A/N: There's only 3 chapters left (maybe an epilogue too?), and I'm preparing something nice for the next one :3 I hope you enjoy *o*

Song: Take Care - Drake ft Rihanna ( /watch?v=q2NsazyMx4E )


XII. Take care

Darren increased the speed of his walk, when he noticed how actually dark was that street and how desolated was in there. Even though Lauren tried to convince him she could manage to cook another food without flour, he insisted he'd get it for her, so he walked to the market. However, it was just four blocks away, what could happen?

He was kind of regretting it in that moment though. He just wanted to get home already, but he was half in the way. He spotted a little group of dudes gathered on the corner of the block, they were three or four guys; so he crossed to the other side of the street, just in case. When one of them stared at him, and then commented something to the gang, he got a little nervous, and started to walk faster.

He only had a plastic bag holding with one hand, and his cell phone and bullet in his pocket. But it was late at night and he knew walking alone through Chicago streets could be dangerous.

The mysterious group crossed to the other side of the street too when he turned around the corner. Fuck.

Even if he had been fast enough to defend himself, it'd have been useless. They were three and he was alone. It all happened in a progress of five seconds. He felt a hard pain on his jaw and all the bottom part of his face, and that he was being pushed hardly against the sidewalk's wall. It was a loss of consciousness of just eight seconds; but it was enough for them to check the bag he was carrying (Almost destroying it, but when they found nothing they could use they just threw it to the floor), to also rummage his pockets, taking his bullet and cell phone, and quickly run away through the other corner. They didn't hit him more or anything; but that sudden punch on his face put his world in black for that moment.

When he got conscious of what happened, the dudes were like a block away already. He passed a hand through his lip, and then looked at his hand. He cursed when he saw blood on it. Yes, he was bleeding and it hurt, but it could've been worse. The package of flour was broken and the ingredient was all spread around through the sidewalk. He damned his bad luck; he shouldn't have been right there in that exact moment. He knew it wasn't really a big loss (They didn't hurt him so bad, and his cell phone and bullet were merely things that he could easily recover of), but, in a strange way, he sort of felt bad for returning home without the packet of flour. Even when Lauren said she could just cook any other thing without the flour.

Lauren was talking by the phone, sitting down on the couch; when he entered to the house. She didn't notice he had nothing in hands or that he was bleeding, focused in her talk. Darren went to the kitchen, took some ice from the refrigerator and covered it with a towel, to put it on his lip. He winced, feeling the cold spreading through his mouth.

"Do you want me to go to your house?" he heard Lauren talking. "Are you sure? … Okay, sweetie. We'll talk soon. I love you, take care." She finished before hanging up. She turned around to say something to Darren, when she noticed the injury above his jaw. "Oh my god, what happened?"

"I was coming back from the market and-" He stuttered a little. He didn't know why, but it was like if something attracted his eyes to the marks on her shoulder, which you could barely see because her shirt was covering them up. She had been so stressed lately. He didn't want to worry her even more. "I fell on the street and hit with the ground. And I accidentally dropped the flour. I'm sorry."

The way he said it sounded so adorable to Lauren, that she couldn't help but to laugh. She sat him down on the couch and helped him to heal. She brought his well-known lotion, which burnt a little but made him feel better later.

"Charlene just called me." Lauren commented, while she softly held the ice against his lip (He insisted he could do it on his own, but she was stronger). "I told her about Joe, and she seemed devastated. She started to cry, I was surprised. I didn't know they were so close." She explained, then she frowned and put the ice away. "How did you fell off on the street like that? You're such a goober." She messed, releasing a tiny giggle.

Darren just shrugged in response. "I am."