The Last Thing

by Gaitan, Briana

  Girls were either too afraid to look me in the eyes, or I couldn’t get them to stop calling me. Quinn had been neither. Such a shame, I could have had some fun with her. Especially with a cousin like Ginger Teague. Damn. Ginger was one hot piece of ass that no one on set could even look at without Barrett threatening to beat in his or her face. Yeah, Ginger wasn’t worth ruining my face.

  “Chase?”

  “Wh—?”I shook my head.

  “I asked you a question.”

  “Oh yeah. What time?” I laid on my charm as she put a piece of paper in my hand.

  “Be there at seven,” she said. I put the paper in my pocket and licked my lips. Maybe she could help take my mind off Quinn.

  Walking away from Amy, I grabbed my script out of my back pocket. I flipped through the pages to look at my lines. Up next was a scene with Ginger. We didn’t have too many scenes together, so this would be the perfect opportunity to phish for information.

  “Another intern?” Tucker came up and stood beside me. I looked up from my script. “Dude, you’re my idol!”

  “You’ll get bored of it eventually,” I told him. Tucker had only been in show business for a few months.

  “I highly doubt it. Money, fame, and girls. Who could ask for anything more?”

  He sounded just like me when I was younger.

  “It isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The girls all turn out to be the same, you eventually buy everything you want, and fame comes with a price.”

  “You okay? I’ve never heard you talk like that.”

  Where is all of this coming from? Just last week, I would never have complained.

  “I’m fine. I don’t know…maybe it’s the paparazzi? They’ve been hounding me since my new movie announcement.”

  “Nothing a night out with me and Barrett won’t cure. I’ll call you tonight.”

  “Come on guys, let’s get this wrapped up!” someone with a speaker yelled. I threw my script in my chair and made my way to the set. I sat down on the couch and pretended to be reading a magazine. I glanced up as Ginger sat down next to me. We didn’t have any lines in this scene; we were only part of the background. The director yelled action and the room silenced. I loved acting. It was my passion. I tried to give the other actors the respect they deserved, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I leaned in close to Ginger so that no one else could hear.

  “Why won’t Quinn return my calls?”

  Ginger straightened up, annoyed that I was asking her this in the middle of a scene.

  “I dunno. What exactly happened between you two anyway?” she hissed. Quinn hadn’t told her about our night. Interesting, I thought girls talked about that type of stuff.

  “Nothing happened, but I really wanted to see her again.” My eyes darted around the room to make sure no one was paying attention to us.

  “Has she said anything about me?”

  “I thought you didn’t date?”

  “Says who?”

  “Everyone.”

  “It’s not like I want to marry her or anything, Jeez.”

  She responded with a small huff before speaking.

  “What’s going on with you and the blonde intern?”

  “Nothing serious,” I told her. Maybe word would get back to Quinn that I’d moved on. She’d know what she missed out on.

  “I saw you flirting with her. She’s much better suited to you than Quinn will ever be.”

  “How do you know what Quinn needs?”

  “Can we talk about this later, please? Quinn isn’t in any position to be dating right now.”

  I was a bit disappointed but had my answer. Ginger had all but said Quinn was with someone else. Too bad that only made me want her more.

  “Cut! Who the fuck is talking on set?”

  Quinn

  “Ahhhh,” I sighed as I sank into the comfort of the velvet couch. It had been a long day at the restaurant, and my body ached in places I didn’t even know could ache. Being on my feet all day sucked out all of my energy. I carelessly tossed my shoes and purse on the floor and rolled over to my stomach.

  Ginger was home somewhere; I spotted her Rover by the side of the house. I hadn’t seen her in days, which was odd because in the past few weeks we had returned to being friends. Once I got past her new superficial attitude, I recognized the same girl I’d grown up with my entire life.

  Footsteps scuffled across the floor, before Ginger appeared in her pink silk pajamas. Her red hair sat in a bun high on her head.

  “Long day?” she asked.

  “You have no idea, the customers were bitchy, I can’t wait to find a new job.”

  “How is the job hunting by the way?”

  “Awful. Besides waitressing, I have no experience.”

  “You have experience in makeup artistry. If you would just let me, I could get you a job working on set. You could do the stars makeup. I bet you could even work on your special effects and get a referral.”

  A year ago, that would have been my dream job.

  “I can’t do makeup, you know that.”

  “Fine,” She huffed.

  “How was your day?”

  She shrugged and sat down next to me.

  “Chase got me in trouble for talking on set.”

  “Really? About what?” I didn’t want to come right out and ask her about him, but I was a little curious as to what he was up to.

  “What do you think? The guy had the nerve to ask about you.”

  My face flushed with excitement, but I hide it well.

  “Oh really? That’s strange.”

  “I can’t wait to get a few days off. I am thinking about spending a day at the beach this weekend. Want to come?”

  “The beach! It’s crowded, hot, and a random guy always hits on me.”

  I hadn’t taken anytime to sightsee. Right now, I needed to concentrate on moving on with my life. I wanted to stand on my own two feet.

  “It’s not all that bad. We can work on our tan and go to the boardwalk.”

  “You know I hate the water,” I whispered. I hadn’t been to a lake, ocean, or river in over six months.

  “Avoiding it won’t make things any better. It’s an ocean, Quinn. Come on, oceans take up like 70% of the earth’s surface!”

  I took a few slow, deep breaths. Beach trips would have been inevitable considering we lived so close to the ocean, but I wasn’t prepared to take such a big step with Ginger.

  “Some other time.” I quickly attempted to change the subject. “How are things with Barrett?”

  “Oh, just plain awful,” she told me. She flopped down on the couch next to me. She and Barrett were in an on again, off again type of relationship. Since I moved in, he had cheated on her twice. That we knew of. She deserved so much better, if only she could see that.

  “He is so secretive sometimes. Like he won’t tell me where he’s been or where he’s going. I know he goes out a lot with the guys, but I’m his girlfriend. The least he could do is respect me.”

  “Leave him. You could do so much better.”

  “I dunno. Sometimes he can be so thoughtful.”

  “New subject, please.” I was sick of her defending that scumbag.

  “Do you have any tampons?” she asked me unexpectedly. “I’m almost out and I don’t feel like going back out.”

  “Um…” I thought back. The past few weeks had been stressful to say the least. Work had kept me busy. I didn’t want to end up alone and depressed again. I should have had some in my bathroom. I bit my lip as I realized how long it had been.

  “Shit, Shit, Shit, shh…it!” I cried out. I stood up and paced the room.

  “Jeez, Quinn, you’re scaring me,” she said. I put my hands on the side of my head. A migraine tried to push its way out or some sort of panic attack.

  This can’t be right. I can’t think properly.

  I was stressed out over the move, so I hadn’t kept track of how late my period was.

  “Oh, crap…” I said.
By now, Ginger was standing next to me freaking out.

  “What? What is it? What are we crapping about?” She tried to follow me as I paced the room.

  “I don’t got any tampons!” I told her. She laughed loudly and put her hands to her stomach as if she was in pain. “Oh God, is that all? Really, it’s okay. I’ll just go to the store in the morning. By the way, it’s ‘I don’t have’, Quinn. We’ve gotta work on your accent.”

  I rubbed my eyes with my hands and tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to pour out.

  “No, you don’t understand. I don’t have any because I haven’t bought any since I moved in. I haven’t had my period in ohhh…I’m almost 3 weeks overdue.” Realization dawned over my cousin’s face. She put her hands on her hips as if to scold me.

  “That means….Quinn? Who?”

  I didn’t want to tell her. I didn’t even want to think about it. No one knew about my little adventure, the night I let it all go. Wasn’t this what I deserved? She narrowed her eyes in on me when I didn’t answer.

  “Quinn…who did you sleep with? As far as I’m aware of, you haven’t dated anyone.”

  She was right. I tried to stay away from the male population. A few guys from work had asked me out, but I wasn't ready for a relationship.

  “Chase,” I mumbled.

  “Who?”

  “Chase!” I said louder.

  “Chase Crowley? You mean that night at the party? You dirty, dirty girl.”

  Ginger stood up and gave me a sly grin before hitting me in the shoulder.

  “Hey, you can’t hit a pregnant person. I’m pretty sure it’s illegal.”

  “Don’t dodge my questions.”

  I slowly nodded my head in shame. “One time, one night, and it was a huge mistake. I didn’t want a relationship. You know I’m not ready, but he kept calling afterwards. He mentioned wanting to hook up again, so I gave him my number. It just felt like the polite thing to do?”

  Ginger slapped her hand over her mouth to cover a chuckle. “You used him, and you are worried about being polite?”

  “I didn’t know what the correct protocol was!”

  “He obviously likes you.”

  “So? He’s a womanizer. You told me so yourself.”

  “First off, I only told you what I heard.”

  Ginger took my hand and led me toward the staircase. “Secondly, no use getting worked up over what could be nothing. Let’s take a test. I have a few upstairs.”

  I followed behind her, and kept my mouth shut as to why she kept pregnancy tests in her room.

  Once inside her large master suite, she asked me to pee in a cup. Numbness. That was the only thing I felt. When I was finished, I changed into an old t-shirt and plopped down on her bed. I stared at the dozens of stars Ginger had glued to her ceiling. I hadn’t allowed myself to process the reality of what was happening. I was screwed up. I would make a horrible mom. When Ginger walked out of the bathroom, I sat up and tried to gage her expression.

  “Well?” I asked her. “What did it say?”

  “Pregnant,” she confirmed. I groaned and fell back on the bed. It was expected, a curse for a moment of happiness. My luck in life was shitty.

  “Whatcha gonna do?” she asked me. I rolled over on to my stomach.

  “I guess I should speak to Chase,” I told her. Ginger opened her mouth but quickly shut it.

  “What? Is that a bad idea?”

  She grabbed my hand between hers. “Honey, Chase isn’t boyfriend material, plus I saw him trying to hook up with an intern today. I don’t know how good of a father he’d make.”

  “I’m scared,” I told her. My mind still refused to wrap around this new discovery.

  “It will be okay, I promise. He did say he had been trying to call you back. Why did you blow him off?”

  “I didn’t want a relationship. I just wanted to feel something.” And I had. That night with him had stirred emotions inside of me that I’d locked away.

  “Oh you felt something alright. And in a few months you’re gonna feel a world of pain coming right out of your va-jay-jay.”

  I crossed my legs uncomfortably and made a face. “Ew, gross. Do you really have to remind me?”

  “It’s not that bad anymore. Most of the girls I know have early C-sections. No stretch marks and you can plan your pregnancy around a movie shoot.”

  That sounded utterly ridiculous. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I didn’t understand why anyone would risk her and the child’s safety just to avoid stretch marks.

  “I’m not a celebrity,” I reminded her.

  “So? Your baby daddy is. That will make you tabloid fodder!”

  Thinking about my face on the front of those horrid magazines made my stomach queasy. Ginger was right though. If people found out who the father of my child was, they would never leave me alone. I didn’t want to be in the spotlight like that, not like before.

  “This is so weird! I can’t believe you’re pregnant,”

  She was more excited than I was.

  “This isn’t exciting news, Ginger. This is bad, very bad. Chase and I aren’t together. Who wants to raise a child with a stranger?”

  “He doesn’t have to be a stranger. I suppose you can always try to date,” she told me. My heart fluttered when he touched me. There had been a spark there, but I’d chosen not to pursue it. Was it too late to give it another go? I squeezed my eyes shut and struggled to control my breathing. I was supposed to get married and have children with Bash. Not some stranger. My life wasn’t supposed to end up like this.

  I took a deep breath. Slowly in and slowly out. The rushing in my ears began to calm, and slowly the closed-in feeling subsided. I leaned against her shoulder and began to cry. Ginger grabbed my hand. By now, she was able to recognize the signs when I had a panic attack.

  “Shhh….breathe with me. Just relax. It was only a suggestion. You don’t have to marry Chase. Did you guys use protection?”

  I shook my head. “I wasn’t thinking clearly, I’d had way too much to drink. I’m on the pill. I figured we were safe. I may have missed a few pills here or there, but I didn’t think anything of it. Things were hectic. ”

  “Stupid move, Quinn.”

  “It was a stupid, stupid mistake.”

  “Do you like him?”

  “Doesn’t matter. I’m not ready,” I told her. I put my hands to my temples as I tried not to think about what was growing inside of me.

  “You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

  “No, love was never in the cards for me. I don’t think I can do this.”

  She bit her lip as if she were trying to hold something back. “Well…you know you don’t have to keep the baby… ”

  I picked up my pillow and tossed it at her head.

  “Shut-up, Ginger! That isn’t an option.” Adoption and abortion were both out of the picture. No matter what my situation, I couldn’t give up my child. I wanted children, but not this soon.

  “By the way, put something else on.” Ginger walked to her drawers and pulled out a pink nightgown. I stared down at the old Grateful Dead t-shirt that hit my knees.

  “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

  “For one, you’re pregnant with another man’s baby. I recognize that shirt. You can’t wear Bash’s clothes anymore.”

  I scowled at her before pulling the large shirt over my head. I snatched the nightgown from her hand and put it on.

  “Happy?”

  “Yes.”

  She gave me a sly look before continuing. “Go to the doctor first, make sure, and then call him.” What she said was the most rational thing to do. But like a coward, I wanted to hide. I was so close to getting a normal life. I had a job and a few friends. I couldn’t hide anymore.

  Chapter Four

  Quinn

  “Please?” Ginger begged. I can’t believe she had lured me to the studio with the promise of food.

  “I’m not going to do it.”


  “Come on, I already told them you would. You can’t leave me hanging like this.”

  “That was a shitty move, so fix it yourself.”

  “Pretty please? With a cherry on top?”

  “No way.”

  “I’ll love you forever.” She grabbed on to my arm and tugged.

  “I’m freakin’ tired, Ginger. I couldn’t sleep a wink last night.”

  “Everything okay?” Her blue eyes widened in concern.

  “No.” I rubbed my hands down my face. “They started back up again.”

  “The nightmares?”

  “Yeah, and it’s kept me up for the past week. Ever since I went to the baby doctor.”

  I shuddered and thought back to my visit. The numbness as the doctor confirmed my pregnancy. Even now, I felt nothing.

  “Honey, it’s just stress. You need to relax.”

  “How can I when every time I close my eyes I see Bash’s face?”

  “Is it the exact same dream?”

  I closed my eyes as the scene flashed before my eyes. Me. Bash. The water. I’d gone without the dream for a few months. I thought that it was over.

  “Yes.”

  “Maybe you should start seeing someone again.”

  “They’ll just make me talk, and I’m sick of talking about it. I just wanna get on with my life.”

  “I’m sorry. Let’s just forget about the makeup job, okay? I’ll tell them you can’t do it.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight.

  “Thanks, but you still owe me dinner.”

  “Sure let me grab my bag in my dressing room. Just follow me.”

  We left the parking lot as she led me into the studio.

  I stopped in my tracks as my eyes landed on Chase.

  He stood in the corner of the studio drinking a bottle of water, laughing with a few of the other actors. Though I hadn’t seen him in a month and a half, the mere sight of him instantly turned me on. His brown eyes lit up as he laughed along with the other guys. His hair fell flat around his ears today, and even from where I stood, I could pick out the dimple in his right cheek when he smiled. My eyes followed him with a magnetic pull. I’d been avoiding him like the plague since I found out I was pregnant, and now I remembered why. The moment I let him in, everything would change for me. I didn’t want anything to do with him.