Crooked Young
Bring Me To Life
KARINA’S POV
Peeling my eyes open, I squirmed under the sheets as I tried to convince myself that getting up was the best thing to do. Oddly, as I did so, I felt something wet against my bum and the top of my legs. I moved a little more, but the liquid seemed to be everywhere.
"For fuck sake,” I grumbled, yanking the covers off myself. Sure enough, there was a red pool below me, ruining my perfectly white mattress cover.
Scrunching my face up in disgust, I got out of bed and stripped the sheets - my head pounding and my stomach clenching. I took the bundle of bloody material through to the bathroom, filling the bathtub with cold water and tossing it all in.
Even though I was never particularly pleased about getting my period, I was happy that it at least came on a Saturday. That meant no hunched walk in school, no popping pill after pill, no being scared to stand in case I'd bled on to the seat. I could just curl up in a ball and do my work in the comforts of my own home.
"Karina!" My dad yelled from downstairs, causing my head to thump even more.
Sighing, I rubbed my temples as I trotted down to the kitchen. The sun was splitting the sky already, not a cloud in sight.
"Yes?" I asked, coming to a stop in the doorway. He lowered his paper, peering at me suspiciously, and then rested it on the table. “What are your plans for today?”
"I was just going to do some work," I told him honestly, scratching at the tip of my nail.
"Alright," he approved. "Well, I’ve got to head out for a while. I’ll be back at around 5."
I nodded, giving him a pursed lip, crooked smile before heading back upstairs to deal with Mother Nature’s little present.
It was another hour before he left, giving me a stern talking to prior to his departure and a list of things not to do. I told him that I never did any of those things, which was a lie, but I still felt a little hurt when he gave me an overwhelmingly unbelieving look.
Sitting down on my bed, I crossed my legs into a basket and pulled my textbooks out of my bag. I felt like I'd seen them more that I'd seen my friends. More than I'd seen Tony. The more I found myself living, though, the less I wanted them. They use to be my focus - please dad, make him proud, please dad, make him proud - but it all became blurred when Tony came along. I found things that became far more important, and doing extra school work suddenly seemed like a big waste of time.
Ignoring the war in my throbbing head, I popped the lid off my pen and began to copy down some notes on ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
I got about three pages of information down before my phone sounded, pulling me out of my thoughts. I shoogled up the bed, slipping out from underneath my book, and lifted the vibrating device off my bedside table.
"Hello?"
"Morning," said Tony. "Are you doing anything today?"
I glanced at my textbooks which, yet again, seemed unimportant. “Not really, why? Do you have something in mind?”
"I don’t know, I just need out of this house. It’s so damn chaotic."
I glanced up at my bedroom door, almost waiting for a duplicate of my dad to storm in and forbid it. I watched it intensely for a second, but nothing happened. "Um, you could come over to mine if you want?"
"That would be awesome," he said, relief clear in his tone. I wanted to ask if something else had happened with Bruce, but the words refused to touch my tongue. "What time?"
"Whenever suits you, but you have to be gone before five," I replied.
There was a moment of rustling, followed by loud thump and Tony’s laughter. It was so contagious that it crept through the phone, causing a smile to come over my face. “Yep. Gone by five, got it,” he said back in a strained yet amused voice.
"See you, Tone," I chuckled, biting my lip as I hung up.
Tony arrived at 1 o’clock - his hair, partially hidden by a snapback, had been tousled by the wind, and his wrist was sporting a beaded bracelet. It took us a mere five minutes to decide that we were going to watch a movie, and two minutes more to choose which one it was.
"You’re going to love it," Tony said, opening the box as I poured us each a glass of lemonade.
I sat down, rather uneasily, on the edge of the couch. I didn’t know what was going to happen - were we going to sit apart or close together? Did he want to cuddle, or did he not?
Tony put the DVD in and pressed play, rushing back to the couch and throwing himself in the left corner. As the introductions came up on the screen, he looked over at me with knitted eyebrows.
"Why are you sitting away over there?" He questioned, jutting out his bottom lip.
Okay, so he wants to cuddle, right? Right. I didn’t reply: instead, I just got up and went over to him, plopping myself down so close to him that our arms and legs were pressed up against each other. Tony kissed my cheek, his eyes wandering over my features.
"What?" I said. "Why are you staring at me?"
This time he was the one not to reply. He raised his hand, gently putting his finger under my chin, and pressed his lips against mine. I couldn’t wrap my head around how good it felt, how right it felt. Pulling away, he gave me a cheeky wink before turning back to the movie.
Sighing, I focused on a small green thing that was waddling about as I tried to ignore my tingling lips. The movie continued, and I found myself almost getting just as caught up in it as Tony. I knew when something was about to happen because his mouth would drop open a little, and his hands would spread flat out on his thighs.
During a rather boring part of the movie, I took the time to look at the little bracelet he had on. It looked like one of Lucia’s creations - there were glittery beads, shiny beads, and coloured beads. I noticed that one bead had the letter ‘L’ on it, but the rest were hidden. I, being the nosy person I was, wanted to know what it spelled out.
Putting my finger on the bracelet, I nudged it around Tony’s wrist until all four beads were visible. They spelled ‘L-O-V-E’, and finished with a pink butterfly.
"Lucia made it," Tony told me, breaking his eyes away from the screen.
"It’s cute," I noted aloud, my finger still nudging it along.
Tony kissed the tip of my nose, causing me to giggle. I pulled my legs up to my chest as my stomach churned painfully, curling into his side more. He was soon caught up in the movie once again, mouth moving as he echoed practically every line. I found it adorable.
By the time the end credits were rolling up the screen, I had my head in Tony’s lap and he was thoughtlessly playing with my hair. I hoped that, magically, the next movie would come on, but it didn’t. So we both just lay there, staring at the screen.
"Hm," I said, rolling over so I was on my back. Tony looked down at me, his eyebrows raised expectantly. "The little green man was cool."
"Yoda?" Tony laughed.
I nodded. “Yeah, and I think I want one of those big glowing stick things. They could do some real damage.” Slowly, I raised my arms as if I was holding one. I sat up, concentrating on the imaginary giant glow stick in my hands, and carefully stood up.
"Karina, what the fuc-"
"Master me is," I said seriously, squatting at making a whizzing sound as I waved the stick around. "Kill all the enemies I shall."
"Well watch the coffee table, Master," Tony said with a smile. "You’re awfully close to starting a battle.”
"Me is Yoda," I stated loudly, raising the stick into the air. "Shut up, little man in the hat."
Moving around on the spot like I was doing interpretive dance, I threw my arms in the air and spun around.
"Kat!" Tony yelled, but it was too late. I felt my foot hit glass, and then heard a sloshy thud.
Cutting my pirouette short, I turned round to see my lemonade spilled on the cream carpet, and my empty glass lying on its side. I inhaled, my lips curling up into a shocked smile, and took a step back.
"Looks like the laws of Physics can’t handle you, Master," Tony joked, "where are your towels?"
"I’ll get it, don’t worry."
Laughing to myself, I shook my head in disbelief as I rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a cloth. At least it wasn’t Coke or something, I thought positively.
Speed walking back into the living room (as my stomach refused to let me go any faster), I dropped next to the spillage and dabbed the lemonade. Tony had put the glass back on the table and was lazily sprawled out on the couch. I spread the cloth out, figuring it could soak up the last of the liquid, and sauntered over to him.
"Yes?" He said cheekily, a crooked smirk on his face. He folded his arms across his chest and stretched his legs, taking up the whole couch.
"Squeeze up, asshole," I laughed, nudging his leg with my knee.
"Nu-uh," he said smugly, shutting his eyes and sighing lightly.
Giving him a glare, which I soon realised he couldn't even see, I decided to clamber on top of him. I straddled his waist and began prodding his stomach, saying his name over and over as I did so. My stomach abruptly twisted, causing he to hunch over: when I remembered why it hurt, my eyes flew open. As if he noticed me tense up, Tony's popped open too.
"What?" he asked worriedly.
Feeling insanely embarrassed, I turned my head away and mumbled into my hand. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! What if I've bled on to him or something?
"Kat, talk to me," he urged, rubbing my thigh.
"I, um," I scratched the back of my neck, taking a deep breathe. "I forgot I'm, uh, on my period and I just-" Pausing, my eyes focused on Tony and his bright red face. It was like he was a 10 year old getting the sex talk.
"Oh," he choked out awkwardly. I nodded, turning my head away. Silence entered the room like a tsunami, and my heart was throbbing in my chest like it was about to explode. Do people break up with people over stuff like this? Crap, I bet I've totally weirded him out. Well fucking done, Kat.
"Babe," Tony said, his voice light and comforting. My heart fluttered at his words, and I bit my lip to conceal the goofy grin I felt bubbling up. He looked up at me from underneath his thick, long lashes. "If you're in pain, just say. I don't want you to feel like shit."
"I'm not," I said with a slight chuckle, relieved he wasn't uneasy about my confession.
"Promise?"
"No, but it's fine."
Tony smiled at me, like he admired my honesty. (However, I had failed to mention that Niagara Falls was pressing up against his boringly soft 'man bit'.) Lifting his hand, Tony’s fingertips brushed against the skin of my arm - raising both goosebumps and my heart rate. I swore I was going to have a heart attack with all the fluctuation. Leaning forward as I craved more of his embrace, I spread my hands out on his chest.
"Damn, my girlfriend is hot," Tony teased, raising his head to press his lips against mine. I caved immediately, my shoulders lifting as I let his head go back down against the couch. I could feel his smile, and it filled my stomach with butterflies. It had been a week and I still couldn’t believe he was my boyfriend.
Tony’s hands rested on my hips, his fingers playing with the hem of my shirt. I wanted him to yank it over my head and deepen the kiss, I wanted him to roughly tug it up, but he didn’t. He just continued to fumble with it, causing my breathing to hitch when his skin brushed mine.
Pulling away, he pushed my hair behind my ear, stealing another kiss. His dark eyes watched me as his hand settled on my face, and his thumb caressed my rosy cheek. I hooked my pinky finger round his bracelet and averted my eyes, not wanting to blush any more than I already was.
"What did one wall say to the other?" Tony questioned.
"I don't know," I giggled, "what did one wall say to the other?"
"Meet you at the corner," he answered proudly.
"Oh God," I laughed, resting my head on his chest. "Tone, that was awful."
"Shut up, it was brilliant. I got it out a cracker last Christmas."
"Remind me never to let you get your hands on one of those again, then."
Tony chuckled, kissing my warm cheek.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
Peeling my eyes open, I squirmed under the sheets as I tried to convince myself that getting up was the best thing to do. Oddly, as I did so, I felt something wet against my bum and the top of my legs. I moved a little more, but the liquid seemed to be everywhere.
"For fuck sake,” I grumbled, yanking the covers off myself. Sure enough, there was a red pool below me, ruining my perfectly white mattress cover.
Scrunching my face up in disgust, I got out of bed and stripped the sheets - my head pounding and my stomach clenching. I took the bundle of bloody material through to the bathroom, filling the bathtub with cold water and tossing it all in.
Even though I was never particularly pleased about getting my period, I was happy that it at least came on a Saturday. That meant no hunched walk in school, no popping pill after pill, no being scared to stand in case I'd bled on to the seat. I could just curl up in a ball and do my work in the comforts of my own home.
"Karina!" My dad yelled from downstairs, causing my head to thump even more.
Sighing, I rubbed my temples as I trotted down to the kitchen. The sun was splitting the sky already, not a cloud in sight.
"Yes?" I asked, coming to a stop in the doorway. He lowered his paper, peering at me suspiciously, and then rested it on the table. “What are your plans for today?”
"I was just going to do some work," I told him honestly, scratching at the tip of my nail.
"Alright," he approved. "Well, I’ve got to head out for a while. I’ll be back at around 5."
I nodded, giving him a pursed lip, crooked smile before heading back upstairs to deal with Mother Nature’s little present.
It was another hour before he left, giving me a stern talking to prior to his departure and a list of things not to do. I told him that I never did any of those things, which was a lie, but I still felt a little hurt when he gave me an overwhelmingly unbelieving look.
Sitting down on my bed, I crossed my legs into a basket and pulled my textbooks out of my bag. I felt like I'd seen them more that I'd seen my friends. More than I'd seen Tony. The more I found myself living, though, the less I wanted them. They use to be my focus - please dad, make him proud, please dad, make him proud - but it all became blurred when Tony came along. I found things that became far more important, and doing extra school work suddenly seemed like a big waste of time.
Ignoring the war in my throbbing head, I popped the lid off my pen and began to copy down some notes on ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.
I got about three pages of information down before my phone sounded, pulling me out of my thoughts. I shoogled up the bed, slipping out from underneath my book, and lifted the vibrating device off my bedside table.
"Hello?"
"Morning," said Tony. "Are you doing anything today?"
I glanced at my textbooks which, yet again, seemed unimportant. “Not really, why? Do you have something in mind?”
"I don’t know, I just need out of this house. It’s so damn chaotic."
I glanced up at my bedroom door, almost waiting for a duplicate of my dad to storm in and forbid it. I watched it intensely for a second, but nothing happened. "Um, you could come over to mine if you want?"
"That would be awesome," he said, relief clear in his tone. I wanted to ask if something else had happened with Bruce, but the words refused to touch my tongue. "What time?"
"Whenever suits you, but you have to be gone before five," I replied.
There was a moment of rustling, followed by loud thump and Tony’s laughter. It was so contagious that it crept through the phone, causing a smile to come over my face. “Yep. Gone by five, got it,” he said back in a strained yet amused voice.
"See you, Tone," I chuckled, biting my lip as I hung up.
Tony arrived at 1 o’clock - his hair, partially hidden by a snapback, had been tousled by the wind, and his wrist was sporting a beaded bracelet. It took us a mere five minutes to decide that we were going to watch a movie, and two minutes more to choose which one it was.
"You’re going to love it," Tony said, opening the box as I poured us each a glass of lemonade.
I sat down, rather uneasily, on the edge of the couch. I didn’t know what was going to happen - were we going to sit apart or close together? Did he want to cuddle, or did he not?
Tony put the DVD in and pressed play, rushing back to the couch and throwing himself in the left corner. As the introductions came up on the screen, he looked over at me with knitted eyebrows.
"Why are you sitting away over there?" He questioned, jutting out his bottom lip.
Okay, so he wants to cuddle, right? Right. I didn’t reply: instead, I just got up and went over to him, plopping myself down so close to him that our arms and legs were pressed up against each other. Tony kissed my cheek, his eyes wandering over my features.
"What?" I said. "Why are you staring at me?"
This time he was the one not to reply. He raised his hand, gently putting his finger under my chin, and pressed his lips against mine. I couldn’t wrap my head around how good it felt, how right it felt. Pulling away, he gave me a cheeky wink before turning back to the movie.
Sighing, I focused on a small green thing that was waddling about as I tried to ignore my tingling lips. The movie continued, and I found myself almost getting just as caught up in it as Tony. I knew when something was about to happen because his mouth would drop open a little, and his hands would spread flat out on his thighs.
During a rather boring part of the movie, I took the time to look at the little bracelet he had on. It looked like one of Lucia’s creations - there were glittery beads, shiny beads, and coloured beads. I noticed that one bead had the letter ‘L’ on it, but the rest were hidden. I, being the nosy person I was, wanted to know what it spelled out.
Putting my finger on the bracelet, I nudged it around Tony’s wrist until all four beads were visible. They spelled ‘L-O-V-E’, and finished with a pink butterfly.
"Lucia made it," Tony told me, breaking his eyes away from the screen.
"It’s cute," I noted aloud, my finger still nudging it along.
Tony kissed the tip of my nose, causing me to giggle. I pulled my legs up to my chest as my stomach churned painfully, curling into his side more. He was soon caught up in the movie once again, mouth moving as he echoed practically every line. I found it adorable.
By the time the end credits were rolling up the screen, I had my head in Tony’s lap and he was thoughtlessly playing with my hair. I hoped that, magically, the next movie would come on, but it didn’t. So we both just lay there, staring at the screen.
"Hm," I said, rolling over so I was on my back. Tony looked down at me, his eyebrows raised expectantly. "The little green man was cool."
"Yoda?" Tony laughed.
I nodded. “Yeah, and I think I want one of those big glowing stick things. They could do some real damage.” Slowly, I raised my arms as if I was holding one. I sat up, concentrating on the imaginary giant glow stick in my hands, and carefully stood up.
"Karina, what the fuc-"
"Master me is," I said seriously, squatting at making a whizzing sound as I waved the stick around. "Kill all the enemies I shall."
"Well watch the coffee table, Master," Tony said with a smile. "You’re awfully close to starting a battle.”
"Me is Yoda," I stated loudly, raising the stick into the air. "Shut up, little man in the hat."
Moving around on the spot like I was doing interpretive dance, I threw my arms in the air and spun around.
"Kat!" Tony yelled, but it was too late. I felt my foot hit glass, and then heard a sloshy thud.
Cutting my pirouette short, I turned round to see my lemonade spilled on the cream carpet, and my empty glass lying on its side. I inhaled, my lips curling up into a shocked smile, and took a step back.
"Looks like the laws of Physics can’t handle you, Master," Tony joked, "where are your towels?"
"I’ll get it, don’t worry."
Laughing to myself, I shook my head in disbelief as I rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a cloth. At least it wasn’t Coke or something, I thought positively.
Speed walking back into the living room (as my stomach refused to let me go any faster), I dropped next to the spillage and dabbed the lemonade. Tony had put the glass back on the table and was lazily sprawled out on the couch. I spread the cloth out, figuring it could soak up the last of the liquid, and sauntered over to him.
"Yes?" He said cheekily, a crooked smirk on his face. He folded his arms across his chest and stretched his legs, taking up the whole couch.
"Squeeze up, asshole," I laughed, nudging his leg with my knee.
"Nu-uh," he said smugly, shutting his eyes and sighing lightly.
Giving him a glare, which I soon realised he couldn't even see, I decided to clamber on top of him. I straddled his waist and began prodding his stomach, saying his name over and over as I did so. My stomach abruptly twisted, causing he to hunch over: when I remembered why it hurt, my eyes flew open. As if he noticed me tense up, Tony's popped open too.
"What?" he asked worriedly.
Feeling insanely embarrassed, I turned my head away and mumbled into my hand. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! What if I've bled on to him or something?
"Kat, talk to me," he urged, rubbing my thigh.
"I, um," I scratched the back of my neck, taking a deep breathe. "I forgot I'm, uh, on my period and I just-" Pausing, my eyes focused on Tony and his bright red face. It was like he was a 10 year old getting the sex talk.
"Oh," he choked out awkwardly. I nodded, turning my head away. Silence entered the room like a tsunami, and my heart was throbbing in my chest like it was about to explode. Do people break up with people over stuff like this? Crap, I bet I've totally weirded him out. Well fucking done, Kat.
"Babe," Tony said, his voice light and comforting. My heart fluttered at his words, and I bit my lip to conceal the goofy grin I felt bubbling up. He looked up at me from underneath his thick, long lashes. "If you're in pain, just say. I don't want you to feel like shit."
"I'm not," I said with a slight chuckle, relieved he wasn't uneasy about my confession.
"Promise?"
"No, but it's fine."
Tony smiled at me, like he admired my honesty. (However, I had failed to mention that Niagara Falls was pressing up against his boringly soft 'man bit'.) Lifting his hand, Tony’s fingertips brushed against the skin of my arm - raising both goosebumps and my heart rate. I swore I was going to have a heart attack with all the fluctuation. Leaning forward as I craved more of his embrace, I spread my hands out on his chest.
"Damn, my girlfriend is hot," Tony teased, raising his head to press his lips against mine. I caved immediately, my shoulders lifting as I let his head go back down against the couch. I could feel his smile, and it filled my stomach with butterflies. It had been a week and I still couldn’t believe he was my boyfriend.
Tony’s hands rested on my hips, his fingers playing with the hem of my shirt. I wanted him to yank it over my head and deepen the kiss, I wanted him to roughly tug it up, but he didn’t. He just continued to fumble with it, causing my breathing to hitch when his skin brushed mine.
Pulling away, he pushed my hair behind my ear, stealing another kiss. His dark eyes watched me as his hand settled on my face, and his thumb caressed my rosy cheek. I hooked my pinky finger round his bracelet and averted my eyes, not wanting to blush any more than I already was.
"What did one wall say to the other?" Tony questioned.
"I don't know," I giggled, "what did one wall say to the other?"
"Meet you at the corner," he answered proudly.
"Oh God," I laughed, resting my head on his chest. "Tone, that was awful."
"Shut up, it was brilliant. I got it out a cracker last Christmas."
"Remind me never to let you get your hands on one of those again, then."
Tony chuckled, kissing my warm cheek.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."
Notes
I AM SO HAPPY YOU GUYS RESPONDED TO THE LAST CHAPTER THE WAY YOU DID. I FEEL LIKE AN EVIL MASTERMIND.
anyways, this is a hella fluffy chapter. And to the girl who commented, tHE SEX WILL BE COMING SOON. THE FRICKLE FRACK WILL OCCUR, I PROMISE. Also, to those of you who I didn't reply to in the comments, I am really appreciative of your input! I love hearing what you guys think, it honestly makes my day :')
and just for the record, I have bled on to a seat before in school. I had to pretend that i was staying behind to talk to the teacher but i just couldn't stand up bc there was a literal pool on the seat and when everyone left (inc. the teacher) i shoved the chair under the desk and ran to the medical office with my bag over my bum and called my mum to pick me up and yeah it was hilarious and terrifying at the same time.
Love you guys, have a great day :) <3
OMFG <3
7/6/15