Were All Animals

by Mima

  He nodded, reluctantly agreeing with the same thought that had poked at his mind for weeks since their friendship first sprang into life. Maggie had heard it all before; he missed Lucy, he felt empty and depressed without her, so clearly that meant that they shouldn’t be apart.

  Maggie disagreed and insisted that it was simply too soon for him to see things logically. Logically, she added, they were a terrible match and Lucy wasn’t someone he wanted to get tied down to for the rest of his life. She saw a potential in him that he wasn’t able to see in himself and that was one of the many reasons why Chase was secretly falling for his new best friend.

  Not that it made sense. How was it possible to still have feelings for someone who had cheated on him, while also falling for her former, best friend, who happened to also be a lesbian? What the fuck was wrong with him?

  “I know you don’t want to hear it,” She continued and cleared her throat as if she wanted to laugh. Maggie continued to graze her fingers over the grass, almost in a caressing motion that made him envision her hands doing the same over his leg that was very close by. He looked away, immediately erasing that thought from his head and suddenly felt melancholy. “I think she would’ve held you back. I think you’re one of the most sensitive and honest people I’ve ever met and I don’t feel Lucy ever appreciated that about you.”

  His eyes lurched back to her face, just as Maggie was looking up from the ground. There was an immediate connection, a power that was pulling him toward her and rather than looking away, she silently shared that moment with him. He wanted to kiss her, to run his hands over her satiny body; but then, she sat up erectly and broke the powerful spell they shared, even if only for a moment. His tongue felt like it was frozen to the roof of his mouth as he turned toward the water and wondered what had just happened?

  “Lucy wants someone who’s going to jump into a bar fight or that kind of alpha dog things and that’s not you,” Maggie continued to speak with a smoothness in her voice, no trace of attraction could be heard. In her mind, they were just two friends hanging out at the lake, talking about life, “She doesn’t appreciate you because you’re nice. I don’t understand, but I think there are better things for you.”

  Chase laughed. “So far, the only interest any woman has shown me was that Audrey chick from the party, that’s it,” A sardonic smile grasp his lips and he shook his head. “That was the worst mistake I ever made. I wish I never hooked up with her. Now she won’t leave me alone.”

  “Tell her you aren’t interested.”

  “I did,” Chase pointed toward the phone in his jean pocket. “Again and again, but she keeps wanting to meet with me. I told her no.”

  “It’s probably better you keep your distance,” Maggie lovingly advised as she leaned on her left arm, inching slightly closer to Chase.

  “I feel like this asshole,” He turned in time to catch Maggie’s sympathetic smile and her hand reached out and touched his arm, sending his body a message that his mind couldn’t seem to overpower. “My sister was right, that was a dick thing to do.”

  “She just doesn’t understand,” Maggie spoke gently as she hunched over. “You made a mistake. It happens to the best of us. You didn’t even know her.”

  “I maybe talked to her a couple of times in high school before she graduated and the night of the party, but no, not really.”

  “Just wait, the end of the summer will be here soon and everything will get better,” Maggie was insistent. “Audrey is probably going back to school, your sister will go back to university and probably back to demasculinizing her boyfriend and you’ll go away somewhere else, far away from this dead end town, where women throw themselves at you.”

  Chase laughed in spite of himself.

  “Hey,” Maggie excitedly grabbed his arm, her eyes full of light as her lips slowly parted. “You should apply for the RCMP with me! Maybe we will get recruited together.”

  “I don’t know, Maggie, I don’t think that’s for me,” He shrugged, a hesitant smile crept on his lips, while his eyes glanced toward the lake. “I can’t see me being a cop.”

  “Why not?” She was unaffected by his lack of interest. “You’d be perfect. You’re in awesome shape, your smart, yet compassionate. You don’t really drink and you only did drugs once, just tell them it was slipped in your drink or something.”

  “I appreciate it,” Chase spoke warmly and turned in her direction. “I really do, but I can’t-

  “What the fuck? Are you kidding me? This is why you aren’t answering your phone?” A loud voice shrieked from behind and for a minute, Chase assumed it was directed at someone else. However, it was wishful thinking, when logic told him otherwise. “Of course!”

  Immediately jumping up, it took Maggie a few extra seconds to follow. Her eyes were skeptical, as they skipped from Chase to his sister, who was rushing to meet them. Angel was alone, but with enough hostility for a small army. It was unlike her to come looking for him, she usually chose to attack him in their family home, but never in public. He suddenly feared that something had happened with their mother.

  “Shit Angel is mom-

  “Oh, don’t worry about mom,” Angel put both hands on her hips, her dark eyes full of the usual fury that rarely escaped them, harsh lines formed around her mouth. “She isn’t pulling one of her fake suicide attempts if that’s what you think. It’s not Dad either. It’s that girl you fucked and left a few week ago, she’s at the house.”

  “She…she’s at our house,” Chase was stunned and shared confused looks with Maggie, who still appeared horrified that Angel had interrupted their conversation. “Looking for me?”

  “Obviously, dumbass, she said you’re avoiding her calls,” Angel snapped and much to Chases’ surprise, Maggie sprang forward before he even had a chance to speak.

  “Hey! Don’t call him dumbass,” She suddenly seemed to stand taller, stronger than she ever had before, her blue eyes narrowed as she exchanged angry looks with Angel. “I don’t care if he’s your brother, you don’t have a right to talk to him that way.”

  “Fuck you and you’re little ‘I’m a lesbian’ act. Don’t think I don’t see right through you,” Angel snapped back at Maggie, pointing toward her chest. “Wearing a skin-tight T-shirt and little short shorts around my brother, then acting like you’d rather be with a girl. Like you don’t know how hot that makes guys.”

  “Lesbian act? Are you kidding me,” Maggie snapped and moved forward as if to challenge Angel and when confronted with someone who was as strong as her, Chase noticed how she shrank back. “It’s not an act. I’m not here trying to seduce your brother, I’m here to be his friend. Something you might want to try sometime.”

  “This is none of your business,” Angel’s voice rose and she pointed toward Chase. “This is between him and me.”

  “I don’t care,” Chase shouted, alarming both the girls. Although his sister’s comments regarding Maggie’s appearance were taunting him slightly, he forced his brain back to the actual topic of conversation. Why was Audrey at his house? “What the hell is so important that you had to look for me? I get it, Audrey wants to talk to me, but I’m not interested in her. I don’t want to date her. I don’t want a relationship with her. I want to forget that I ever met her.”

  “Well, that’s going to be a little hard to do,” Angel shot back, her head shaking back and forth with exaggerated attitude. “Since you fucking knocked her up.”

  It was as if the wind had knocked out of his sails, he felt as though his entire life was draining to the ground and disappearing into the lake. These words may as well have been a life sentence to prison, rather than an introduction to a problem that could be worked out. The hopelessness of his life suddenly seemed much bleaker, his heartbreak suddenly feeling much more manageable in comparison.

  “What?” Maggie took over the conversation as if she somehow recognized that he was u
nable to speak. “Of course, she’s going to say that, she’s desperate to get Chase and even if she is pregnant, who the hell says it belongs to him.”

  Angel, now visibly upset, seemed to drop her defenses and nodded in agreement. “That’s what I said too, but she’s already talked to our parents-

  “She talked to mom and dad?” Chase felt a cold sweat covering his body and for a moment he felt lightheaded. This had to be a mistake. There was no way he got her pregnant-

  But he hadn’t used a condom. He had one in his wallet. It was still there.

  OH God! What must Maggie think? He sheepishly turned in her direction to see an expression of horror that probably reflected his own. She looked as if she wanted to cry. He felt like he wanted to cry.

  “She said you weren’t answering her calls or texts and wanted to see you in person,” Angel replied, almost as if she were slowly putting the details together herself. “Mom asked her if she wanted to come in and wait and she did. She wasn’t there five minutes and she started to cry and told us that she was pregnant with your child. Dad looked completely horrified and left the room, mom tried to comfort her, but I think she was in shock.”

  “I can relate.” Chase shook his head and felt like he was going to be sick. “I can’t believe this is happening. I don’t want a kid. At least, not now and definitely not with her.”

  Angel opened her mouth to say something, but to his surprise, she immediately closed it. Finally, her voice quietly said, “I’m sorry, Chase, I shouldn’t have come at you like that. I was just so angry, I thought, how could he do that to her?I thought you knew and were avoiding her. But now I really don’t know what to think.”

  “I don’t have a good feeling about this, Chase,” Maggie spoke solemnly while shaking her head. “Did you guys not use….” Her words drifted off as he shook his head no.

  “I can’t do this,” Chase felt like he was suffocating. “I can’t have a kid. I just can’t.”

  “Unfortunately, if what she’s saying is true, you might not have a choice.” His sister looked from Chase to Maggie. “She said she wants to keep the baby, no matter what.”

  No matter what.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Louise and Carl Jacobs didn’t have unexpected pregnancies. They saw children as a blessing from God and this was reflected in their decision to call their first child Angel. Their mother often commented how she would stare at her little girl in amazement that she was a product of their love, that she was a reflection of each of them gathered in a small, delicate package.

  The birth of their son was different. There was something extra special about a boy since they carried the family name. Louise believed that it was important that boys were given a name that indicated strength and ‘Chase’ reflected a great hunter, a man who would go after what he wanted and get it.

  She couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Chase didn’t feel like he was a man who got what he wanted, especially on that humid July afternoon, as he mindlessly walked through the park with his sister and Maggie. They were silent until reaching his father’s truck, which was parked alongside a camper and two small cars.

  “How did you get here?” Chase asked Angel as he reached into his pocket to grab the truck keys. “I thought you had mom’s car.”

  “I got dropped off,” She replied and didn’t elaborate on the details. A frown covered her pale face, while Maggie silently hung back. Chase continued to feel stunned by the news, moving mechanically, his arms feeling heavy. “Mom had to go to work and we saw the truck here so she dropped me off on the way.”

  Chase nodded his head and held out the keys. “Do you want to drive?”

  He didn’t have to communicate that he wasn’t in the state to get behind the wheel; feeling shell-shocked, as if someone hit him on the head with a brick, barely managing to function on the most basic level. He was relieved when she nodded and grabbed the keys on her way by.

  “I can drive you home too,” Angel airily directed her comment at Maggie as she opened the truck door. “But as you know, it’s only a two-seater, so you’ll have to either go in the back or sit on Chase’s knee.”

  Normally, this would’ve probably sent Chase in a state of arousal, but he simply felt nothing when the three got in the truck, Maggie awkwardly perching on his lap. The truck was ancient and loudly sputtered when Angel turned the key; something that had been the center of a joke a couple hours earlier, when he and Maggie first arrived at the park. Chase now longed for those innocent moments, when his biggest concern was how to hide his intense longing for Maggie. Now she was on his knee and he was unmoved by the warmth of her against his body, her naked leg touching his arm casually or the soft scent of her shampoo that filled his lungs.

  It was only a short drive to Maggie’s house. No cars were in her driveway, since her mom was at work during the week, whereas Maggie’s schedule seemed to revolve around when the car was available, which was usually weekends and evenings. She worked in a convenience store at a local mini-mall and hated it.

  She merely shot Chase a sympathetic smile as she opened the door and got out. “Call me later,” Her words were gentle and smooth, almost as if she wasn’t sure what else to say at that point. Probably, he assumed, because she was as repulsed by him as he was himself.

  Once she was dropped off, Angel drove away and was shaking her head from the driver’s side. “Unbelievable.”

  Chase didn’t reply and assumed she was talking about the baby situation. He felt his stomach tie up in knots as they eased closer to their home and it was only at that time, that Angel decided to cram in everything that was on her mind at once.

  “First of all, there’s no way that girl is a lesbian cause she doesn’t even look like one,” Angel insisted, pushing a strand of her black hair behind her ear and wrinkling her nose. “I can tell it’s a game to mess with you. Girls do that all the time in university, pretending to be into other girls in order to get a guys attention. It’s repulsive.”

  Chase didn’t reply. This was the least of his problems.

  “And that Audrey girl, I don’t know what you were thinking,” His sister lectured as they turned down their street. “Why would you have sex without protection? How stupid could you be? Some girls do that on purpose, you know? They use it as a way to snag a guy. Then again, you dated the same girl for years and didn’t get her pregnant and fuck this one girl once and suddenly she’s pregnant? I mean, did you do this as some sick revenge against Lucy?”

  “No!” Chase snapped as they pulled into their driveway, where an unfamiliar car sat. “I can’t believe she’s still here.”

  “Yup.” Angel’s response was curt, showing not an ounce of compassion. “She’s in there talking to dad now. Like I said, mom had to go to work and Audrey didn’t seem like she was about to leave, that’s why I came looking for you. I figured you were probably at the lake fucking your lesbian.”

  “She is a lesbian and we were just hanging out,” Chase shot back as he climbed out of the truck and then he suddenly stopped, frozen on the spot. “I can’t go in there, Ang.”

  “You have to go in there,” Angel said, her eyebrows shot up over her glasses. “You have no choice. You got to deal with this.” They both closed the truck doors and headed toward the house, although he noticed, both seemed apprehensive to go inside. “Besides, she’s never going to fucking leave if you don’t talk to her and as soon as I walk in the door, dad’s going to fuck off cause he won’t deal with this shit and if you don’t come in, I’m going to be stuck listening to her.”

  Taking a deep breath, Chase followed his sister inside the house and immediately saw Audrey sitting across the table from their dad who looked calm, although he did raise an eyebrow when he saw his two kids enter the room. He simply muttered a ‘Yup, what can you do,” as he rose from the chair and passed them to go out the door, grabbing the keys on the way by.

 
Audrey was wearing a sleeveless, white blouse with horizontal stripes and black shorts that reached just above the knee. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail while her eyes were red from crying that she was apparently doing before his arrival. She quickly wiped a stray tear away and cleared her throat.

  Chase felt a sense of dread as Angel flew up the stairs.

  His legs felt like lead as he crossed the floor and a voice in his head encouraged him to turn and walk out the door. Run!! As if he had a choice. He eased into the chair closest to Audrey and looked her into her eyes. Rather than apologize or agonize, he simply waited for her to speak.

  “Where were you?”

  “Where was I?” Chase laughed in spite of himself, his eyes rolled to the heavens and he shook his head. “You come here and tell my family that you’re pregnant and the first thing you say when I get home is, ‘where were you?’ Seriously?”

  “They said you were with some girl.” Her words were full of accusation as if he somehow had to answer to her for his behavior. “Are you dating her? Is it the girl you left the party with? The pretty, skinny girl?”

  Deciding that perhaps this might be his way out, he decided to play along. “Yes, that’s who I was with.”

  “Are you sleeping with her?”

  Chase let out an impromptu laugh and shook his head.

  “I asked you a question.”

  “That doesn’t mean I have to answer it.”

  “You do.” She continued to insist as if the two were in a relationship, something that completely blew his mind. “I need to know. I have a right.”

  “You have no right,” His words were barely a whisper and he challenged her eyes. “Are you even pregnant or is this some twisted game you’re playing because I didn’t answer your texts.”

  “It’s not a game, you’re going to be a father and you have to start acting like one,” Her words were sharp and caused Chase to laugh out loud. “Are you fucking that girl?”