“Don’t talk about her that way. She’s a nice girl who never should have wasted her time on you anyway.” He shoved Aaron in the chest.
Before I could even process what was happening, Aaron’s fist made contact with Kyle’s face and he was on the ground with blood splattered across the sidewalk.
“You asshole!” I yelled at Aaron, doing my best to pull him away.
He stumbled back and just stood there like he couldn’t believe he’d just done it. I couldn’t either. “You are such a jerk.” I knelt down next to Kyle. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry.”
Kyle sat up, covering his bleeding nose with his hand. “You weren’t the one who punched me.” He glared at Aaron who was still standing there with a frozen expression on his face.
A group of girls from my house spilled out onto the sidewalk, mingling with a growing group of onlookers.
As soon as the crowd moved in, Kyle stood up. “I’m fine. It’s just blood.”
“You really need to get that checked out.” A guy looked nervously at Kyle. “Want us to call someone?”
The wail of a siren made me jump.
“Campus PD is here,” another guy said.
“Fuck.” Aaron uttered his first word since shedding Kyle’s blood.
“What’s going on here?” an officer asked. He came right over to me. Maybe his bias was trust the girl.
“He—”
Aaron interrupted. “Nothing. Nothing is going on. Just a little misunderstanding.”
“Is that so?” The officer turned to Kyle and me.
“Technically, I pushed him.” Kyle adjusted his hand over his nose. “Can I go clean this up?”
“Yes, but we need to know, do you want to file a report?”
“No,” Kyle answered quickly.
“Want me to take you to the hospital?” I asked. I didn’t know much about a broken nose, but there was definitely a lot of blood.
Kyle shook his head while still covering his nose. The words came out mumbled. “No. I can handle it.”
“What about you, miss. Is there anything you want to tell us?”
I took one glance at Kyle. I needed to handle him first. “No. Thank you.”
They moved to Aaron next.
“Let’s get you inside and clean you up.” I put a hand on Kyle’s back and led him toward my house.
“To Delta Mu? I’m going into Delta Mu like this?” His words were garbled.
“Uh huh.”
My sisters were ready for him before we got inside. He was met by several sets of hands offering ice, towels, and consolation. My guess was that Kyle almost didn’t mind the bloody nose after an hour of being pampered. My big sister Lacy seemed particularly interested in seeing that Kyle was comfortable.
I felt so incredibly guilty. He was only hurt because of me. I gave a statement to campus police and gave them all my contact info. I wasn’t sure what kind of trouble Aaron was going to be in, but I couldn’t worry about that. He’d hurt my friend. A stray thought of what would have happened if Kyle hadn’t been there went through me. There’s no chance he would have hurt me, was there?
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I wasn’t surprised to see Chase’s message. Hey cowgirl, I wish you were getting ready to lasso me up.
I wish I could laugh at that pathetic joke.
Why can’t you?
Aaron punched my friend and now his nose is probably broken. It’s all my fault.
What? Are you serious? And it’s not your fault. Can I call?
No I feel terrible.
“Are you texting with Chase?” Kyle asked while holding a compress to his nose.
“Yes.”
“Ask him if I can get free tickets to his next show for defending his girlfriend’s honor.”
I laughed, before texting him exactly that.
“He says he’ll give you exclusive access Sinister Summer Tour tickets.”
“Nice.” Kyle sighed. “This is embarrassing.”
“Embarrassing?” Lacy asked. “Why? You’re kind of a hero. Aaron’s a tank and you stood up to him to defend Cara.”
He smiled. “Kind of a hero. I’ll take that.”
“Do you live nearby? When you’re ready, I can drive you home.” Lacy handed him a new compress.