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It had been the first day of school where Lex wasn’t there, and god, was Ethan worried.
She’d usually take any opportunities to get away from her mom, even if it involves getting stuck in silent detention.
It was the 3rd period; language. When he realized she wasn’t there. They usually met early in the halls so they could talk before class, but Lex wasn’t there. Ethan just figured she ran late bringing Hannah to class. When she wasn’t there for French though, he figured something was wrong. Ethan excused himself from class (He just walked out the door) and texted Lex.
(Asshole is Lex's contact name for Ethan)
Asshole: Hey babe where arr you
Lexie: I'm just sick. Go back to class.
Ethan knew Lex would never encourage him to go back to class; so something was definitely up.
Asshole: Cut the shit and tel me
Lexie: Fine. My mom messed me up. Bad. I couldn’t think of an excuse that would get people off my case so I just stayed home.
A: Fuck. Do you want me to come sea you ill pick banana up
L: She’s home with me, dummy. How would I get her to school if I can’t even walk?
A: oh yeah that makes sense. I just wanted a xcuse to sea you
Are you guys safe
L: Yeah we’re fine.
She left right after. If you want you can come by. But you don’t have to.
Ethan just texted back ‘omw’ and left the school building. He went to a dollar store on his way and picked up some things that he thought Lex might like. Also tissues and bandages. He usually wouldn’t do this type of stuff but he had some extra cash and had a job in two days. After that he went to the gas station and picked up the cigarettes he knew Lex liked. When he got to their trailer he stood up the motorcycle in the park and texted Lex.
Asshole: im here so don’t wory if the door opens
He went in, making sure to announce his presence by saying, “It’s me.” He walked up to the room that he knew was theirs and knocked on the door.
Hannah laughed and said, “Password?” When he knocked but still opened the door.
When Hannah opened their bedroom door, Ethan lifted her up and tickled her while she laughed and kicked before kissing her forehead and letting her down. He took his boots off and walked over to the bed where Lex was laying.
“Hey babe. How ya’ feeling, sweetheart?” He crouched down next to the bed and took a hold of her hand.
Lex’s face wasn't too bad. But her neck had a bruise in the shape of a hand and he could see brown glass shards, presumably from a bottle, in her hair and riddled around her arms, along with some bruises there too. Her hand was bruised and her knuckles were bloody. He could hear her whimpering and crying, but it was quiet.
He frowned at her and gently caressed her fingers. He thought for a second and asked, “Wait how the fuck did you text me back?” He asked, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.
Lex pointed with her free hand, at Hannah using her phone on the ground and Hannah replied for her, “The voice thing. Lexie tells, I talk and phone types.”
He nodded, “Wait, so I called Banana ‘babe’?” Ethan laughed which made Lex and Hannah laugh. Lex laughed raspily for a second before coughing violently. Ethan opened the bag and said, “I got you guys some shit. Like some snacks and stuff if you want them. Also a coloring book for ‘nana.” Hannah gasped and ran over, taking the cheap off-brand Lisa Frank coloring book while smiling.
Lex swallowed and frowned, almost whispering because of her condition, “You shouldn’t have. I’ll pay you back.”
Ethan shook his head, “Shut up. Like seriously though stop talking, it’ll probably mess your throat up. I got you some smokes. The ones you like.” Lex smiled widely which made him smile, “Also, I wasn’t sure really what you liked so I got some chips. Oh! And this thing that smells really good. You don’t have to take it, but it smells like the beach. Sniff it.” He happily pulled out aroma beads with the title ‘Summer Surf’ on them.
She rolled her eyes but still inhaled. “Wait- those smell good,” Lex whispered. When Ethan took them away from her nose, she coughed again. This time they sounded like they hurt, and they looked like they did too by the expression on her face.
“Don’t they? I’ll put them on your bureau. They’ll smell up your whole room, it’ll be great. Also, shut the fuck up, Lex. I’m serious. I’d love to hear your amazing, beautiful, hot as all hell, voice, but preferably not if it hurts you.” He moved his hand up to her face and gently pressed a kiss to her forehead. Muttering a quick I love you into her head.
Ethan started again, “Okay, so I got some movies to watch. A guy gave me them in exchange for dope, so they’re probably not good. But I know Hannah’s been wanting to see this one, right ‘Nana?” He pulled out a DVD copy of Santa Claus’ going to High School and slid it to her.
Hannah looked at it and smiled, “In theaters.”
“Not anymore, Split. We’ve got our own at home theaters now.” He moved away from Lex to try and figure out how to put the DVD in their shitty TV that looked and worked like it was from the 60’s.
It had been about 3 minutes when he heard a squeak in the bed and a groan. He snapped his head back to see Lex with one bruised leg hanging off the bed and a pained look on her face. He walked over to her slowly, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, babe?” He gently picked her leg up and put it back on the bed.
Lex pointed to the wall behind her and whispered, “I wanted to sit up.”
He took a breath in, “Okay, new rule. If you need to move or you want something, you throw the tissue box at my head, got it?” Ethan put the box at an accessible place on the bed and lightly hoisted Lex up so that she could sit up. “Good?” She smiled and nodded.
He went back to trying to figure out how to get the channel to change to the DVD setting. It had been about a minute when he felt the cardboard hit his head. Ethan walked over to her, rubbing the back of his head, “What’s up, babe?” She lifted up her hand, her knuckles were bleeding more than before. She used her other hand to mimic a bandage wrapping around it. “Oh shit, yeah.” He leaned down and grabbed the wrap and the bandage that he had bought. He wrapped the bandage around her hand and pressed a kiss to it. “All good?”
She nodded and whispered, “Thanks, E.” He smiled Ohio and put the tissue box back where it originally was next to her. He went back to the TV and started turning knobs like a madman. He got the DVD setting on, finally. But now the dvd machine wasn’t on. He groaned and reached around the TV. To try and see where the wire connected to the box was. That was until he got hit again by the tissue box.
Ethan picked it up and walked over to Lex, “Hey, lovebug. What’s goin on?”
She motioned for him to move closer to her, so he did. She reached up so that she could kiss him on the cheek. “I just missed you.”
Ethan rolled his eyes and pecked her lightly on the lips, making sure that her head wouldn’t hit the wall by holding it, “Once I figure this shit out I’ll come sit with you, okay?” She nodded and mouthed a ‘love you’ as he set the tissue back down.
He finally was able to turn the DVD box on and put the DVD in it. As the introduction jingle played, Hannah immediately honed in, putting the coloring book in a box and turning so she could see the TV.
“Fuck yeah!” Ethan said as the opening credits rolled in. He walked over to Hannah and Lex’s bed and sat on the ground next to it. With Lex’s bandaged hand she smacked him in the back of the head. Ethan looked up at her with furrowed eyebrows, “First off, ow. Second, what the fuck?” Lex looked at him and patted the spot on the bed besides her.
“Jesus. You didn’t have to slap me to get me to lay with you.” He stood up and walked over to the other side of the bed, so that he didn’t have to crawl over her. Ethan held the back of his head as he leaned against the wall. Lex sat up a little bit more, keeping a groan in with a lot of effort, and hit his arm gently. “What do ya want now, hon?” She tried to pull his arm out from behind his head. Ethan rolled his eyes again, “You're violent today, huh?” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, trying not to touch her neck.
Lex essentially rolled into him, laying her head on his chest. He ran his hand up and down her arm gently. Ethan would usually play with her hair-What? It was soft- but he didn’t want to risk hurting her since he wasn’t sure if her scalp had any further injuries. Don’t worry, he was going to check her once she was more in tune and could actually express what she was feeling.
Their moment was interrupted by Hannah going, “Ethan? Santa?” He looked up at her and saw her giggling while looking between the two.
“Oh, come on now. I don’t look anything like that guy. I would never go out in public in a fucking monogrammed anything, let alone a bright letterman jacket. C’mon Split, you know me better than that!” He groaned.
Hannah shook her head and walked over to the two, poking Ethan’s nose she said, “Santa’s twin,” and laughed, crawling into the spot next to Ethan.
Lex looked up a little bit, “He does kind of look like you, E. It’s like a scary resemblance,”
Ethan pushed Lex’s head back down on his chest, “Your opinion doesn’t matter. You might have a concussion or something so shush. You’d date a kid like that? Jesus Lex, I thought your taste was better. But Miss Banana. I think we should get your eyes checked because somethings not right in ‘em if you see that.” He pretended to bite Hannah’s finger as it got close to his face.
Hannah laughed and moved closer to the two. It was a pretty tiny bed so it was really as close as they could get, but it didn’t feel too cramped. When Ethan had one arm securely around Lex and one hand around Hannah, tickling her sides every once in a while. It wasn’t cramped at all. It was home.