x-X-x (Two Days Later)

The two days he wasn't here, I did not leave my house for one second. Well that was me exaggerating. I did occasionally take a little stroll for some fresh air, but other than that, nothing. Because I knew that if I left my house, I'd go straight to his house and he told me not to do that, so I didn't. "He's ok though, right?" I asked Ethan over the phone for the billionth time.

"Yeah, he's fine. Look I got to go, I'm about to meet up with Grace." he said before he hung up on me. Grace and him have been hanging out a lot recently. I spent the whole day, constantly peering out from my window, through his, checking to see if he came home early. But nope. He wasn't there yet. I was sitting in bed, reading when I got a text. It was from Daniel and it said, 'He's on his way back.' and that's all it took for me. I did not care what I was currently wearing. I grabbed my phone, putting it in the pocket of my grey hoodie and put my slippers on, and shot out of my house in my hoodie and short, and went and sat on the bench that was right between our houses. How did I not realize it was 10:50 pm yet?

Finally, I saw his car pulling up on the curb, and then soon enough park into his driveway, while I nervously played with the strings of my hoodie while I chewed my gum non-stop. Finally, he turned the car off and stepped out of it, and what I saw, made me want to cry. His face was beaten and bruised. He had a freshly busted lip, a forming bruise on his eyes and bruised and bloodied knuckles. I immediately spotted him and pushed myself off the bench, and sprinted over to him. "Ryder, what the hell happened? You said you were ok. You promised. How did all this?-" before I could continue shooting questions at him, he cut me off "Mia, go back home. Now. They're watching. Go. Run. I promise I'll sneak in to see you but go." he demanded.

I looked around and saw two men catching up to us, I immediately turned around and ran up to my room, locking the door right after. I waited a total of an hour before Ryder finally swung through my window. I was sitting on my bed, looking off into space, now nervously biting on my hoodie strings. He slowly walked over to my bed. I instantly jumped up and went over to him.

"Ryder, what the fuck happened?" I questioned.

"Nothing. I'm fine." he shrugged like it was no big deal.

"What do you mean you're fine? Look at your face. You have bruises everywhere and you have a busted lip. Care to tell me what's going on?" I interrogated him to the best of my ability.

"I just got into a little fight with a few guys. It's alright. They wanted drugs but weren't willing to pay. My boss would kill me if I gave them the drugs for free so I tried to fight back and I sent every single one to the hospital but they threw a punch or two at me." he casually explained. That boy and his ego.

"A punch or two? You call that a punch or two?" I asked at him, being dead serious. "You're not leaving my sight the next few days." I commanded.

"I don't have to deal for the next two months. Every two months I work for two days." he informed me. "Stay here." I said as I ran into my bathroom and grabbed a first aid kit. I sat him down on the left side of the bed and sat down in front of him and began by cleaning up his knuckles. "Might sting." I warned before pressing the cleaning medicine on his knuckles, making him wince from the sting. "Damn doctor. You're saving my life." he smirked cockily. He still has his charm I guess. "Ryder, seriously how do you leave completely fine and come back looking so busted?" I asked confused as I applied a bandage to his knuckles.

"I can't do much for the bruises so I'll just clean your lip and then bring you some ice." I informed him as I got a fresh cotton ball and cleaned his lip, him wincing a little in the process while he nodded in understanding. Once I finished cleaning his lip, I left it to heal on its own there's not much you can do to a busted lip. "I'll bring you some ice." I said, leaving to get up but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to my seat. "I'm sorry." he said, just loud enough for me to hear. "Why are you apologizing?" I asked confused.

"Because I promised you that I'll come back fine. And I came back well... beaten and bruised." he coldly chuckled. "Ryder, you came back and that's enough for me. I don't care whether you're bruised or not. Yeah, it would be nicer having you here a little less if possible, absolutely not busted but you're here. That's all I care." I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. He simply nodded, looking down at our hands.

I got up and went and grabbed him a packet of peas which we took turns holding to his bruised jaw and cheekbone. Eventually, we dozed off. *The next day* I woke up from the sun and quickly remembered everything that happened last night. I looked over to see him fast asleep, holding my hand. I pulled my hand out of his and quickly went downstairs, taking the packet of peas with me to put them back in the freezer, when I saw a note on the fridge from my parents saying that they've left for their trip and won't be here for the next 3 weeks. Well, at least I won't have to worry about getting yelled at for hanging out with Ryder.

I then went up to my room and went into my bathroom to see Ryder sitting on the counter, rocking his legs back and forth like a little kid. "Well hello there. What are you doing up? Shouldn't you be resting?" I asked as I grabbed my toothbrush and handed him an extra one I got while travelling. Once we both finished brushing our teeth and doing all that jazz, he sat back on the counter. "Can I help you?" I asked confused as I put lotion on my face. "I need your help with covering this." he said as he gestured to his face. "Makeup?" I asked in a duh tone. He nodded hesitantly. "As you wish." I grabbed my makeup bag and I sat on the counter, with him standing between my legs.

"I'm going to use brushes since your face is already beaten." I explained since a beauty blender right now would probably hurt. "Stand still ok?" I said, as if I were talking to a little child and then I started by putting some lotion on his face while he just stood there, smiling goofily, making me smile too. I began by putting some foundation on his face before he quickly pulled away. "Nope. Nevermind, I change my mind. No makeup." he said, trying to get out of my bathroom but I quickly pulled his arm back. "Nope. No going back now." I deadpanned, making him groan. We were 10 seconds into this and he was whining like a little baby. "I'm almost done. Just let me put some powder on otherwise it will all melt off." I laughed as I quickly set the foundation and concealer in place. "All done." I said as I quickly put the makeup away, kissed his cheek and then hopped off the counter.

"Thank you." he said, pulling me back, and kissing my cheek.

"You're welcome. Now go home. Your mom is pulling up in the driveway." I laughed, pushing him toward my window which he soon swung out of.

I'm still worried to death about him.

But I still have two months to breathe. Right?