“Thanks, Julie, but I don't feel like watching anything and besides, I don't even own a television!” Clarissa sighed.
“I'll bring my portal DVD player! No depressed girl in like, well, the history of girls has ever felt like watching romcoms, it's just what you do, because it helps,” Julie said, “You'll see.”
“Fine, whatever,” Clarissa said, “I'll see you when you get here.”
Chapter Five
It had been a month since Clarissa had talked to Skull, but sometimes late at night she would catch herself thinking about him. This was particularly true if she heard a motorcycle drive by. She still hadn’t bought a new car and her old blue clunker had lost its battle. It now rested in peace at the junk yard, which paid Clarissa four hundred dollars for it.
She had planned on saving the money to buy a new one, but she had to use it for taxi rides around town when Julie couldn’t take her somewhere. It was better to use that money, the car money, than to break into her savings account, where she had hoarded away money for school sometimes literally a dollar at a time.
Fortunately, tonight Julie had been able to drop her off after work. Clarissa had just gotten out of the shower when someone knocked on the door. She glanced at the coffee table and saw Julie’s fashion magazine. Clarissa snatched it from the table thinking that her bestie had returned to retrieve it.
“Here it is,” she said swinging the door open, holding tight to the blue towel that she had wrapped up in.
“Thanks, but I think you have me confused with someone else, Bookworm,” Skull said.
Clarissa blinked and slammed the door shut. Skull looked like he had come out on the bad side of a fight. His lip had been split and he had the start of a black eye. Clarissa raced into her bedroom and changed into her pajamas then sat down on the bed. No, she wasn’t going to talk him. She hadn’t missed him, not really. She had only missed his bike. At least that’s what she had told herself again and again, because she didn’t want to admit how much she had missed him.
Clarissa did think it was possible to miss someone so much when you barely knew them. She lay down on the bed and hugged her favorite pillow close to her. He was most likely running from the police or something. Why else would he show up at her apartment after a month all beat up? Did he think she was going to hide him from the police? The jerk just wouldn’t take the hint, even after she had told him very bluntly that she wanted nothing more to do with him.
Skull knocked on the door again and Clarissa startled. Her heart pounded against her rib cage fueling her racing pulse. With shaking hands she forced herself out of bed and back to the front door.
“What do you want?” she snapped as she tore it open.
“Can I come in?” Skull asked.
“No, go away,” Clarissa said and crossed her arms, “I was there in the alley remember, Skull? I was there. I saw what you did to that poor man and now you show up here looking like the mafia beat you up.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Bookworm, if the mafia was after me I wouldn’t be standing here. Haven’t you ever watched a mob boss movie?” he chuckled and then winced.
Clarissa bit back the sympathy she felt for him when he wince and retorted sharply.
“I don’t watch television, remember?”
“Yea, I know, but television would educate you about some things,” Skull said. His brown eyes looked like he was teasing her, but he didn’t laugh. Clarissa guessed that he didn’t want to cause his face any more pain than it was already experiencing, “Can I come in or not?”
“I don’t want to learn about the mafia,” Clarissa frowned, “but get in here before my neighbors start talking.”
Clarissa grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside before slamming the door shut and locking it behind them.
“Should I be expecting the cops to show up looking for you?” she asked, letting go of his hands.
“No,” Skull shook his head, “I got into a disagreement with one of my brother’s friends.”
“So did your brother or his friend beat the hell out of you?” Clarissa asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Skull said.
“You can’t do this, Skull,” Clarissa snapped.
“Whoa, whoa, Bookworm, my head hurts, babe! Please don’t yell!” Skull said moving a hand to his temple.
“This is my apartment and I’ll yell if I want to!” Clarissa shouted. “Seriously! You can’t just show up here looking like you’ve been in a bar fight and not tell me what the hell happened!”
“I told you what happened,” Skull said, “Now can you not yell?”
“Sit down,” Clarissa said and grabbed Skull by the arm and led him to the sofa and pushed him onto it, “I’m going to go see what I can find to clean you up.”