The Beautiful Monster

"It's fine. I'll grab you some clothes," Elias replied before heading out of the bathroom. He almost seemed to rush from the room, like he couldn't wait to get out of there.

Alyssa turned back to her arm, looking at where the asphalt tore at her skin. Her skin was red and a bit inflamed.

She would have to watch it and see how bad the injury was. She turned when she heard a light knock on the bathroom door, seeing Elias stick his hand inside with clothes gripped in his grasp.

"Thank you," she replied as she took them. She didn't even question how weird he was acting.

He had to have some sort of phobia to blood. She worked in a hospital, so she had seen it plenty of times in other people. She just didn't peg him as the type.

Once she put a few bandages on her arm over the biggest cuts and changed her clothes, she walked out of the bathroom to find Elias sitting on the couch.

He was sitting upright, almost tense. She approached him and sat down next to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, seeming to settle down as his eyes swept over her.

"I think so," Alyssa said as she gingerly rested her arm on her leg.

Elias carefully reached over her to grab a pillow. He set it beside her before gently guiding her arm over to rest on it.

"You said you fell?" he asked her as he settled back down near her side.

Alyssa nodded with a faint laugh.

"I was trying to run to my car in the rain," she told him. She knew better than to run in the rain.

Elias chuckled softly as he took her left hand, holding it on his thigh.

"I could've picked you up," he said.

Alyssa smiled and shook her head, feeling glad that he seemed normal again. She suspected it was because the blood was out of sight.

"It's fine. I didn't know you were so scared of blood," she commented as she gave him a curious look.

She supposed that she hadn't found out until now because she hadn't gotten hurt like this in a while.

Elias shrugged as he glanced away from her.

"It's just… the smell," he said. He almost sounded awkward.

Alyssa hoped that he wasn't embarrassed admitting that to her. It didn't make him seem less manly or whatever to her. Everyone was scared of something. She gave his hand a squeeze.

"Anything else you're afraid of?" she asked him with a small smile. Her voice sounded playful, but she also meant it as a genuine question.

Elias held her gaze for a few moments as his expression softened.

"Losing you," he said before sitting up more. "I'm sorry about how things have been between us lately."

Alyssa moved closer to him, feeling her heart rate pick up slightly when she realized that he actually wanted to talk. He was far more level-headed than he was when she talked to him the other day in her dorm room.

"Me too. Your business is your business. I'm sorry for pushing. There's just so much going on, and I'm so stressed out about it all," she explained to him.

In short, she was overwhelmed, and she didn't do well when she felt overwhelmed. She panicked. She pushed too hard.

Elias sighed gently as he looked at her.

"Look, my family are old school. They're specific about who they're friends with, who we associate with. They're very… uptight," he said. Elias knew they wanted to protect him but it was ruining his life. 

"And they wouldn't like me," Alyssa replied. She knew how some families could be. She didn't blame him for that, but she wished that his parents would be more accepting of her.

They hadn't even met her. Things would be so much easier for everyone if they would just give her a chance to prove that she was good for their son.

"One day, I want to distance myself from them. I just can't right now," Elias said.

"So, I probably won't ever meet them?" Alyssa asked him. They were his parents. It was his boundary that she had to respect.

"I hope you don't have to. Like I've told you, they want everything to bend to their will. I don't want them to make you bend," Elias murmured quietly.

Alyssa narrowed her eyes slightly, wondering what he meant by that. It sounded like his parents were tough people. If he thought it was better for her not to meet them, maybe he was right.

She didn't want him meeting her mom. Family drama was something that she didn't want to drag into their relationship, and that could include his too.

"Alright. I'll try to steer clear of Scott too," she told him, knowing he probably had that on his mind too.

Elias gave her a grateful look before pressing his forehead against hers.

"Thank you. It's for the best. I promise," he said.

Alyssa trusted him. He would only act this odd and protective if there was a good reason for it, so she would steer clear and just focus on them.

Hopefully, his family didn't pose a problem for them in the future. Then, she would be forced to step into his family drama.

And from his words of warning, she didn't want to find herself in the middle of that warzone.

**********

The next morning, Alyssa woke up in pain. She rolled away from Elias in his bed, grasping her aching arm with a wince.

She thought that it would feel better by now, but she was obviously wrong. She heard Elias stir behind her before sitting up in bed.

"Are you okay?" he asked her as he placed his hand on her shoulder, peering over at her with a concerned look on his face.

Alyssa shook her head as she pushed herself up int a sitting position. She looked down at her arm, which was still slightly inflamed.

"It hurts to move it," she told him. She gingerly turned her arm, flexing it and wincing when pain shot through her.