Chapter Thirty-Four
Shawn
Valerie might not have thought that it was all that necessary, but I certainly did. I was sure once the truth was wedged between those meathead ears of his and he finally understood that I wasn’t about to do anything to hurt Valerie, at least not intentionally and certainly not like that, he would understand too. However, if he didn’t understand, I was more than happy to let him know a second time…and this round, I would be more than ready.
After he recovered from the punch, I told him to get the hell out and never come back, so he did.
Once he was gone, I locked the door and turned around to meet Valerie very close to me. Before I had any time to react, she embraced me in a hug. She grasped me tightly and rocked with me for a moment, before she pulled away and asked frantically, “Are you okay?”
I smiled at her and even though literally every bit of me hurt, I told her, “Yeah…I’m fine. He really didn’t hurt me.”
“What was that all about?” She glowered at the door after Zachary.
I sighed. As much as I thought to turn her against the asshole even more than she was already and knew that this would be a perfect opportunity, I sighed and lamented as I replied in his defense, “I don’t think it was him. Dalilah told him a lie and trust me, she can be very convincing. She knows how to manipulate people and…she did it to get back at me.” I shrugged. “She threatened to call the police, but I guess she figured this would be easier and would leave less of a trail.”
My argument in her stupid ex-boyfriend’s defense didn’t hold up too well with her, because she answered, “That might be true, but he still came over here and just attacked you. He didn’t even bother to find out the truth.”
“He was angry,” I replied, realizing that the truth was better than trying to agree when I didn’t. “In fact, I think that seeing him do that makes me respect him a little bit more.” I breathed a short laugh.
“Why?” She demanded, now seeming to be angry.
I knew then that I had completely backed myself into a corner and I knew that expressing what I was thinking was really the only way out of it. I looked at her with a genuine expression, wrapped my arms tightly around her waist and sighed. “Well, because I know that if the roles were reversed, or if I had thought anyone hurt you, I would have done the same thing.”
She thought about this and I saw her eyes turn a little bit lighter. “Really?”
I nodded earnestly. “Of course.” I tightened my grip on her. “Even if we never speak again…you could do pretty much whatever you want to me and I know, as stupid as it sounds, as long as my heart is still beating, I am going to do whatever I can to help you…with whatever you need. I…”
Thank God I stopped there, I thought as I felt my breath draw back, close and quick with the surprise of what I was about to admit. Even though I was sure by now she knew exactly how I felt about her, there was still no point in expressing it.
She stepped closer to me and carefully snaked her arms around my neck before she turned her head to the side. “You what?”
If we weren’t interrupted then, I might have actually told her. I found that with her close proximity, I was getting completely lost in her eyes and I knew for sure that was going to be an issue. I knew that if I stared too much, I would become completely moldable and she could probably get me to tell her anything she wanted.
However, instead of me falling into her trap, the way that her hand moved hit an incredibly sore spot on my neck, and even though I tried to shift it away without letting her know that I was in so much pain, a rush of lightheadedness overcame me.
I swayed slightly and heard over the otherwise deafening, consuming darkness, Valerie yell, “Oh my God! Shawn!” I felt her hands clasp tightly around my arms.
When I came back to, after the black curtain that was forming in front of my eyes had opened again, I saw Valerie and realized that I was leaning against the door, sagging dramatically..
That would be the second time today a girl had to save my ass…I vaguely remembered thinking before I smiled at her and insisted, “I’m okay…Relax. I’m good.”
She pulled me quickly over to the couch and had me lay down before she almost reprimanded me, “You aren’t good, Shawn. You just passed out!”
I could tell by the look on her face that she was extremely worried, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do to make her feel better. I nodded. “Okay…But I am feeling better,” I told her and I was fairly certain that I was being honest with her. I couldn’t actually be sure, but I was almost positive that not passing out again was an improvement.
“What hurts?” She asked.
I shrugged, feeling slightly woozy again before I answered her in a silly way, “Everything? Is that an answer?”
This only made her appear more concerned, though, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I was just trying to focus on whatever it was that was going on with me and not have that black curtain come over my eyes again. To look at Valerie, you would have thought that I was dying. “It’s not a very good one!” she exclaimed. “Do you want me to call an ambulance?”
I could tell that her breath was heightening and I knew that if we continued to have this conversation, she was going to start legitimately freaking out and I couldn’t have that. I needed all of the help I could get maintaining my own composure. I felt sore and I knew that I was still bleeding a little bit. My head heart and my chest and back still felt tight from where Zachary had leaned into it.
I didn’t think that anything was broken, but I did feel as though there were many different ailments going on that I should probably be cautious of.
I tried to breathe deeply, but realized that it was fairly painful. I wheezed slightly, but shook my throbbing head in response to her question, which I was afraid was not convincing. “No. I will be fine…”
“Are you sure?” She stared at me with an inquisitive look and I nodded, even though I could tell that my eyes were scrunching, giving away the amount of pain it took to perform the motion.
After a long moment of consideration from Valerie, she finally said, “Okay, well at least let me get you some ice.”
“Thank you…” I said, feeling that my cheek was swollen and my limbs were sore, but by the time she returned, even without the aspirin that she gave me along with the ice, I was beginning to feel a lot better.
Apparently all my body needed was rest, but the other helpful nuggets didn’t hurt that much either.