"Oh, I dunno if I could choose a favorite… I did have a dog when I was younger, though. You probably met him once or twice. He was a chocolate lab and you could tell our parents let us name him because his name was Boney." Lucas laughed softly.
"Oh yeah!" She chirped, remembering the dog rather clearly. "I remember him, he was a sweet dog." A fond smile took over her lips, thinking about the lab. "I wish I had a pet, anything really."
"Yeah… Boney was great. He passed away a few years ago, unfortunately." Lucas hummed softly. "I've always wanted to get another."
"Does it cost money to adopt?" She asked softly, chewing on her lip. "Cause now I really want a pet. I need someone to have around when you can't be."
"Some, yeah. That's what we did with Boney. Would your parents even let you have a dog?" He asked.
"Probably not. They don't let me have a lot of things. I have to sneak 70% of the things I own." She mumbled, with a soft sigh. "I hate doing it, but some things are kind of essential."
"Yeah… I don't know if I'd feel safe having a dog in my house at this point. God knows what my dad's would do to the poor thing." Lucas sighed as well.
"You aren't planning to go back…are you?" She asked, pulling back to look at him. The pure terror on her face, was enough to show she didn't want him to. "Please don't tell me that's what you were planning on."
Lucas seemed confused. "W-Well, yeah, I thought I'd go back at some point. There's no way your parents would let me stay forever. I haven't got much choice."
"Then we save money up faster, and we get out of here." Speaking as if it were obvious, she took a hold of his hand. "I'm not letting you go back, you can't. I don't think I would sleep, knowing you were at that wretched place."
"B-But… what if something happens to him?" Lucas said weakly. "He could hurt himself if he's under the influence, and I… I can't lose anyone else, even him. Can we at least call the police or something? He'd be taken care of in prison, I think… right?"
"If you aren't there, he can't buy alcohol." She whispered, resting her hand on his cheek. "He doesn't have money. But if you're worried, we can call the police." She told him, giving him her most vulnerable look.
"He's got some stored up… I-I really don't feel comfortable leaving him there alone. Obviously, I know he'd get arrested if we called the police, so that would be a safe bet…"
"I just can't have you go back… alone at least." Melissa whispered, taking in a deep breath. "Do you have any proof of him beating you? Because if not, then we might not have anything to have him arrested for. Besides being drunk, but you can't necessarily get arrested for something like that."
"Well, I've still got the bloody bandages on my head, and I haven't checked the rest of my body, but I can tell there's bruises there just from how it feels."
"W-well… about that." She mumbled, resting her hand on his chest gently. "We wanted to make sure nothing was going to get infected, so the…. the other cuts you had, we went ahead and bandaged them."
Lucas flushed a bit, stalled for a few seconds. "You and him took off my pants??" He asked, a little confused and worried. The majority of his cuts were on his upper thighs, but a fair few were around his ribs as well.
"W-what?" She asked confused, feeling her face heat a red color. "I… no, your torso." Melissa explained, face only growing more red. "You were covered in blood, I wanted to wash your hoodie so it wouldn't get stained."
"O-Oh… that… that makes sense…" Lucas flushed harder and looked away awkwardly, fidgeting nervously with his hair.
"Trust me, I wouldn't do that to you." She whispered, sinking into her seat. "It would be awkward for both of us. I wouldn't have said anything if I had. Though you do need to clean those ones up too."
Lucas nodded, now fidgeting with his hands. "Y-Yeah… I will. There's bandages somewhere, right?" He asked. "I-I mean, I'm not leaving right now, but for future reference…"
"Mhmm," She nodded, gesturing to the bathroom. "Under the sink. My brother needed them when he was in football. He got beat up a few times." Melissa snickered, rolling her eyes.
He nodded again. "Makes sense…" He then went quiet in favor of watching the movie and trying to forget the last minute or two.
Melissa followed his gaze, falling awkwardly quiet as well. There was nothing she could do, things were just going to be strange for the next twenty minutes. "You aren't mad, are you?"
Lucas shook his head. "Not at you, Mel… I'm just being stupid and awkward and stuff. It's not your fault…"
"I think it might be, but I won't argue." She mumbled, giving him a soft smile. "Are you mad at someone else then? Because you can vent to me if you want."
"Mostly just myself, to be honest… I'm just kicking myself because of all the inconvenience I've caused you and making you uncomfortable and generally just being a burden on you…"
Melissa frowned tightly, taking his chin in her hand to make him face her. "You aren't a burden. Don't think that ever. I love you, and want to take care of you. You're there for me, so I'm there for you. That's how this works." She whispered, sure of what she was saying.
Lucas looked up at her weakly, still cowering a bit with guilt. "But I just… I just feel so bad." He said softly. "You have to keep dragging me around because I'm damaged in one way or another and I just feel horrible about it. I'm sorry, Mel."
Tears began to sting at her eyes, and she shook her head with a sigh. “Lucas, I hate that you feel bad. Because I don’t. I don’t regret bringing you along with me, to come and fix you up. I do it because I care. If I didn’t, do you think I’d still be here?”