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It was an early morning in Brockton. Too early, but the summer heat had woken both Del and Wayne up in a sweaty haze. They lay on their bed, covers sprawled on the ground and all of their limbs extended in an attempt to feel any possible coolness on their bodies.
‘Fuck me.’ Del muttered
‘Yeah’ Wayne replied
They sat in silence once again, until finally Del sat up and swung her legs over the side of their bed.
She peeled off her tank top, leaving her in only her underwear. Wayne watched partly in awe and partly in fatigue, no matter how many times he saw his girlfriend naked he was always awestruck by how beautiful she was. However his amazement changed to full concern as he saw her bare back. A small scar ran down the middle of her back, an area her bra would usually cover, something he had never noticed before. She went back to laying on her side, back-side completely exposed to Wayne. He didn't remember ever seeing the scar, even when they made love, and now took the time to inspect it closely. It was barely discernible, but the early morning glow showed a clean cut of around 2 inches below her left shoulder blade.
Wayne's mind raced, a stabbing? Or maybe just some deep scrape of some sort?
‘Wayne?’ Del squeaked.
Without thinking Wayne had reached out and traced the scar with his finger, making Del react in pure confusion. He immediately retracted his hand.
‘Sorry’ he whispered, turning onto his back.
After a moment, Del rolled over on her side to face him.
‘Why’d you touch my back’ she asked
He swallowed, ‘I saw your scar, and I just…touched it without thinking…’
A moment of silence passed once again before Wayne turned on his side to face her.
‘Was it your d-’
‘-It was my mom’ Del interrupted. She watched Wayne take in the information and compose himself, ready to listen.
‘It was dumb. My mom and my dad, they were fightin ya know like usual’ she tried to crack a smile. ‘Basically, it was gettin out of hand. They were throwin shit at each other and yelling, I remember Carla and Teddy, bless their hearts, tryin to keep me in their room but I escaped. Mom threw a plate right as I ran in between them. It broke on my back and I got stitches’.
Del observed Wayne’s face as she finished the story, but was not surprised to see his mostly blank face.
Until he asked, ‘Did it hurt?’
Del froze. This was the first time anyone had ever asked her such a thing, not even her mother and father at that moment had asked. She wasn't completely sure how to respond. She closed her eyes and attempted to remember herself at that moment.
‘Yeah’ she whispered, thinking for a moment. ‘I mean, when it first hit me I didn't feel anything really. But after a while it hurt like hell and I couldn't stop screamin. But everyone told me to shut up, so I did…and then I just stopped feeling.’
Silence followed while they looked at each other, until Del finally couldn't take it anymore.
‘What about this one?’ Del asked, pointing to a jagged white scar running over his right shoulder. Wayne glanced down at the said scar, before looking back at Del.
‘Some guy tried to knife me, he nicked me on the shoulder before I got him.’
Del leaned into Wayne’s body, and gave a soft kiss on the scar. He froze at the contact, Del quickly released and spoke again.
‘And this?’ Del asked, tracing a white lightning shaped on the left side of his chest with the tip of her finger.
Wayne swallowed, ‘I don't know.’ he whispered.
Del whispered back, ‘Liar.’
Wayne continued to look into her eyes before he spoke again, ‘I was ten. My brother, he stabbed me with a steak knife.’ Del slowly extended her finger, trailing it along said scar. Wayne shivered at the touch.
‘Why?’ Del asked.
Wayne took a deep breath before continuing. ‘I don't know, he said I was annoyin him, maybe I was being too loud or-’ he hesitated before a faint smile slid onto his face, ‘Dad was pissed, had to stitch me up himself cus we couldnt afford the medical bills.’ he whispered.
Del watched as Wayne suddenly got a faraway look in his eye, ‘Maybe that’s why he never liked me. Cus he was always tryin to get my dad's attention, but the only way he knew how was to whale on me. But then dad would get pissed at him and give me all of the attention instead.’ Wayne trailed off, the look in his eye becoming even more distant. Miles away.
Suddenly, he was dropped back to reality by the gentle grip on his face. His eyes flew back to Del’s and they laid like that for a bit: Del with her hand softly holding his face, and Wayne letting his face be held. Their breaths interningling as if speaking a silent language.
She finally spoke, ‘It wasn’t your fault.’ she whispered.
Wayne swallowed hard, ‘How do you know.’
Del smiled weakly, ‘Because sometimes family just want to hurt you, no matter how hard you try to make them happy.’ her smile broke slightly, ‘trust me I know.’
This time it was Wayne’s turn to hold her face. He softly stroked her cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear. ‘I just want you to know, you didn’t deserve it.’ she said.
‘Well, you didn’t deserve what happened to you either.’ Wayne replied. Del tried to smile at him before she reached to softly trace the white scar curling around his nose, leading from his right nostril. They both knew where that scar had come from, but they had barely spoken about it. It had seemed like such a small detail compared to everything they had to deal with after juvie. But that was what Del liked about Wayne- all of the details.
‘A nose for a nose’ Wayne whispered. Del swallowed, her heart fell to the bottom of her stomach thinking of her fathers words to him.
‘He’s an asshole’ she whispered.
Wayne chuckled lightly, god Del loved when he laughed. If she could bottle that sound up and take it with her she would.
‘Well it don’t matter I got the biggest prize anyway’ Wayne grinned, Del rolled her eyes trying not to show the blush beginning to creep up her neck.
‘Ok, well it’s hot as balls in this room. I need to take a cold shower.’ she announced. She swung her legs to the side of the bed and peeled herself off of the sticky mattress. Wayne watched as she stretched her limbs and walked over to the bathroom. He fell back onto the mattress looking at the stained ceiling and began to list off the various things they needed to save up for: the leaky roof, a new microwave, a car, an AC unit… a ring for Del.
His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the impact of a towel hitting his face. A giggle erupted from the corner of the room, and as he swiped the towel off he made eye contact with the culprit.
‘Hurry up’ she said, smiling. Del didn’t even have time to react as he flew from their bed to scoop her up over his shoulder. They stumbled together into the bathroom laughing, skin on skin. Scar on scar.