When You & I Collide

When Evie woke the following day, the pain hit her like a wave all at once. Her head and eye was swollen and a thumping resonated through her ears. Her nose was full of so much pressure it hurt. She kept her eyes closed for couple of minutes so her mind could catch up with her body and wake up fully. She was suddenly aware that wasn’t in her own bed, and then realised with a hint of disappointment that she was alone in this bed.
A loud clattering caused Evie to sit up quickly, pain searing through her for moving so quickly. She quickly clambered off the bed, thankful she was partially dressed and creeped out the bedroom, her arms outstretched defensively. She had a cat like posture, and her eyes were bulging with fear. On leaving the bedroom, she heard the sound again, less muffled and much clearer; it sounded like metal connecting with the floor and Evie followed the noise to the third bedroom – a homemade gym. Tom was on the bench press, sweat pouring from his toned chest, his hair slick black and stuck to his head. He had obviously finished doing some reps and his breathing was raspy, his eyes were so dark they were almost black, and his brow was furrowed in pure rage. He looked terrifying. Evie absorbed him in all his glory. She instinctively bit her bottom lip and winced as her tooth connected with her stitches. He got up to head to the punch bag but his eyes darted quickly to Evie, and the lines in his forehead relaxed instantly.
He straightened up, not sure how to greet her.
She looked at the ground, feeling pitiful, shame and embarrassment filled her eyes. How did it get to this point? She inwardly chastised herself for being so weak, so stupid. Tom, sensing the battle Evie was having with herself, slowly approached her and mouthed ‘coffee?’ as he walked past her, giving her space. He had to give himself space too, he still had so much pent up anger he hadn’t yet worked off and he felt he could burst at any minute. He needed a few minutes to cool down. He flicked the coffee machine on and selected espresso, placing the glass jar underneath and slowly watching the thick black coffee pour out, the steamy aroma filling his nostrils with a roasted smell.
Silently, he poured two cups and brushed on across the breakfast bar to Evie who gladly cupped the coffee in both hands. They sat in silence for a while, sipping their coffee nonchalantly, the TV humming in the background.
‘Ill take you to the station this morning’
‘It’s ok, really I can – ‘
‘I’ll have Simon bring the car round – I’ll be ready in about 15’ Tom ignored her and Evie knew better not to argue with him
***.
Evie’s fingers tapped nervously as she waited for the female officer to bring in her typed statement for her to read and sign and then begin the process of photographing her injuries. She had reluctantly described the events of last night when Sam had arrived at the premier and threatened to make a scene. She’d pulled him in to the women’s bathroom and locked the door, panic flooding her. This wasn’t just her reputation on the line here. His actions would affect Toms career, even Caseys. She chastised herself for being here now, her initial plan to piss Tom off had taken a nasty turn. She was stronger than she had been before though, and she tried to be firm with him, make it clear that there was no future for them and that he needed to move on. When sam realised that this was not the same frightened girl he was so used to manipulating, he resolved. He beat her to a bloody pulp, hitting her head with the bottle of Absolut he had polished off an hour earlier. Once he was satisfied, he had left her there and took off.

Evie winced as the camera lens clicked loudly, documenting her scars. More imperfections. More reminders. They had been there for 3 hours and tom hadn’t said a word. He sat silently, watching her like a wounded animal and Evie hated it. For the past year, she had slowly rebuilt herself and believed she was worthy of more than she’d been subjected to in her past. She felt solely responsible for allowing sam to come back in to her life and ruin that. She had practically handed him her bricks.

Once they had arrived back home, it was dinner time, but Evie had no appetite. She was totally deflated, defeated and exhausted. Her and tom hadn’t spoken since this morning, yet her head was pounding from all the noise in her thoughts. Once they were through the door Evie headed straight for her room but a strong hand gripped her thin arm and she turned to meet toms firm gaze. “Sit. Eat” he motioned to the settee and he let her go, picking up his phone to dial the local kebab house.
An hour later they ate in silence, Evie not really tasting the food, just robotically chewing as a necessity. Tom finished his food and retreated to the bathroom, returning with a chemist bag. Without speaking, he pulled out some gauze and antiseptic liquid, slowly pouring some on to the fabric. He shuffled forward so that he was inches from Evie and looked at her, his eyes soft, his lips parted slightly. Evie could hear his slow quiet breaths and she matched them without thinking. Without breaking his gaze he dabbed the gauze on her eyebrow. She winced but stayed still, scared to move in case he broke his gaze. She didn’t want him to. He moved the gauze down and paused at her swollen lip, bringing his other hand up to hold her chin softly. He brushed her lip with the gauze lightly and the anticeptic stung, bringing tears to her eyes. He paused for a minute with a curious look, then suddenly looked down, packing away the medical kit.
“Your brothers, do they live near your parents?”
Evie was totally caught off guard at this question. Her insides were still doing somersaults.
“Errr yeah?”
He leaned back in to the Sofa a smile on lips. “I’ve always wanted to visit the new forest what’s it like?”
Evie was confused. But surmised that tom was trying to distract her, and she was happy to oblige. She spent the rest of the evening talking about her childhood, her best friends, her summers camping in the forest, her teenage years drinking underage at the local pubs. Her first loves. She found herself yawning and the sofa was becoming a sure retirement. “Let’s go Evie, show me home” Evie smiled and nodded in agreement closing her eyes. She couldn’t remember anything after that. She didn’t see tom place the throw over her small frame, and lean back on the other side of the sofa, watching her drift off to sleep, taking in her image, mentally photographing every piece of her. He stayed with her the whole night...