Hate Only Last So Long.

Not How They Seem

"Darnell and Chris were asking for you. Do I want to know why you told your brother to say that you were sick?" Miss Grace inquired, entering her son's room Sunday afternoon.

"You've been shut up inside your room since yesterday morning. Did everything go alright at Taylor's house?" She prodded, removing Spencer's cell phone from his hands, to have his undivided attention.

Spencer sighed, knowing he wasn't going to be able to avoid his mother's curiosity. "Not really." He admitted as his mother sat on his bed, ready to listen.

"What happened? Did you and the boys get into a fight?" Grace questioned softly, noting the stressed expression on her son.

"Nah, not Nell and Chris." Spencer denied. "It's about me and Olivia. I found out something that she hid from me, or never got a chance to tell me. I'm not sure which one, right now." Spencer vaguely detailed to his mom, unclear about the majority of the story.

"Are you and Olivia on talking terms again?" Grace asked, stunned by the revelation, after listening to her son rag on his former friend for over a year. "I thought you two were still at your dumb war of hearts."

"Ma, if you ever got knocked up by Carter and decided not to keep it, do you think you'd at least be responsible for telling him first? Or even at all." Spencer wondered aloud. "Or is it in your rights to end the pregnancy and keep the entire thing to yourself?"

"Why would you ask about something like that?" Grace was baffled, taken aback by her son's line of questioning. "Spencer Trevon James, did you get one of those fast little girlfriends of yours pregnant?" She interrogation, glaring at Spencer who rolled his eyes in reply.

"No, Ma. That's not what this is about!" Spencer groaned, frustrated by his choice to dance around the topic. "Look,  before Olivia left the country we uh...we hooked up!"

"Spencer James! You were fourteen!" Grace shouted, popping her son on the arm.

"Ouch, Ma," Spencer whined, rubbing his arm. "It was one time and we didn't know what we doing until we did it."

"Did you knock Billy's daughter up, Spencer James?" Grace asked firmly, demanding a clear response. "Am I a grandmother, yes or no?"

"Yes, and no," Spencer confessed, confusing his mom. "I don't know what happened exactly, but Olivia was pregnant when she was in London. But now she's back, but no kid. Layla came by Taylor's Friday night and made a scene. She kept going on about how Liv secretly killed my kid and never told me." I angrily recalled. "Then Liv bolted without even telling me what went down, and she hasn't reached out to me since. What am I supposed to do?"

Grace frowned, trying to process the news. "I don't know what happened to Olivia while she was away. What I do know is you two were peas in a pod once, and then you fell for each other." Grace mused remembering watching the two young kids, crushing on one another during their middle school years. "I also know that every woman or young lady has a reason for how they react to motherhood, and sometimes it's different for others to understand. So if you want to know, to understand, what it is that Olivia is hiding from you, it's better to hear it from her than to rely on an unfit witness."

"And if she doesn't want to tell me." Spencer urged.

"Then make her tell you." Grace shrugged. "But neither of you will find peace being cooped alone for days. She isn't going to call, because something like this is better-explained face to face. And sometimes it takes the stronger person to make take the first step."
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"Dad, can we order in tonight?" Olivia inquired loudly, striding down the stairs, assuming Billy was on the bottom floor of their home somewhere.