I continued taking care of her wounds, by putting more Aloe vera around the big bruise on her ribcage. I was so concentrated on putting the gel gently, just so I wouldn't hurt her.
Meanwhile, Lauren was staring at me the whole time. I guess she was hesitant to tell me what happened to her, but something stopped her from doing so. I noticed she was looking at me, so my eyes shifted from her bruise and met hers.
"What?", I stopped touching the bruise, "Does it hurt?"
"No", her lips curved into a smile, "I'm just grateful for you".
Her words made me crack a smile for a second, then I continued putting the Aloe vera on her bruise.
"I was sexually assaulted", she suddenly spoke, and left me speechless.
I stopped what I was doing and raised my head to look at her.
"What?", I asked worryingly.
She looked down. She was ashamed for some reason, like it was her fault.
"I..", she bit her lip and continued, "I went out with Alexa and Erica. We went to Story, you know that club? It's in Collins Avenue".
I was completely shocked and stayed silent, waiting for her to continue.
"Anyway, at 3am ish we decided to go home. I was completely wasted at that point, as you can tell", she looked down for a few seconds.
She was embarrassed to talk about how drunk she was yesterday, cause she was afraid of my reaction.
I tend to judge Lauren when it comes to how she chooses to deal with her pain. And I don't do this on purpose.. I just care about her so deeply. But no matter how many times I've told Lauren that she needs to stop drinking her problems away, I always promised her as well that I'll be there for her no matter what. And I was willing to do that again this time.
I reached for her hand and held it tightly, interlocking our fingers together. She looked at my hand holding hers, and continued telling the story.
"Alexa ordered an uber for us, and we drove to her house first, and then to mine. Erica and her both got off the uber at Alexa's house, so I was left alone in the uber", she glanced at me.
I didn't want to hear the rest because I was afraid of where it was going. But I let her continue, nevertheless.
"When the uber arrived at my house I got out of the car and was about to go home, but all of a sudden I felt the driver grabbing my hand aggressively", her voice started shaking, as if she was about to cry.
I stroked her hand with my thumb, trying to make her calm down.
"I couldn't get away cause he was touching me and I panicked", she started to tear up.
I wrapped my arms around her and pressed her head to my chest.
"And then he kissed me and I was so disgusted but I couldn't do anything", she said while crying her eyes out.
I felt her tears streaming down my shirt. I hugged her tightly and sunk into the pain she was feeling.
"It's okay, cry it out. I'm here for you", I laid a kiss on her head and stroked her hair.
She hugged me back, and laid a kiss on my arm.
"I don't know what I would do without you", she said while resting her head on my chest, "I thought I was going to die there, alone in the middle of the street".
I stayed silent. This whole situation made Lauren forget how she treated me the day before. I helped her by opening my house and my heart for her, but I didn't forget what happened yesterday, before I left her house crying my eyes out.
I stayed silent for a few more minutes while her head was still resting on my chest.
"Why are you so quiet?", she looked up and searched for my eyes, which were looking away from her.
"I don't know.. Just thinking", I responded, still staring at the wall.
"About what?"
"About life"
"You're so deep", she chuckled through her tears.
I kept being quiet.
"So.. What's up with you and Austin?", she tried to initiate a conversation.
I suddenly remembered that I haven't got the chance to tell her what Austin and I talked about the last time that I was at his place, and even worse, I lied to her and told her that we slept. I didn't know how to respond, so I kept dodging the topic.
"Nothing new", I replied.
She sat up and faced me.
"Do you.. love him?", she asked boldly.
"Why are we talking about Austin right now?", I looked away.
She was a little confused regarding why I was avoiding her question.
"Something happened between you guys?", She tried to look me in the eyes but I was avoiding eye contact.
"We're not together anymore", I finally glanced at her.
She put her hand on my thigh and rubbed my skin with her thumb.
"Do you wanna talk about it?", she asked.
"I'd rather not to", I replied.
She wrapped her arms around me once more and pulled me in for a warm embrace, when all of a sudden my phone started ringing. It was Austin.