Falling (Bits and Pieces, Book 1) (39 page)

My ears were filled with his voice, “Come on, you’ll have fun. I’ll show you a real good time. Be a good girl and stop fighting. It’ll be more fun and hurt less if you do.”

I hit him and cried out, “No! Leave me alone!” All of a sudden my arms were stuck to my sides. Someone wrapped their arms around me so I couldn’t move. I screamed, “No! Let me go!” I kicked and tried to wrestle away. “Don’t!”

A voice whispered in my ear. “Ssh…Liz, it’s okay. You’re safe. It’s just me, Patrick.” It took me a second to register that it was Patrick. It was him, his voice, his arms that were holding me back. I blinked and looked around me.

Joey was on the ground and Kraig was helping him up. Patrick’s grasp around me relaxed once he knew that I recognized him. He held onto me and kept repeating, “Ssh. It’s okay. You’re safe.”

Joey was up on his feet. Wow, I really let him have it. He had some cuts and bruises and stared at me, shocked.

“You okay, Joey?” Patrick asked.

“Yeah.” He wiped the trickle of blood that ran down his lip to his chin. “What the hell?” He demanded.

I looked up at Patrick, feeling like everything was swirling around me. He looked coldly at Joey. “She’ll be okay, thanks for your concern.”

“I was just messing around.” Joey didn’t see what he did wrong.

“Maybe next time, think twice before coming up behind a girl.” Patrick said icily.

I stood there frozen, unable to say anything, do anything. I didn’t really understand what happened. Suddenly, I felt very self-conscious. I looked around and the rest of the guys were there – Bobby, Tony and Jason. They stood on both sides of me.

Patrick continued, “If I were you. I’d apologize to her,
now!
”

“Why?! She’s the crazy bitch that went off on me, for no reason.” Joey seethed and lunged forward, pointing at me.

The guys stepped forward and closed ranks. Kraig pushed up against Joey, positioning him in the center of all the guys. Patrick took a step around me and put himself between me and Joey. Patrick’s arm protectively wrapped around me from the front.

“Like I said, you owe Liz an apology.”

“Sorry.” Joey said sarcastically.

“If you ever, do this to Liz, or any other girl, you’ll think what Liz did to you was nothing.” Patrick vowed. “You
don’t
grab girls from behind. I don’t care if you’re joking. It’s not funny.” His controlled voice contained such contempt and rage.

Joey looked at all the guys and finally at me. I was still shaking and in shock over what happened. Fear was plastered on my face as I looked at Joey. I think he finally started to get that it was a big deal to me.

“Okay. Okay.” He conceded. “I really didn’t mean to scare you, Liz. I was just screwing around.” Joey scoffed.

I just looked at him, still unable to speak. Mr. D, who was chaperoning the dance, came up to us. “Everything okay? Is there a problem here?” He looked at the guys, at Joey and followed his gaze to Patrick and me.

Kraig was the first one to speak, “Everything’s okay. Right, Joey?” He patted Joey on his shoulder.

“Yeah. Just a misunderstanding, Mr. D.” Joey answered.

“You sure, Joey?” Joey nodded to Mr. D’s question. Mr. D eyed him. “Who hit you?”

Joey looked at the entire crew standing there. It would be easy for him to pick any of them, especially Patrick, to lay blame. They probably wouldn’t have denied it and would have taken any consequences for me. I didn’t want them to get in trouble because of me. “Like I said, Mr. D, it was a misunderstanding. Don’t worry about it.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Mr. D didn’t like it when people tried to avoid his questions, especially right now.

“Patrick?” He turned to his favorite student, looking for an answer.

Patrick finally took his gaze off of Joey and looked at Mr. D. “Yeah?” He paused for a second. “Everything’s cool.”

“Again, doesn’t answer the question.” Mr. D looked at each one of the guys, reading their expressions. Finally, he looked curiously around Patrick at me. I was the only one that was a mess that looked like they were in a fight, besides Joey. My face was tear-stained, my hair was a mess and I was still trembling. Mr. D reassessed the entire group. Patrick and the guys were in more of a defensive position to protect me and each other. “I see.” He looked at me, “Everyone’s okay?”

Patrick answered for everyone, “Yeah.” He turned around to look at me. “We’re going to get some air.” He put his arm around my back and led me away.

We walked outside into the cool night air. It felt cold against the heat emanating from every part of me, especially my face. There was a courtyard in the center of the hotel’s towers. We headed to a bench near the fountain and sat down. I put my face in my hands and tried to get a grip on myself.

Patrick put his hand on my back and I flinched. He pulled his hand away and broke the silence. “It’s okay. You’re safe. You’re not in
San Francisco
. We’re here at the Grand Balboa Hotel. You’re not alone.” He tried again, putting his hand on my back to remind me. “I’m here. The guys are here. You’re not alone.”

I looked at him and nodded. My voice came out in a shaky whisper, “I’m not alone.”

“No, you’re not.” He reassured me and gently stroked my back.

“We’re at the Grand Balboa Hotel?”

“Yeah.”

I looked down at my clothes. “Tonight’s the dance?”

“Yeah.”

It was starting to sink in that I wasn’t in
San Francisco
and this wasn’t some nightmare that I’d wake up from. “Oh, my god. What did I do?”

“You kicked Joey’s ass. I should have you be
my
bodyguard for away games against rival schools.” He chuckled and nudged me.

“Aw, man…” I shook my head.

“Don’t worry about it.” Patrick tried to soothe me. Then his jaw locked. “He deserved it. He shouldn’t have grabbed you like that.” He took a deep breath.

“What happened?” It all seemed like a blur to me.

“Well, Becca and I were taking pictures. I looked over at you and Kraig and he was heading to the restroom or something. We posed for more pictures and when I looked back over, Joey came out of nowhere and was behind you. He put his arms around you and said something to you. The look on your face as you turned around… I knew you were scared and it wasn’t good. I called out to you as I ran over, but you didn’t hear me. I don’t think you heard anything. Kraig was back and trying to get you to stop, but he couldn’t get near you. Every time he did, you screamed. I didn’t want to scare you more by grabbing you myself, but I didn’t know what else to do.” He looked so apologetic. “Don’t ever think that you’re not a fighter. You
are
. I know first hand and have some bruises to prove it.” Patrick cracked a small smile.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” I felt bad that I kicked him.

“It’s okay.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “What do you remember?”

“I remember an arm wrapping around me and a guy’s voice whispering in my ear. I spun around and it was like I was in that alley. I just wanted to stop him before he got as far as he did in
San Francisco
.” I shook my head. “I don’t remember Kraig or you calling my name. I remember suddenly not being able to move my arms and really scared that it
was
happening again. Only this time, I thought that he’d win…”

“I’m sorry. I was afraid of that. I didn’t want to hurt you…”

“No. You did what you had to. It was the right thing to do. I heard the words and your voice, and it didn’t match what I was seeing. It took me a while to realize that it was you.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Man, I’ve made a mess of myself here. Ruined tonight for Kraig, Joey, you…”

“Nah. Nothing has been ruined. Don’t worry about it.” He waved his hand like it was no big deal.

“But your pictures… You weren’t finished taking them.” Another realization hit me. “Great, now I’ve given Lindsey a reason to be mad at me.” I threw my hands up in resignation.

“No, she won’t. Besides, we got a couple different poses, so it’ll be fine.” Patrick reassured me. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know… I don’t want to keep messing up everyone’s night.” I sulked.

“Don’t worry about them. They only want what you want. They’ll understand whatever you choose. They’d all hang out in the parking lot if that’s what you wanted.” He smiled. I believed him. They would. “Do you want to go home?”

I thought about it. I didn’t feel like staying and being around a lot of people. I wouldn’t be much fun. But I didn’t want to ruin Kraig’s night or the rest of the crew. We had made plans. Then again, I didn’t want to go home either. I didn’t want to explain why I was home early to my parents. My parents would say they were right – look at the trouble I got myself into. Finally, I told Patrick, “I don’t want to go home. I’ll stay, I don’t want to be alone.”

“Okay. If you’re sure. But if any time you want to go home, just say so.”

I nodded. “Thanks.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone walking toward us.

It was Kraig. “Hey, Liz. How are you doing?”

“Better. Thanks.” I forced a half-smile.

“I’m glad.” He looked at Patrick, “Uh… you might want to go back inside. Becca is… well, being Becca. I’ll stay out here with Liz, if you want.”

Patrick sighed and got up, “Okay. It’s up to Liz, you want to stay out here or go back inside?”

I looked at Patrick and Kraig. “I think I’m ready to go back inside.”

Kraig smiled, “Good. Just so you know, everyone’s waiting in the hallway. They want to know that you’re okay.”

I nodded. It was good to know that in advance, at least I could start to compose myself. I didn’t know what I’d say to them. I was ashamed of what had happened. The last thing I wanted to do was explain the real reason why I freaked out. But it was nice to know that they were worried about me and didn’t go into the dance yet. They cared. It felt good.

Kraig opened the door for us and the three of us entered the hotel. Down the long hallway, I could see the crew. They were standing there, some against a wall, talking and hanging out. If you didn’t know what happened earlier, you wouldn’t have known that they were waiting for their friend who had lost a grip on reality. Becca immediately grabbed a hold of Patrick. Emily and Cassie stepped toward me, slowly, as if they were not sure if I would freak out with sudden movements.

“Hey, you okay?” Emily asked.

“Yeah…” I didn’t know what else to say. I wanted to get the focus off me, as quickly as possible. “I appreciate you guys waiting for me, but you should go on into the dance.”

“Come on, Patrick! Let’s go! I didn’t get this dress to stand out here in the hall waiting for
some
people.” Becca scowled and pulled Patrick toward the ballroom.

Patrick looked at me, “You okay?”

I nodded, “Yeah, go.” They walked into the dance, with Becca draping herself all over him. I wondered how
he
would hold up through tonight.

“You
are
staying. Right?” Cassie wondered.

“Yeah. I’m staying. But, I think I need to fix my hair, it’s kind of a mess.”

“We’ll help. You guys go in and get a table. We’ll be in soon.” Cassie and Emily carefully put their hands on my back and led me to the restroom.

I looked at myself in the mirror and I looked like crap. They helped me fix my hair and makeup. It’s a good thing, too. I never come prepared with grooming stuff, and between the two of them, they had everything. They got me looking close to what I did when I first got to the hotel. That was a pretty amazing feat.