Face Down in the Dirt

I swallow the nerves that I feel creep up my throat, and make sure to force my eyes to the ground as I timidly hold onto the hand practically crushing mine. I wince every once in a while when the grip gets tighter; I can't help hating every man that walks by me that gives me a look. It doesn't matter what look. The look of lust. Look of concern. Any and every look I get is noticed, and my body pays doubly for it. It is ironic really - for him to expect me to look fantastic for him, but not want any other man to look at me. In fact, not only is it ironic, it is ridiculous. I plaster myself closer to Josh's side, wincing as another bystander jostles into me, bumping into my already bruised side.
 
She turns around with a smile on her face. "I'm sorry, darling, I didn't mean to bump you; you know how lines get though, yeah?" 

Plastering a painful smile on my face, I nod. "Of course, I do, sweetheart. Don't worry about it." 

She chuckles, "Look at us, talking like little, old grandmothers; sweetheart this, darling that. I'm Melissa, by the way." 

Sneaking a nervous glance up towards Josh's face, I am hesitant to extend my hand. "Hello, I'm Ge-" A hard knock to my side cuts off my air supply, and causes me to swallow a gag. Nodding my head, I push myself deeper into Josh's side and allow him to take reigns of the conversation. 

"Hello, Melissa, I'm Josh, her boyfriend." 

Giving him a dark glare, Melissa snorts, "Thanks for notifying me, but I wasn't holding the conversation with you, now, was I?"

 My eyes widen, and my teeth come down to bite harshly against my lower lip as the woman confronts Josh. She doesn't know what she's going into as I try to grab her attention, and stop her. I love the sentiment, it's sweet, really, but I can't take a worse beating than I'm already going to get tonight. Slightly lifting my head off of Josh's chest, I attempt to catch the woman's eyes. Finally, she looks up at me and watches as I mouth the words "please, don't, please" in her direction. She gets the message, and shuts up immediately, noticing the trembling that has overcome my body. 

xxx 

Melissa cuts herself off mid-sentence, her voice dying down as she stares at the small girl. The pain in her eyes is almost tangible. The way her shoulders fold inward, how her eyes automatically go down to instantly focus on the ground, and the way her hands grip tightly against the hulking man's loose tee shirt: abuse practically radiates off of her frame.    

The man would be good looking if he didn't have 'dick' plastered across his forehead, Melissa thinks, as she allows herself small glances back to study him. Blond hair swishes around the sides of his face, curling in a mass of cherubic curls - the irony is not lost on her. During their stare off, she noticed chocolate brown eyes, deep and molten with anger - towards her, but that will probably get reflected on the poor girl.

Girl? Looking back again, and feigning attention on the woman in front of her that she struck up conversation with, she decides that no, the woman behind is not, in fact, a girl. The girl, woman, she corrects herself, (again), is deliriously pretty; long black hair, curling in large waves down her back, brushes the small of her back, pink, pouting lips (that are chapped, and now studied closer, look cracked open in places - probably from hits) are gorgeously accented by a small heart shaped face with high prominent cheekbones and a strong, yet somehow perfectly feminine jawline. The shirt, if that is what it can be called, she wears shows support of at least a c-cup bust held by a neon pink bra underneath the tattered black fabric - slits and cuts and ties everywhere. A small perfectly toned stomach can be shown by the expanse of skin exposed between the waistline of her black skinny jeans (that show small hip piercings peeking above) and her pierced belly button. Dainty hands play with the fingers of this Josh fellow she is clearly involved with - all of them sport a ring and her arms are stacked to the nine with bracelets. Looking over her once more, she can not help, but allow the word badass come to mind despite the girl's clearly timid and submissive demeanor. Tattoos peek out from some of the slits in the shirt and one curls up to lap at the skin of her neck. For such a timid thing, her artwork is spectacular. 

xxx

I try to ignore the woman staring, more like studying me, and mind my own business. Getting her involved would be a tragedy - she seemed sincerely nice which is actually hard to come by these days. Josh leans down, and places a kiss to my temple as one of his friends and a fellow concert go-er joins us in line. They follow through with a clearly only male handshake-hug combination that makes them feel like men or some shit, before Josh eloquently announces he needs to take a piss. Perfect. 

"Hey, Keeb," I cringe at the nickname for my once childhood friend. "Watch her for me, will ya?" 

"Sure thing," Keeb drawls in response, sliding his arm lightly around my shoulder; he's always been cautious and endearingly careful of the bruises that have covered me for the past six years of my life. 
     
Waiting until Josh is out of sight, Kevin twirls me around, inspecting me and smearing some of the make up I have caked on my skin. Tsking, he sighs, "Darling, what has he done to you now?"

I bat away his hand, "S'not like I have a choice, Kevin." 

"See, that is where you are wrong. I've got connections to this concert." 

"Which concert are we at? Josh wouldn't tell me..." 

"You're shitting me, Gems," he groans, running his fingers through his hair. I chuckle, shaking my head before I hold my finger up to stop his next response, and turn to the woman who was speaking to me earlier. "I'm Gemma, by the way." 

"Darling, you really do need to get out of that." she says to me, glancing around to make sure, I assume, Josh is not back in the vicinity. 

"He won't be back until we're in, he's out fuckin' the chick that walked by us about thirty minutes ago." 

"You know this information, and you're still with him?" Melissa gawks at me incredulously. 

"Not anymore she's not," Kevin cuts in, drawing my attention back to him. 

I look at him flabbergasted, "What the fuck are you on?" 

"No, sweetheart, what the fuck are you on?" Melissa asks me. I glare at her and immediately cross my arms over my chest. "You don't know me or my life, so take your opinion and shove it elsewhere." 

She chuckles at me, "Why can't you act like this with him?"

I avert my eyes and shrug, returning to my conversation with Kevin. "We're at an Avenged Sevenfold concert, Gemma." 

My jaw practically unhinges. "GODDAMNIT! And I wore fuckin' heels." I glance down, pouting at the four inch, criss-crossed leather studded heels. 

"Enough with trying to distract me, you're leaving today." 

"The hell I am, Kevin," I spit back, taking two wobbling steps back from him due to my shaky legs.

He glares at me, the muscle in his jaw twitching restlessly. "You're going if I have to throw you on the crew bus or not." 

"You got me a place in the crew?" 

"Not really..." He grins at me with an impish, boyish grin. 

"Well, I signed you up to be their ... assistant manager." 

My eyes go wide. "You shit out what?"  

He throws his hands up in defense, "I told you I had connections, and you are one of the smartest people I know. Plus, you have a business degree, Gemma, put it to use and get out." 

"I can't do that, and you know it, Kevin." 

Sighing, Kevin runs his fingers through his hair, "I've got your family covered also, Gems, you don't have any other choice, but to. Someone is at your apartment packing every last article of shit that you have. I'm leaving you no choice anymore; you're getting out either by your own choice or my force." 

Melissa is grinning at me, "Guess you'll be seeing more of me." 

I am startled from my yelling at Kevin to turn to look at Melissa. At my questioning, rather pissed off look, she answers with a small chuckle. "I'm their best friend on tour with them. If..." She trails off staring at Kevin with a question in her eyes. 

"Kevin," he grins at her, supplying his name. 

"Right, Kevin, I'm Melissa. Anyways, if Kevin here hadn't figured out a way to get you out, then I would have eventually tried. I know what you're going through, darling, it's not fun." 

I shrug, "It's my life. It's what I'm used to. Kevin, don't make me." 

"Too late, you're doing it. I'm tired of this." 

He wraps his arm around my shoulder in that protective stance he takes when Josh comes into view and gives him a nod at his return - leaving me no room to argue anymore. The man's a saint, and has perfect timing. 

Before passing me off to Josh, he leans down to whisper in my ear. "Once we get in there, you get lost. I don't care how you have to do it, you get lost and don't get found." Slipping something into my back pocket, he passes me back off to Josh with a malicious smirk. 

"You've got her well trained, Josh, well trained."