Person A is in an abusive relationship (for a few months now) Person B notices the bruises and tries to help Person A (it takes a while, but Person A, crying, accepts the help).
"I'm so glad we were able to hang out today, Mar," Ryder smiled at her from the other side of the couch, looking down at the tub of ice-cream in his lap before gazing up at Marley on the other end of the couch, who was watching him while eating her own ice-cream. Their feet were touching as she sat, stretched across the couch.
"I'm glad we could, too," Marley grinned back at him and pulled some ice-cream from her tub and shoving it into her mouth with the smile still on her face. She didn't say anything else – she just pulled the spoon from her mouth and scooped another spoonful into her mouth.
Ryder had realized how quiet she had been that night – normally she was quiet and didn't really talk much but tonight, she was really quiet and Ryder found it completely out of character.
Marley used to love to talk to him and would dance around the living room whenever they would visit each other. Ryder remembered in high school they would run around outside and go to the park and just like little kids… and Marley hadn't done that in a whole year. She refused to do that and anything else fun every single time and Ryder found it completely strange.
For the past year, Marley hadn't been acting like herself. She could still smile, and would still laugh, but things weren't right in her life. Ryder knew that, but every time he asked her what was wrong it'd be the same reply – "I'm fine, Ryder. Honestly."
And he believed her, because she was his best friend and he had to trust every word that came out of her mouth.
"Quick, Marley," Ryder said, looking up at her and throwing his spoon and ice cream tub onto his lap, smiling at Marley, "on a scale of 1 to 10 how good-looking am I?" Ryder smiled at her and pointed, waiting for the answer.
Marley laughed like she always did and shook her head, shoveling another spoon into her mouth. She set down her spoon and held the tub tightly in her left hand. Tugging down her sweater sleeve, she let out a sigh, "You're an 11." Marley said that every time he asked that – because it was their tradition for her to say he was really good looking even if she did have a boyfriend.
"Good, thank you," Ryder laughed at her and picked his spoon up again, smiling at his best friend across from him. He blushed and continued to stare right at her still.
"You're welcome," Marley replied quietly, a small smile on her face as she traced her spoon over the rim of the ice-cream container.
This was exactly what he meant – Marley seemed way too quiet today and he found the unusual silence scarier and stranger than usual.
"Are you okay, Mar?" Ryder asked, kicking her foot lightly with his and sending her the sweetest smile he could manage.
Marley looked up at him and smiled brightly and replied with the usual, "I'm fine, Ryder. Honestly," all while tugging on her sleeves and fixing up the sweater she wore to make sure it hadn't ridden up at all.
Ryder realized, though, how the smile didn't really reach her eyes that time.
"Are you sure? 'Cause you know, I worry about you sometimes." Ryder said.
"I'm fine, Ryd. There's no need to worry about me because I'm perfectly fine – more than fine." Marley spoke, watching him carefully, her eyes not leaving his face.
He had this odd feeling welling up inside of him that he couldn't trust what she was saying. Was she really fine at all? Ryder asked himself, watching her nod at him with a small smile, her teeth not even showing.
He gave her a careful stare and nodded carefully, moving his eyes to the TV screen across from them which was blaring an episode of Peppa Pig. "Wanna watch a movie instead of this shit?" Ryder asked, grabbing his spoon and licking it carefully to get the remaining ice cream off of the metal piece of cutlery.
"Um, sure, yeah." Marley shrugged one shoulder and licked her spoon like Ryder had.
"Great, can we…" Ryder paused as he slid off the couch and put his almost empty ice-cream container on the couch where he was sitting before. "Can we watch The Dark Knight Rises?"
"Whatever you want," Marley smiled and shrugged again, anxiously rubbing her forehead with her wrist almost like she was… scared? Ryder pretended he didn't notice the scared look in her eyes.
"Awesome, thanks Mar. You're amazing," Ryder grinned at her and crawled over to the DVD player, taking his DVD and putting it onto the disc tray. The house was quiet, and the only noise he could hear was the hum of the fridge, the quiet drone of the DVD player and Marley eating her ice cream.
He smiled and turned around to her, watching her staring at the back of his head. Marley blushed and looked down, beginning to shake uncontrollably and unable to scoop any more ice-cream out of her container.
Ryder was about to ask her if she was okay before she stood angrily, throwing the ice-cream onto the floor in front of her. She was still holding the spoon in her hand as she stormed out of the room and turned the corner.
He frowned at her and watched the door to the lounge room, waiting for her to come back to him. He waited a minute on the floor before deciding to sit on the couch and wait for Marley to return from wherever she had gone.
She was acting strange today – even stranger than she always acted. Marley Rose was a weird girl, and he really wondered what was going on with her. She wasn't talking to him like she used to when they were in high school together, and she wasn't bothering to just be… her. It kind of scared him.
Something had happened to her, and he didn't know what.
The only thing that had changed since she had changed was the fact that she had gotten a boyfriend and Ryder had met him, and he approved – he was pretty cool, and he seemed pretty nice to Marley so that obviously was not the case.
Marley walked back into the room without her spoon this time and fell next to Ryder, crossing her arms and pulling her legs up to her chest. The ice-cream container on the floor was long forgotten. "Where did you go?" Ryder asked, looking over at her carefully.
"I just… I needed to clear my head – I've been having a stressful week, Ryd. I'm glad you've wanted to hang out with me, though." Marley smiled at him and shuffled closer to him, her thigh brushing up against his.
"It's alright, Mar." Ryder wrapped his arm around the back of the sofa, near the top of her head. Ryder leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, causing Marley to flinch away from slightly.
In the process, her sleeve slipped down only slightly. Marley hadn't realized and was watching the ads (the one about Jim and his good DVD), completely absorbed in the story of the stupid that Ryder knew off by heart.
Ryder looked down at Marley and caught her biting at her broken nail with the sleeve of her sweater now at her elbow. Ryder watched her arm and a frown immediately came over his face when he saw large black hand-shaped bruises on her forearm, like someone had grabbed her tightly there and didn't let go for a long time.
His eyes scanned a little bit further down and caught three small bruises overlapping one another – one blue, one dark brown and another lighter yellow one. Ryder felt his heart speed up as he caught the sight of the bruises – where had they come from?
The selection scene came up on the screen and Marley looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to press play on the DVD, taking her nail out from between her teeth. "You gonna press play, Ryd?" She asked, looking at him carefully and putting her hand back in her lap.
Ryder couldn't take his eyes away from her arm, though, and the bruises that had stained her skin. He didn't have the power to look away, and he was also too scared to ask her where they had come from. He couldn't stand to think about anyone hurting his best friend.
"Marley," Ryder whispered, reaching his hand forward and gripping her wrist as lightly as he could. "Where did those bruises come from?"
Ryder looked up to Marley's face for the first time since he saw the bruises and saw all of the colour drain from her face and the look of fear that had unexpectedly come into her eyes. Marley shook her head, looking down at her own wrist. "Uh, I-I don't know." She tried her best to lie, but her voice came out shaky and scared.
"No, Marley, seriously." Ryder gave her a stare and took in a deep breath. "Who gave you the bruises? Who did that?"
He could see the tears filling her eyes as he spoke, and he saw one tear fall onto her cheek. "I can't tell you, Ryder." Her voice sounded strained, like she wanted to say something completely different but couldn't.
She was too scared to, that was the problem.
"Roll up your sleeves, then. I need to see the other arm." Ryder said sternly, tightening his grip only slightly on Marley's wrist. He wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"No, Ryder! This is none of your business, alright?" Marley finally shouted back at him, pulling her arms from his grip and standing up, tears heavily staining her face. Marley was trying to hold in sobs, and was doing a terrible job at it.
"It is my business! Whoever gave you those bruises is going to get a talking to from me, alright? You're my best friend and this is obviously the reason that you've changed so much! Who did that to you? Just tell me!" Ryder screamed, standing up and staring Marley right in the eye. He was glaring at her, and he wasn't going to let her leave his house until she told him.
"Just… shut up, Ryder! If I tell you, you don't know what's going to happen to me or you. He's going to kill me and probably you too!" Marley said, sobbing to herself. She pulled her sweater sleeves down and held them in front of her mouth to stifle the heavy sobs.
Ryder took in a deep breath, his shoulders shaking with the force of it and stepped forward, resting his hands on her shoulders as softly as he could. She was hurt, and she didn't deserve any more pain. "Was it…" Ryder shook his head and looked down at his bare feet. He refused to ever think about that option.
He looked up at Marley and noticed the way her whole body was trembling as he looked at her. Only just now at her stared at her, he noticed the small bruise peeking out from underneath a layer of make-up.
Ryder brought his hand up and used his thumb to wipe away the foundation on her face. He watched Marley close her eyes, frightened of what was happening in front of her eyes.
As he wiped away the make-up, he noticed how big the bruise really was. It covered almost her whole cheek, and she'd done a great job at covering the bruise… and that's what scared him the most. What else was he hiding from her?
"Marley?" Ryder's voice was oddly quiet, and Marley felt as if she had to open her eyes to face him. Through her own tear-filled eyes, she spotted tears forming in Ryder's brown eyes. "Who did this to you?"
Marley took a deep breath and stuttered out her reply – she'd never told anyone, and it scared her that she had to tell someone. She wondered what Ryder would do to her. "It-it was my… my boyfriend."
Ryder felt his stomach drop at her words. Her boyfriend was doing that to her? The one he approved of himself? The one who treated Marley like an absolute princess.
"I'm so sorry, I'm really sorry, Ryder! This is all my fault, I'm just an idiot. I'm so damn sorry." Marley sobbed, wiping her face with the sleeves of her sweater and shaking her head.
"No, no, no," Ryder murmured, reaching forward and pulling Marley into a large hug, wrapping his hands protectively around her back, "this is not your fault, Mar. None of this is your fault."
"I'm just so scared of him… I'm so sorry I didn't tell you." Marley pushed her face into Ryder's chest and cradled her hands close to herself.
"No, it's fine. Don't be sorry about anything of this, okay?" Ryder whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Everything'll be okay now. I'm here for you, and we're going to get you safe."
Marley sniffed and pulled back, nodding her head slowly. "Alright, Ryder."
"Good… just remember I love you." Ryder smiled at her and wiped the tears from her face with his thumb as softly as he could manage.
"I love you, too, Ryd… and I trust you more than anyone in this world."