Chapter 6 - Tomlinson

After Harry made me buy him all his food as a way to repay him for taking me to the place that got me the chance to spend time with Robin —he has mocked me about it the whole weekend—, I head to the lockers so we can go to the field and start the practice.

After I drove her to her room I haven’t seen Robin again, which is not weird at all considering that normally I only see her during the practices. Reason why I’m so excited now, because maybe she’ll be at the bleachers and she’ll recognise me and maybe she’ll even smile at me. It’d be the first time and I don’t know, it would confirm that I made some impression with her. And I’m so mesmerised by those thoughts that I totally forget Connor will also be in the practice.

“Hey Tomlinson,” I hear my name being called and it’s when I remember that the caveman is part of the team, and that I hit him in the bar on Friday. “You are not running away this time, are you?”

I stop because I know he’s approaching. I even stop putting on my uniform, taking a deep breath because I kind of know what’s coming.

“I didn’t run, I was just keeping her safe from you,” I say and when I look up I find him, many of our teammates around, waiting. He’s already in his uniform whereas I’m only in my shorts. “’Cos in case you didn’t notice, she didn’t want you near that night.”

“Ha!” He laughs. “You don’t believe that yourself, no one does. She was just playing hard to get. She’s still head over heels for me. Everyone is.” Connor looks around with a cocky grin, some teammates nod mumbling yeah. What a pack of idiots.

“That’s not what Robin told me, though.” I know I’m not making things better with this, but I just can’t stand that he thinks Robin would still have some feelings for him. He doesn’t even deserve her. “You just don’t know what a girl really wants.”

And in a second my back is pressed against the lockers, Connor’s left hand on my chest whilst his right is around my neck, gripping tightly.

“And you think you know? You? You’re nothing. I was gonna spare you for touching me on Friday, but you’re just an arrogant dick.” I can’t help it, I laugh at his words and that only infuriates him further, so I don’t even see the moment he retracts his right and then buries his fist in my stomach, knocking all the air out of my lungs.

Connor grabs me by the hair once he lets me go, just to keep me in the angle he needs to knee me in the ribs, over and over again. I can’t recover when he pushes me against the lockers once again to cross my face with his right, making me bite my cheek and cutting through the flesh. I feel the metallic taste of blood in my mouth.

“C’mon! Fight you little piece of shit!” He yells and I have to spit the blood in my mouth before I wipe it with my wrist and look at him.

I don’t say anything, I don’t even try to fight him, I just stare at him defiantly and that makes him so mad that he actually tackles me against the lockers, these falling with us. And he’s so angry that he starts hitting me over and over again in my sides, viciously, as if he couldn’t stop himself.

And he wouldn’t have stopped until I was unconscious if it hadn’t been because of the coach who just gets here when I’m starting to see black dots.

“What the fuck is going on here?!” the coach screams but Connor doesn’t react, he keeps hitting me. “You two, separate them now!” his voice booms around the lockers and Connors has to be literally dragged away from me. I stay there, on the lockers, coughing, getting rid of the excess of blood in my mouth. Everything hurts, my ribs are throbbing and I’m afraid to move. “Can someone explain this to me? NOW!”

“I was just giving him a lesson, coach. He can’t mess with me!” Connor shouts and I sit carefully, spitting a bit more blood and hugging my ribs, trying to feel if one is broken. Ouch, that one hurts like a motherfucker.

“Tomlinson?” Coach asks and I look at him.

“He was just defending his wounded male ego, coach,” I say and my tone is so patronising that I hear Connor growling like a real beast. I don’t know if I have a death wish or something, but I just don’t mind. I’m so done with Connor’s shit already.

“This is practice time and you don’t fix your problems like this, you pack of arses! You—” he shouts, pointing at Connor “—are suspended for today and for any broken bone Tomlinson has, you’ll get an extra day.”

“But coach!” Connor protests.

“SHUT UP! I’ve already spoken and you don’t have a say. Now leave!”

Angrier than before, Connor glares at me one last time before he pushes Jones and Brown away from him to storm out the lockers. Then the coach is glaring at me. “I don’t know what you did to him, but this is not the place. Did you hit him back?”

“Not today,” I say and he looks at me with an intrigued expression and I think I see a little smile on his lips. “Fine, you’re not suspended then for today. Now go to the infirmary to see if you got some broken rib.”

“I’m fine,” I say, standing up. It hurts, but I’m sure Connor didn’t break anything and I wouldn’t miss a practice. I need to show my commitment, I need to show I’m strong. I can get badly injured on the field and I have to keep playing. The coach needs to see that. “I can play today.”

“Tomlinson, you just got beaten up. Go to the infirmary.”

“I’m fine, coach. It wasn’t that bad,” I say and he looks over my shoulder, to the lockers that now are on the floor and then he looks back at me, an eyebrow arched. “I’m fine,” I repeat, standing straight.

“All right, but at least wash your face. You have blood all over you. Reckless boy,” he says walking away but before he stops in front of some teammates. “You, put those lockers in their place again. Now!”

So I do as told, I wash my face and put some anaesthetic spray over my ribs, just to calm the pain a bit so I can play. I need to be stronger than this, I need to show I can be better. I take a deep breath and look at my reflection in the mirror. “I can do this,” I tell myself and I nod before I grab my shirt and pull it over.

I make it to the field when the practice already started and although I’m not at my fullest, I do my best. After a while I get so focused on the practice that I kind of forget about my injuries. I catch the coach watching me with an interested look on his face again and I try not to smile. He never paid me this much attention, only when he recruited me.

During one small break I look at the bleachers, just in case, and my eyes find Robin immediately, as usual but this time it’s different because she’d never look back at me, she’d never see me, but now when I look in her direction, she’s looking in mine and she’s wearing her glasses. She looks so beautiful when she doe; and when our eyes meet she flashes me a bright smile and waves at me.

I’m not lying, I do feel my heart stopping for a second, too impressed that this actually is happening.

I wave back at her, rather awkwardly before the coach yells at us to go back to practice. At the beginning I have problems concentrating, but then I remember that if I embarrass myself now I won’t be doing it only in front of the coach, but in front of Robin as well. I can’t afford that. So I do my best although my ribs are burning, although I’m more exhausted than in any other practice and it’s a relief when the coach tells us that it’s over for the day.

“You all did well today. Go and shower, you pack of stinky pigs,” the coach yells at us and we all sigh in relief, exhausted to no end. I’m on my way to the lockers when the coach stops me. “Tomlinson, you did great today. Despite the injuries. That’s a brave player,” he pats my shoulder and gives me a faint smile. “Now shower and go to the infirmary. An injured player is useless.”

“Yes, Coach,” I say and walk away, behind all my teammates but I stop when I see her next to the bleachers, on my way, smiling brightly.

For a second I stop on my tracks, not sure of what to do. I even look around, hoping to see someone else whom she is waiting for, but there’s only the coach and I on the field now. I blink the surprise away and resume my walking towards her, an unsure smile on my lips, and I don’t stop until we’re face-to-face.

“Hi, Louis, how are— what happened to you?” She asks and then I remember I was beaten up right before practice. I even forgot the coach told me to go to the infirmary now. “Oh my God, Louis,” she exclaims ever so worried, stepping closer, her hands to my face.

The first touch burns and I can’t help it, I hiss and jerk away automatically and her hands fly away.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” she begs. “Oh God, what happened?”

“It’s fine,” I say taking a step closer, more prepared this time when she raises her hands and touches my eye tentatively. It still burns but I bit my cheek to control it. “Just a small fight.”

“It doesn’t look like that. You have a black eye, cuts and your jaw is swollen,” she adds and next she touches my jaw.

It hurts like hell, but at the same time it's soothing. She never touched me like that before and I can’t help but enjoy what’s happening, in a very sick way, I know. I even close my eyes as she keeps her feminine hands on my skin.

“You need to go to the hospital,” she says but I shake my head.

“Nah, the infirmary will be just fine. It was just a fight. It looks worse than it is,” I say and I don’t even think I’ll have to go to the infirmary, I feel loads better by just having her hands on me.

“How did this happen, Louis?” She asks me and this time she sounds way more serious, so I open my eyes and meet her hazel ones, staring at me with real concern.

“It doesn’t matter, Robin,” I tell her but now she shakes her head and pulls away. I want to protest, to ask her to keep doing what she was doing because it was really helping, but I don’t say it.

“Louis… don’t tell me that… Connor did this to you,” she ventures and I look away.

It’s not like I want to protect that arsehole or anything, I have no problem saying he’s a savage caveman, but I don’t want Robin to feel responsible for this in any way.

“Oh my God, he did. I’m so sorry, Louis. This is my fault. You got in trouble because of me, didn’t you? For defending me at the bar, right?” she says and I look at her again.

“It’s not your fault, he just is a dick and believe me he got into more trouble than I did. At least with the coach,” I tell her, trying to smile but she shakes her head.

“Still, I feel so bad. I can’t believe that idiot! Argh, how can he be so savage?! Seriously, getting into fights is not the way to solve your problems,” she starts to get angry and I’m surprised to see her like that, actually mad. “Oh that idiot, if he were here right now I’d just… ugh! What did I ever see in him? I don’t get it. I’ll kill him!”

“Robin,” I call her and only then she shakes her head and looks at me. “It’s fine.”

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes for a little while. “You’re right. You can’t talk to a creature like him. I just— I’m sorry, Louis.”

“Seriously, it’s not your fault,” I tell her again, trying to smile but she still looks sad about it.

“At least let me help you, okay?” she offers and even though I shouldn’t let her because this is not her fault, I can’t help it.

“Okay,” I agree and she smiles at me again.

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Dedication to @The_Irish_One_ you see? Your comment got you a dedication (: thanks for being a great reader and so dedicated.

Bel, xx