Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to their rightful owners.
Warning: The following chapter contains: coarse language, mature humor. YOU have been WARNED.
The Pain of being Punched in the Face
Noah felt like an idiot. He also felt a huge throbbing from the right side of his face. Those two things were not mutually exclusive of course.
He didn't know what he had been thinking. What was he even doing here? How did he get dragged to some stupid house party? He had always felt he was above these kinds of things. The last thing he wanted on a Friday night was be surrounded by a bunch of asshole bros. To an outsider, he would concede: his weekends did not appear the most exciting. They usually entailed a book or film, coupled with some box wine and weed, often in isolation. Why the need for others though? Why did he have to fucking impress anyone?
Well he had officially given it a try. No one can say otherwise. Chalk one up on the board, hand him his certificate, and give him the complimentary keychain. He tried to impress people and now he was sitting on a curb with a black eye rapidly forming. Since he was an official member of the club now he felt entitled to have the opinion that it fucking sucks. Definitely not going to do it again. He did not need to impress John Cassavetes and Sidney Lumet. Their films were not two way mirrors. Plus they were dead, which gave that added reassurance.
The one person he should be blaming is Cody. Of course it was his idea to come here. Cody is exactly the person who always needed to impress other people. He needed other people to think he was cool. And not even cool people, he needed it from popular people. What an idiot. Noah never had this issue since he knew he was cool. He had the confidence to understand that what other people did not like or thought pretentious of him was exactly what was cool. It had been so easy for him growing up in a place full of Neanderthals, whatever they rejected he indulged. It was not a perfect science Noah would admit but it was pretty damn close.
The king of the Neanderthals was the biggest poser alphamale douchbag of them all: Duncan. It should come to no surprise he was the one to give Noah this face trauma. There was no way Duncan was not going to be at this party. For his kind, this is like their oasis. An oasis they then proceed to pretend to own, harass everyone else there then trash before leaving.
"Noah!" Cody called out as he rushed over the front yard from the house the party was continuing to unfold in. Cody carried some paper towel that had been bunched up around some ice. "Here." Cody handed Noah the ice. Noah placed it on the right side of his face. The relief was not as immediate or satisfying as Noah had been led to believe from popular fiction. Still, he was grateful for anything that might halt the throbbing.
It was nice to have Cody here because right when they stepped into that party Noah lost track of Cody instantly. He then needed to rotate between standing alone awkwardly and walking aimlessly around the party. This needed to happen in a rotation as to avoid seeming too pathetic and have someone try to talk to him out of pity. He at the time he could not think of a worse fate.
Unfortunately for Noah, that worse fate occurred when he walked into a room which included Duncan and his Douchbag Olympics team. Duncan could not miss the opportunity to put Noah through the ringer. It was not anything new. The classic round of condescending mockery involuntary questioning meant to both cause extreme discomfort and upset the victim purely for the sadistic pleasure of a sadistic jerk whose mother never loved them enough.
Noah did get away, he started to leave but he was angry. Pissed off about just being humiliated in a place he never wanted to be at in the first place. He was so frustrated about the whole night. He was upset with himself for not leaving already. So when Duncan parted with the words: "Go find that little bitch Cody." Noah decided fuck it, fuck this, and fuck Duncan.
Noah just wished his attempted punch was as powerful as his decision, because as it was, Noah's punch barely even grazed Duncan. Most would not even call it a hit. But for Noah, in that immediate second. He felt pretty satisfied. The issue was that he had not really processed what would happen next. This of course, had been Duncan's desired reaction. It was the perfect excuse for him to hurt someone physically, meant to go along nicely with the mental and emotional turmoil already provided.
Noah actually got off easy. After the first punch, Noah's position did not incite the need for further contact. That position being: riving on the floor in pain. Not his finest hour. It was nowhere near the fantasy sequence that Noah had constructed in his head a thousand times over the years of getting in a fight.
Fights suck. And they hurt. A lot.
Now he was stuck on a curb pushing ice on his face.
"Does it hurt?" Cody asked.
"Just my pride and everything else." Noah responded.
"You know, you don't have to fight my battles for me. In fact I highly recommend against it for your own personal health due to your fighting prowess."
"Yeah, yeah." Noah said dismissively. The last thing he needed right now was being ridiculed further. "Anything else?"
"One thing." Cody leaned in a gave Noah a brief kiss on the lips. Noah closed his eyes as their lips met. When he pulled away, Cody whispered "Thanks."
Noah could not help but smile. Which was a bad idea because that involved muscles in his face which currently were on fire.
In the end, it was not so bad. Noah had stood up the bully. He got the boy. And a story he will undoubtedly twist in a million ways to make himself out way cooler from. If only his face did not hurt so much.
Like seriously, it really hurt. It can't be stressed enough how painful it was, like having a nail slowly being driven into the side of his face.
The End.
Afterword:
I hope you enjoyed this little story. I have not written something small in a while so I was itching to put something down on paper. This one was fun too because I got to write from a specific perspective, that of a disgruntled teenager. Thank you for reading. Please leave a review - Nyhlus.