Disclaimer: I own none of the original BC character and I make no money off the fiction.
This story is fairly different from the other stories I've written - it is primarily Bender and a new character. I hope you like it anyway.
Shermer, Illinois was a far cry from London or Paris. Not that Laura Ashford really minded the change of scenery – she was kind of happy to be back in the US. That said, she was not happy with her living situation. What kind of fucked up life left a fifteen year old a junior in high school with a mother who died of a drug overdose not a month ago. She was left with a father she remembered hating, and now she knew why. He was an abusive, drunken asshole. She had no memory of the incident which caused her mother to run away from her father; she was even unaware that he was the reason she was forced to use a cane and had since she was six or seven and why she had continuous back problems.
Her life, the one recently stolen from her, had been filled with tutors and luxurious apartments, shopping sprees, and free reign to do pretty much what she wanted. Her mother was rarely around in the last year or so, not that she'd ever been around much. Laura remembered the birthdays of her nanny's better than her own parents. She looked around the room she was presently in; she'd been dropped off here by child protective services a couple of hours ago. She'd been here for a while when she was nine or ten, and she wondered if there was still a cute boy who lived next door?
Her luggage took up most of the room; otherwise there was a mattress and box spring on the floor without sheets on it, a scuffed dresser and nothing else. The walls were stained with age and the room had a musty smell, but then she thought so does the whole dump. Laura dug out her cigarettes, a bad habit she knew – but it kept her nerves calm better than all the drugs her mother's therapists and chiropractors had tried to dump down her throat over the years. What the hell am I going to do…. She looked around the small dingy house while trying to stay out of her father's sight. 'Father? Really, maybe I should just call him Mike, that what I've always thought of him as.' But he terrified her for reasons she couldn't really put her finger on. She was supposed to register and start high school tomorrow, over the past month she'd been shuttled between orphanages in London, to an "uncle" who was more like her mother's old boyfriend, to a grandparent's house she didn't know she had – and who didn't want her – but at least between them she was tested for getting into school. Laura wasn't really sure what grade she was supposed to be in, but she did think she was somehow accelerated.
She stepped on to the bed and pushed the window up. Her room sat at the far side of the ranch house, and sitting down on the window sill Laura realized she had a very nice way to get in and out of the house without going through the living room, where mike was inevitably sitting watching TV, drinking and smoking. As she was thinking about checking out the yard she heard a crash and the shout of her name.
"Laura! Where the fuck are you? I'm fucking hungry." A deep, surly voice hollered from the rest of the house.
She took pride in the fact that she'd only jumped a little. It only took a few seconds for her to pull the window down till it was only slightly open, and move as quickly as her nerves and limp would let her towards the kitchen. "I'm coming Dad." She figured he'd be less pissed off if he knew she was indeed on her way. I wonder what's here to eat, Laura thought. I don't know how to cook much, but maybe I can whip something up. With that thought in mind she picked up her step a little, arriving to the kitchen where Mike was sitting at the table drinking another beer, there was a mess of ceramic on the floor as though several plates had been broken.
"What happened?" Laura asked, standing in the doorway.
"I broke a fucking plate, what's it look like dumbass? Gonna stand there looking stupid or are you gonna fucking clean it up and cook something?" He asked as though she were the most ignorant person on earth.
Laura, having learned from years of being the focus of her mother's drunken bouts that she had to move quickly and smile about it or it could turn ugly quick. She swiftly scanned the kitchen and saw the broom on the other side of the room, on the other side of the glass. "Fuck it" she thought, and walked barefoot over to the broom; she started to sweep the kitchen, never looking at Mike or speaking to him. When that was done she started opening the cupboards, the fridge and the freezer. She found the components for spaghetti.
The meal was quickly and silently prepared. When she sat down to eat she asked, "Will someone give me a ride to school tomorrow?"
"Your feet fucking broken?" was Mike's only reply.
"You want me to walk? Isn't it like a mile from here?" Laura asked, looking confused.
"So? I have to go to work." The conversation was over, Laura realized there was no one else, no one, her and Mike. She was used to her Mother's boyfriends, a maid, sometimes even a limo driver if her mom was feeling generous.
After dinner Laura returned to her bedroom. She did some unpacking, then climbed out of her window and sat down, Indian style, on the ground beneath to smoke a cigarette. It was dark, but the house next door had lights on, in fact the bedroom right across from hers lit up and a guy with long dark hair walked in.
Laura smoked her cigarette and smiled, "Damn he's hot."
Slowly Laura became aware of the yelling happening at the house next door to hers. It scared her, but she knew she hadn't been there long enough to understand the situation she was really in. All she knew was so far it sucked. Laura lit another cigarette and set it down on the ground, she dug around in the army surplus jacket her mother hated and pulled out her stash. It was the best painkiller she'd ever found for her constantly aching back and leg. She packed a small bowl, and took a deep hit. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes for a minute, clenching the small bowl in her hand.
She was startled by the sound of a window opening. The hot boy was leaning out of it, staring at her.
"Hello," Laura said softly, picking up her forgotten cigarette and relighting it; she left the bowl discreetly in her lap.
"Hey. You're new here."
Laura bit back her initial reaction of "thank you captain obvious" and simply said, "My name's Laura."
"You got another one of those?" John asked, pointing at her cigarette and he expertly climbed out of his own window.
Laura passed him her pack; after he took a deep hit off of the cigarette he passed her back the pack and said, "John."
John sat down next to her and asked, "So, did I imagine that bowl you hit just a few minutes ago?"
Laura was startled; she didn't think she'd been seen. "I guess I need to be more discreet," she said and handed the bowl to him. When the bowl was finished they started talking; the first topic was music he liked metal; she liked everything. They talked about everything, from music to her time in Europe which impressed him though he'd never let her know that.
After smoking a second bowl and spending a while talking there was a bellow from inside Laura's house. "Where the fuck are you, ya fuckin bitch! The kitchen is a god damn mess!"
"Shit, I gotta go." Laura leaned over and kissed John on the cheek, and climbed back into the window with a grin from ear to ear. Even Mike's yelling couldn't ruin her mood, she'd made a friend.
The next morning she started at Shermer High, and she hated it. Every minute of every hour she was there felt like a special hell created just for high school students. First, the hours sucked. Second, Shermer had to be the cliquiest place she'd ever been… and having met people in a variety of cliquey fields that was saying something. Laura had always made friends easily, but here she felt out of place… she knew she sounded kind of European when she got very nervous and everything about this place made her nervous, but she'd been living mostly in England for almost half her life..Here she stuck out like a sour thumb. The fact that she required a cane apparently made her a target for ridicule, as did her style. Her accent was considered cool, but it apparently didn't make up for the things students saw as detractions.
First, apparently the "cool kids" didn't wear blue jeans and t-shirts, at least the cool girls didn't. Mostly they looked like a mockery of Stepford wives. And Laura wanted nothing to do with that, a sheep she most definitely was not. There were nerds of course, and while she could happily talk physics, but most of the guys looked like they might drool on her if she got too close. The girls from every corner gave her dirty looks. At lunch time she went and sat outside, determined not to let these people make her cry.
On Friday she ditched the cafeteria and sat on the grass near the bleachers with her knees pulled up tight, and her head on them. She was tired, and this was the first time in days there wasn't someone yelling, lecturing, or being an ass. She'd not seen her neighbor John since Sunday night.
Laura just couldn't face people today; last night had been the worst yet with Mike. He was there when she got home from school, and apparently she hadn't walked fast enough – when she informed him in an irritated fashion, "well it's not like I get a ride anywhere, I walked home; sue me for not being faster." He smacked her, now it's not like her mom hadn't ever done that, but Mike was so much stronger that Laura smashed into the wall. When she slid down he kicked her in the stomach and said, "don't ever fucking talk to me like that you little cunt. I didn't fucking ask for you and will do what I say, when I say. Do you hear me?"
Still trying to catch her breath, Laura didn't answer fast enough – Mike grabbed her by the hair, pulling her up the wall – "I asked if you heard me bitch." He screamed in her face.
"Yes sir." That was apparently the right answer, since he dropped her. Mike stepped over her, got himself a beer out of the fridge and walked away. Laura got up and hobbled to her room, she sobbed for what felt like hours, till finally she fell asleep. Today her back ached like a bitch and so far nothing had helped, that plus her general exhaustion made the day and the other students especially trying.
Hearing the bell ring for the next class made no difference; she just couldn't do it today. A few minutes later she heard footsteps and looking up a little saw a pair of black boots, further a long coat and as she finally looked all the way up saw her neighbor, John. "Bum me a smoke?"
She pulled the pack out of her purse and tossed them to him, and put her head back down. John plopped himself down beside her, "I ain't seen you all week – where ya been?"
Laura sighed, "In classes or taking care of an asshole, uh I mean my father."
John chuckled mirthlessly, "I've heard him hollering a few times, he sounds like my old man."
He offered her a cigarette from her own pack, which made her chuckle. But she took it. Lighting it she noticed him staring at her, as though he were trying to figure something out. "He do that?"
Laura stiffened and took a shaky hit off her cigarette, "what do you mean?"
John stared at her for a minute and said nothing, just staring. Then he said, "I'm not an idiot, and neither, I thought, were you. That would mean you know exactly what I'm talking about sweets."
Laura looked away from him, opened her bag, pulled out a compact, opened it, checked her face, and proceeded to put more powder foundation on especially over the area with the bruise. When she finished, she started to get up, then turned back to John, "Can I buy some of what I shared on Sunday from anyone around here?" With an upturned eyebrow she handed him two twenties and a ten. She stood up and wiped off her jeans, picked up her bag and said, "I'll share with my neighbor…. And thanks."
Weeks dragged on and Laura marked the days as Xs on the calendar – she'd moved in March 24 and now it was the beginning of May. Her birthday was a few weeks away, but she hadn't mentioned it and she was sure Mike had no idea when it was. There was a sick kind of routine to her days, school and the accompanying busy work they were given, and then there was home. Laura laughed to herself, "no, and then there is Mike's house" where Laura cooked any meal that was prepared, cleaned up after Mike, cleaned the house though it never really felt clean. She tried and failed to stay out of Mike's way – he was getting more violent, and lately he had been….touching her. He would slam her into the wall and run his hands over his chest and make threats. "One of these days girly, I'm gonna make you really take that whore's place." He said the most awful things about her mother, "yeah for a coke head she was a pretty good cock-sucker, wonder if she taught you any of her tricks" Laura was becoming a nervous wreck.
She continued to buy pot from John… but the store of money left over from her mother's gifts and farewell gifts was dwindling fast; she'd had to give some of it to Mike. He didn't believe she didn't have any money and started to search her room so she gave him all that wasn't well hidden. But it was enough to make her money disappear too quickly, and while she had a bank account, she didn't know how to access it. Lydia, her mother, had always done it for her.
The John would occasionally meet her between their two rooms, either climbing out his own window or showing up late at night. She knew John had something of a girlfriend; the Monday after he met her by the bleachers he'd searched her out, not really knowing why he was doing it, but he thought maybe she'd get along with Claire, if she did it would give him multiple benefits. Claire wouldn't worry about the bitches in her clique so much and he'd have someone cool to talk metal with, besides Laura was pretty hot and having additional hot chicks around, especially who smoked, drank, and smoked pot was a bonus in John Bender's book.
He didn't know what it was about her. Ok, yeah she was hot, but he had to stop thinking about that, he had a girlfriend, and Claire would be pissed if she found out he thought Laura had a smoking body. Not to mention she was cool, not all prissy and uptight like Claire, not all moody and weird like Allison, and not a whore like most of the chicks his friends knew. So after seeing her face bruised and her moving like she was hurt he figured her old man must be more like his than he realized. John decided he should introduce to the other members of the Breakfast club. Maybe she could hook up with Brian or something, the geek certainly needed to get laid; it might help the crush he had on Claire that made him was to shove the little fucker in a locker sometimes. Course Claire thought it was fuckin' cute and encouraged the fucker to do shit like open doors for her and then expected John to behave the same way.
It was a slightly rocky start, but Laura fit in with the other members of the breakfast club pretty well. She could tolerate Brian's talking for a little longer than most of the rest of them, and while she didn't talk to Andy, or Sporto, as John solely referred to him the rest seemed pretty cool. Claire was a little less stepford then she'd first judged her to be. They were a strange little group, but she felt a little less alone.
The school year started winding down, Claire had won Prom Queen, she was so popular that even dating Bender didn't put a dent in her popularity. Her friends all saw it as a phase Claire would get over soon enough. Sporto graduated, and while Bender had improved his standing at school since the breakfast club started, he didn't have quite enough credits to graduate. He'd been thinking about quitting and getting a full time job anyway, but the rest of the club nagged him till he agreed to take that final year. He was pissed off because fucking Vernon had to be at the fucking registration table when he came up. John wanted to punch the sonofabitch in the mouth. Laura was just a little behind John and Claire in the registration line, and while being appalled at the vice principal's behavior towards a student she found she simply couldn't hold her tongue listening to him denigrate John. So she cut ahead in line just to comment, getting registered was simply a by-product of her need to say a thing or two to the obnoxious administrator.
"Why Mr. Vernon I was unaware it was appropriate for a principal to act like a complete jackass towards a student who is in the process of getting an education. Is this something American? I'm fairly certain in Europe that any administrator would be bounced out on their ass so fast it would make their head spin should a community board member find out, but perhaps that just something else I'll miss." Laura's typically mild accent became very clipped, although she didn't appear to be more than mildly interested.
"Do you have something to say for this delinquent, Miss Ashford?" Vernon turned to face Laura directly focusing his anger towards her.
Laura made a great show of looking all around her, "I don't see any delinquents Mr. Vernon. Perhaps you ought to have your eyes, or was it your principles, checked." She neither flinched nor looked away from Vernon, continuing to stare at him with a look of mild distaste on her face.
"You better watch it missy, I'll be keeping my eye on you," Vernon stated ominously, but walked away quickly as though he realized he'd been caught doing something inappropriate. John finished filling out the requisite forms as Laura and Vernon were having their interchange, he and Claire moved to the side of the line watching the interaction. Claire with a look of mild surprise, not that someone was sassing Vernon John had gotten her very used to that, but that Laura sounded both so smart and so English. John just had on his trademark smirk, he knew what a fire cracker Laura could be, but he wasn't used to people standing up for him. Sure Claire and the rest of the Breakfast club would in the right circumstances, but probably not so… handily.
Laura didn't acknowledge she saw Claire and John until she finished filling out her registration for the following year. She walked over, a little hesitantly, since she was not entirely sure Claire didn't hate her most of the time. "Hi, I wasn't expecting to see anyone I knew here today. I thought you were both out of here this year."
Claire smiled and squeezed John's hand. "I still need to make up a few classes I failed to get out of here legit, and you've been almost as big a nag about it as Claire – what do you mean you didn't know."
"How was I to know you'd listen to any of us? You just barely follow the directions of your lady. I simply assumed the rest of us had less sway." Laura noted with a cheeky grin. Her smile faded some as she looked at her schedule for the fall.
Claire noticed her smile fade and grabbed the schedule from her, "what's wrong with your schedule, do you have to take a bunch of classes you hate?" She was surprised to note that Laura only had a half day worth of classes with study halls filling in the rest of her day. "How do you only have to take a half day's worth of classes?" She asked Laura as they were walking outside, as soon as they were outside of the school doors, Laura pulled out a cigarette, lit it and took a deep drag, blowing it out before answering.
"When I was staying with my uncle in England, we flew to New York for a week so I could take a million tests. Some aptitude shit, some math, economics, I think I took a college entrance exam or something, but they said I was stupid bloody smart and I got pushed in as a Junior with only a handful of requites left" Laura shrugged.
"Why didn't you just start as a senior then?" Claire asked.
John had been wondering when this was going to come up, as far as he knew he was the only person who knew how old she was.
Laura shrugged the question off and looked at her watch, "I am so not going home at this hour. I don't want to be a third wheel so I guess I'll see you two when I see you." Laura started to walk away, but John grabbed her jacket and pulled her back.
"You aren't going to be a third wheel, is she cherry?" Claire was trying not to be pissed at the question and at John's insistence at having the girl around.
"Well I thought we were going to spend the afternoon together…." Claire was trying to give the hint that she really didn't want to hang out with Laura all afternoon. If it was Allison and Andy, or even Brian it would be different, but Laura wasn't a real member of their club and she was having some trouble accepting her still.
"See John that was a hint. I know how well you understand subtle so I thought I would point it out." Laura said with a smirk of her own before pulling her Jacket away from John's grip and starting to walk towards the football field.
"What the fuck Claire? I didn't realize we had plans to be alone this afternoon. Are you finally planning to give it up to me and I somehow missed the memo? I figured we'd get something to eat and maybe hang out."
"Don't be a pig. I just wanted some time with you to myself. It seems like she's always around you anymore." Claire said a bit petulantly.
"Jesus fuckin Christ, it's not like I'm banging her Claire. What's your issue?" John said making no attempt to keep the irritation out of his voice as they walked to Claire's BMW. The whole issue irrationally pissed him off; he decided to put it on the back burner cause he really didn't want to spend the afternoon fighting with Claire. They only had a few more weeks before Claire left for Europe, then she'd be off to college in Philadelphia… fuck, he really did like Claire when she wasn't being a conceited bitch.
The weeks flew by and before either of them knew it, Claire was leaving the next morning. He thought about buying her something, as a going away present, but decided he hadn't turned into that much of a girl. Claire knew him, why should he change. Hell he was standing at her front door in clean clothes, he still wasn't sure why he was attending this family dinner, her parents were certainly no joy to be around. Sure they were filthy fucking rich, but that didn't mean they were happy. It only took one evening of listening to them fight from Claire's room to realize this – not that it in anyway was like his situation, or that of Laura, or even Allison, but it sucked in its own way.
After a dinner where her mom polished off almost two bottles of wine before starting a fight with Claire's Dad the two of them escaped to Claire's room. She said she had to finish packing and wanted to spend some time with John before it got too late. As they arrived in her frilly pink bedroom John noticed a mountain of luggage. "What else could you possibly have to pack?"
Claire tried to glare at him, but ended up chuckling. "Nothing really, I just have to make sure my outfit for tomorrow is pressed." She smiled softly at John, staring at him.
"Do I have something on my face?" John asked, uncomfortable with her examination of him.
"No, just memorizing your face. You know everything is going to be different from now on." She said softly.
"Yeah, an ocean does shit like that. Then you leave for school, hell are you even unpacking this mountain of shit before you leave for school?"
Claire had moved to sit on her bed, she patted the place next to her in a silent request for John to join her. "That's part of why I've needed to talk to you." She picked at her bedspread and looked around her room with a worried look on her face.
John's patience was beginning to wear thin when she spoke. "See… the thing is… my mom rearranged my trip schedule… and well… I mean… like…" She sighed, "I'm not coming back here before school. All my stuff is being shipped right to school from France." Once she said it she thought she might have the courage to get through this next part. Stalling for time she reached for John's hand and started tracing his knuckles, she took a deep breath and said, "I don't think it's a good idea for us to keep seeing each other since I'm going to be so far away, and it's really not fair to you."
A flurry of emotions passed through his eyes: surprise, confusion, ever so briefly hurt, and finally anger. "It won't be fair to me? Seriously Claire, you really expect me to believe this is fucking altruistic?"
Claire got up and turned away, she didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes. "do you even know what that word means?" It was so much easier to banter with him than deal with any of the emotions she was feeling.
"Yeah, it means you want the opportunity to be free from a bum like me to fuck French guys, or is it the new frat guys who will be your next fucking conquest?" John got up to reach for his coat.
Claire grabbed his arm, "John, please I don't want this to end badly. I really just don't think this," she pointed between the two of them, "will work over a long distance or a long time. You know I am right too." She crossed her arms around herself and just looked sad.
"Maybe you're right cherry, but you know, maybe you're not… and now you'll never know. It's been alright, you know… better than either of us could have expected. But unless you are gonna let me get rid of that pesky nickname you hate so much, I am not gonna stick around and cry with you." John pulled on his jacket. He walked over and kissed her with as much passion as he ever had. "Have a great time Claire, have a terrific life. Fuck, you know I really mean that too, right?" With that John walked out of her room, down the huge spiral stair case and directly out the door. He didn't like her fucking parents enough to say goodbye, and now that he wasn't her boyfriend any more, he didn' t have to.
It was many hours later before John, slightly drunk and very stoned, arrived back at his place. He walked around to the side of the house as quietly as he could and heard a noise from the back yard. Feeling just a little paranoid he pulled out, and flicked open his knife… "Someone there?"
From halfway up the old tree in his back yard he heard a muffled, "fuck," and a grunt of pain. Following the sound John walked quietly up to the tree, scanning for the intruder. As he got closer he realized it was Laura, she was sitting about half way up in the crook of the tree. It was a place he knew easily how to get to, since when he'd been a kid it had been a refuge for him. As quietly as possible he made his way up to the branches Laura had tucked herself into. "Little late to be climbing trees ain't it?"
Laura shook her hair into her face and muttered, "sorry, I'll take off."
John grabbed her wrist, holding her there and brushed her hair out of her face. What he saw enraged him, her beautiful face was a riot of bruises. She had two black eyes, both of which were swelling pretty good – so well in fact he wasn't sure she would be able to see if they swelled more. Rather than scan for more bruises. He asked, "your old man?"
Laura shrugged and went to move out of crook when she realized her left eye had swollen shut, and the right was very blurry; she sighed and growled quietly, "fuck, fuck fuck. John, I can't see real well right now, can you help me down?"
"Sure, uh put your arms around my neck." She did this and he realized he'd still need to hold on to her. "Ok, that's not gonna work right. I'm gonna straddle the tree limb and get real close, wrap your arms around my neck, and your legs around my waist." He heard her chuckle and realized her voice didn't sound right as she quietly commented, "do I at least get dinner out of the deal?" He smirked into the darkness, "yeah, but it'll be on you princess. Just fucking do as I ask if you want out of the tree." He saw a nod and got into position in front of her. As he stood up, with her wrapped around him several things came to his mind at once; first, she smelled really fucking good; second, she was tiny – weighing less than Claire by ten or fifteen pounds. "Hold on tight." Was all he said before he swung across and then down several branches of the tree. When he landed on the ground she was holding on tight, but had her head on his shoulder and he could feel it getting wet, like she was crying or something.
"You ok?"
"Uh sorry" she started to unwind herself, but he stopped her by wrapping his arms around her. "Nothin to be sorry for sweets, your eyes were probably fine when you climbed up." He sat down in a big old chair at the back of the yard and stroked her hair the way he had Claire's when she was upset. "So, now that I've gotten you safely to the ground I want something from you." Laura sat up, still in his lap and since he'd chosen to sit in an old Adirondack chair she'd have some work getting away, she pulled out a packed bowl and handed it to him. In a very quiet voice she asked, "or did you mean something else?" It took a minute before he understood that she thought he wanted sex. "The smoke is great; but relax, I just want to fucking talk to you." He lit the bowl, and passed it back to her. "Oh, um, alright, what do you want to talk about?" Her accent had grown pretty thick in the last few seconds. "What happened? I know your old man is a prick, but I ain't seen him beat you like this before." She shook her head and leaned back into him, putting her forehead against his shoulder, "I'd really rather not talk about it." He stroked her hair, "I figure, but you're fucking gonna cause I ain't letting you go till you do."
Laura sighed, and relaxed into Bender's warmth deciding she didn't give a fuck that his perfect little girlfriend would have a goddamned fit about it. Her head fit beneath his chin, "you can finish the bowl, I smoked two while up in the tree, normally takes the pain away, but it's just making me sleepy now. Um, fuck, honestly…" she hid her face against his moaned, mumbled something then turned her head. "Come on Princess, so I can hear you." She growled in that cute way of hers and said, "I refused to give him head."
Bender exploded with a, "What the fuck!" Laura put her hand over his mouth and whispered, "keep your bloody fucking voice down! I escaped; hell I fought with him then I escaped. I just…I just don't want to go back there, but I've little other choice I suppose."
Bender was bristling with rage, he'd heard shit like this happened, but he'd never known someone it happened to. "Don't you have relatives and shit?"
Laura nodded, "none of them wanted anything to do with me, and most of them called my mother worse than Mike does. I'm just afraid I'm not gonna be quick enough one of these days." She put her head down on Bender's shoulder. "If you reach into my coat pocket, I've a bag in there. Pack another bowl? I can't bloody see well enough to do it myself. John caught a glimpse of her knuckles which were bruised and bloody. "Have you even had a chance to wash up?"
"What and take off my clothes while he was awake? I don't think so. I don't know what time it is, but I hope he's passed out." Laura muttered the last part. John reached into her coat, found her stash, and packed a bowl, all while wishing there was something he could do for her.
They smoked and sat quietly with Laura curled up in John's lap. He thought she might have fallen asleep after a while; when he heard a very quiet, "Thank you John." He was a little confused, "for what princess?"
"Saving me tonight I guess, being my friend, I don't know. You make me feel safe somehow, so thank you. I should let you get some sleep, the sun is going to be up soon." John shook his head, "you have a fucked up idea of safe if I make you feel that way, and sun up is still several hours away. Anyway, I should thank you. You have provided a serious distraction from my not so serious problems."
Laura shifted a little and realized both of her eyes were almost swollen shut. She decided to tackle that problem in a minute, "feel like distracting me with your not so serious problems, then I'll tell you the problem I'm presently having?" He chuckled and pulled her back into him, "you're keeping me warm stay put for now. And, well, um I'm single again. Fucking Claire decided it'd be no good to keep me attached to her while she spent her summer in France since she's not even coming back to Shermer before going off to college. I want to call her a fucking bitch, but I guess she was doing me a favor. Now, what problem are you having presently?"
Laura was feeling pleasantly drowsy from the smoke and John's warmth so she snuggled into him a little and mumbled, "both my eyes are swollen shut, and I mostly can't see." John was also feeling pretty sleepy, "yeah, that's a problem – if you just stay here and keep me warm you don't have to worry about it for a while." She nuzzled him, "I can do that." Sunrise found the two of them in the depths of John's backyard; Laura snuggled into John's lap, his arms wrapped around her keeping her safe. He woke up first, the sun in his eyes. He briefly wondered where the fuck he was, and then the night came back to him. He pulled his shades out of his jacket pocket, slid them on, and went back to sleep thinking to himself, 'it's way too fucking early, and I am not waking this girl up.'
Somewhere around mid-day, the sun high overhead, Laura began to stir. She tried to open her eyes and the attempt hurt enough that she whimpered. She tried to sit up and moaned, John opened his eyes, "What's the problem, besides the fucking sun anyway?" Laura whimpered a little, and with a thicker than usual accent said, "I hurt from head to toe and cannot seem to open my eyes, what I can see through slits is quite blurred."
"You do look like you lost a boxing match; your old man got a job?" Laura nodded, "theoretically, he leaves the house each day from about 8 to 6, so I suppose so, not that I've a clue what he does."
"Then he should be gone, which is good, cause it looks like my old man is home. You got a key?" She nodded and fished into the pocket of her jeans. She pulled it out and said, "I'm not sure I can get to the front door though." John responded, "gimme the key and let me worry about it." Completely unsure why she trusted this boy so much she handed him the key and put her head on his shoulder. He moved forward in the chair and stood up with her in his arms. "Christ doesn't that guy feed you, you don't weigh as much as my fucking bench press." She didn't think he required an answer and she was working on neither whimpering nor moaning as he walked around to the front of her house. John unlocked the door and pushed it open with his foot, the place smelled remarkably similar to his own place, stale beer and cigarettes most prominently. Without putting her down he walked towards the hallway and where he assumed her room was from the window she regularly climbed out of.
The room itself was a little like an oasis compared to the rest of the house. First, it was quite neat. There were no clothes on the floor, the walls were covered in cloth tapestries and the room smelled like incense or something. When he kicked the door shut behind them, he set her on her feet. The dresser had been painted black and all the handles were blue, there was a mirror on top of it where she could see her face. What she saw through her blurred vision made her gasp. "Fucking bloody hell, some goddamned birthday present." She sat down on the bed, which was made up with another tapestry on top of it. Strangely the room also seemed cooler than the rest of the place had. What he found strangest was how comfortable he felt both with this girl and in her room. He'd always wanted to escape the rooms of girls he was with, Claire's made him cringe with all her pink and frills. "When was your birthday?"
Laura had shed her coat; John noticed the blouse she was wearing was ripped and he could see bruises across her back and it looked like down her ribs too. She was leaning into the mirror, touching the swelling around her eyes. "Yesterday, happy bloody sweet sixteen Laura. I did get a couple of cards, snagged and hid them before Mike got home." She walked over to her closet, opened it, and pulled out what looked like a sundress. John knew she used a cane, but he thought it was something English, now that he saw her moving around her room he noticed her very distinct limp. "I didn't know, Happy Birthday, I guess."
Laura half smiled at him and shrugged, "You saved me from sleeping in, or falling out of your tree last night. It was a lovely present. I'm still pretty exhausted, and well, if you want to stay you are welcome. I'm jumping in the shower, and I'll be back. Pack us up a bowl, there's a larger one in the box within the bedside table." He watched her limp away. He kicked off his boots, shed his jacket and stretched out on her bed. It wasn't bad, more comfortable than his own really. He rolled over and pulled open the drawer she'd mentioned, there were two boxes in side, he opened the first one to find it full of jewelry. Obviously that was not the one she meant so he opened the second box. Inside were two gorgeous glass bowls, he pulled out the larger of the two and packed it; he set it on the table and stretched out on the bed. He thought to himself, 'what the fuck am I doing here?'
Within 10 minutes Laura came back in the room wearing the dress she'd pulled out of her closet. The bruises covering her face, arms and what he could see of her body only slightly detracted from how gorgeous she looked in the dress. In one hand she had a gel pack, and in the other a bottle of something. He noticed a ring of bruises around her neck, and it looked like he had punched almost every inch of her. "I gotta say two things: first, your old man is a real bastard, and second, you look smoking in that dress." One might have thought it would be hard to tell, but Laura's pale skin turned bright red as she blushed. "Thank you, and I completely agree. I hate to ask more of you, but um, I have this stuff that's supposed to help bruises heal faster, um, would you put it on me? And um, if it's not too much trouble would you stay with me for a while longer? If you've something to do, I completely understand, but um, I would really owe you one, not that I don't already…" John interrupted her, "stop fucking babbling, and come here. I don't mind staying I did mention my old man is home and I would just as soon not run into him." Laura sat on the bed next to John and pulled the straps off her shoulders. She tried not to feel completely self conscious as she bared herself to him. John discovered he was right, her whole back was mottled with bruises. He covered her in the cream, even making her lift her arms so he could cover her ribs. He ran his hand over her stomach and she shivered. "I uh think I got it all. You ok?" Laura pulled the dress back up and climbed over John to stretch out on the bed, "yeah, I'm good. If you need to leave and don't want to go through the house, the window here works great." John stretched out next to her and propped his head up on his arm, "want to smoke what I packed?" she nodded, "I just don't want to sit up any more."
John gave her a lascivious smirk, "there are ways to get around that you know." Laura said, "then show me one, I trust you." The second remark made him hesitate a little, but he took a long, deep toke and leaned down to kiss her, she opened her mouth at the feeling of his tongue and she proceeded to shotgun most of the bowl from John. Afterwards he leaned in and kissed her she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed back with an intensity he hadn't expected. When they separated, mostly from the need to breathe he asked, "what was all that?" She chuckled, "sorry, I've had kind of a crush on you for a while, didn't you ever wonder why your girl didn't want me around?" John shook his head, "I just figured she was being a stuck up bitch." Laura laughed, "she actually cornered me one day and told me to stay away from you." John laid his head down next to her, "well I guess it's her loss now, ain't it." Laura remarked tiredly, "I guess it is. So you'll stay, for a little while anyway?" John put his hand on her belly and got comfortable next to her, stroking her ever so gently with his thumb, "for a while sure." She put the frozen gel pack on as an eye mask, and while John laughed at her he did agree it would probably work to take the swelling down. It took less than fifteen minutes before they were both sound asleep.
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