Breach

When I entered my apartment I saw something that left me a bit stumped. I knew Bishop was coming over so I kind of assumed that he would be in the kitchen and he was. Only…this wasn’t the Bishop that I knew.

Normally when I returned Bishop would be smiling, like always…but this was not that happy, bouncing kid from before. No, it’s far from it.

Standing in front of the stove is a shivering child that’s biting nervously at his lips till they are on the verge of bleeding. The sight has me moving over to him quickly. I brush my hand against his arm because I felt that if I spoke he might jump out of his skin. The moment my fingers brush his skin, he jumps.

He didn’t expect it and because of his jump he loses his balance and falls into me. I wasn’t ready for him either so it sent the both of us tumbling backwards. I grasp his hips to keep him from slamming into the tile floor.

I hit into the island with my head and the rest of my body slams into the floor while Bishop lands safely in my lap. He’s as stumped as me for a second. His blue eyes slowly process what just went on. While he’s doing that I’m trying desperately not to notice the position we’re in.

He’s sitting…in my lap. I squirm beneath him, trying to get his hips away from mine but that only causes him to slide closer to me. I bite my lip because…because fuck, I’m a terrible human being.

“S-Sorry, I didn’t hear you c-come in and-sorry!” Bishop says, looking at me with concern. He notices me brushing my head. It’s currently throbbing from the impact.

“Yeah, you were pretty focused on cooking. It was kind of weird but…could you get off me?” He was way too focused on cooking. It was like he was using it to keep his mind from going off somewhere else.

Bishop’s cheeks, which I just now noticed are bright red, only brighten in color at me asking for him to remove himself from my lap. I squirm once more under him, still desperately trying to put some distance between us. The movement has him quickly jumping to his feet, thankfully.

If he had stayed like that any longer…

Shaking my head, I get to my feet too and glance at the stove. The smell of dinner had just managed to get me. It makes me lean over to take a whiff of what Bishop had been cooking. “Smells good.”

“Tastes good too,” Bishop says. Smirking, I turn to face him. When I do I see that he’s still shaking. His eyes seem watery, like he’s holding back tears that he himself doesn’t even know he has. The concern I have must show because soon Bishop is asking, “What is it?”

“Something wrong,” I say and place a steady hand on his shoulder. As I thought, he really is shaking. It isn’t anything specific about Bishop that’s off to be honest. It’s just that he’s…different. His eyes are filled with fear and worry. His body is shaking. He‘s just off. “What happened?”

With a shaking voice, Bishop replies, “Nothing.”

I scowl. He’s lying. It’s obvious that he is and that only makes me worry more. My eyes begin to scan him over, looking for anything that may lead me to what is going on…and I find it, easily.

Bishop’s shirt today is a bit bigger than usual, making it easy for it to slip over one of his shoulders. It must have happened sometime during our fall because I am able to see a dark bruise just barely hidden by his shirt. Without thinking, I reach out to pull his shirt out farther for me to see. When I do, I notice that the bruise is a handprint. “Who did it?”

Someone had grabbed him, forcefully grabbed him. My mind immediately thinks of his father. He had mentioned that he’s drinking and they argued last night. The thought makes my blood boil. For someone to harm Bishop, whether it be his father or anyone else, it pisses me off!

Bishop bites his lip when our eyes meet. With a meek voice Bishop asks, “I…can I stay here…for a few days?”

“Tell me what happened first,” I sigh, trying to calm myself. Glaring at him and shouting won’t help. He’s obviously scared. I just need to be calm and have him tell me what happened.

Bishop pulls his shirt back up to hide the mark. He brushes past me to work on the spaghetti once more. It irritates me a bit that he’s avoiding telling me but I know he’ll let it slip eventually. Quietly, I set the table. The food is done shortly after and the two of us sit down to eat.

It isn’t even half way through our dinner when Bishop finally crumbles, “I think dad has taken a few days off because the apartment was a mess this morning. He’s drinking, a lot. When I got back today he just grabbed me and slammed me into the wall. He’s never done that before! I guess I’m just…a little shaken that he would do it. It scared me.”

Bishop twirls a string of spaghetti onto his fork then shoves it between his lips. He swallows and mumbles more to himself than me, “I know I’m overreacting but…”

“You’re not overreacting.” I reach across the table to grab his hand. Bishop stares at the connection but listens closely to me. “He had never did that before, right?”

Bishop nods.

“Of course it would be shocking. Bishop, you can come over and stay here whenever and for however long you want. There’s no need to ask me either. If something goes wrong, come here,” I order more than suggest. For some reason I prefer having Bishop here with me, to know that he’s safe rather than just hear him say he’s all right. I want to see him, to make sure things are fine.

Bishop’s frown turns into a smirk, the one that I much rather see him have. Looking to me, he laughs, “Are you done holding my hand, Annie? Or are we going to do this through the rest of dinner?”

To add to my embarrassment Bishop entangles our fingers, holding them in the center of the table. My cheeks rise in temperature and as they do I rip my hand from his. The action makes Bishop go into a cackling fit.

He’s back to normal. That’s good.

“Sorry for trying to comfort you,” I grunt, jabbing a meatball and shoving it in my mouth.

Still laughing, he manages to copy what I had said to him before, “Comforting me is one thing you definitely are not capable of.”

My eyebrow twitches out of annoyance. How is it that we went from…whatever you want to call what happened earlier to Bishop annoying me once again? I take back everything I said. I don’t want him over here. Damn brat.