together we will be unbroken

I turn the door knob to my bedroom. "Laci." Ignore it. "Lace." Ashley covers my hand with his. "What's wrong?" "Nothing." I lie. "Is that blood in your teeth?" "No." I open the door but he pulls it closed. I look away from him. "Laci, look at me." He places his thumb and forefinger around my chin, forcing me to face him. I still look down with my eyes. "Hey, what's up?" He says gently. "Why would you care?" My voice cracks and tears begin to fall. "Hey..shh...don't cry." He pulls me into a hug, but I push him away. "I...I can't..." I sob. I open my bedroom door and leave him with a hurt look on his face. -Why did he come up here? Why did he look hurt when I pushed him away? I mean that's what he's been doing to me for the past few weeks. I ponder this as I brush my teeth, and reapply my make-up just to be safe. I wrap my ribs and shoulder in an ace bandage to make sure they don't move and get worse, and I pull on a pair of black, ripped skinny jeans, and a crew-neck sweatshirt with grey and black skulls on it. "Geez took you long enough." Jake smiles when I return to the living room. "Where's CC?" I ask. "Last place!" Andy yells. "Shut up man!" I hear CC exclaim from his room. Ashley is giving me that same suspisious look. His eyes burn like a thousand suns but I do my best to ignore it. "Hey look who it is!" Ronnie yells when CC walks down the stiars. What is it with all of the yeling this moring? "S'up guys, and Tum." He smiles. I love CC's smile, it's contagous. "Well someone's cheeky." Jacky teases. "No I'm not!" "Cheeky?" Andy asks. "Yeah it's the same as-" I clamp my hand over his mouth. "It's the same as being happy." I finish. "You uks have weird words." CC says. "Ireland is not part of the U.K! We are an independant nation thank you very much." I'm a bit of a patriot if you couldn't tell. "Are we going to the mall or not?" I question. "Yeah sure lets go." - I'm sitting alone on a bench listening to 'Hold On Till May' by Pierce the Veil. I've done all of the shopping I wanted to do, and now I'm just waiting for anyone else to finish. Someone taps my shoulder and I jump. Jinxx waves at me, "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." I read his lips. I pull out my headphones. "Oh don't worry about it. So what's up?" I smile. "I was going to ask you the same thing." "Well, I've shopped till I've droped so now I'm just waiting for everyone else to do the same." "That's not what I meant." Oh shit. "There's something up with you isn't there. I noticed it this morning, and again just now. You're on edge, and I can't see the light in your eyes, so what's up? And don't tell me nothing is wrong." "I just... I..." "Tum come on you can tell me anything. I promise I won't judge you in any way I just want to help." I take a deep breath, "Promise you won't tell anyone, especially Ronnie?" "I promise." I take another deep breath. "Okay well... I got in a fight last nigh." "Are you okay? Should you go to a hospital to make sure that everything is as it should be?" I can see why they call him mama Jinxx. "No, it's nothingbthat hasn't happened before." "Do you kniw who it was?" "It was my exboyfriend...." His eyes get wide. "Wait what the hell is he doing here? He lived in Ireland right?" "Yeah he did, but apperently he moved to Cincinatti. I knew he was going to be there because he woukd text and call me at least once a week." "Has he hit you before?" The memories flod into my mind and I fight back the tears waiting to flow. "No." "No? Lace how long did he do that to you?" "Two years." My voice cracks. Not here, don't cry here. My phone buzzes, I'm scared to check it. "Here, do you want me to check it?" I nod amd hand him my phone. "It's Jake, he said to meet everyone at enterance E." He pats my bad shoulder making me cringe. "Sorry. He won't get near you ahain okay? I promise." I hooe nobody gets hurt because of this.

Notes

Sorry i haven't had time ti edit the last few chapters.