I leaned against the side of my house, trying not to cry out as I placed my sleeve against my nose, attempting to lessen the amount of blood running out of it. The problem was that anytime I would touch my (probably broken) nose, it would send a stab of pain through it all the way up to my forehead.
I held back tears. I was stupidly worried that Dad might hear me if I started crying, or even if I moved at all. And if he heard me, he'd get mad all over again.
Sighing, I started on my way to my friend's house. She could take me in for the night since Dad had locked the door after he kicked me out.
I started to think of excuses for my nose. The best seemed to be that I'd gotten into a fight and the door was locked when I came home. Hopefully, Stacey would buy it.
When I was about halfway to her house, I heard footsteps behind me. I started walking faster, praying that whoever it was would leave me the hell alone.
"Hey, darlin'," someone slurred behind me. "I don't usually go for dark-haired girls, but that view from behind is nice."
I didn't look behind me as I said, "Leave me alone!"
"Alright, alright. But it looks like we're headin' in the same direction, sooo you'll have to deal with me for a little bit longer."
I stopped walking and turned around, tears glistening in my eyes. "I said leave me alone!"
The guy stopped staggering around. He was kinda tall with long sideburns. Honestly, he wasn't bad looking, but he was a drunk stranger, which meant danger. He was grinning until he saw the blood staining the front of my shirt, running from my nose. His smile was replaced by a grimace.
I considered running from him. But then I saw that he was wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt with beer spilled all over it and I felt like not just running but laughing and crying all at once.
"Are you okay? Your nose is fucked up," he said simply. He sounded like he'd sobered up a bit.
I shrugged, knowing I couldn't trust this guy. "I'm fine, okay? So leave me alone."
"Okay. Okay, alright. But listen. I got a friend who's gotta deal with us gettin' hurt a lot. He might be able to fix your nose and help you look pretty."
"Ain't I already pretty?" I asked sarcastically.
He nodded seriously. "The blood really helps your looks."
I tried to continue to look tough but started to laugh with him. The joke wasn't even funny, but I was a contagious laughter and he was laughing his ass off, and I was nervous, and I'd always found laughing helped with anxiety.
Deciding to take a risk, I said, "I'll go with you. But you gotta let me call my friend first so I can tell her where I'm goin' and who I'm with. And if anythin' happens, I'm leavin'. Got it?"
"Nothin's gonna happen. I promise. You know what? I fuckin' pinky-promise." He held out his pinky solemnly.
Rolling my eyes and smiling, I shook pinkies with him.
Two-Bit, as he had told me to call him, told horrible jokes and pick-up lines all the way to the house he was taking me to.
When we got there, he made no effort to be quiet. Loudly, he said, "Wait on the couch. I'll get Darry."
Wondering briefly who Darry was, I almost sat down on the couch when I saw someone already curled up on it. It was a small boy, with tan skin and a jean jacket wrapped around him. The skin on his face looked like it'd been cut with something, probably in a fight.
He shifted around on the couch and I instinctively moved away. I didn't want him to wake up because I had no idea how he would act.
Looking around the house, I realized what a dumbass I was. I had just followed some random guy into a random damn house. But at least I'd had enough sense to tell Stacey, my friend, the address over a payphone. God knows if she retained the information, but at least I'd tried.
"What the hell, Two-Bit! It's 3 in the damn mornin'!" I heard someone yell from another room. Smiling to myself, I sat down tentatively on the armchair.
Two-Bit and a groggy looking guy stepped into the living room. The other guy, who I assumed was Darry, perked up a bit when he saw the blood running down my shirt. Thankfully, my nose had finally stopped bleeding, but I still had a lot of blood on me. My face was still throbbing with every beat of my heart, but I tried to smile through it.
"Yeah, you got hit hard," the guy muttered. He was tall and really muscular with dark hair. "Let me look at it in the kitchen- the lighting's better."
I followed the two boys into the kitchen and sat on a counter. As Darry looked at my nose, Two-Bit got a beer and talked away.
"Is it broken?" I asked sadly, shaking my head. It sucked having a broken nose. There weren't anything doctors could do for it besides giving you pain pills to take, and pain pills were expensive.
Darry nodded. "Yeah, I think so. But there ain't anythin' anyone can really do for it."
"A broken nose sucks!" Two-Bit yelled, frowning.
Darry rolled his eyes. "You don't gotta yell. Don't go and wake up Pony and Soda like you did me." Darry turned to me and sighed. "Uh-"
"Ava."
"Ava, you can stay on the couch," Darry said softly. I nodded. The couch seemed to be as good of a spot as any.
"Hey, but Johnny's on the couch." Two-Bit leaned against the counter and raised an eyebrow at Darry. "What're we gonna do 'bout him?"
"Can you sleep on the armchair?" Darry asked me.
I shrugged. "I can just go to a friend's house."
"No, it's too late," Darry said absently like he'd told someone it was too late for something hundreds of times. "You can sleep on the armchair."
"Okay." I knew that staying at that house was probably my best option. Hopefully, I would be able to wake up early enough to leave before anyone else got up. I didn't want to be a bother.
Two-Bit smiled as he said, "I don't think goin' home would be a great idea for me either. Where can I crash?"
"On the floor."
"What?! Why?!"
"Because you woke me up so damn early! Now I'm goin' back to sleep 'cause I got work in the mornin'."
"It is the mornin'," Two-Bit noted happily. I chuckled with him. Darry muttered something and went back to his bedroom.
We went into the living room and Two-Bit turned on the TV. He threw a bit of a fit because Mickey Mouse wasn't on yet.
"Do you wanna share the armchair?" he asked playfully, winking.
I rolled my eyes. "Nice try, but no thanks. It's too small for two."
"The floor then? It's a helluva lot bigger."
"No, sorry, too big," I laughed in response.
"That's what she said."