Author's Note: Hey guys! Quick update, don't expect it to be like this all the time. =P This is just a scene I've had planned for quite some time so I knew how it was going to happen. xD So I have something very random to say...please forgive me. =) I hate mint toothpaste so much....it's AWFUL!!! I don't mind mint in general...but mint toothpaste is so nasty I can hardly stand it. Ugh. Anyway. Sorry. Enjoy the chapter! Read, review, repeat!!!
"Dammit," Reno stood in his kitchen, having just returned from the bar he'd been at the past few hours. He has shed his jacket, dropping it on the floor. Grabbing some towels with hands that shook, he felt the warm blood ooze down his chest. He pressed one of the towels to his shoulder, very close to his neck, with a hiss of pain. "Damn that asshole," he said through clenched teeth. He wouldn't have picked a fight if he knew the guy had a knife. Idiot, you would have anyway. He was regretting it now. He knew better than to go out drinking when he was already in a bad mood. Bad things usually happened. Like bar fights. Then again, you do a lot of things even though you know better. Before it had been broken up, Reno had broken the other guy's nose. Only because he tried to slit my throat. Reno attempted to come up with an excuse for himself. Not that he cared very much. He pulled the now soaked towel away from the cut and threw it into the sink, grabbing a clean towel and trying to wipe away the blood. No matter how many towels he soaked, he couldn't seem to even slow the flow of blood. With a frustrated grunt, Reno threw down another towel as well. He couldn't even get a proper look at the wound because of where it was. Twisting his head around to see it just made it hurt more. It was bleeding profusely and pained him very much. Holding his hand over it and feeling the blood seep through his fingers, Reno went to look in a mirror.
"Bloody hell," he groaned and returned to the kitchen, collapsing heavily in a chair. What am I supposed to do now? He was too drunk to walk straight, he had a bad cut he couldn't even see with out a mirror, and couldn't stop the bleeding. Reno pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. 1 A.M. Not too bad.
Realizing there was nothing else he could do, he dialed Elena's number, leaned his head on his arm, and waited.
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"Hello?" Elena's phone had woken her up and she struggled to get her arms out from under the covers to answer it sleepily.
"Hey, 'Laney, it's me," Reno's voice came over the device, shaky and slurred.
"Reno?" she looked at the clock, "It's after midnight. What do you want?" she asked grumpily, wondering what drunken idea had taken hold of him and made him call her this late.
"I've, uh, got a bit of a problem."
"Yeah, I know," Elena interjected, sarcastically, falling back into her pillows and closing her eyes.
"No, it's not what you think. I'm bleeding. Badly. I…I can't fix it myself. Could you come help?" his voice wavered. Elena was paying attention now, propping herself up on an elbow.
"Bleeding? What happened? I didn't think you had any missions tonight?"
"I…could I just tell you when you get here?"
"Yeah, sure, I'm sorry. Listen, I'll be there in a minute. You'll be fine." She said this almost more to reassure herself than him.
"Ok. Thanks," Reno breathed, hanging up. Tossing her phone down, Elena jumped out of bed, changing from her pajamas into sweats and a t-shirt.
She was at Reno's apartment in no time.
"Hi," he said as he opened the door, leaning against the wall.
"You ok?" she asked grabbing his arm, extremely concerned. He looked paler than usual and he swayed on his feet. "Come sit down," she led him back to the kitchen. The many bloody towels scattered around the room made her stomach clench uncomfortably. "Alright, let's have a look at this," she sat him down, turning all business in an instant and poked at the wound for barely a second through the tear in his shirt, "You're going to have to take this off."
"Pervert," Reno muttered, but started fumbling with the buttons while Elena collected all the clean towels she could find. Slipping his left arm out of the sleeve so she could get to the shoulder, Reno leaned his head on his other arm and groaned.
"Does it hurt badly?" Elena dabbed at the nasty gash gently with a towel, rinsing it out many times in warm water. Reno nodded in reply. "So are you going to tell me how you got this?"
"Bar fight," he said quietly, gritting his teeth through the stinging pain.
"What?!" Elena looked up sharply, but didn't loose a single bit of the gentleness with which she cleaned his wound.
"I went to a bar, and got in a fight," Reno said, slightly annoyed. She knew him. She knew the kind of stuff he did. Why is she surprised? "Guy had a knife. I broke his nose."
Elena didn't say a word, but Reno saw the frown, the pursed lips. He put his hand on his forehead, over his eyes.
"There," she said quietly, moments later, having finished bandaging up the cut, "You should get that seen tomorrow at the latest."
"Thanks. Sorry for waking you up," Reno got up from the table, almost tripping.
"No problem," she muttered. He was surprisingly articulate for being so drunk.
Reno was already more than a little annoyed because he knew what was coming. He was as drunk ever, and just wanted to be left alone. Look at what had happened to the most recent guy to mess with him.
"You really need to stop drinking, Reno," Elena began, crossing her arms and looking at him seriously, leaning against the counter.
"Oh come on, Elena, don't start," he grumbled, pulling his shirt on correctly.
"This isn't a joke! People die from drinking too much, and you are definitely drinking way too much. You're drinking yourself to death, do you know that?" She threw the rest of the dirty towels into the sink angrily.
Reno ignored her, turning away and stumbling off a few paces.
"Listen to me!" she said, exasperation raising her voice as she walked up to him and grabbed his good shoulder to spin him around to face her, "I'm sick of your…your," she stuttered for the right words, "Your complete disregard of what I'm saying to you! You could maybe put some effort into quitting!"
"It's not that simple, Elena!" Reno said, angrily, loudly.
"I don't know if you are honestly trying to kill yourself, or just being stubborn, or what, but-"
"You don't understand!" Reno shouted, all his frustration with his addiction culminating as he raised his hand and slapped Elena across the face. Complete silence and stillness followed.
Elena slowly turned her face up to him, as his eyes went wide with shock and he took an involuntary step back. Her own hand fluttered up to her cheek and rested there, covering the glowing red mark. The shock on the girl's face was quickly joined by pain, not physical but emotional. A tiny twinge of fear was visible for a millisecond, but was quickly gone. Tears welled up, but before they could roll down her face, Elena looked to the ground sharply and turned on her heel, heading for the door, so swiftly she was almost running.
Reno couldn't move, couldn't speak. The door slammed behind Elena. What did I do? His shock was almost as great as hers, maybe more. The stinging pain in his shoulder was forgotten as he stared down at his hand. I…I hit her. The realization hit him like a wall of steel. The sudden rush of emotion that came with the realization of what he had done knocked him to his knees, as he looked in the direction she had gone. Why…why did I do that? A burning rage grew within him as it clicked. He wasn't thinking straight and he knew it. He was susceptible to sudden mood swings and driven by his emotions too easily. His judgment was impaired. He was drunk. I would never, ever hurt her. But he had. Reno's hatred for the substance that screwed with him like this burned more than his cut, and his heart ached for what he had done.
Fists clenched, the redhead rose from his place on the floor and tore open the cabinet, ignoring the scream of pain the movements caused his shoulder. Pulling out bottle after bottle, he emptied one after another down the sink thinking only of how it had made him hurt Elena. All he saw was the red mark on her face, her tears, the tiny flash of fear.
"Shit!" he yelled, his shaking hands accidentally letting one of the glass bottles slip from his long fingers and shatter on the floor. Turning his back to the counter, he slid to the floor, his head falling into his hands. Tears found their way down his face, as he got up moments later, turning his attention to the fridge. With much less ferocious anger, Reno opened it and removed all the bottles, dumping their contents down the drain as well. Staring with grim sadness at the vast array of emptied bottles now covering his counter, he walked backwards, eventually knocking himself over into a chair.
"Moron, what did you do?" he groaned to himself, his forehead resting on the edge of the table. He felt so tired, the rush of energy gone now. Shame and a throbbing, aching pain that had nothing to do with his wound, filled every inch of him. Quivering fingers drew his phone from his pocket, but he just stared at it before dropping it in his lap. How could he even speak to her now? You have to try. She has to know. Know you didn't mean to hurt her… His fingers got as far as entering her number, but he couldn't bring himself to dial.
Reno was torn in two. Torn between needing to explain, telling her it hadn't been supposed to happen, and the fear of screwing it up like the bumbling idiot he was. There were no words, no words that he knew anyway, to express the shame, anger he felt with himself for what he had done to her.
"Come on, Reno, don't be a coward now on top of it all," he muttered to himself, dialing the number and holding the phone to his ear, closing his eyes with a sigh.
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Elena lay curled up in bed in her dark bedroom. Her tears had blinded her on the way home, and now continued to trickle down her face. The slap had stung, physically and emotionally. It still stung emotionally. Reno hit me. She couldn't get past it. Her whole body shivered, so she pulled the covers up over her. It didn't help much. No, this was a chill caused by the heart. Her phone rang. Elena didn't even look at it. She knew who it was. She couldn't bring herself to answer it now. What would she say when she didn't even know how she felt?
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"Pick up, Elena," Reno whispered. He was afraid he would loose his nerve if she didn't. She didn't. So he called again. And again. For a half hour he tried with no success, only confirming his terrifying fear that she wouldn't speak to him again. Finally he gave up, and left a message.
"Elena…it's me. I…I don't even know what to say. I am so, so sorry," his heart sank, realizing just how much the words didn't cut it. What else could he say though? "For it all. I hurt you," his voice cracked and dropped to a whisper, "It kills me to even think about it. But…I'm doing it every day. And as things are now, I might do it again any day. I don't ever, ever want to hurt you again, 'Laney," here his voice gathered strength from a determination he'd never had before, "So I'm going to change how things are now. I can't promise that I'll never hurt you again, but I can promise you I will never, never drink so much again that I loose myself enough to hit you. Please, please try to give me another chance. I can't live without you, Elena," he was silent for a moment and then snapped the phone closed, letting it slip through his fingers and clatter on the floor.
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Her phone rang repeatedly for a long time. Elena listened to it, but didn't move. It stopped eventually, leaving her in quiet, but not peace. At some point, she drifted into an uneasy, light sleep.
Author's Note: So it was really odd when I got to the phone message part...I had completely walked through the entire rest of this whole chapter in my head multiple times, but for some reason I'd never even thought about what he was going to say on the message. o_O So I was typing furiously when suddenly I just stopped. I was like.....what now? xD I whipped something up though, so I hope it was as moving as it was supposed to be...anywho leave a review and let me know what you think!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
