Broken Doll

Kayla broke into laughter as he went into his story. Real, genuine laughter. It had been a long time since she'd laughed like that. "You're a fucking idiot," she chuckled under her breath. That sounded just like the kind of shit he would pull. If someone had done that to her car, she'd have killed him. The driver might have found it funnier if Pres had fallen off halfway through his little ride. "I never said it was any fun stupid stuff. She's ten. And she's not as much of a shithead as your brother. So no, they're not 'that devious.'" That was probably lame compared to what Pres was thinking, but that didn't matter to her. She brought the can back up to her lips. Her arm ached every time she raised it, but her pride didn't let it show. "It's too bad there's no highways around here. I could push you off and you could show me how it's done."

She seemed to be having the time of her life laughing at that stupid story of his, and he seemed to be laughing a little along with it too. At least part of the reason for his chuckling was because how dumb she sounded giggling with that giant cast on her nose. He thought on her words for a moment. A ten year old girl who shared his exquisite taste in pokemon, eh? If he had to guess, he would say that it was someone close. A sister? "Still innocent, huh? Keep her away from my family then," he mused, a slight tease in his voice. He had a hundred different stories he could pull out of his ass about the shit him and his family did. "We'll have to skip town sometime and find somewhere I can show you the ropes." He smiled, taking another bite of his food and looking back at the TV.

Yeah, a little too innocent... She didn't know anything about Preston's family, but somehow she doubted it was anything like hers. Still, she wasn't going to let Lain jump on any cars any time soon, and she'd beat the shit out of anybody who tried to convince her it was cool. It might have been hypocritical, but it was the big sisters' job to be overprotective, and somebody needed to pretend to be that girls' mom from time to time. Her own hadn't bothered to stick around. The difference was that Kayla didn't have to hold herself up to the same standards.

"Alright then," she said after a small sip. "I'm holding you to that." There weren't any busy highways around here, probably for miles and miles, but that was another thing on the bucket list. It was nice to think about, at least.

Preston merely smirked, taking another bite of his food and staring back at the TV. They'd already beaten up Misty's bike, fled to the pokemon center, and were dealing with Team Rocket. Every now and then, he'd bring up more stupid jokes or annoy her, watching her for any reaction to the show all the while. After five or six episodes, they'd gone through a few more sodas and had left the to-go boxes empty. He hadn't even noticed until then that it was dark outside.

"Maybe we should make it an all-night marathon." The Autumn mused, stretching his arms back behind him. Lord knew he would be up for that any day of the week. "Unless you're getting tired, Pikachu?" A crooked smile appeared as he poked at her cheek.

Even if she'd never admit it, her eyes had been more or less glued to the screen as they got farther and farther into the season. It was old, and cheesy, and dumb, but it was so colorful and innocent that she couldn't help but watch in muted interest. By the time Preston spoke, her hunger had been forgotten. There wasn't anything as satisfying as a full stomach, especially after all she'd been through in the past week... Leftovers were just leftovers, but it was still food. Actual food, and for the most part, she'd been able to feed herself, even if she'd made a few messes here or there.

She scrunched her face up against his poke, electricity crackling around her head. "God, can you fucking stop that?!" she snapped, helpless. There was a perpetual electric field around her skin, something that'd jolt anybody who touched her, but of course, he had to be immune to that. In her current state, she only wished she could've slapped him across the head, but she could barely sit up straight without crumpling over. "I think I've slept too much lately..." she muttered in a quieter voice, a bitter tinge to her tone. That was only half a lie. And not enough. Whenever she hadn't been knocked out by the infirmary drugs, she'd always jolt awake in a cold sweat. There'd been too many times where she'd woken up from bloody dreams in the middle of the night to stare up at the dark ceiling for hours at a time, before slipping back into black sleep and having it repeat itself all over again.

Kayla hadn't done anything but sleep, but she still felt exhausted. She raised her bandaged left arm, awkwardly rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand. Her head was swimming.

He just snickered as she shouted at him, half-tempted to poke her again just to piss her off a little more, but he went ahead and ignored the temptation. He looked at her up and down. The bandages on her cast were dampening with age, she'd went and spilled Chinese on her shirt, and there was a little bit of sauce left on her cheek; although he wasn't about to try and get it off for her. "You look like a shitty mess," he went on, letting out a quiet groan as he made a reach for the remote. "When was the last time you showered?"

This was going to be fun, Preston thought to himself sarcastically as he clicked the TV off. He'd had to go through with this shit once before years ago, taking care of the poor broken bandaged sack, only this time he knew things would be way more complicated. Hopefully they were paying him for this. He pulled himself off the couch and stretched. "Alright. Try not to break anything, or blow the lights out?"

She almost flinched at his question. Almost. For a second, it almost felt like an old familiar jeer, but the hot flash of anger only lasted for a heartbeat. Sparks crackled around her head and she turned her eyes away as he clicked off the TV. I don't care what I look like, she almost murmured, but she decided against it. Kayla didn't need to hear any smart ass replies out of his fucking mouth.

The next remark was what caught her attention.

Kayla glanced back at him, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Blow out the lights...? Break anything? Like, what, the room, a bone, his bone? Where the hell was all this coming from? She hadn't even said anything. "What the fuck are you talking about?" she muttered, another spark popping near her head like a firecracker.

A grim smile grew on his face. He couldn't even look at her for a moment, staring up at the ceiling. "This is gonna be a fucking riot," he murmured to himself. But screw it. It had to happen sooner or later, and the quicker this shit got over with the better. Preston looked back down at the girl, scooping her back up again bridal style and shrugging her into a comfortable position before walking over to her dorm door and fighting to get it open for a moment.

Once he had, he spared the awkwardness of lingering in her room and went straight into the restroom, setting her down on the floor. "Fuck... Alright, just..." Before she could make a half-ass swing at him or start sending things flying, he grabbed onto the sink, reaching up and pulling a few towels off the shelf, avoiding her gaze the whole time.

You could feel the air in the room thicken. There was nothing good about that grim smile, that posture, the way he kept avoiding her eye. What the fuck was he talking about? Her irritation over his evasiveness started to turn into a dull building anxiety. Fuck. What the fuck was it? The sudden shift in tone left her feeling like she had no solid ground beneath her in this whole conversation. It was starting to gnaw at her to not fucking know. Couldn't he just spit it out?

That anxiety turned as sharp as a knife in her stomach when he finally met her gaze again. She gaped at him as he bent down, scooping his arms under her legs and behind her back. "H-hey! What the fuck are you doing?!" Pain spread through her body in a hot wave as she was lifted up from the couch, now carried in the air and held against Preston's chest. Kayla elbowed feebly at his ribs, giving small kicks of her feet, but it was useless. She could barely move like this. "Where the hell are you taking me? Put me down, asshole! I'm not a fucking doll!"

Every step he took sent sharp pangs up her body, but she could only squirm and fight and curse on deaf ears. Couldn't he just fucking say something at least? Was this idea of his idea of a fucking joke?

The only thing that was worse was the place she'd been carried into. Her room. It looked untouched from when she'd last left it over a week ago, but they were soon sweeping past into another door, entering the bathroom.

It felt like a violation to have another person be in her personal space, more of a violation to get carried around and set aside like someone's raggedy old teddy bear. This just made things worse. A hundred thousand times worse. What the fuck. What the fuck! What the hell did this fucking guy think he was fucking doing? She started shouting louder as he put her down and started to pull a few haphazard towels off the shelf. "Fucking answer me! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" She really, really, really didn't fucking like how he refused to look at her right now, and reaaaaaally didn't fucking like that he'd just shut them both into the bathroom. It was more than just being pissed off over being carried around, it was a firm fucking alarm and apprehension that was almost starting to border on panic. Electricity sparked uselessly around her body from the floor. The gears were turning in her head.

She really didn't like where this was going.

He tucked one towel underneath his arm, pulling another down, and another... Shit, how many would he need exactly. Preston gritted his teeth in annoyance. The last time he'd done this, he'd hardly given a shit at all. His older brother had just been in a car crash, released all fucked up from the hospital on house arrest, and his parent's hadn't had much else of a choice than leave the dirty-ass-duty of taking care of the idiot. But that had all been something completely different. It was one thing taking care of your dumbass brother, it was another taking care of your dumbass roommate.

"What do you think?" He answered, still not looking at her. He started to look through her shelves for soaps and rags. "You fucking stink, remember?" He finally found the few washcloths he was looking for, adding them to his pile of towels and tossing it all down beside her. Finally, he looked down at her. For a moment, he considered trying to ask if they could just get it over with, but he knew it wouldn't any good. "Chill the fuck out." Like saying that was much better...

He turned and pushed away some other items out of his way before he seemed to finally hit the jackpot. Despite the awkward mood, he couldn't help but smile a little. "What's this?" He pulled it out. It was a clear bottle with a sparkly label, covered in strawberries and oranges, with a fancy label wrote out in cursive. He had to say he was honestly surprised., shooting Kayla a questioning glance.

...Really...? But... What the fuck?!

Yeah, okay... That was the answer she had been starting to suspect. That was the one she was starting to fear. If it was just him carrying her to the bathroom, that might've been different, but this fucker was really playing up the butler role, and despite what people might've thought from her, she was still perceptive enough to see the plain fucking embarrassment on his face. Her mind was racing with possibilities, every single one worse than the last. He had something awful in mind. She wasn't sure what yet, but she knew to be afraid of it.

Here on the bathroom floor, she was helpless. She could barely even prop herself up, let alone move on her own, but that didn't stop her from squirming around, baring her teeth like some kind of animal. "I-I can fucking wash myself!" she sputtered as he sifted through her bathroom, collecting towels and washcloths. "You fucking carried me here, now get out! What do you think you're gonna do, watch me?!"

Him grabbing the bottle brought a tinge of red to her face. She turned her head to the side to avoid his gaze. "What do you think? It's fucking shampoo, idiot."

He smirked down at the bottle, setting it down on the counter and shifting through a few more things. "You could barely feed yourself without making a damned mess all over the place," Preston said blandly, thinking back on the bits of leftovers stained on her shirt, and her casts, and her lap. He pulled out another bottle, far larger than the other, covered with pictures of bubbles on the front. Holding back a laugh, he set that on the counter as well. Everything else seemed to be in the bathtub already. "What are you going to do? Crawl into the thing face first?"

Pres could feel the slightest bit of warmth across his cheeks and he turned back around, kneeling down next to her. Fuck, how the hell was he going to do this? He'd undressed a number of girls before but... not at all like this. "Shit... We should just..." A brilliant, or extremely stupid idea, popped into his head. He grabbed a towel, unfolding it out with a few flicks out his wrist and laying it over her body. Thank God she was a small thing. He caught her gaze for a second before quickly looking away, reaching down and pulling at her shoe. "Sure you still wouldn't rather be in the infirmary?" He muttered under his breath.

Holy fucking shit. Any hope she might've had was shattered the moment she realized all her fears about this whole situation were coming to life. This was exactly what he fucking intended. She started to sputter out more protests, one after the other, a barely comprehensible stream of words laced with curses leaving her mouth, but it was useless. "I can fucking do it, you fucking pervert! Do you think I'm just gonna sit here and let you...! And let you...!" Kayla couldn't even spit it out. A crimson blush bloomed across her cheeks, and she began to violently shake her head, trying her best to squirm away.

She fucking couldn't. Every little movement sent aches and pangs through her body, and after all that squirming, it was like she'd just sprinted half a mile. Even fucking wriggling was exhausting at this point. Her body was screaming at her, and finally, she just caved in, letting herself flat on her back on the bathroom floor. Kayla attempted a feeble kick, but at most, it might've felt like an accidental nudge.

The towel being draped over her felt like a funeral shroud. Her lips curled into a snarl, sparks crackling around her body. The infirmary... Don't even fucking joke about that, and don't joke at a time like this. She'd rather get thrown into a grave and buried alive than go back to the infirmary. That being said, she'd rather get thrown into a grave and buried alive than to have... fucking this happen.

Kayla recoiled as he pulled away at her shoe. This felt like some sort of violation... "Stop fucking around!" Her voice almost cracked. "Just get out of here!"

He had only been half-joking. While his stupid question about the infirmary had sounded stuck up and teasing,, it was more of a dead-pan humorous way of asking them out of this. By the time that Preston had finished snagging the shoe off her foot, she had struggled herself to the point she was lying completely flat on the ground awkwardly. It was a bit difficult to not make another dumbass joke about it, it was even more difficult to go any further when she was practically screaming in his ear the whole time. "Would you shut the fuck up?" Pres snapped, electricity running irritably down his arm as he tossed the shoe across the bathroom.

"You think I'm interested in seeing you and your flat-ass chest?" He asked with an bland, exasperated tone. Not willing to wait for her to scream at him again, he sat down and grabbed at his head, shutting his eyes as if a headache was coming on. "This was part of the deal, Pikachu. I'm fucking serious, you want to go back there?"

Shut up? Shut up?! Who the fuck did he fucking think he was?! He couldn't tell her to fucking shut up! He was the piece of shit trying to take all her clothes off right now...! That only wanted to make her scream at him more, but that's all she could do... She couldn't even move her arms, let alone fight back. If he really thought he could get her to quiet down this way, then he was sorely fucking mistaken. It was the worst feeling in the world to be helpless, to be powerless, and she only had one defense.

His next jackass remark almost made her choke on her words. This little fucking...! "M-m-my chest isn't flat!" she protested with a small squirm, clenching her eyes and screwing up her face in indignation. That was the first coherent thing she managed to sputter out. "And I'll kill you if you try to drag me back there!"