AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Me swinging around.
The hot pizza in my hand colliding with a chest.
That chest belonging to the last person I wanted to see. Camden.
6
CAMDEN
I’m not sure what I did to deserve this kind of torture, but whatever it was, I don’t think anyone should undergo this kind of cruel punishment.
My chest must be on fire. There is no other explanation for the pain. I’ve been kicked, studs up, in the balls on the soccer field and even that wasn’t half as bad as this. No, this is how they torture people in other countries.
After what feels like hours, but in reality is probably a couple minutes, the pain slowly begins to become slightly tolerable. And I say that mildly. My eyes are shut and I’m lying on something hard. The ground, maybe? I don’t remember going from a standing position to being on the floor, but with the kind of pain this shit is causing, anything could have happened.
Slowly, I peel my eyes open one at a time. The first thing I notice is that I am most definitely on the ground, and I have no recollection of how I got here. The second thing, though, well, the second thing is just about the best part of this entire situation.
Blaire.
She’s kneeling and staring down at me, biting her full bottom lip and holding a wet rag in her hand. She’s not looking at my face, though. She’s looking lower…
Oh, right, my chest that was on fire just moments ago. Somehow between trying to figure out how I went from walking into the apartment of the girl Conrad is fascinated with to then seeing my Blaire, the burning chest got forgotten.
Wait, did I just saymy Blaire? No. Why would I even think that? She’s not mine. I barely even know her.
“Dude, are you okay?” someone asks from behind me. Turning to look, I see Conrad with his arm around the blonde he hooked up with a few days ago. Both are staring at the same spot that Blaire was. My chest.
Deciding to see what the fascination is all about, I look down.
What. The. Fuck?
There’re blisters and red spots covering what used to be my chest. And the hair? Yeah, that’s now gone. Not that I had much, but what little splattering I did have is probably burned off. My chest looks like I should be quarantined. I don’t know why any of these people standing around haven’t taken off running. If I knew this nasty shit wouldn’t follow me, I’d be far gone by now.
Around the room, everyone is still staring at my chest, but no one has talked. “Anyone going to tell me what the hell happened here?” Ah, that got their attention away from the subject at hand. Now everyone seems to be completely fascinated by random spots in the room. Everyone, that is, but Blaire.
“You going to tell me what’s going on, sweetheart?” I ask her, raising my eyebrow.
She looks around the room at all the people avoiding me, then her eyes meet mine again. “I—” She stops and takes a deep breath. “The pizza was in my hand, and I didn’t know you were behind me and…and it’s all just a blur. But I am so, so sorry, Camden. You have no idea how unbelievably sorry I am.” Her words come out rushed, but somehow I was able to catch it all.
So, she’s the one to cause this ugliness on my chest. I should be pissed. I should feel some sort of anger toward her for causing this amount of pain. But one look at her small body curled into herself like a defenseless little kitten, and there’s no way I could be angry with her. She looks genuinely upset about hurting me.
Even though the pain is pretty bad, I don’t want to make her feel any worse than she already does. Taking in a deep breath, I shift from my position lying on the ground, to sitting up. I would have made more of an effort to get farther up, but just that simple movement took a lot out of me.
Blaire bends down and grabs my shoulder. She looks back down at my chest, then bites that damn lip again. “Are you okay?” she asks, then rolls her eyes. “I don’t know why I would even ask that. Obviously, you’re not okay. That’s obvious by the look of your chest.”
Even through all her worry, she’s adorable. Maybe it’s the worry over me that makes her adorable.
Using every bit of strength I can muster up, I force myself to stand up. Blaire keeps a light touch on the back of my arm. I decide not to tell her that there’s no point in doing that because it’s not helping at all. Sometimes people just feel the need to help in any way they can.
Once I’m standing on both feet, I take in my appearance. My plain black, V-neck T-shirt is ripped right down the middle. Guessing one of the guys did that so they could assess the damage. The sores on my chest aren’t looking any better and the pain has turned into a steady thud. It’s like the burn has its own heartbeat. These are for sure going to look nastier in a day or so.
“There a bathroom?” I ask Blaire. Everyone else has drifted their attention to conversations going on around them. The only ones still near me are Blaire, Conrad, and the chick Conrad has been seeing, who is Blaire’s roommate.
She nods and points in the direction of the hallway. “It’s that way. I’ll show you.” She sounds hesitant.
Before she moves, Blaire’s friend gives her a strange look. I’m not sure what kind of girl signal that was, but Blaire gives her a reassuring nod back. She turns around and leads the way through the crowd of people toward the hallway.
Everyone watches us. No, they’re watching her.
