K. Robinson - Twisted Ties

“We’ll see if you are after I talk to him,” I said as I tried to open my door again.

Ally refused to budge.

“Move.”

“Not until you listen to what I have to say.”

“Then, spit it out, so I can go talk to him.”

“I’m pregnant!” she blurted out.

My mouth dropped open, and then I froze. “There’s no way. You’re lying.”

“I’m not. It was an accident, but there’s nothing Jesse or I can do about it. I have his baby growing inside of me.”

Forget being punched in the stomach. I’m going to vomit. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way that he could have slept with her after what she had done to us. She’d destroyed us, and she’d destroyed his friendship with Andy in the process.

“Do you really want to go in there and take my baby’s father from her? Because that’s what will happen if you do. Jesse will leave me for you, and I’ll be left alone to take care of this baby. You’ll destroy my child’s life.”

I couldn’t believe this was happening. How could Jesse have been so stupid? And how could I have been so stupid that I’d held out hope for a boy two years after he disappeared from my life? I was doing nothing more than chasing a high school crush while assuming it was true love.

I thought about the way I’d been raised. If I were to go to Jesse and he left Ally, I would be putting his child in the same situation I had been in. Ally was a spiteful bitch, and I knew she would never let Jesse see his child if he’d left her. His son or daughter would be forced to live with a manipulative bitch while his or her dad wasn’t around. I hated Ally, but I couldn’t do that to her child. It was innocent despite the circumstances surrounding his or her parents.

“This can’t be happening,” I whispered.

“It is happening. Look at my stomach.”

She pulled her shirt tight and turned sideways to show me the beginning of a baby bump. Bile rose in my throat, but I forced myself not to vomit. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.

“I guess it is,” I mumbled.

“I won, and you lost. It’s time for you to accept that and go back to California where you belong,” she said with a triumphant grin.

I wanted to get out of my car and smack that grin right off her face. I wanted to so badly that my hand was on the door handle before I even realized what I was doing. I couldn’t believe that I was about to hit a pregnant woman. Dear God, I’ve lost my mind. I needed to get out of here and fast if I wanted to leave with my sanity intact.

“Move out of my way,” I said as I started my car.

“Leaving so soon?” she asked sweetly.

“Get the fuck out of my way, or I swear to God, I’ll make you move, pregnant or not.”

She laughed as I put my car in drive, and then I tore out of my parking spot.

I knew Andy had to work tonight, but I hoped he was at home by now. There was no way that I could go back to my dorm room and sit alone while all of this was going through my head. I was hanging on to my sanity by a thread, and I knew that if I was by myself while dealing with this, I’d lose it.

I nearly cried in relief when I pulled into his apartment complex parking lot, and I saw his car sitting there. I didn’t have to be alone. He would help me. I ran across the lot, and in too much of a hurry to use the elevator, I sprinted up the stairs to his floor.

Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I beat on his door. I prayed that he hadn’t fallen asleep yet. I had a key to his apartment, but I hated to use it this late at night. I didn’t want him to think someone was trying to break in.

The door opened, and Andy was standing there. He took one look at me and pulled me into his arms.

“Emma, what’s wrong?” he asked.

I was crying too hard to speak, so I shook my head.

“Who’s that?” an unfamiliar female voice asked.

I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of him having someone over. I looked over his shoulder to see a pretty red head standing behind him. From the fact that she was wearing his shirt, it was obvious that she planned to stay the night with him.

“This is Emma,” Andy told her.

“Who is she? Is she going to be okay?” the woman asked as she looked at me warily.

Obviously, that my tears were making her uncomfortable.

“She’s…she’s my family. I hate to cut our evening short, but you need to go,” Andy said as he walked me over to the couch and pushed me down onto the cushions.

“It’s fine. You’ll call me?” she asked as she grabbed her pants off the floor and threw them on.

“I will.”

Not bothering to take off his shirt, she picked up her purse and walked out the door.

“I’m sorry.” I hiccuped. “I didn’t mean to ruin your night.”

“It’s cool. She was just a hook-up anyway. What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t look at him. I was ashamed that I’d held out so much hope for Jesse and me. I’d gone as far as moving clear across the country just to find him so that we could be together—and I’d dragged Andy along with me.

“Emma, come on, talk to me. Something obviously happened tonight.”

I took deep breaths as I tried to calm myself down enough to talk so that he could understand what I was saying.

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“Start from the beginning.”

“I was waiting outside of Ally’s house again. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, someone was tapping on my window.”

“Shit, Emma. I told you to stop going over there so much. Who was it?”

“Ally.”

He muttered a string of curse words as he looked me over. “What happened? Did she hurt you?”

I shook my head. “No, I didn’t even make it out of my car. One good thing is the fact that I found out Jesse is living at the same house as her.”

“Was he home?”

“I think so. I never got out to check.”

He looked confused. “Why not?”

I stared at him as tears filled my eyes again. “I think congrats are in order. You’re going to be an uncle.”

“What are you talking—” His eyes widened. “No. There’s no way.”

“I saw her stomach. She’s pregnant. She also let me know that if I took Jesse away from her, I’d be destroying their family since it’s his baby.”

Andy dropped down to the couch beside me with his mouth hanging open. He was at a loss for words. I knew the feeling well. I waited as he processed the news. It didn’t take long before his look of shock changed to one of anger.

“So, let me get this straight. She ran away from home and came here to find him. Then, she goes and gets pregnant with his kid.”

“That pretty much sums it up.”

“I want to fucking kill both of them!” He stood up and started pacing the room. “How could she do this? How could he do this? She’s my fucking sister!”

“Maybe they love each other, Andy. It’s been a long time since either of us saw Jesse, and Ally barely spoke to you after Jesse left. You know nothing about either one of them now, and neither do I.”

“This is bullshit! Jesse never showed a bit of interest in her when we were all together. There’s no way that she came out here, and he got her pregnant in three months. If she’s already showing, then it would have had to happen right after she came out here!”

“I didn’t think to ask for the exact date, Andy,” I said sarcastically.

He looked guilty as he dropped down to his knees in front of me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just so fucking confused by all of this. I can’t even imagine how much you’re hurting right now.”

“I feel like someone ripped my heart out of my chest and stepped on it. I never expected this when I decided to try to find him.”

“Neither did I. What are you going to do now? Do you want to stay or go back home?”

“I have no home. I’m going to stay and finish this semester at least. After that, I don’t know. I was an idiot for focusing on finding Jesse and not planning for the worst.”

“You’re not an idiot. You thought that you’d find him, and everything would be okay.”

“Well, I’ve found him.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my tone.

“Do you plan on confronting him?”

“I don’t see the point. He has a family now, and I’d do nothing but screw that up for him.”

“I’m sorry that my sister put you through all of this. You’re a good person, Emma, and you don’t deserve this kind of hurt.”

“It was a long shot, and we both knew it. You tried to prepare me for the worst, but I didn’t listen. I’m just going to pretend like I never came here to look for him, so I can move on with my life. That’s all I can do. I need to forget him once and for all.”

He nodded. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do. I found a decent job, so I’ll stay here for as long as you need me to.”

“That means a lot. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

“You’re my friend, Emma. I’d do anything I could to help you.”

“I guess one good thing came from Jesse and me.” I smiled down at him. “I never would have met you if I hadn’t been with him.”

He grinned. “I am pretty awesome.”

We both stood and walked to the door.

“You can stay here tonight if you need to.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m going to go home and sleep all day tomorrow. You still have time to call your girlfriend back if you want to. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Nah, I’ll have babies on my mind now. That takes all the fun out of it.”

“You always know just what to say.”

“I try, Emma. I try.”

* * *

I stuck to my word and spent the next day in bed. It was Saturday, so I had no classes to get up for. I knew I was moping, but I couldn’t help it. I’d had this whole plan to make things right with Jesse, and it had completely blown up in my face.

I couldn’t believe that Jesse was going to be a dad. Hell, I couldn’t believe that Ally was going to be a mom. She’d never struck me as the maternal type, and I hoped that Jesse would make up for her lack of parenting. There was no way someone as mean as her could be a good parent. It just wasn’t in her genes.

While it shocked me that Jesse was going to be a dad, I didn’t think that he’d be bad at it. I knew how much it’d hurt him that his dad had abandoned him when he was little. There was no doubt in my mind that Jesse would spend his entire life making sure that his kid never felt unwanted. I still believed that Jesse was a good person despite the situation he was in. Besides the time when I thought he’d cheated on me, I couldn’t think of a thing that I didn’t like about him. He was a genuinely good person.

* * *

The next morning, I forced myself to crawl out of bed. I hadn’t showered for two days, and I was starving. After showering, I pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top, so I could go find some food. The school cafeteria was closed on Sundays, but there were plenty of places to eat at in Morgantown.

I drove around town until I found someplace that didn’t make my stomach turn. Instead of going through the drive-through like I’d originally planned, I decided to go inside.

My hopes of being with Jesse were gone, and it was time that I started to move on. I didn’t care if it made me pathetic to start looking at a fast-food restaurant on a Sunday morning. I ordered my food and sat down at a table facing the entrance. That way, I could see everyone who came in as soon as they walked through the doors.

I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to find anyone unless I was hoping to get a date with an eighty-year-old man who liked to drink the tar they called coffee here. I sighed as I finished my food, and then I threw away my garbage. I didn’t even bother to look up as I walked to my car. I need a life.

I knew where Andy worked, so I decided to stop by and surprise him. He said that his boss was pretty easygoing, so I didn’t think Andy would complain if I stopped by for a few minutes to chat. I knew he was worried about me, and it would help put him at ease if he saw me freshly showered and out in the real world.

I drove downtown and parked in front of the building. A bell dinged above the door as I opened it and stepped inside. Andy was sitting on a couch with another guy, and they were watching an old football game that had happened earlier in the week.

“I see you’re working hard,” I teased when he looked up.

“Emma! What are you doing here?” Andy asked as he walked over to me.