Chris POV

Me and the boys had decided to meet up at the tree house. Gordie said to drop by Erika's and ask her if she wanted to come with us. By the boys, I mean Gordie, Teddy and Vern. They are 3 of my best friends, along with Erika aswell. All 5 of us are best friends. We had been for about 8 years now. Since we were 7. So in case you hadn't guessed, we are 15 now.

I was walking along the road; the sun was beaming down, casting shadows everywhere. It was quite hot as it was summer. I was about 5 minutes away from Erika's house. We hadn't seen her in a couple of days. But I'm not sure why. She hasn't been out lately. I have seen her dad though. I don't like him much. He is an asshole. Erika's mum walked out when she was born. She said she couldn't handle a baby at the time, but she never did come back, and that was 15 years ago, I don't think she will make an appearance anytime soon. I've seen a couple of pictures of her mum that are around her house, her dad doesn't keep it very tidy. She looks quite like her mum. She has brown hair that reaches to her hips, she is about average height, for a girl, about 5 foot 4. She has brown eyes and is slim. She is also really pretty, and I'm not the only one that thinks so. The four of us think she is, but I like her a bit more than that. Gordie knows. And I think Teddy has some idea, but Vern is just as clueless as ever.

I walked up to Erika's door and knock on it. I waited for an answer. After about a minute, I knock again. I heard shuffling around inside. Then the door opened just a bit. A strong smell of cigarettes and alcohol wafted past my nose. I could only see part of the left side of her face. Her hair was covering part of it. She didn't look like she was smiling, in fact, she didn't look very happy at all.

"Hey." I said to her.

"Hi." She said in a small voice that did not sound like hers.

"You wanna come to the tree house? We are all going there." I asked her, hoping to cheer her up a bit.

"Um, I can't. I'm bust right now." She lied, looking anywhere but me.

"Busy? Doing what exactly?" I pushed.

"It doesn't matter Chris, I'm just busy, ok?" she said, slightly louder, and then tried to close the door. I managed to block it with my foot. "What now Chris?" She asked.

"Are you ok?" I asked her, trying to push the door open a bit more, but she wouldn't let me.

"I'm fine. Why?" she asked, and again, I could tell she was lying.

"No you're not. What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing! I'm fine!" she shouted, and then tried to close the door again, but I managed to open it more, revealing cuts, and blood trailing down the right side of her face from under her eye. Her right eye looked like it was forming a bruise. I was so shocked at the sight, I let out a gasp.

"Oh shit Erika, what happened?" I asked. She turned her head away from me and blocked her face with her hair.

"Nothing happened." I could her she was starting to cry. And in my 8 years of knowing her, I have only seen her cry twice, and they were when we were a lot younger.

"Erika, look at me." She didn't move. "Look at me." I said. She turned her head slightly, so I turned it the full way. "What. Happened?" I asked sternly. She was avoiding eye contact. "Erika." I said, still waiting for her to answer.

"It's noth–" She started.

"Don't give me that shit Erika. What happened?" I asked, getting slightly annoyed now. I'm just trying to help a friend.

"Why are you so worried anyway? It's not you." She raised her voice slightly.

"Because I'm your friend and I care about you, that's why." I said, also raising my voice. "Now tell me what happened!" She had backed away a bit now. "Sorry. Please, I am just trying to help." I said quieter and calmer now. She sighed.

"It was…my…umm…my…" She was stuttering and I was getting a little impatient because she was so close to telling me.

"Your who?" I pushed.

"My dad." She said almost inaudible. Her dad? Why would he do that? She hasn't had the best life but he does that too? I could feel the anger building up inside me.

"Y-your dad?" I asked, to make sure I heard right. She turned her head away from me and nodded slightly. That was it. I stood up quickly. She looked towards me as I went for the door.

"Where are you going Chris?" She asked slightly worried.

"Where do you think I am going? I'm going to find your dad, that's where." I said and put my hand on the door handle.

"No don't Chris, please." She pleaded. She came up behind me and put her hand on m shoulder. I immediately calmed down. I turned towards her. Her cuts were still bleeding and I could see the bruise coming up around her right eye.

"Alright." I said. I turned towards the kitchen and walked towards it.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Well, I don't think you want blood running down your face and drying there. I wouldn't." I smiled. I carried on into the kitchen and grabbed some tissues. I walked over to the sink and wet the tissue. Erika was standing at the door watching what I was doing with a slightly confused look.

"Come here then." I said, pulling out a chair for her to sit on. She just gave me the confused look again. I looked from her to the seat and back to her again, but she clearly wasn't getting the message. I walked over to her and grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the chair. She sat on the chair and was giving me a curious look. I grabbed the tissue again and started cleaning up the cuts.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked. I stopped to look at her.

"I told you before; I'm helping you because you are my friend. And because I know what it is like. And because you help me when ever I look like this." I carried on cleaning up the cut under her eye.

"So what exactly did he do?" I asked her, curious as to what could of caused all the blood.

"He…uh…punched me in my eye and…uh…he…um…threw a glass at me… and threw me into the…uh… coffee table in the…um… living room." She stuttered out.

"When?" I asked.

"This morning. About 5 minutes before you got here." She said.

"What? Well where is he now?" I asked her, stopping to look at her again.

"He walked out the back door." She said as if it was a casual occurrence.

"He just walked out? Nothing else?" She shook her head.

"Has this happened before?" I asked curiously. She turned her head away.

"No." She said, but I wasn't convinced.

"Erika." I said.

"Ok, maybe once or twice, or something along those lines but really it's nothing." She said.

"Nothing? Are you joking? How come I've never seen it before then?" I asked her.

"He's not stupid Chris. He does it where he knows people won't see. But he doesn't do it all the time. Only occasionally." She said, defending him. I carried on cleaning up the blood on her face.

"You should have told us, or at least me. I could have helped. I know what it's like, remember." I said to her.

"I don't want you lot judging me for it." She said.

"Why would we judge you? Do you lot judge me?" I threw the tissue in the bin and pulled out a chair so I was sitting directly in front of her.

"Well no, but that is different. You–" I cut her off.

"How is that different?" She just shrugged her shoulders and put her head down. I sighed.

"Look Erika. We can help you. You don't have to hide it from your best friends." I said to her, grabbing hold of her hand. She looked up at me.

"Look I know I should have told someone, but it's not something you just throw in a conversation." She said. I know what it is like to have to tell someone about your dad hitting you. I had to tell my best friends, and they helped me.

"I know it's hard, but you just have to trust people." I said to her.

"That's the problem. I can't because everyone I have put trust in just throws it back in my face. My mum left me when I was a baby so I clearly cant trust her. And my dad hits me, so there isn't any trust there either." She said.

"But you can trust us. We would never hurt you like that. Especially not me." I said, saying the last part quieter and looking down.

"What's that suppose to me?" She asked.

"Nothing, it doesn't matt–" She cut me off.

"Don't give me that crap. What did you mean by that?" She asked. I could feel my face getting hotter and I know I was blushing.

"Well, uh…" I started, scratching the back of my neck, something I do when I am nervous, and she knows it.

"Spit it out then." She said. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I leant forward in my chair so I was inches away from her face and kissed her.

She didn't respond and I knew I had just ruined our friendship and she was going to punch me in the face, and it will really hurt because she is stronger than she looks, and then she is going to kick me out and tell me to never talk to her again. Just as I was about to pull away, she started kissing back and I felt her snake her arms around my neck. I put my arms around her waist and pulled her on to my lap, without breaking the kiss. When we finally did pull away, we just stared at each other.

"That was a little bit more explaining than I thought I would get." She joked.

"You have no idea how long I have waited to do that." I asked, grinning.

"And how long might that be?" She asked me.

"About a year." I said. She raised one eyebrow.

"A Year? You waited a year to do that." She then hit my arm. "What is wrong with you?" She asked.

"Ow! I'm sorry?" I didn't exactly understand what she was getting out.

"You should have done it earlier." She laughed. I just shook my head at her and then kissed her again.

"So, now that you have been cleaned up and you are happy again, you coming to the tree house?" I asked her. She thought about it for a second.

"Sure. Lets go." She got off my lap and then ran to put her shoes on. I opened the door and we walked out. Her hand kept brushing against mine as we were walking and I wanted to grab it, but I was worried to in case she didn't want to. She must have read my mind though be cause she grabbed my hand. I looked down at our hands and then at her face and smiled. We carried on to the tree house.

"So, does this mean we are going out now?" I asked her.

"No." she stated simply. My face dropped. "You haven't asked me yet." She smiled.

"Fine then, Erika, will you go out with me?" I asked her.

"Hmm, I don't know." She joked.

"Oh ha-ha." I said sarcastically.

"Sure, why not." She smiled.

I hope she will start trusting us more now and that this relationship will work out because I don't want to lose her as a friend. She is too special for that.


So this is just a one shot that came into my head and I thought I would write it. I hope it is good, it is my first Stand By Me story. Enjoy and reviews would be nice :)

Much love :) xxx