit worriedly too – at least from my side. Was she in shock or something? It might not have been all the way, but she was abused all the same, so, maybe this was a shock reaction. Or worse still, had she started living in an imaginary world?
Oh no, had she…
“How can my face still look this good after all that crying?” She piped up, staring into her phone. “god, I never realized how pretty I actually am. I think I just fell for myself a little more.”
Despite myself, I couldn’t help but chortle at that, with her and Jason echoing the sound alongside me. Even Kent betrayed a small smile – the first I’d seen from him tonight. I made a mental note to check on him later.
But for now, I focused my attention on the girl in front of me. I guess I didn’t have to worry about any imaginary worlds after all. That was Sunny right there – still trying to be bright in spite of all that happened.
And that was just one of the things I loved about her.
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.
“Hey.”
He finally stopped from staring at Sunny who was laughing over something with Jason as he led her to the car.
“If I was a little later, I don’t even want to imagine what that bastard would have done,” he stated simply, voice gruff. “I didn’t even know she was here ‘cause I didn’t see her for most of the night.”
That was strange. Sunny was not the kind of person who’d stay in a corner and not be noticed. She was always at the front line, just being her usual Sunny-ish self.
At the moment though, I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind, giving Kent a small nudge instead.
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up. The most important thing is that you got there in time, and you helped her. You're like a fearsome hero conquering the forces of darkness,” I quipped, smiling when I heard him betray a chuckle at that.
“Dork,” he remarked lightly. However, a moment later, he was looking over at the girl ahead of us through careful, concerned eyes.
“She’ll be alright,” I piped up, in response to his unspoken concern. “I called Shay and Beck and they’re coming over tonight.”
He nodded, his features relaxing a bit.
And with one last look at him, I was going over to the car. Jason had decided to get a ride home with Kent. He’d come get his car from my place in the morning.
Hence, a moment later, Sunny and I were saying our byes to the duo before I zoomed off.
As we drove through the night, I stole glances at her from time to time. And each time, she had her eyes fixed outside the window, her expression unreadable.
She’ll be alright – those were the words I'd told Kent.
And now, I could only hope they were true.