by Amanda Heath
“Jericho Barrons, get down! Court doesn’t want to pet you!” Rachel exclaims, coming out of the kitchen, minus her heels. She picks up the dog and kisses its face. “Sorry. I forgot to tell you about my first born child.” She lifts the dog to my face and wiggles it a little bit. “This is my Miniature Pom, Jericho Barrons. I named him after my sexiest book boyfriend so don’t judge the name. The real Jericho Barrons is a mother-fucking badass and would put Rambo to shame over and over again. Oh, and you are lucky because he seems to like you. This little fucker doesn’t like anyone but me. He really hated Kellan. I have to keep him locked up when I have company over. I just forgot today.”
“You have a tiny dog,” is all I can come up with.
“So? You have a skate park in your backyard. I can have a tiny dog,” she counters, bringing the dog closer to her body.
“You called it your first born,” I tell her, like she didn’t know what she said.
She cocks her head to the side and gives me a sly smile. “It’s true. I love this dog almost as much as I love Royal. Except Jericho isn’t as annoying. You don’t like music and that’s just sad.”
It’s time for me to cock my head to the side but I do it because I’m confused. “You named him after a dude in a book. And it’s not that I don’t like music, I just never have the time to listen to it.” I pause and when she opens her mouth I throw in, “Tony Hawk is like in his forties and he still skateboards. There is nothing wrong with my skate park.”
“He is in five books and he loves so fiercely it makes you fall to your knees and pledge your heart to him. And you are going up to my room and being introduced to Avenged Sevenfold. I think you’ll find the time to like some music.” She grabs my hand and leads me up the stairs to her bedroom. I’ve only been here twice and neither time have I been to her room.
I brake before she leads me all the way in. “There is no way I’ll get any sleep here.”
The entire room is pink and white. It’s totally a chick room and while I don’t mind pink; I’m just not sleeping in a room with that much pink. “I know right? You see why I drive around at night? Mom had it decorated for me when I was ten. It’s never changed.”
“You sure we have to stay here?” I kind of want to shut my eyes to block out the eyesore.
Rachel huffs and grabs my hand, which is still holding her bag. “I’ll make it better. I promise.” She drops my hand once I’m in the room and shuts the door. She walks over to a white stereo and presses some buttons until music starts playing.
“This is ‘Nightmare’ by Avenged Sevenfold. I think you’ll find this song is right up your alley.” Then she giggles.
Chapter Nine
“I don’t know. This is all a little too much for me to believe,” Nathan shouts from the opposite side of the metal ramp we are standing on.
I laugh and shake my head. Nathan doesn’t believe in love or relationships and telling him I’m going to have a kid is blowing his mind. Nathan has commitment issues if you haven’t figured that out already. It’s not that he is a player or anything. In fact, I’m pretty sure the guy hasn’t ever gotten laid, but I’m not going to ask him.
Nathan tips his board down and descends the ramp. He comes up on the other side placing one hand on the ramp and letting his hand hold his weight as the rest of his body soars over his head, the board attached to his feet. I grin when he lands perfectly and slap his hand when he makes it back to the other side of the ramp. “Seriously, you were screwing Annabella, who you were pining after for years, and now you’re screwing Rachel Sanders, who I’ve never seen you talk to, like, ever.”
I grin before making my descent on the ramp and coming up on the other side flipping my board under my feet. I land perfectly, throwing a hand up in the air on my way back to the other side. I put my board to the side and sit with my legs hanging down the U shaped ramp. “Annabella did what Annabella does best. She took something that was good for her and threw it away because she’s psychologically messed up. Rachel and Kellan Dean broke up for five minutes and Rachel ended up being mine for a second of that five. Then seven weeks later we find out there’s a little Pierce on the way,” I explain to him again.
“I get all that. Annabella is a freak show, always has been. Rachel on the other hand is the good kind of crazy. She won’t walk up behind you and stab you. No, she’d make sure you knew who was stabbing you.” Nathan pauses and sits down a few feet away from me. “I just don’t know if it’s healthy for you to go from an unhealthy relationship with someone you’ve known all your life, to a family with Rachel.” He scrubs a hand down his face and looks over at me. His blue eyes are thoughtful and I know he’s trying to piece everything together in his head so he can understand. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t be there for your kid, but in this day and age teen pregnancy is a problem that everyone is used to. There are more single teen moms than grown up single moms. That’s just sad with divorce rate how it is. They need programs in all schools that show what teen pregnancy does to girls. They need to teach girls to get on birth control if they are even thinking about having sex. They need to teach both guys and girls to carry around condoms. Then they need to hold everyone down and threaten them with death if they have unprotected sex. It’s a fucking epidemic, dude. And, as much as everyone states it’s an epidemic, no one is really doing anything about it. MTV put that stupid show on air, and they only make it seem cool because some of those girls are household names. It’s like they are saying it’s okay when it’s not.” He finishes his rant and takes a deep breath.
I bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. “I don’t know why Rach wasn’t on birth control but our condom broke. Shit happens and it’s not like we did it on purpose. And why shouldn’t I be with her? She’s going to be the mother of my child. I’ll be stuck with her anyway for eighteen years and more because the kid’s life doesn’t just end there. Why not see if we can have something that’s worth keeping? It’ll be better for the kid if we are together. There won’t be two Christmases and birthdays. The kid won’t have to wonder if I didn’t love it enough because I will always be there.”
Nathan looks at me with an intense stare before he speaks, freaking me out. “So, this is based off what happened with your father, right? You want to give this kid what you didn’t have? Or, I assume, because I know your father isn’t around.” He leans back on his elbows and kicks his feet against the ramp. “I get what you mean though. And I agree with you. Things happen and shit gets out of control. You got her pregnant and instead of listening to everyone and just getting married, you’re trying to figure out if you should even marry her. Because in the long run, it will be more upsetting if y’all are together for some of it’s life and then get divorced. I’d rather you do this than jump in head first.”
“My father did a lot of bad shit in his life and I’m not happy to call him my father, but it is what it is. I just know I will never be like him. I couldn’t put any kid through that, let alone my own.” I pick up my water bottle and dump the thing over my head. May in Texas is hot, so I’m definitely not looking forward to summer. Sometimes I hate living in the south. It’s too damn hot here for my body temperature. I took my shirt off a long time ago, so the water flows over my skin, chilling some of the heat. “I could see myself married to Rachel though. She’s just so damn easy to be with. I don’t have to try, we just are. I don’t have to sit for hours wondering what’s on her mind because she’ll tell me if I ask. She doesn’t hide things from me or wonder what I’m doing when I’m not around her. It’s fucking refreshing. After what I had to put up with, with Annabella, Rachel is a godsend. She gives the female population a good name.”
Nathan chuckles and runs his fingers through his sweaty blonde hair. He never skates with his shirt on. His mother would have a heart attack if he walked in the house sweaty and dripping all over her floor. She’s a senator’s wife so she can be a bit extreme. Plus, she’s got Nathan to deal with, who lives and breathes skateboarding and his
older brother, Corey, who played every sport known to man. “Well, I’ll breathe easier now that you have cleared it all up. I know better than to believe the shit said at school but some of that shit was freaking me out.”
“What are they saying?” I ask, because I really want to know. It’s been two weeks since the news came out and no one has said a word to me. Not that they ever would.
Nathan takes a deep drink from his water bottle. “Well, they are saying Rachel doesn’t know who the dad is. It could be one of three people, you, Kellan or Channing. I don’t even know where they got that one. Channing is so far up Paisley’s ass; we aren’t ever going to pull him out. Anyway, they also say you hate Rachel and you’re only with her now because your parents are making you. The one I can’t wrap my head around is that Wesley is so distraught about it she is prone to fits of crying and ranting. Which doesn’t seem likely because I know Wes, and she’s not the over-emotional type. Your girl, maybe, Annabella, definitely, but Wes? Hell no.”
My eyes widen on that last one but then I remember that day Wes ran to the bathroom and cried. “The thing with Wes happened, or some of it. She saw Rachel and I at lunch the Monday after the news came out and she cried. But they were happy tears because she hates Annabella more than I do and that’s saying something. She just wanted me to be happy and move on. She was happy to find out I was.”
Nathan opens his mouth to reply but I hear heels clicking against the sidewalk my mother had put out here so we didn’t mess up her grass walking to the ramps. I look up to see my girl, Wes and Paisley.
And yeah, she is my girl. Rachel and I have spent two weeks together and I find I want to spend even more time with her. We sleep at either my house or her house every night, and wake up together. We get ready for school together and I always make her breakfast. We’ve gone out a few times, just to the movies and dinner. We even stopped at a party last Saturday and hung out with our friends. She told me I could drink but I didn’t think it was right that I could drink but she couldn’t. She got that wide-eyed look I’m coming to find means she’s surprised by me. Then she’ll get this little goofy smile, which I always return because she should know by now I’m perfectly serious about her. She said she was into the little things and that just made my job easier because I like the little things. I like kissing her hello and goodbye. I like opening her car door when we go out on a date, or doors for buildings just because I can. I like having her breakfast ready when she finally comes out of the bathroom where she’d been getting ready. Most of all, I like holding her hand wherever we go.
But mostly I like that we are Court and Rachel. We don’t need labels and discussions about every little thing. We just…are.
“Damn, I didn’t think it could get any better,” Rachel says, stopping by the ramp and looking up at us. “Nathan Rivers…be still my heart. I never realized you were so damn sexy. It’s like finding out my favorite little stoner buddy is actually highly intelligent. And built.” Then her brown eyes meet mine and she winks. I give her a shit-eating grin in return.
“She’s fucking with me, right?” I almost say yeah, but then I take in the blush on Paisley and Wes’s face.
“No. They think you have it going on. You’ve got to look at the cheeks. Blushing is a sure sign you are making their breathing labored.” I clap him on the shoulder and slide down the ramp on my butt. I reach the middle and get up to my feet crossing over to Rachel. I put my hands on her hips and pull her as close as she can get. “Hey, G,” I say, leaning in to kiss her softly. Her hands come up to my biceps and she squeezes hard, her nails digging into my skin. I lift my head and smirk down at her. “Miss me?”
Rachel raises one eyebrow and purses her lips. “Really? You’ve been out here for two hours.”
I laugh and back away from her. “Well, that’s okay, G. I missed you enough for the both of us.” I bend down to where I left my shirt and quickly toss the thing over my head. Rachel stands with her hands on her hips and stares at me. There is something in her eyes; something that shouldn’t be there.
“I’m going to head home, bro. Corey’s supposed to Skype me in a few and I haven’t seen his ass in a few weeks.” Nathan shrugs his shirt on before jumping down from the side of the ramp. Nathan’s brother has been in the Navy for a little over a year. He’s stationed somewhere in Florida.
“Later!” I yell, as he walks off to the back gate to exit my backyard. I throw my arm over Rachel’s shoulder and she tenses up. I don’t know what’s going on right now because there isn’t anything I could have done to make her mad. At least I hope not. With Annabella you never knew what she was really pissed about. I have faith that Rachel will spill.
Wes and Paisley quickly head out the front door, which means they were here to see Rachel. “They didn’t have to leave, babe,” I tell her in the kitchen as I open the fridge. I’m thinking about making chicken tacos for dinner but I’m not sure if we have enough chicken.
Ash is still staying with us and Victor still hasn’t come to make amends, so I’m starting to think it was Ash who did something. Van went home the Monday after Rach found out she was pregnant. He just came down for the weekend and had to get back for exams. He’ll be back next week for the summer. I think he wanted to work out our problems but it was kind of hard considering everything that’s going on.
“Can you sit down for a second?” Rachel mutters from her position standing in the kitchen entry.
I slowly close the fridge door, not liking her tone of voice. She sounds kind of sad. “Why?” I ask, stalking toward her.
She backs away from me when I go to put my hands on her hips, like I usually do when we talk to each other. I don’t like where this is going. I know we are new and all that jazz so we haven’t had any arguments. I’m starting to wonder if that’s a good thing or not.
“Because I need to tell you some things and I want you to be sitting down,” is all that she’ll give me. She backs away until she hits the wall in the hallway, outside the kitchen.
I continue to stalk until I’m all in her space. “I don’t want to sit down. I want to be right here where I am. If you can’t talk to me like this, then I don’t want to know what you have to say.”
Her eyes remain sad but they take on the heat of anger. Her hands come up to shove me back but I don’t move an inch. She can push and shove all she wants. I’m not going to take this lying down. I’m not going to let another girl in my life rip my heart open without the true reason behind it. And that opens my eyes to something I had yet to figure out. I didn’t ever care to really find out the reason behind what Annabella did. If Rachel does what I think she’s going to do, I want to know the real reason. I want to dissect it and understand every word.
“Move back, Pierce!” she exclaims, but I only move in closer and wrap my arms around her hips.
I’m not going to lie; that fucking hurt. “Oh, I’m Pierce again? What happened to Court?”
She glares up at me with her hands bunched into my chest. “Back the fuck up! I’m not having this conversation like this!” She screeches right in my face and this is when I start to get really scared. There is something really wrong here.
“What’s going on?” I hear myself asking, but honestly I don’t really want to know. I don’t care what I said before.
Her brown eyes are no longer warm when they look at me. They are ice cold like the ground when it freezes. That rips through me like nothing else ever could. “I need to be done with this. I tried and I just can’t do it. I thought I could, but I can’t, it’s too hard. I don’t want to be miserable for the rest of my life.” Her hands fall from my chest and I feel their loss like a blade to the gut.
“What?” I whisper, shocked through my entire system. I thought she would spit out some dumb shit that I could talk my way through. This is different.
This…this is the end.
“Why do you sound shocked? I thought you would want this.” Her words make no sense with what she just said.
�
�Why…” I pause and run a hand down my face trying to get her words out of my head. Pretend she didn’t say them or mean them. “Why would I want this?”
“Because you don’t want to be with me! You want to be with that stupid bitch Annabella and you got stuck with me! You won’t even have sex with me!” She’s screaming now, right in my ears but I still don’t move away. I know once I move away, it’ll be over and she won’t be here anymore. She won’t be here to keep me together.
“I haven’t had sex with you because I didn’t want you to think that’s all that I wanted. I want to have sex with you, believe me, I do. I think about it all the time, so you can take that and shove it up your ass,” I bark out, feeling the tension creeping up my back. Defenses I didn’t even know I had start sprouting off in my head. Run, hide, crawl in a deep, dark hole, and just get away from her.
“Don’t lie to me! You say that bitch’s name in your sleep! You don’t say mine.” She starts to sob and her knees buckle. I catch her before she lands on the floor. I hold her close to me because I know she needs the comfort. Even though I want to run for the hills. “You don’t say mine. You’re stuck with me because I was dumb enough to get knocked up.”
“Rachel, baby, I’m not stuck with you. If I didn’t want to be here, then I wouldn’t be.” I didn’t know I’d been saying Annabella’s name in my sleep. I’ve still been having dreams about her but I’ve never been one to talk in my sleep. God, I wish she would have said something to me. I could have told her it wasn’t like that. “I have dreams about her, but I don’t want her. I want you.” I bend down and kiss her face over and over again. “Always you,” I whisper against her temple.
“That’s not true! You can’t possibly want me!” She screams like I’m attacking her or something. When her fists start pounding into my back, I let her go. “I don’t want you, okay? I just want to leave and for you to leave me alone! I can’t do this anymore!”