(early update bc why not? make sure to leave comments, I really do read all of them and appreciate each one <3 also, cute little gif bc Harry isn't really in this chapter. thank you for the endless support--enjoy xx)

chapter thirty-three

SHE WAS A different person than she was all those months ago in front of that rundown bar where Justin broke my heart. Just the way she stood was a drastic change. She had been loose and spoke with her hands; now she stood with them curled to her chest, her body stiff as stone. Her eyes were wide, and in the dim light of the hospital room, I could've mistaken her as being afraid of the dark.

I was too muddled to start the conversation, still trying to process why she'd be here in the first place. Her statue-like form was making me nervous, as if I needed to feel whatever she was feeling. The fear or the pain or the hurt or maybe all three. If someone asked me how to describe what a desperate person looked like, I would say her.

"Hi," she whispered meekly, not looking me in the eye but not staring off somewhere random. "I know..." She fumbled with her hands, seeming nervous. "I know you probably don't want to see me. I just... I don't know. Can I sit?"

Pursing my lips, I hesitated before giving a curt nod. She gratefully sat in the chair by the bed, appearing relieved that she could tuck her hands under her legs instead. She slumped in the chair, like she was trying to make herself smaller. One of her feet were tapping the floor.

Figuring I should probably find my voice, I tried to think of something to say. The tension in the room was thick. Anyone who walked in would've felt it.

"Lacy, right?" I asked, even though I very much knew who she was.

She seemed surprised I remembered. "Yeah. Delilah?"

I nodded. Then a wave of nausea hit me. "You didn't tell, you know... You didn't tell Justin I was here again, did you?"

"Oh, no, no. No." She was shaking her head. "He is why I came to you, though..."

I flattened the sheets over my legs, mainly trying to find a distraction just like she was. It was hard to make eye contact with people in general for me, so with her it was a hundred times harder. I didn't want to be rude, but I also had nothing else to say to her.

"I wouldn't have come to you because I know we got off on the wrong foot. God, Delilah, I'm so sorry for being so rude to you. I shouldn't have done that. I just got an audition for a local runway show, though, and I was all excited, you know? Thinking I was big stuff now that I got my chance... That's no excuse for acting the way I did towards you. So first off, I'm really sorry. Even if you can somehow forgive me, I'll never stop feeling guilty...

"Secondly, and the main reason I'm here..." She took in a breath, couldn't stop shifting in her seat. "I hate this, I'm sorry." She exhaled shakily, and I finally mustered the courage to bring my eyes over to her. She was crying, but I would've never guessed if I hadn't looked over because she hadn't made a sound.

"Did he... you know, Justin... did he..." She couldn't even get the words out before she erupted in sobs, letting her head fall in her hands.

"Hit me?" I finished for her, somehow finding the strength to say the two words I always shied away from.

She nodded violently, still unable to speak.

"Yeah," I whispered. "He did."

Lacy cried for another brief moment, then pulled herself together and wiped her face with the sleeve of her nurse's uniform. She let out a shaky sigh, running both hands through her hair. When she pulled it back, there was a red mark lining her face from her temple to right in front of her ear. She noticed me looking and dropped her hair quickly, but she didn't avoid the subject entirely.

"That happened the other night," she murmured. "I have to keep my hair up during the day, so I tell anyone who asks that my cat did it." She laughed humorlessly, giving a little snort. "I don't even have a cat."

I picked the frays on the blanket. "I'm sorry."

"He was so kind in the beginning," she said, ignoring my apology probably because I was apologizing for something I had no control over, and we both knew it. "I... I don't know what happened. We had our fights, of course, but he started getting worse on Thanksgiving." She tucked her hands under her thighs again.

"I have a strict diet, with modeling and all, but on the holidays I kind of forget about it. How can you not? Anyways, I gained a couple of pounds. I didn't think they were noticeable, to tell you the truth, but... he noticed them." She was crying again. "That was the first time he hit me, and I told him I could lose them as easily as I gained them, but he wouldn't listen. I shouldn't have yelled back. I should've have provoked it. I told myself I had to get out before it got worse, but then he was apologizing and saying he loved me and he was sorry and it would never happen again and..." She trailed off, biting her lip.

"He said the same thing to me," I told her. "He was crying almost as hard as I was, so it seemed pretty genuine that he hadn't meant to hurt me, you know?"

"Yes." Her teary eyes widened as she looked at me. "Exactly the same stunt he used on me."

I rolled my eyes. "Did he buy you your favorite flowers the next day?"

She blinked at me. "I can't believe he played us both like that. To think I've been with him for two years and thought I knew him better than anyone else."

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach with this, my own eyes bulging this time. "I'm sorry, what?"

Lacy tilted her head, as confused as me now. "What did I say?"

"You've been together for two years?"

She nodded slowly, still trying to piece everything together. Then her jaw slacked and there was a sort of angry glint in her gaze. "Let me guess: you two weren't good friends after breaking up three years ago, and you weren't 'just roommates.'"

"He told you we were roommates? And that we broke up three years ago?"

"Yeah." She visibly cringed. "God, how the hell did I actually buy that?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "So... two years he was cheating on me."

"Delilah, I promise you I had no idea. I don't date cheaters because I know what it feels like to be cheated on." She rubbed her forehead, looking a bit dreadful as she asked, "How long were you two together, then?"

"He broke up with me on our eighth anniversary."

I could've sworn she froze with shock because she was silent for so long, just gaping and slowly blinking, processing.

"I feel sick," she mumbled quietly after a while, clutching her stomach. "Oh my God, I'm an even worse person than I thought. And gullible! How am I so gullible?"

"You didn't know," I said, trying to calm her nerves. I couldn't deny that she fell for his trick because I had too. "We're both pretty gullible, I guess."

Lacy stood up so fast, she almost fell over. "Now I'm more pissed than upset, to tell you the truth. How long did he treat you so horribly?" Her sharp gaze cut to me, making me shrink back into the pillows instinctively.

"When we got out of high school," I said. "So about... four years, maybe?"

"Delilah..." She shook her head, then sat on the edge of the bed. "Why on earth did you put up with him for so long?" She seemed to take in her question after she said it and let out a small laugh. "Never mind. I can't really ask that, can I? I'm putting up with it too."

"You're not as far in as I was," I remarked. "It'd probably be easier for you to just leave."

"That's the main reason I'm here. I want to get away from him, I really do. I want to lock him up and not have to worry about him anymore, for a few years at least. But if I go to the cops alone, they won't believe me. He doesn't leave bruises. However, if two people stepped forward about him, then we could get him behind bars and--"

"I can't," I cut in unintentionally, my heart pounding. She looked at me with a bewildered frown, so I added, "I mean, I don't know if I can do that... Get the police involved and everything. And what happens if he got out and, I don't know, wanted to seek revenge or something? I wouldn't put it past him, honestly."

"That's if he gets out," she said. "He's bound to muck up in prison or lash out at someone, and that'll just add more years to his sentence. We could be long gone by then. I plan on moving to New York anyways to pursue modeling, and you could... Well, I don't know, travel the world. Go wherever you want and actually live. Doesn't that sound like something you want?"

I was stumbling over thoughts. "Of course, but that doesn't mean it can happen. Druggies get a longer prison sentence than abusers, for God's sake, so there's no chance that he'll even be in there that long. It could be a waste of time or make things worse or--"

Lacy put her hand on mine, surprising me enough to stop me from speaking. "Any time behind bars is enough time," she whispered, water filling her eyes once more. "Delilah, I... I need to get away, and I need your help. I know how the system works. One girl is crying wolf, but two could actually change something.

"Promise me." She took in a rattling breath. "Promise me you'll at least think about it? It doesn't have to be now, obviously, but when you get out some time. Your boyfriend could be a witness, too. That would be three people, and we'd get him locked up for sure."

I sighed, then tucked my bottom lip between my teeth. I looked at Lacy, her eyes full of fear and anger and tears and a newly found feeling of hope. I couldn't take that away from her. I couldn't force her to stay with him when I knew just how bad he could get. What kind of person would I be to further her suffering?

"Any time is enough time, right?" I finally said after moments of contemplating.

Her face broke out into a large grin, and a giggle of glee escaped her lips. She pulled my arm, tugging me forward before catching me with her arms around my neck. The hug caught me off guard, but I laughed a little and patted her shoulder awkwardly. When she backed away, she was still beaming and repeatedly expressed her gratitude.

Suddenly what Nathan said came back to me, how one person could totally change someone else. I realized that change could be better or worse. For me, Justin had changed me for the worse. For Lacy, he might just have been for the better. It was hard to believe she was the same girl who shamed me those few months ago, and now she was in my hospital room crying with joy because I agreed to help her. I didn't have much faith in the plan, truthfully, but I didn't regret saying I'd help, not after seeing how happy it made her.

Maybe Harry's kindness was really rubbing off on me. It was nice to see other people smiling because of something I did. That didn't happen too often.

I suppose he was my change for the better.

A thought struck me as Lacy was just about to leave. "Hey, do you have somewhere to stay instead of going back to him?"

Her smile turned sad, but remained on her face nonetheless. "No, but it's all right. I can manage. Don't worry about me, just focus on getting better, yeah?"

I tried to smile in return. "Yeah, I'll do that."

"And Delilah?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you. I can't tell you how much this means to me just to know that there's a possibility of escaping. It's only been months for me, so I can't imagine how trapped you must've felt for all those years."

"Life moves on, though, doesn't it?" My smile was now sincere. "I'm not trapped anymore."