“Fucking bastard,” she swore, her words sounding garbled even to her own ears. She pushed herself up and limped into the kitchen, grabbed a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer, and placed it on her face. Even that little bit of pressure was too much.
There was nothing else she could do except inspect the damage for herself. Going into her bedroom, she waited till she entered the adjoining bathroom before turning on the light. A horrific image stared back from the mirror. The right side of her face was swollen to twice its size and had already turned a multitude of colors painful to look at, let alone touch.
“What am I going to do?” Her plan had been to hop her family jet and go directly back to Lorenzo. As bruised as if she’d just gone three rounds with a prize fighter, she didn’t think it would be wise, nor did she think she was in any condition to do so.
The sound of the front door opening made her jump and wish she’d grabbed one of the butcher knives from the kitchen. Surely he wouldn’t have followed her here?
“Hey, Angel, are you home?” Renee Wells called out.
Relief nearly made her knees buckle. On legs that shook, she left the safety of her bathroom, coming face to face with her roommate.
“Holy fucking shit. What the hell happened to you?” Renee lifted a hand but dropped it before touching her.
Angel tried to smile, but the pain made tears form in her eyes. The concern on the other woman’s face was her undoing.
Renee listened to what Angel knew was a garbled explanation, and then insisted on driving her to the hospital. Once there, she had to tell the whole nightmarish story again and was asked if she wanted to press charges.
Angelina thought about it, but decided she’d rather never have to speak to or see Andrew ever again.
The x-rays showed no broken bones in her cheek, just a serious lump, and more pretty colors to be expected. Her hip hadn’t fared much better, but she was glad the outer appearance was worse than any real damage.
Renee stayed with her, listening to the doctor’s instructions before ushering her back to their shared apartment, and then went out to fill the prescriptions. Not for the first time she was happy to have decided to get a roommate, instead of living alone. When she’d first become a dancer for the team, she and Renee had clicked, and immediately they’d become fast friends. She’d be in a world of hurt if not for the other woman insisting she go to the ER.
The only thing that ran through Angelina’s mind, was how to explain to Lorenzo and her parents what had happened, and how to keep them from flipping out. Lorenzo was expecting her to call him. The fact that Renee and the doctors hadn’t been able to understand her clearly made her decide to send him a text instead. Hiya, Ren, I’m going to stay overnight in LA. I had something really important that needed to be done. I miss you already and will explain when I get home. Love, Angel.
They’d assured her most of the swelling would go down with ice and anti-inflammatory meds. The doctor had said to put ice on her face for as long as she could handle it. Easier said than done, she silently swore. The pain meds from the ER made her sleepy and numbed the pain. Once home, she’d only meant to rest with the ice pack on her cheek for a moment, but was fast asleep by the time Renee returned.
Angelina woke to a slight throb in her face and the need to go to the bathroom. First things first; she took care of the most immediate problem before facing herself in the mirror. “Yikes,” she exclaimed. She didn’t remember coming home or getting in bed, but the sun had set, which meant it was after nine, and she’d slept for over four hours.
She headed to the kitchen, hoping Renee had left her medicine on the counter because her face was starting to really hurt. Otherwise, she would have to call to find out where she’d put them, and talking would only make the pain worse.
The living space was very loft like, a large room with banks of windows and an outdoor patio. The L-shaped bar separating the kitchen space from the rest was where she found a note and the bottles of pills. The instructions said to take with food, but she couldn’t imagine chewing anything, let alone waiting to get the medicine in her system. Shrugging, she padded to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. A smile almost crossed her face until a painful twinge said it was a no-no. Renee, the dear sweet girl, had a dozen or so low-fat yogurts lined up in front of the water with a note saying eat one first.
After she finished a raspberry yogurt, she popped both prescriptions into her mouth and washed them down with half the bottle of water.
“Oh Angelina, you are up,” Maria Rugiero said, hurrying into the kitchen and enveloping her daughter in a bone-crushing hug.
“What are you doing here?” She whispered, relief at seeing her mother filled her.
Her mother gave a rundown of a call she received from her soon to be ex-friend and roommate. A foggy memory of overhearing Renee talking to someone and telling them about what happened surfaced.