Beautiful Tears: A Contemporary Fiction Short Story

Part 2

"I'm preg-" Her voice cracked and she buried her head on my shoulder. Tears formed a river down the arms as I held onto her. She leaned closer, pressing against my chest, and whispered, "I'm pregnant."

I could feel my own eyes watering. I tried to blink it away. "How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"I'm so sorry. What's your-"

"My name's Ruby. I know you've been waiting to ask." She shook her head frantically, like she was being attacked by flies. "Don't call me that, though."

"What do I call you then?"

"Alex."

My heart exploded.

"That was my daughter's name," I muttered absentmindedly. "She was your age, too."

She looked up surprised. "What happened to her?"

The tears flowed freely as she asked. "Nothing, nothing. I don't wanna talk about it."

She nodded and returned her head to my shoulder as we walked forwards. "Well... if you're not gonna talk can I?"

"Are you gonna tell me your story?"

"No." There was a long sigh after that. It held so much in it. Perhaps that was her way of telling the story. In that one instant, she gave me all the background information needed. "I'm going to tell you the baby's story."

Drawing a deep breath, she started. "I'm in high school. Freshman. Anyways, I'd never have a boyfriend before. I'd liked a few guys, even held hands with one, but never anything real or official.

"So the first day of school, my best friend comes up to me and says she got herself a new boyfriend. Pissed me off.

"What made it worse... Ugh. So anyways, she goes off and gets all serious with this one guy, and he's a total douchebag but whatever. She was happy, she had a boyfriend. She didn't need me anymore, apparently."

Alex kicked at a rock on the sidewalk, sending it skidding away. Groaning, she continued her story.

"So when her and this douchebag got all serious, I became a third wheel. No, not even that. She completely forgot about me. God, I was so pissed. Like... like we'd been friends since grade school. Second grade! And she just leaves me. Middle school changes people. I guess it only shows in high school."

I nodded.

"You agree?" She sounded surprised.

"I've met more teenagers than you'd expect." She shot me a curious glance. "Anyways, go on."

"Okay, okay. So after my best friend left me with her boyfriend, I got really desperate. I wanted a boyfriend badly. It was so stupid of me. I see that now."

"Hindsight's a-"

"Are you gonna let me finish?" she asked. I heard a laugh hidden in the question.

"Sorry, sorry." I snickered. "Go on."

"Well, I did finally get a boyfriend. He was ugly, though, and real nerdy. I guess he just wasn't my type. That's what I told him, anyways, when I dumped him."

I was tempted to make some remark about 'inner versus outer beauty' and begin that whole discussion, but wanted to hear the rest of her tale. I kept silent.

"Problem was, that nerd's got a wild imagination. Before I knew it, he was spreading rumors that me and him hooked up after a party and that I was really... um, talented. Good. If you know what I mean?"

I nodded. "So you got some more attention from boys, I expect?"

"Yeah..."

"I bet I can guess where the story goes from here."

"Hold on. Let me tell it." She cleared her throat and continued. "Before long, I heard the same rumors about my best friend and her boyfriend. A lot happened to her in a short amount of time. Apparently, she had sex with the guy and then decided she was lesbian? Or bi? I don't know. A week after that, she was goth. And then over Christmas Break she got saved at some church and was anti-sex completely?"

"Interesting."

"Yeah, that's one word for it." Alex sighed, again saying so much more with the simple action. "Well, we ended up becoming 'friends' again. But she was different, and we didn't get along as well. She wouldn't go to any parties, she wouldn't stop talking about God to me, and I felt like there was nothing else in her life. I mean, I've met some religious people who are pretty cool. I think she went overboard with it. She forgot there were people here on earth, too.

"I decided that I wanted to get back at her for backstabbing me like she had. Problem was, I had no idea how to do it. Until I remembered the rumors."

"Wasn't this like weeks after all that drama with the nerd, though?" I asked. In my mind, I was wondering how much farther it was to her house. We were far removed from the bridge now.

"Yeah, it was. This was months later. But somebody brought it up at lunch one day, and my best friend got really uncomfortable talking about it. Later that day, she confessed to me that it made her a bit angry, thinking about me 'breaking God's laws' and made her scared that I would end up in Hell. I think that's what she said. I just about told her to go there herself."

Alex stopped walking and looked around us at the city lights. We were passing through the main part of town. Even at night, it was beautiful and brightly-lit. Some lights never go out.

"I never noticed how pretty this place is," she mused. "To think I almost never saw it again..."

"It's okay." I put my arm back around her shoulder. She had moved away from me earlier as she began the story. "You're here, now, and you will be for a long time."

"Unless my dad kills me."

I shook my head, slightly amused. "Just go on with the story."

"Fine. Where was I? Oh, right."

She cleared her throat dramatically again, as she did every time the story began again.