I had Jack pick me up and take me home at five thirty in the morning. Shawn had left some time in the night. He didn't return my calls or texts. So Jack was my backup.
"I'm okay. I'm safe. I'm alive, as you can see," was the first thing I said to Jack in the car.
But even when I got to the comfort of my bed, I still couldn't sleep. Overall, I had managed to get two hours of slumber. So I decided to properly shower.
After my shower, I dressed in my undergarments and put on my robe before sitting against the tub with our First Aid kit next to me in the floor.
"Ah," I wince. The hydrogen peroxide burns the scrape on my knee as I dab at it with a cotton ball. There's some white on the scrape and I quickly put some antibiotic ointment on it before putting on a bandaid.
Grabbing the kit, I stand up and look at my self in the mirror, putting the kit on the edge of the sink.
A small, purple bruise was present on my cheekbone, a scab above it from when Shawn pushed me to the ground. I picked at the scab and wiped off the blood, pressing a cotton ball dampened with peroxide on it - lightly. It stings, and I then rub some of the ointment over it.
I change into a pair of cotton shorts and a dark yellow tee.
"I didn't think you'd be up." I look up from my book and see Paige standing in the doorway.
I nod, "Me neither."
Paige walks in the room and crawls into the bed next to me. "How are you feeling?"
"Better." I shut the book and give Paige my attention.
"Can I see it?"
"Sure."
Paige reaches up and pushes the hair in the right side of my face back. I wince as her finger accidentally touched my scar-bruise.
"You don't have to go to work." Paige tells me.
"Are you kidding? I have to." I reply. She removed her hand and sees the bruise on my leg. "From when I fell."
"Where's Shawn?" Paige asks me.
I shrug. "He left some time in the night. I haven't heard from him."
"Are you going to stay with him?" Paige asks and I'm a little offended.
"Of course." I say. "Paige, he didn't intentionally mean to hit me!"
Paige is silent. She looks at her hands, nothing to say.
"I'm sorry to sound angry with you, but you always act like you know what's good for me and what isn't. I'm a grown woman, too, Paige. I can handle and care for myself. And I know you're just trying to be my friend, but that's all you should be. A friend. And not my mom." I say.
Paige nods, her bottom lip tucked under her top lip. "We should get ready for work."
"I'm sorry." I say.
"No. No, don't. I really do get where you're coming from. Are you forgetting I was like that with Jack when we first started dating?" Paige reminds me. I nod. "It's fine. Sometimes we put our partners before our friends without even realizing it. I just, I never thought you'd do it, too."
Paige exits the room and leaves me on the bed to think about what she said.
I just never thought you'd do it, too.
Did I really do it? Was I one of those girls who pushed her friend aside for her partner? It sucks that that's what Paige thinks of me.
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