Ashton's POV
Mackenzie's lips are soft and warm, but not interesting like I thought they would be. I open my eyes and see Carmen and her friend, Taylor or Tammy or whatever the fuck her name is, walking up to the school.
"Carmen..." I try to call out. I feel her lips release and I can finally breathe.
"Excuse you?" Her blue eyes pierce mine.
"What?" I ask, but it comes out meaner than I intended it to be. Oh whatever.
"You just said Carmen."
"No I didn't."
"Yes, you did!" Her fist tightens, but I'm not scared. She won't do anything. I look back over to where they were and they're already inside. "Do you not care about me?" I've never noticed till now how annoying and high-pitched her voice is.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Her small, but strong fist connects with my jaw and I slam against the brick. She kicks my gut and the only thing I can feel is the cold pavement against my cheek. A few kids gather around us and I feel helpless. She kicks my rib and the wind is knocked out of me. I close my eyes as she hits my face over and over. All the kids are laughing and cheering.
"Car..." I try to say with the air I have leftover. "Carmen!"
Mackenzie kicks my face this time and I hear, "Ash!" I open my eyes and Carmen throws herself in front of me the same time Mackenzie kicks her in the face. I feel ever more powerless when she does because I can't help her or reverse it.
"Move, bitch!" She yells at her. I shut my eyes again and hide in my hands hoping I can black out, so I don't have to see Carmen get hurt. Seeing her in pain hurts more than myself being in that state.
"Don't fucking call her that!" A voice yells and the kicking and punching stops.
Carmen faces me and tries to remove my hands. I reject a couple times, but I'm done resisting her. Her mouth is busted and blood runs down her forehead. I loose my breath at the sight of it.
That dumb bitch. The one I actually thought was better than any other girl hurt the only girl that can stand me. I wipe my cheek and blood, tears, and sweat are spilled on my hand.
"Carmen..."
"You're okay." She uses her sleeve to wipe the stuff off my face. I put this girl through so much hell, I'm surprised she hasn't left yet. I remember all the times she's said she wouldn't, but if I were her, I'd be long gone by now. We hug and I hold on tighter than I've ever had before. I was so scared when she was kicking me because I couldn't breathe.
"Please stay." Having her in my arms makes me feel like I'm not totally alone. I want to just stay here and cry in her shoulder, but I don't want Mackenzie to think it's because she beat me up. It's because I didn't know where Carmen was and also her getting hurt because of my selfish ass.
"Of course." She takes my face in her hands and they're colder than ice cubes. A jacket is pulled out of her bag and rubbed on my face to get the excess damage. I hear Mackenzie cuss me out, but I'm too occupied looking at Carmen to listen. I'm still shocked she hasn't moved in with Tori or someone.
"What happened?" She asks in a whisper. My head is still dizzy. I hold my stomach because it's throbbing with pain. Her little hands shake to remove them and her face when she sees the purple spot, I hope I never see it again. It's worse than when she cries.
"I'll tell you what happened! This little asshole thought it would be cute and moan your name in my mouth, so have fun because you can have him!" The blonde yells. I'm taken back by my own action. Carmen's face softens and interlocks her hand with mine. I look back to see if her friend was alright, but she's gone. Mackenzie stomps to her car and drives off finally.
"How did we end up like this?" Carmen jokes and helps me up. I lean on her for support as she helps me into a car that I assume is Tori's.
"Tori gave me the keys, if you want to put them in."
"Carmen, I can't...drive. I can't...even get in the car alone...you're gonna have to."
"Okay, I can do that." She closes the door and gets behind the wheel.
"I can't do it!" She yells and hyperventilates.
"Yes you...can. I'm right here." I place my heavy hand on her knee. I tell her about a small back road and all the pain is in my right side, every little bump in the road sends a knife through my skin. My head is throbbing and all I'm hoping is Carmen gets us to ou-my house in one piece.
"Do you need a hospital or just home?"
"Home. That bitch kicked me in the face and rib cage." I say holding in the pain, so I can actually finish the sentence.
"You're sounding better than before." We finally arrive home and she helps me out of the car.
"Here, let's go to the bathroom." We tiptoe to the disgusting bathroom in my room. I sit on the toilet seat and she wets a rag. I wish I never even got involved with Mackenzie. We wouldn't be here in the bathroom, bleeding. Carmen wouldn't be as pissed at me and have unnecessary stress.
"Tell me if it hurts." She stands between my legs and washes the damage off. I try not to stare at her dark brown eyes, but it's hard not to. To be honest, I've always had a tiny crush on her, but I end convincing myself I don't and it usually works.
My eyes wander to her mouth and I lose feeling in my hands from the sight. "Wet another rag." I take a new waddled up piece of wet paper from her dripping hands and clean her bloody mouth and nose. "Why'd you protect me?" I ask.
"You called for me." I did? "Lift up your shirt." She demands and I place my hand in hers to get up. I try to be cool and lift my shirt while in pain, but she knows it hurts and takes it off for me.
Her thin fingers glide over my bruise and my eyes shut hard from the pain.
"Sorry."
"You're okay. Can I have some ice?"
"Of course. Come lay on the bed." I walk slowly to my big bed and plop down.
I wonder what I'd do without her. Actually, I would be at school sitting in English with a girl that I had no idea about, dating Mackenzie and having my own room.
Also, I would feel even more alone because Carmen is the first girl to actually care about me. She comes back in the room and I fake fall asleep. She lays the bag on the pain and all the nerves and stress fall off.
I actually sleep a little bit and open my eyes to Carmen sitting on the edge of the bed still holding the bag.
"Are you feeling better?" Her soft voice asks.
"Yeah, She's stronger than some of the guys I've fought." I look into her eyes again and her gaze is a mixture of pain and pity. I squirm to sit up, so I can hold in my arms again.
"Just relax." She slowly pushes me back to the pillow.
"Lay with me?"
"...you told me not to." I remember when I said that and I can't believe I did. This whole thing with Mackenzie and Carmen has given me a whole new perspective on her. She doesn't annoy me, if anything she makes me happy. I want to be with her and not push her away anymore. I'm not saying I have a big crush on her because I know she'll never feel the same way, not after everything I've yelled to her face.
"I was an idiot and you know that." I force a laugh, but the pain from my ribs stop me. "Please?"
She surprises me by lifting the covers and laying close to me. Her hair smells like peaches and she breathes slowly. I throw my arms around her and try to fall asleep. Maybe once I wake up, I'll be convinced I don't like her. I've done it before.
A second before I almost drift off, I feel her soft lips kiss my wrist and I remember I'm not wearing my bracelets.
My grip around her waist tightens, bringing us closer together.
"You okay?" I ask because her breathing picks up a little.
"Never better."
Carmen's POV
We wake up around 1 and decide to just stay home. Ashton's been acting weird since the fight. He's been acting nicer to me and even made lunch.
"What are you doing?" I ask when he sets a bowl of chicken noodle soup in front of me.
"What do you mean?" He smiles and it takes my breath away. So crazy that I use to despise him.
"You've been so nice since this morning." I sip a spoonful of soup as he sits down next to me with his.
"No I haven't." He looks down and his cheeks turn red. What did I do?
I'm not telling I like him. He'll probably go back to being an ass and I'm liking kind Ashton. Also, it'd be so awkward. I've been living in his room for a little over a week and I don't want to ruin it because I'm so grateful to be here.
Unless, he felt the same way.
It's taking everything in me not to burst out laughing at the thought. He's made it clear he doesn't want anything romantic between us and I need to get that through my head before this, whatever I feel towards him, gets stronger.
Maybe, If I met someone else, these stupid feelings will dissolve. I'm probably just missing the idea of a boyfriend. Yeah, that's it.
"My mom is having a fancy dinner gathering shit thing tonight. We can go if you want?" He stuffs a chunk of chicken into his mouth.
"Like fancy dresses and ties?"
"Yeah. We're not taking my bike, so don't worry." We both laugh and it feels good to on a day like this. I love the way he looks when he laughs. He gets little lines around the mouth, dimples deepen, eyes squint and cheekbones pop out. It's a nice sight.
Carmen stop.
I quickly get up from the table and throw my bowl in the sink. "You sure you want to go after this morning?"
"Yeah. I'll be fun." He flashes a smile and puts his dish in the sink also. He walks to his room to get ready and I text Tori.
*Can you catch a ride to Ashton's house?*
*Yeah. You have my car, anyway. Is something wrong?*
*Fancy dinner party with Ashton tonight.*
*Say no more. I'll skip 5th period and be over there in a minute.*
I go into Ash's room and he's practicing tying a tie.
"Why is this so hard?" He fumbles and ends up tying a knot.
"Here." He stands up from the bed while I walk towards him and unravel the mess he made.
I pull the tie together finishing it off and our eyes meet. His are magnificent. Instead of a typical hazel, they're a whirlpool of light and dark browns, mossy and pine green, even a hint of yellow. His lashes are long and his eyes have bags underneath, probably from all the nights we stayed up fighting.
His eyes fall to my mouth and back to my eyes. The tension between us right now is weird, but comforting. It's weird because, like I said before, he's made is crystal clear he doesn't want a relationship with me, but comforting because maybe he does.
That I'm that naive to not realize it.
The doorbell rings and I immediately walk out of his room and to the door, destroying the tension. Tori stands with Luke next to her. I'm not gonna lie, at first I was taken back.
"Luke?" My voice weak from what happened with Ashton and what is happening currently.
"You two know each other?" Tori questions, but I don't break my gaze from him. I didn't even know he went to our school.
"Ashton's in my band." Luke tells her with a thick Aussie accent. "Well, I need to get back to school. I'll text you." He winks at Tori and drives off. What is going on?
"Keys?" I drop the metal in her hand, stroll to her car and climb in. I decide to just question if there's anything between her and Luke later. I need to think about the fancy dinner thing with Ashton tonight.
I mean, like what could go wrong?