Inseparable

Sitting down, I sighed as I put the towel wrapped frozen beans on my foot. The pain was back with a vengeance. I don’t think I’d ever felt this much pain before. The deep throb was beginning to extend all the way down to my ankle, and my toe looked like some kind of over boiled frankfurt that was about to burst out of its skin.

“Hey how did-” Kella stopped short, staring at my foot, “What the hell happened?” She screeched as she plopped down next to me. She lifted my makeshift ice pack and made a face, “Fuck Lil, I think that’s broken,” She gasped, her face going a shade of green, then white.

I peered around my knee to get a glimpse. It wasn’t good. My whole foot was now swollen. I was beginning to think Kella was right. There was a teeny tiny chance I’d broken my toe, or rather, he had broken my toe.

Dane Hanson. My heart swooned.

My mind wandered back to eyes. So blue, the color of the sky on a clear, sunny day. When he looked at me, I felt like he was staring right inside of me, feeling my feelings, and reading my thoughts. Then there was his smile. Oh god, that lopsided grin, those lips I’d just wanted to touch.

“Lil?” Kella wacked my shoulder. I jumped.

“What?”

“I said I should really take you to the hospital,” She repeated, “I’m no doctor, but I’d bet my entire shoe collection that it’s broken.”

Wow. This must be serious. Kella loved her shoes more than she liked eating. At last count she had more than a thousand pairs, everything from flats, to heels, to boots. Why someone needed so many shoes I never understood. Just as Kella couldn’t understand how I could get by with only five pairs. My runners, sandals, two pairs of pumps, and a pair of boots. And Kella was the last person you’d expect to have an obsession with shoes. She hated shopping, unless it was for shoes. I couldn’t drag her down to the mall to shop for clothes without promising to look at shoes too.

“Okay,” I relented, letting her help me up. I winced, unable to put any pressure at all on my foot now. Part of me worried I’d more damage by walking home.

“How the hell did this happen, anyway?” She asked, bearing most of my weight as we made our way to her car.

Thank god for her car. Everything being so close for me, I’d convinced mom I didn’t need a car, mainly because I felt guilty enough about moving away, without having her dip into her savings. Now, I wasn’t so sure. What if Kel hadn’t been home? Not that I would’ve been able to drive myself, but in another kind of emergency, not having a car could have been really bad.

“I was so busy perving on the guy in front of me at student admin, I didn’t realize he’d taken a step back. Right onto my foot,” I blushed, “I literally fell over,” I added.

Kella would be the only one to hear the real version. For everyone else, like my mom, I’d tripped over the footpath. This was way too embarrassing to repeat.

“Lil!” Kella laughed, shaking her head. She checked my face, as if she wasn’t sure I was serious. I raised an eyebrow. She laughed again, “Jesus, you’re so unco,” She giggled, “Who was the guy, anyway? He’d better have at least been hot,” She added as she helped me into the car. I rolled my eyes. Like his cuteness made me breaking my toe almost worth it? I waited until she was in the driver’s seat before answering.

“Hi name is Dane Hanson,” I replied, with a giddy smile. God, even his name brought goose bumps to my skin.

“Dane?” Kella looked surprised, her eyebrows shooting up.

“Yes. Why?” I asked suspiciously. Kella appeared to be squirming in her seat.

“Nothing,” She murmured. Kella was not a good liar. One second ago she had wanted to know everything, and now she was paying extra close attention to the chip in the foam of the steering wheel.

“Kella. I love you, but you can’t lie for shit. Spill,” I ordered. She hesitated, before rolling her eyes. What didn’t I know here?

“Well, it’s just…it’s probably nothing, but there were rumors around college last year…” Her voice trailed off. She glanced at me, biting her lip, her dark eyes full of worry.

“Kella!” I yelled, exasperated.

“Okay!” She put a hand up to quieten me, “He was one of the top boxers in the state, apparently. Then he just quit. He went from being ‘Mr Socially Popular Always Out Drinking And Picking Up Women’ to a recluse. Nobody really knows what happened. I’m shocked he’s back in classes, actually. I didn’t even know he was back.”

“He quit school?” I repeated. That kind of explained his little tiff with the office lady, “And what were the rumors, exactly?” I asked suspiciously. I was always wary of rumors. Spending weeks in a mental ward kind of did that to you.

“Drugs, mainly. There was a rumor he’d killed someone and had gone to juvie,” Kella thought for a moment, “And then there was the rape rumor.” Murder? Rape? My heat raced. Not my Dane. As silly as it was, I couldn’t believe I could have such a connection with someone capable of those things.

“Well, it’s not like I was planning on dating him,” I said defensively, cutting her off. I didn’t want to hear anymore. “And besides, if he murdered someone last year, he would have been eighteen and sent to prison, not juvie.”

Why was I being so defensive? Kella eyed me as if she was thinking the same thing.

“What?” I snapped.

She raised her eyebrows, but said nothing as she pulled into the emergency parking area. As soon as the car came to a stop, I hobbled out of the car. Kella rushed around to help me.

“Lil, don’t put pressure on it,” Kel said testily, putting my arm around her shoulder like a human crutch.