Slutty Shaughna

#11 Worst friend ever

When Dhawn and I get outside, I immediately see Caroline leaning against a wall, her face bloody and bruised and a dark mark on her neck as well, like someone tried to strangle her. I call out her name and pull her against me, careful not to hurt her even more. She leans into me, inhaling deeply before pulling back and wincing a little.

"Can you take Danny home?" she asks me and Dshawn, trying to move away from me.

I don't let her out of my grasp and touch the side of her face carefully to access how painful it is. From the way she winces, she's banged up pretty bad. "Did Danny do this to you? Fucking hell, Caroline. We never should have left you out here with him. I'm so sorry." I feel so guilty that it's choking me. Here she is, getting beaten up by her ex-boyfriend that I left her alone with, while I went inside to kiss her other ex-boyfriend.

The guy who interrupted my kiss with Dshawn tries to convince Caroline to call the police. His friends are holding Danny firmly pressed into the pavement, not giving him a chance to get up and hurt her again. Good.

Suddenly, Caroline goes ballistic. She starts screaming at all of us, even though it's obvious she would fall over if it wasn't for the wall she's clinging to for dear life. Dshawn and the random savior are trying to convince her that she's wrong, put I pull both of them away from her.

"Just do what she says," I hiss. "She's hurt and confused. Dshawn, you take Danny home. Random dude, thanks for... whatever you did, and for getting us, but we've got it now."

"Yord," the random dude says. "My name is Yord."

"Whatever." I honestly don't care about that right now. "Caroline and I will take the car that's here and drive to the nearest hospital. She doesn't need people yelling at her right now. She needs our support."

The guys nod and they help me get Caroline into the uber. I slide in beside her, pulling to me for a hug. She looks like she's on the verge of crying, but no tears actually make it out. The driver takes us straight to the emergency room and even helps me get her out of the car. She's almost catatonic by now, not talking and barely moving.

"What happened to her?" the driver asks me softly as he picks her up to carry her into the hospital, me following closely behind.

"Ex-boyfriend," I say, not knowing what else to say. I wasn't there, after all. I didn't see what happened. I was too busy making out to protect my best friend.

A nurse rushes over when we walk in and the driver puts her in a wheelchair before taking off, wishing me good luck with my friend. I wheel Caroline to a bed, which the nurse and I lift her onto so she can be examined.

"Does she have a concussion?" I ask, fearing the answer.

"She banged her head pretty hard," the nurse tells me, shining a light into Caroline's eyes. "But I don't think she's got a concussion."

"Are you sure?" I ask. "She looks so..."

"I'll make sure, but I really don't think she's concussed."

It takes another twenty minutes before the nurse is sure that there's nothing wrong with Caroline, aside from the obvious cuts and bruises. To my surprise, she doesn't even need stitches. She's good to go. I walk outside for a moment to call us a cab, but then I see the driver from before is still waiting for us. He shrugs and just opens the door for me with a smile. Good man.

Back at my apartment, Caroline seems annoyed with me. Probably because I keep asking her how she feels and if there's anything I can do for her, but I can't be sure. Maybe she knows. Maybe she knows I was kissing Dshawn when I should have been out there with her, kicking Danny's ass.