“That wasn’t fair and you know it, Barakat!” Jaime yelled at me.
I just grinned and threw the ball to Jeremy from ADTR.
Suddenly, we heard a weird, horse-like noise. I smiled, thinking it was María riding, but my head shot towards the side when I saw Stella without her saddle or stuff on, with her ears pinned back so angrily it looked like her ears were about to fall from her head, chasing after a familiar figure. Mikel.
My breath sped up, and my fists clenched when I recognized him. Then something else crossed my mind: María.
If Mikel just came from Stella’s direction, that meant…
I quickly pulled out my phone, ignoring a few of the guys’ stares on me, when I saw a missed from my girlfriend and dialed María’s number. I made a quick sign to Alex as I slowly walked away, but not too much so I could see how Stella beat the shit out of Mikel.
“Please, please, pick up…” I begged to myself.
After a few seconds, I heard a noise from my phone.
“María!?” I exclaimed.
“Jack ?” her voice sounded weak. Oh, shit.
“Baby, are you okay? Has-?”
“Where’s Stella?” she sniffed, completely ignoring my questions.
“Hmm…” I looked at Stella.
Oriol was walking very slowly to her, not with the intention not to scare her, but more to let her have a bit of fun, whilst she chased after Mikel, who tripped over a small rock and that’s when Stella’s ears relaxed a bit and she had her chance to kick him and occasionally bit him.
“She’s… having her fun near where the guys and I are” I smiled, “Babe, are you alright?” I started to walk to the bus, my walk soon turning to a jog.
“I’m fine” she lied. I knew she was lying. Stella wouldn’t get that mad if he hadn’t touched her.
“I’m on my way” I informed, as I turned to the right.
“Jack, it’s not necessary, I’m-“ I gasped, catching her attention.
I was right in front her; she had her makeup smeared down her face and her knees up to her chest. One hand was holding a knee up as her right hand gripped her phone. I ended the call and kneeled in front of her and pushed her knees down. She flinched when I cupped her cheek and I pulled her head up to see a red mark appearing on her left cheek.
“That fucking son of a…” I muttered as I examined her properly. There was a big bruise forming in her collar bone.
I pulled her closer to me and held her against my chest. She cried slightly as I moved her and put her hand on a certain spot on her lower ribcage.
“Where did he hurt you?” I asked, trying to control my angry voice.
She let out a sob and I hugged her tighter.
“Shh, baby, it’s alright. I’m here now” she wrapped her arms around my waist and held onto me. I kissed her hair and her temple as she started to shake, “Just point where he hurt you” I suggested, in case she didn’t want to speak.
She pointed her ribs. I guessed that was the one that hurt the most.
“I’m going to call the ambulance, alright?” she shot her head up with pleading eyes, “I have to, just in case” I kissed her lips softly until she kissed back and slowly pulled away. I pulled out my phone and dialed 911, one of my hands running through her hair and occasionally kissing her hair.
After ending the call, I held her closer and said sweet nothings to calm her down.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, her voice still weak.
I let out a tiny scoff and looked at her, “Because I’m hopelessly in love with you” I answered simply, planting a soft kiss on her lips.
She smiled a tiny bit, but that smile was enough to make me feel warm inside. At least I made her smile.
“Jack?” I looked up to Alex, who was putting his phone back in his pocket, “I just called the police, they’ll be here in a few minutes” he informed.
“Thanks, man” I smiled to him.
“No problem” he smiled back and his eyes fell on María, who was looking down and hiding her face with her hair. He looked at me again with inquisitive eyes and I just nodded.
“Where’s Stella?” she asked quietly.
“She-“ Alex started but he was cut off by what sounded like a scream and a loud noise.
Stella came into view trotting happily and moving her head sassily. She quickly slowed down and walked next to María, giving her small pushes with her head.
I was about to say something when we heard an ambulance and police cars from a distance. The paramedics rushed to María and, after asking her if she could walk, they led her in the ambulance for a quick check up. Alex talked to the police as I entered the ambulance with María.
“Tell us, where did you get hurt?” the tallest nurse asked her.
She had a black complexion and her hair was pulled up in a nice ponytail.
María pointed her cheek, collar bone and ribcage. The two nurses nodded and very softly touched said spots.
I held her hand tightly, squeezing it every now and then to reassure her I was right next to her. She hissed and flinched a bit when the tall nurse brushed, not even touched, her ribcage.
“I think she has an injured rib” I pointed out, trying my best not to think how she got it or I’ll punch the author where it hurts the most.
“Well, aren’t you observant” the tall nurse smiled, “I think you broke one or two ribs, my dear” she turned to María, “Could you take off your shirt so we can have a closer look at it?” she asked.
María froze, her already pale face becoming white. But it was weird. She didn’t seem to care about exposing her body, it wasn’t shyness… it was something else. She visibly looked terrified and uncomfortable and sent me a quick glare.
My mind slowly started to come up with various possibilities. Did her hurt her in another place? Did he hurt her differently? Did he cut her or anything like that?!
Jesus, Jack, calm down.
I tried to calm down but I couldn’t. The idea of thinking Mikel could’ve hurt her with a knife or any other object besides his hands made me more nervous.
The nurse noticed María’s quick glance and cleared her throat.
“Young gentleman, could you wait outside? It’ll take… maximum: five minutes” she motioned me the ambulance door.
I looked at María again before opening the door and leaning against the ambulance.
After barely three minutes, the door opened again and I stepped inside. I sat next to María again, holding her hand and pecking her lips. She was paler than before and had some tears streaming down her cheeks. I turned to the nurse again, who was filling in some medical form.
“We have to take her to the hospital” she informed, “Just to check on her… injuries” she gave me a weird look; a mix between sympathy and slight sadness.
I nodded and held María closer to my chest.
“I’m so sorry, Jack” she sniffed.
“Why?” I looked at her confused.
She just looked away. I was about to question her again when the door of the ambulance opened and three police officers stood in front of us.
After explaining what happened and a quick call to Baltimore's police station to confirm we had reported Mikel in the past and we weren’t lying, they walked away. Matt came to tell me to call as soon as we left the hospital and with that, we were off.
I felt something was worrying María, the look she had in her eyes gave her away whenever she said she was fine. I pulled her closer to me and kissed the top of her head softly all the way to the hospital.
Once in the hospital, I noticed how she quietly asked the nurse to make me wait in the waiting room. At first, I felt hurt. But then I felt suspicious about her. Why was she being so secretive?
So I had to stay in the waiting room. My head shot up when my eyes caught sight of a pale blonde walking into the waiting room with a nurse next to her and a paper in hand.
Before meeting my eyes, she turned to the nurse.
"Please don't tell him anything about the cuts" I thought I heard her whisper quietly.
I felt alarmed first, but then convinced myself I heard it wrong.
I stood up and pulled her into a hug, she hissed a bit and I loosened my grip around her, as the nurse turned to me.
"Well, by the way you describe what happened, it looks like you've been lucky; only two broken ribs. The redness in her cheek will go down in the next hour and the bruise on her collarbone will fade away. The only thing I'd recommend is to reduce the horse riding sessions, just shorten them a bit. That’s all” she smiled.
“Alright, thank you so much” I smiled back.
“Thanks” María said quietly, but not too quiet so the nurse could hear her.
“You’re welcome” with that she turned around and went to another room.
I called Matt to see if he could come and get us, no such luck we had to walk to the venue, which wasn’t that far either, but it was quite hot outside. I didn’t know how María could wear long sleeves, I would’ve taken all my clothes off if it wasn’t because of- wait, why hadn’t I gotten naked by then? I didn’t even know. I thought the heat was affecting my brain.
We walked for a few minutes in silence, until the fact she was wearing long sleeves came to my mind again. I decided to stop and go to buy a bottle of water at a café. When we sat down, I brought my chair next to María’s.
I faced María with a concerned look.
“Baby…” I brushed her hair behind her ear but she didn’t look at me, “What’s wrong, babe? You’ve been kinda distant lately…” I wrapped my arms around her waist softly.
“It’s nothing” she smiled, but something was off.
I put two fingers under her chin, “How many times do I have to remind you not to lie to me?” I asked, quite hurt. Why didn’t she trust me?
“Jack, I’m fine” she pecked my lips.
“You sure?” I raised an eyebrow. She nodded and smiled again. I would’ve melted -not only because of the heat-, but that wasn’t a real smile.
“Very sure” she answered.
“How sure?” I insisted.
She drank a bit of water and smiled to me. Well, that looked more like a real smile.
“I’m as sure as I’m certain a fig is not a stone” she replied.
“You know that makes no sense, right?” I chuckled.
“In spanish it does…” she trailed off with a small smile on her lips.
“Translate, please?”
“Estoy tan segura como que sé que un higo no es una piedra” she fought back a small smile.
I planted a soft kiss on her lips, her cheeks instantly burning with my touch.
“You sound so cute speaking spanish” I smiled, making her blush even more.
“Stop it” she moaned in a cute tone. I awed and pulled her on my lap.
“Nope” I popped the ‘p’, smirking.
She nuzzled her head in the crook of my neck and buried her face there. I would’ve complained because it was so hot outside, but I let her where she was. I liked it when we were like this and I missed her real happy face already.

---

After stoping a few times, taking our time, we got to the venue at around 7pm. Yeah, we really took our time.
But it wasn’t my fault I wanted to sit down with my girlfriend and kiss the sad out of her. Even if she tried to convince me she was fine, I knew her. I knew she was hiding something from me and she wasn’t fine, but I knew I couldn’t insist her the way I wanted because last time I did that, we went separate ways and everything went to shit. And I wasn’t going to risk that again. So I just gave her time to open up to me before I started questioning.
But, as the afternoon passed, I started to take mental notes on how she was acting; she was constantly pulling her sleeves down and that was either a sign of anxiety or she actually had something going on under her sleeves and that terrified me. She’d been doing so well lately…
I spent the rest of the afternoon with her, cuddling and exchanging kisses. I made her giggle a few times, making me smile. But when we were going to bed I noticed something; she wouldn’t take off the jumper she was wearing.
I ignored it at first, but then it started to pay more attention to what she was wearing. Surely, it covered her arms, but it was thin. Not very thin, but thin enough to just cover the skin. However, i noticed how… persistent María was being pulling her sleeves down, stretching them and making the layer thinner. That’s when I saw some big and slightly darker shadows under her sleeve.
“Mari” I called her, my eyes not leaving her sleeves, but looking at her when she turned to me, “Come here a second” I held her hand softly and lead her to the bathroom. Once both of us were inside, I locked it and leaned against the door.
She looked at me with a worrying, panicked and pale face. She probably knew what I was going to say.
“Jack, what’s going on?” she let out some air, sounding like a nervous chuckle.
“You know what is” I answered.
“Hmm… no? Please explain yourself” she raised an eyebrow.
Well, if she doesn’t like to do things the right way, we’ll do them the wrong way.
Just don’t have an outburst.
“Me? I have to explain myself?” I scoffed, she went paler when my eyes looked at her arms quickly.
“Can we leave the bathroom?” she muttered.
“No, we can’t!” I exclaimed, not too loud.
“Jack, I’m not feeling alright right now-“ she started.
I took a step closer to her.
“I know you don’t have claustrophobia” I stated.
“It’s not th-“
“No, listen to me for a second” I cut her off. She stayed silent, looking at me and gulped as I calmed myself down. I lifted her chin up, “Why?” my voice cracked.
“Why what?” she asked hesitantly.
“Don’t play dumb with me” I warned, sad. I looked down and slowly reached out to hold her arm I had seen the shadows. I looked up at her again, “Can I see?”
She bit her lower lip and I saw tears welling up in her eyes.
“I-I wouldn’t, but g-go a-ahead” she started to tremble.
Without hesitation, I pulled her into a hug and held her close. I kissed her forehead and the tip of her nose before planting a soft kiss on her lips.
“I love you” I whispered, “You can trust me”
She nodded and looked away as I rolled her sleeved up.
The shadows I had seen were bandages, which were slightly dirty in some spots her the surface. I looked at María for an approval sign and she just gave me a small nod and looked away as I carefully removed the bandages.
I was expecting a big, single thing. But I found multiple big things.
“Who did this?” I fought back a sob.
She sniffed before answering, “Me”
I gulped and examined her arm closely.
Her arm looked like a train wreck; cuts everywhere and most of them were slightly almond-shaped and were stitched up.
Now I understood why she made me wait outside the ambulance and in the waiting room, why the nurse gave me that look.
I sniffed as she started to pull her arm away, but I held it closer and leaned to kiss every single cut. After that I cupped her face with both my hands and kissed her passionately. She kissed me back, looking quite shocked.
“Why don’t you hate me?” she said in a whisper when we pulled away.
“Why should I?” I frowned, our foreheads together.
“I-I kinda did what you told me not t-to” she fought back her tears.
I pecked her lips and my hands went to her waist, pulling her closer.
“That’s no excuse for hating you” I said softly, “Plus, I love you too much” I added.
“But-"
“No ‘but’s” I held up one finger, “God, that sounded different in my head” she chuckled. I smiled at her. Hey, she chuckled. “I just wish I was there” I said in a lower voice.
Her head shot up, “Why?”
I gave her a small fake smile, “To stop you”, I sighed, “Instead of taking care of you, I was playing football… I’m such a genius” I said aloud.
“Hey, it’s not your fault” she protested, “It was me who didn’t control her impulses”
“So what? I should’ve been there, I-I should’ve…” I was becoming more nervous. It was my fault she did that to her beautiful self.
What I didn’t expect were her lips on mine to shut me up, I quickly melted in the kiss.
“It wasn’t your fault either” I panted from lack of air when we pulled away, “I was Mikel’s” I spat his name.
“Not exactly, I was who-“
“Just tell me, who triggered you to do that?” she stayed silent, “See?” I said to prove my point.
“By the way, when did he trigger you?” I asked curiously.
“When we were having lunch, he was stalking us nearby” she said barely a whisper.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I frowned, putting two fingers under her chin to made her look at me.
“I-I didn’t want to b-bother you…” she trailed off.
“Babe, you never bother me” I clarified when I heard a small roar from somewhere in the bathroom. It came from my girlfriend’s stomach. I put my hand on my forehead, “Shit, it’s true; we didn’t have dinner!” I pointed out.
María, however, did not look impressed. She looked a bit… relieved.
Then something closed my mind.
“Babe…” I earned a ‘Mhm’ from her as a response, “Why isn’t my stomach complaining like yours if we ate at the same time, and -more or less- the same quantity?” I asked ironically.
She shrugged and my expression became serious.
“Tell me you didn’t purge or anything like-“ I stopped myself; her face said it all, “Shit”
“Jack, I’m sorry” she apologized as I pulled her into a hug.
“Shhh” I soothed her, “It’s okay…”
“Not, Jack, it’s not okay!” she cried, finally letting the tears fall.
“Then why do you do it?” I asked softly, not trying to sound harsh.
“I-I just want to be perfect…” she said. She knew she sounded ridiculous, right?
“Perfect?” I scoffed, softly, “Babe, you are perfect” I reassured her.
She looked at me in disbelief.
“I’m sure you’ve heard about my famous ‘Beauty is not defined by the size of your jeans’ quote, right?” I heard her chuckle a tiny bit, “I mean it” I added more seriously.
She looked up to me and pecked my lips before resting her head in the crook of my neck and letting a small yawn escape her lips.
“Wanna go to bed?” I smiled.
“Yes, please. I don’t want to sleep in a bathroom” she replied sarcastically.
My smile grew wider, “Alrighty” I started to open the door when she squeezed my side.
“The guys…” she mentioned.
“They’re all asleep, don’t worry” I smiled at her. We looked at each other for a bit, looking at each other’s eyes and lips until we couldn’t resist it anymore and one of us -me- gave in and our lips collided, “Let’s get some rest, we’ll walk about it tomorrow” I said as we got to the bunk area and María entered the bunk, “Now, let’s cuddle” I smiled.
She gave me a tired but still cute ‘Yay’ and cuddled into my chest before falling asleep as I played with her bangs.

Notes

Happy Winter lovies!
It's freezing cold in Barcelona lol
How's your winter doing?

In other news...
guess who's back-back-back
María's back-back-back (I meant me, not the one in the fanfictionl although -techinically- she also- well, forget it lol)
I'm getting so bad omg, I can't even draw, or eat, or sleep. And, as surreal as it seems, I even have to remind myself to just breathe normally. I want to curl up and die.
BTW I think I've found a new favourite band for my list (I don't have a definitive band yet): The Amity Affliction! Yay! I just love them so much *-* And their songs are really helping me right now, so yeah... :D

Pssst thanks for those almost 16,000 views and those fabulous 34 subscribers! YOU GUYS ROCK lml

Title credit: Paiting Flowers by All Time Low.