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“I thought maybe I’d take care of Elliott while you were at church. You know, get him water, things like that.” My mom didn’t respond, so she added, “I’m not skipping out. I’m going to a later service.”
“I don’t think that would be necessary Julia. Suddenly, I’m not so comfortable with you and Elliott being alone.”
“Oh,” Jules said, disappointed.
The feeling reached me and was so strong it made my heart ache for her.
“Mom!” I yelled, holding my side.
“Wait here,” my mom said to Jules.
She climbed the steps and entered my room.
“Mom, seriously?”
“Well, Elliott. Can you blame me?”
“I guess not,” I conceded, “but look at me. What the heck could we even do?”
She thought for a moment and her face softened.
“Julia,” she called over her shoulder.
“Yes Shelby?” Still so familiar.
“Come on up girl.”
Jules bounded up the stairs and burst through the door, tossing herself next to me. No propriety, that one. My mom frowned.
“Look at me, both of you.”
We stared and I could tell she wanted to laugh at the both of us but she kept her composure.
o;Cool. So.......I can’t believe you almost floored that guy,” I teased, referring to the guy she kicked, trying to make the situation lighter.
It didn’t work. Tears began to flow and she buried her face into my chest. I ran my fingers up and down her back. She pulled away quickly, obviously not wanting to be comforted, only wanting to be the comforter. She wiped the tears from her eyes but she wasn’t fooling me. Her eyes were still glassy trying to hold them back.
“Jules. This is nothing babe. Trust me, I’ve been in a lot worse scraps than this.”
She didn’t say anything but tried to smile. She grabbed three washcloths from a drawer and waited for the water to get warm before soaking them and wringing them out. She helped me remove my shirt and I twisted in pain from having to contort my sides and chest. The bruises had already started to show which made her gasp.
“Yikes,” I said standing up in front of the bathroom mirror. “Oh well. Remember that two hundred and fifty pound lineman that Reggie couldn’t block me from? This isn’t much worse than that.” She nodded.
I grimaced as she took a damp rag to the blood on my face and neck. When I was blood free she had me lay back in a chair in her living room and then went to the kitchen sink to wash as much blood as possible from my t-shirt. Several minutes passed in silence.
“You’re awfully quiet over there Jules. What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Are you okay over there? Comfortable?”
“Uh, well, Jules my sides are really sore and it’s hard to get comfortable,” I said.
“I can fix that.”
She pulled an aspirin bottle from a cabinet, opened the bottle, removed two and grabbed a bottle of water.
“Here babe,” she said, handing me the bottle and little pills.
“Thanks sweetheart,” I said, swallowing them.
