Juilliard or Else

by Reese, Nichele

  My heart was breaking for him to come to me, take me away from this world I no longer belonged in; I only belonged with Tucker.

  "Abigail, come," Alex ordered to me, but I closed my eyes and tried to picture Tucker running through the airport.

  "This is the last call for all first class passengers to board the plane," the lady announced over the speaker again.

  "Abigail. Come, right now." Opening my eyes, I glared at him, the perfect Alex who everyone loved and adored. Alex, the perfect lawyer who didn't want anything to do with me, but wanted me to become a living object at his side. I wasn't going to do that. I pulled my phone out of my purse and slammed it down on the seat, making all my things scatter around everyone's feet.

  No! I wasn't going to be a Carol! I screamed at myself and took off through the airport.

  "Abigail McCall!" Carol yelled after me, but I couldn't stop; I wouldn't. I belonged with Tucker, even if he didn't want me. I needed him.

  I left Alex, Carol and my dad at the gate to the plane and ran like hell through the New York Airport. I was passing people so fast, they blurred by. I jumped over some luggage that was lying right in the way of my path, but I kept on running and I wasn't going to stop. My feet hit the carpet of the mini security pathway for the first class passengers as a security guard turned around in my path and I collided into his strong chest.

  "Miss, be careful," he growled as I passed his body. I dialed Tucker's number again as I stopped and waited in line for a cab, holding my phone up to my ear as my other hand rubbed my barely showing belly. The phone still rang – no voicemail was picking up, nothing.

  Grumbled angrily, I hit the red button to disconnect the call.

  "Abigail!"

  Looking over my shoulder at the call of my name. Alex's face was red from anger as he ran towards me.

  Crap!

  I finally got a guy to chase after me in the airport, but it wasn't the guy I wanted. I pushed and raced through the sea of people waiting in line in front of me.

  "Excuse me, emergency!" I yelled to get people to move. "Come on, people, move!" Some people pushed me back, called me a line cutter, but I didn't care, I just needed to get as far away as I possibly could from Alex. The look on his face wasn't pleasant looking.

  The first taxi I saw had an elderly lady trying to get in it. I couldn't push her and take her cab, so I stopped and waited. People still gave me small pushes on my back while hissing at me. When I finally came to the top of the line, I looked back, seeing Alex pushing through the same crowd I just passed.

  Crap!

  Very quickly, another cab came up to the curb and I made my way to the guy holding the door, who tried to shut the door at my approach.

  "No, no, no. Girlie, get in the back of the line." He pointed to the crowd behind me, some of them yelling, "Yeah!"

  Breathlessly I said, "You don't understand, I'm being chased. I need to get out of here," I pleaded with the guy. Looking behind me again, I saw Alex gaining on me the longer I stood here. "Please!" I saw the guy's eyes move in the distance over my shoulder, then someone grabbed my arm, hard.

  He spun me around. His blue eyes were deep with fury and dark. "Abigail, what are you doing?" Alex yelled in my face.

  "Let go, Alex!" I tried wrenching my arm away from him, but he gripped harder on me and squeezed so hard I cried out in pain.

  "Alex, stop! You're hurting me!" I cried and he ignored my cries, turning us around to start dragging me back to the front entrance of the airport. We bumped into people as I fought against his hold. People were gasping at the scene we were making, but no one was helping me. I twisted my arm, but he gripped harder. His looks were starting to scare me so badly; I knew he was going to hurt me. I yelped one more time as he bent my arm behind my back to hold me still. My shoulder aching, I ended up on my toes to help the burning pain in my shoulder.

  "Alex, stop!"

  "HEY!" someone called out. Alex and I both turned around to see the guy who was stopping me from getting the cab, standing off to the side of us. His fist cocked back and came swinging, hitting Alex right in the jaw. Alex went down, not letting go of my arm and I fell on top of him. Pain shot through from my elbow up to my shoulder, and I cried out. I looked up to see the man who hit Alex reach at me and I cringed back, afraid he would hit me, too.

  "Come on, girlie." He suddenly scooped me up and jogged towards the line of cabs waiting. Another guy was holding the door open as the other slid me in the back seat and buckled me up.

  "I'm sorry, girlie, that I didn't help you. Here," He held out some money for me to take.

  I shook my head, "No, I can't take your money." Tears streaked down my face from the pain in my arm. The guy didn't listen and tossed the bills over the seat to the driver, "Take her anywhere. GO!" He slammed the door and the cab screeched away from the curb. I didn't dare to look back and see Alex standing at the curb.

  "Where to, girlie?"

  I looked up and met the cabbie's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Bushwick, Brooklyn please." I sat back and winced at the pain radiating up my arm. My cell rang and I fished it out of my pocket; I groaned when I saw Carol's name across the screen, deciding if I should actually take the call, or just toss my phone out the window all together.

  "Hello?"

  "Abigail, don't you dare go to him," Carol yelled. I had to pull the phone away from my ear at her screeching voice on the receiving end. "What are you thinking? You get back here right now!"

  "I'm going, Carol, I love him."

  "He can't take care of you or that baby of his. You know he can't! He deals drugs, Abigail. He's a loser."

  I rolled my eyes. "Yes he can, and money doesn't mean everything, Carol. I want to be with him, it's him I choose," I snapped back at her. I heard Carol protest and some ruffles like someone was trying to take the phone away from her.

  "Carol, enough!" I heard my dad yell, and then he came on the line, "Abigail?"

  I got nervous, afraid he was going to tell me to come back as well, "Yes, Daddy?" I gripped the phone and waited for his response.

  "Tell Kyle hello, and be careful."

  "Daddy, I need his address. I don't know where he lives."

  More tears shed from my eyes as I hung up the phone and stuffed it back into my pocket.

  The ride to Brooklyn was very uncomfortable. I rested my head on the back and watched the passing buildings of Tucker's rundown neighborhood. If I had one word to describe Brushwick, it would be "scary". This was the scariest place; no wonder when I asked Tucker to take me to his home, he refused. He flat out told me, "You can't go there, ever." Now I understood what he meant; I was afraid of the group of people we passed on the sidewalk. I was afraid of the broken glass windows in the graffiti covered buildings.

  When we came to a stop at his building, I was afraid to get out of the cab, but I couldn't stop myself now. I stepped on the sidewalk, placing my hand on my little baby bump as I made my way to the front door. I tried to open it, but it was locked. I saw the little numbers of the apartment number and read Tori Tucker 416. I pushed the little button and the deep buzz sounded in my ears.

  "Yea." A very descrambled female voice came over the speaker.

  "Is Tucker home?"

  "Who is this?"

  "It's Abigail McCall. Is Tucker here?" I rested my hand on the brick wall, trying not to groan because of the pain in my elbow and shoulder. My hair curtained around my face as I waited. The door suddenly opened and a group of guys almost ran me over. One bumped into me and I hissed in pain. They turned.

  "Oh, who you here to see?" one asked.

  I had wedged myself between the door and a corner of the building. I shut my eyes and that's when I heard his voice.

  "Hey!"

  I opened my eyes to see Tucker standing there at the end of the pathway, wearing his gray hoodie with his hood pulled up. The guys parted around me as Tucker approached us.

  "Oh hey, Tucker. This one yours?" The same guy that talked to me asked Tucker.<
br />
  "Yeah, back off. She's mine."

  My Tucker I fell in love with over six months ago was back, the father of our child growing inside me. A sob escaped my lips as I rushed over to him and crashed into his chest, crying on his shoulder as he held me tight against him. The other guys walked around us, leaving me be.

  "Where have you been?" I mumbled into the fabric of his hoodie. "I have been trying to call you," I said as more sobs came out.

  "I threw my phone at the wall and I just went to the bank. I thought you were at the airport; you were going to leave me. I thought I lost you for good. Gabs, let me explain what you saw. I'm not gonna lie. Yes, I was dealing, but I was getting rid of it all. I told them not to contact me – to go straight to Ethan."

  I pulled back. "I know. I panicked. I'm sorry. I could never leave you, Tucker. I love you and I want to be with you. We are going to be a family." I took his hand to lay it on my little round stomach. "We want you, only you. I don't want anything else besides you," His hand rubbed my belly in little circles and his eyes filled up with tears. He looked relieved, almost as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He let out a breath and looked at me in the eyes.

  "I think this is yours." Tucker placed my now repaired snowflake necklace in my palm. Tears streaked down my face. He clasped it around my neck where it belonged. "Marry me, Gabs. Right now, no more running. You're mine and only mine."

  I couldn't stop my head from nodding; I didn't even want a night to sleep on it. I wanted to marry him and make him my husband more than anything, and no one could stop me, not Carol, not Alex – nobody.

  Tucker grabbed my hand as we ran to the moving taxi going down the street, and when we climbed in, Tucker said, "New York courthouse, please." I was all smiles as the cab drove us to the courthouse. I called Jade and told her our plans; she and Jett were going to meet us there to stand as our witnesses. Jett even said he had a surprise for us.

  Tucker and I couldn't stop kissing each other, giving the cab driver a show all the way to the courthouse. His hand never left my belly, either. He rubbed it over and over while sighing in my mouth. And when he leaned more into my side and put some pressure down on my elbow, I winced and pulled back.

  Tucker took a look at my elbow and shoulder as I told him everything that happened at the airport. I tried to bend in a way so I could see my elbow, but I couldn't see the gash, so he described to me.

  "I don't think it's broken, but we'll get it looked at, I promise," he said as he kissed my forehead. I really didn't care if we got it looked at. I just wanted to get married.

  We pulled up outside the courthouse and I spotted Jade and Jett at the top of the stairs. They both embraced us in hugs.

  "It's about time you pulled your head outta your ass," Jade said in my ear and then whisked me off to the bathroom.

  Jade had a white garment bag over her arm, which she handed to me while she unzipped it; inside laid a beautiful little white summer dress, which I knew well, and knew who it belonged to before. It was Rachel's dress.

  "Rachel would have wanted you to wear it," she told me, brushing out my hair. Yes, she would have and she would be here getting me all ready with a cake load of makeup and pulling the crap out of my hair. I stifled a giggle at the memories I made with the mad redheaded girl.

  Jade left my hair loose and I slipped in the white gown with matching white pumps. My heels clicked on the marble flooring as we approached a courthouse clerk who told us where to find the boys and the judge. The courthouse was all stone marble with deep dark wood for all the doors. Walking up to a metal detector, I went through it just fine, but Jade had trouble with her belt. A security guard helped us and then led the way to another door to another guard.

  He nodded at us, "Miss Abigail, I presume?"

  Breathlessly, I managed to get out a very quiet, "Yes," while death gripping Jade's hand.

  "Right in here, ma'am." He opened the door with a big smile. The first person I saw was Tucker; he was dressed in an all-black suit and his wild long hair was slicked back, hands laced together in front of him. Anxiety raced through my body as I wanted to skip down to him. A judge stood up from behind his desk, dressed all in black with a white collar; I spotted Jett to Tucker's right and Jade held my hand as I walked the short distance to my knight, who I would always love and adore. Tucker's hand reached out for me and I took it as he pulled me tightly to his side, wrapping an arm around my back. My eyes couldn't leave Tucker's as the judge told us to repeat the vows, and he mouthed to me, "You're beautiful and I love you," through the entire process.

  "Do you have rings, young man?" We both looked at the judge and we laughed. We didn't even think about the rings.

  "No," we both said in unison, still laughing.

  "Yes, you do," Jett announced from the side. Jade took my hand and pressed a cold circle in my palm, while Jett did the same thing to Tucker.

  "Abigail." I looked at the judge. "Repeat after me, my dear," I nodded and looked back into Tucker's blue sapphire eyes and I repeated the judge's words:

  "I, Abigail McCall, take thee, Kyle Tucker, to be my partner in life. I will cherish you and love you today, tomorrow and for always. From this day on, I choose you to be my husband," I said and slid the cool silver band onto Tucker's ring finger.

  I heard a little sniffle from Jade and looked over at them. She was leaning up against Jett, her head on his shoulder, holding a tissue to her chest. I hadn't seen her this happy since Rachel died. I looked back to Tucker, who had the biggest smile on his face.

  "Very good. Kyle." He looked at the judge. "Repeat after me."

  "I, Kyle Tucker, take thee, Abigail McCall, to be my partner in life. I will cherish you and love you today, tomorrow and for always. From this day on, I choose you to be my wife." We both looked down to watch Tucker slide the little matching silver band on to my finger; it was perfect. Tucker cupped my cheeks, meeting his eyes that were glossed over with unshed tears of happiness. "Abigail, I promise to love you for always. To love our baby, to always be there for you, never to leave you, to take care of you, no matter what. I'll always be here, baby girl."

  The judge cleared his throat, "You may kiss your wife, Kyle."

  Then our lips collided for the first time as husband and wife. I couldn't be happier to have chosen the right man for me. I knew that Tucker was going to be the best husband and father I knew he could be. People in the little room applauded for us as we continued to kiss each other, so soft and tender of a kiss. One person was still clapping. I glanced back to see my dad and Carol at the door, my dad the only one applauding for us.

  My dad walked towards us with Carol on his heels, and not a very agreeable look on her face. "Welcome to the family, son," he said and my dad hugged Tucker with multiple pats on the back. Carol walked up to me with a sad smile. "Abigail, if this is what you want, it's your decision. Not a great or wise one, but hopefully you'll learn one day."

  "I'm happy. That's all that matters to me." I stood my ground with her. My dad engulfed me in a strong bear hug and dragged me away rather quickly to the side of the room. I looked back to Tucker and Carol, who looked like she was apologizing to him while Tucker looked really mad with his arms crossed over his chest.

  "Abigail, I wanted to let you know that I fired Alex," my head snapped back to his face.

  "What? Why?" I asked with my mouth hanging open. I hope it wasn't because I decided not to go with Alex to Paris.

  "Airport security told me what had happened when we came out. I found Alex and fired him on the spot for treating you the way he did." He exhaled, "I'm so sorry, sweetheart," Then hugged me again, as he got a little choked up in my hair from his tears.

  Tucker cleared his throat and my dad stepped aside, lifting up his glasses and wiping away the tears from his cheeks, "Sir, I plan on taking care of your daughter, more than you will ever know. I promise," Tucker told him and my dad clapped him on the shoulder.

  "From father to new son-in-law, you clean up your ac
t. That's my daughter and grandbaby. I expect you guys to be over every Sunday for dinner once that baby comes. You got it?"

  "Of course, Daddy," I said kissing his cheek. My dad left Tucker and me in the corner of the judge's little office.

  "Thanks for the call, Harry," I heard my dad say, and then hugged the judge. Of course, the judge called my dad. He probably saw McCall on the list and panicked, knowing how ruthless my dad could be; my guess is he called him right away to get him over here.

  "Any regrets, Mrs. Tucker?"

  I looked back into Kyle's warm blue eyes with nothing but love and no regret whatsoever. "None, Kyle, absolutely none."

  "Kyle huh?" he asked, cupping my cheek and I nodded.

  "Kyle Tucker. My Kyle Tucker," I said into his hand, and then I pushed up on my toes to gently touch my lips to his. I loved him and this is where I belonged, with him and our little baby that was on the way.

  "This going to be enough?" I asked the manager of the new apartment building, that I just put a down payment on.

  "Should be," he answered, clapping my shoulder. "Congratulations!"

  I glanced up at the man with a wide smile. "Thanks." It felt pretty good to finally own my own place, something I thought would never happen. The manager, Saul, left me alone to take more looks around. It was a pretty decent sized place with two bedrooms, two baths and was clear across the city. Gabs would like it here; she sure would be surprised on how we could afford something like this, but what she didn't know was that while Gabs was going to the airport, Carol had a little visit with me, trying to pay me to stay away. Of course, I didn't have a chance to tell her to fuck off before my mother reached out and snapped the ten thousand dollar check from her spoiled rich fingers. I pocketed that money for a good three years, letting it grow in the bank so I could support Gabs and our family, just like I promised her.

  My cell started ringing as I locked up the apartment door; I pulled out my phone to confirm it was indeed Mrs. Tucker herself.

  "Hello?"

  "Hey babe. You almost here? I'm so ready to be outta here." I could hear the rambunctious little kids in her studio, all ready to be done and go home.