part 17

"What?" she asked not turning completely around. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Woah." he said sitting up."I was gonna joke about you being here 3 hours after me but now that you made a big deal about it."
"I didn't make a big deal." she said holding the bruise on her cheek.
"Okay then." he said his hands up in surrender as he walked to hug her. "I missed you."
"Yeah I missed you too." she said falling into his arms careful not to rest her hurt side on his chest.

She was glad the only source of light was the dim glow of the TV. After a few short moments of comfort, just standing there listening to his heartbeat, her breaths in sync with his. He reached up and pushed her falling bangs off her eyes. She winched back in pain.

"Woah Brooklyn." he said holding her at arms length away. "What's wrong? Did I hurt you?"
"No." she lied.
"There's that lying again." he said flicking on the lights. "Oh my god. Brooklyn!"
"It's nothing!" she barked turning away towards her bedroom.
"The hell is isn't!" he said grabbing her wrist pulling her back to her. "What happened up there?"
"Nothing Nicklas. I-I tripped."
"Yeah and you're not dating a professional hockey player and I'm not dating the girl of my dreams. Tell me! Now Brooklyn!"
"Fine!" she said as she stomped to the couch, flopped down sitting cross legged looking towards the sliding glass door. Even though it was way to dark to see out of. She let out a long deep sigh.
"Well..?" Nicklas asked sitting down next to her.
"So remember that voice you heard when I was on the phone with you?" she asked turning to face him.
"Yeah."
"Well that was my ex best friend slash ex boyfriend, Brody Carson."
"He hit you!?!" He interrupted.
"Are you gonna let me tell you?!"
"Sorry." he said holding his hands up, in surrender, again.
"Anyway...I guess he saw my car in the driveway and he stopped by. We got to talking and this lead to that and he pushed me up against the wall, I hit him, he hit me back and I told him to leave."
"What were you talking about? Something that bad that made you hit him."
"Nothing important."
"Brooklyn. I want to know."
"When we were still in high school, we starting dating. I figured I've known him since I was 12 it would work out. I was wrong. Almost 3 years later he cheated on me. He told me he was staying home to watch his Nephew one Friday night. So I figured I'd go to a friends party she was having. I was having fun, just talking to new people, you know. Since I hadn't gotten out much when he was around. I went to get another drink and I saw her sitting up on the kitchen counter, with him in between her legs making out with her. I ripped him off her and he just laughed and said 'oh I guess I'm busted' anyway I dumped him. I guess it didn't help much that I had to see him everyday at practice." her voice trailed into a mumble.
"How does that lead to this." he said reaching for her face but dropping his hand to find hers.
"He brought you into it, and you had no place to be there. He called me easy and shoved me against the wall. I pushed him away but he wouldn't let me go. So I did the only thing I could do. I didn't think he'd ever hit me back. Guess I was wrong." she said dropping her head looking at her feet, not wanting to catch his eyes.
"That's why you left..." he whispered.
"Yeah. It was bad enough my mom came home to me bleeding, I know my dad would've hunted Brody down and killed him for touching me."
"Oh he's a lucky boy. If I was there...you don't even know how pissed I-" he said through his teeth.
"You know what the worst part is?" she said cutting him off.
"What could possibly be worse Brooklyn? You go home to spend time with your family, and your mental ex boyfriend hits you for moving on!"
"Nicklas! People will think you did this!" she said standing up violently. "No one but you knew I was going home! No one was there! No one will believe me that my ex did this!"
"Oh this could be a problem." he said his eyes wide. "But I'm not worried about that. I want to make sure you're okay."
"I'm fine. Nothing a day of ice and some make-up can't fix. I'm going to take a shower. I need sometime to think." she said as she walked toward her bathroom.
"Brooklyn." he said quietly.
"Yeah babe." she said turning around to face him.
"I love you." he said looking straight into her eyes, watching the smile form on her face.
"With all my heart." she responded back.