Truth

"Wh- wait, what?!" She exclaimed confused as she watched him grab a few things from the passenger seat in the front.

"You heard me, clothes off. Now." He said throwing a towel at her, "You'll catch pneumonia if you keep them on. Dry off and put this on." He threw her a bundle of clothes. She looked at the clothes he'd thrown at her only to see they were all his. She was about to say something, but he was two steps ahead of her as he turned to face away. Apprehensive, she finally gave in and began peeling off the dripping clothes and drying off.

After a few moments of ruffling she gave a quick word of finish, and James turned to see. A large shirt hung loosely on her body, and the only thing holding up her pants was a black leather belt. She had managed to smear blood and mud around her face in an attempt to clean it which made him sigh loudly. 

"Sit down." He said while walked over and grabbed the towel, he quickly dried himself a little bit and bent down. "Mark, hand me the baby wipes." Mark opened the glove compartment and tossed James a little blue bag. He pulled a long white towelette out of the bag. Sofia was too tired to stop him as he began softly patting at her skin. His face was so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath. A smell of peppermint reached her nose, and she was trying with all her might not to blush. 

"Did I do that?" She commented on a long scratch that bled slowly from his cheek. He didn't even look up as he dabbed lightly at her lip.

 "It's not as bad as the time when you bit me after I took your chocolate bar." He smirked at the thought of the toothy scar on his left shoulder. "Talk about learning not to steal candy from a baby." She couldn't even smile at his little joke, she must have scratched him when she was on the ground. As he moved his hand away she grabbed the bag from the floor by his knee. Before he could ask, she had already taken out one and hesitantly wiped at his face. He clenched his jaw at the sting of towelette to his cheek, but not a sound was heard from either of them.

James finally spoke up, the deadly question she so desperately wanted to avoid.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." Sofia had known it was coming, and was now wishing for the silence to remain. She could see Mark reaching for the ignition, the keys already hanging ready to go.

" 'Nothing' wouldn't of caused you to run away. 'Nothing' wouldn't of caused your mother to call me at 5 in the morning to come look for you because she was worried sick." James' voice was unwavering as he spoke. That's right, her mother must have gotten home early from work only to find her daughter gone. A question popped into her head.

"How did you get here so quickly? You should be at college." She asked, confused.

"I came to visit, I was going to surprise you later today." With that he added a sarcastic, "Surprise!" and asked her yet again, "What happened?" Silence, then she finally gave in.

"I hate him." She practically whispered, looking down at the metal flooring of the van. The van was moving now, a rhythmic thumping of rain water on the window shield filled the air.