My Brother's Best Friend (Shay Mooney)

Chapter 24

I yawn and roll over, reaching for Shay. I find a pillow in his place. In my incredibly sleepy state, I sit up and stretch, realizing I'm wearing Shay's sweatshirt. It has his smell on it, the mixture of soap and cologne.

My eyes dart around the room, looking for Shay, but he is nowhere to be found.

I get out of bed and exit the bedroom, walking into the kitchen and finding Shay. He's on the phone, leaning against the counter.

"Oh my God. Are you sure?" he whispers into the phone. He waits for a reply.

"Are you sure it's mine?" he asks the person he's talking to on the other line. He can't possibly mean what I think he means, right?

Shay nervously gulps and runs his hand through his hair. "Oh my God," he says, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"What are we gonna do? Are you going to have it?" He pauses. "You are?" Silence. "I need to go. I can't believe this. Bye."

Shay hangs up his phone and sits it down on the counter. He puts his head in his hands.

As I register what just happened, I try to force myself to not jump to conclusions. But from Shay's end of the conversation, it sounded a lot like the person on the other end of the line is pregnant and Shay is the father. I need an explanation for this.

"Shay?" I ask him, emerging from the hall. His head slowly rises from his hands to reveal a distressed look on his face.

"Good morning beautiful. How did you sleep?" he asks innocently.

"Shay, what was that phone call about?"

His eyes grow wide and he chews on his lip nervously. "You, ah, you heard that?" He anxiously scratches the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I did hear that...what's going on?" I say, the last few words coming out in a whisper.

"Emily. I love you, you know that right?" he asks, stepping towards me and placing his hands on my waist.

"Yeah, I guess..." I respond.

"Okay good." He hesitates.

"Shay, did you get someone pregnant?" I whisper. The look on his face answers the question for me. "Oh my God, you did. When did you do it? Who is the girl?" I pull away from his grip, slapping his hands away.

"Remember Meghan?"

"Oh my God, it was that slut? You had sex with her? I thought you only dated her for a few days!" I exclaim, extremely angry and hurt.

His face turns to a sour expression. "Emily, I am so sorry."

"Save it, Shay. When did you have sex with her? You only dated for a few days, right?" I can't decide if I'm angry or sad about this.

"Yes! We only dated for a week and two days. But, after we broke up...well, a few days later...we...we kind of...yeah. And then a week or two later, it happened again. And again after that," Shay confesses, looking down.

"You had sex with her three times? While we were together?" I say, astonished, biting back tears.

"Actually it happened five times...and we weren't technically together...you were dating Jason."

"FIVE TIMES?! Oh my god. And yeah, I was dating Jason at the time. But you and I had something then. You kissed me! And you told me you want to be with me. You were lying the whole time. You've been using me, haven't you?" I realize all of this at once. I can't stop the tears from falling.

"Baby, I am so sorry. I don't know why I did it. I love you and I've always been in love with you. I made a mistake-"

"You don't make a mistake five times. We're done. You know, you really are the player everyone thinks you are. Wow," I say confidently. I'll keep myself from falling apart in front of him.

"What's going on out here?" Dan asks, emerging from his room wearing pajama pants. His hair is messy and he looks like he's just woken up.

"Nothing," Shay mumbles.

"I heard screaming. Something has to be going on," Dan states.

"I gotta go," I mumble, pushing past my brother and stepping into the room Shay and I shared. I grab my phone and my dress and run out of the hotel.

I don't stop until I've reached my car. I slam my head on the steering wheel and cry.