Cigarette Burns

I hugged my arms around my torso tight and bowed my head, "that bad, huh?"

Matt stood there and shook his head. "What are we going to do?" he finally asked.

I bit my lip, "I don't know."

Matt grabbed my shoulders and pulled me to him. He wrapped his arms around me and ran his hand up and down my back lightly for a little while, until we heard the door downstairs slam shut. Soon after we heard footsteps coming towards the bathroom and then, the bathroom door burst open.

"Oh shit," Rhi gasped.

"We weren't doing anything!" I defended.

She shook her head, "no, no, it's those bruises..."

I looked frantically around the bathroom for a towel, something, anything, to cover me up more. We all stood there for moment, in an awkward silence.

"I'm really sorry; I didn't think you guys were in here still."

I smiled a little, "its okay. Um, thanks for the... bikini?"

Rhi let out a light and soft laugh, "oh, no problem at all!" She paused for a moment, "actually, you know what? Come with me, I think I can help you."

I looked at Matt and he shrugged his shoulders, "I'll meet you guys down at the beach then, is that okay Riley?"

I nodded my head, "sure."

I followed Rhi to the bedroom that she had used earlier. She walked to the bed and opened up her backpack that she brought with her. "Okay, come here," she said softly.

I walked towards her and stood off to the side of the bed. She stood up and looked at me, "alright. So I don't want you to have to sit there in a sweatshirt, so what I'm thinking is you can wear this," she handed me a green wife-beater, "and then your arms aren't TOO bad. Knowing the guys, they'll be in the water until lunch or dinner; the only people that will really be on the beach are Matt and I. So you should be okay." She paused and looked at my legs, "do you want swim-shorts to put on, or are you okay with just the wife beater?"

I looked down at my legs. I studied them and came to the conclusion that you wouldn't really be able to tell, especially if I was sitting down. "Um, I think I'll be alright. Thank-you." I slipped the green wife-beater on and straightened it.

Rhi stood there for a moment, looking at me and then bit her lip. "Riley, can I ask you something?"

I looked up at her and slowly nodded my head.

"How do you get those bruises and... wounds?" Rhi gulped out the last word.

I sighed, "From Tony."

Rhi nodded her head in comprehension. "I'm going to take that as your boyfriend?" I nodded my head. "Do you live with him?" I looked down at the floor and nodded my head again, while biting my lip. I will not cry again.

Rhi walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her a moment later. "I'm sorry Riley. I guess this explains why I've never seen you, huh?"

I pulled away, "unfortunately speaking, yes, that's why."

"How come you could come today then?"

"Tony left today to go somewhere. He won't be back until Monday night sometime. I decided that I wanted to have some fun and adventure before I died," I explained.

Rhi nodded her head, "it's really sad that I know you mean that, no sarcasm included."

"I know," I shook my head. "Do you think we should head down to the beach now..." I began to ask.

"I guess we should! Now let’s cheer up and enjoy the sun and beach as much as we can!" Rhi linked her arm with mine and we made our way to the beach.

When we got down there we saw Matt leaning back on his elbows on a towel in the warm sand. When we reached him, he turned around and pushed up his aviators, "hey guys."

I smiled and set down a towel to his right, as Rhi sat down a towel to my right. I sat down on the towel and adjusted my sunglasses before leaning back on my own elbows.

Matt readjusted his own aviators and leaned back again. He turned his head towards me, "everything okay?"

I turned to look at him and nodded my head, "right now, everything is perfect."