Pregnant At Sixteen

Reed Max - Attraction

I'm sitting just meters away from Reena's hospital room when the door opens. First her mom accompanied by a nurse, step out. The doctor doesn't follow and I don't know why but that makes me really uneasy.

Reena...

I need to see her and I don't mean just to look. I need to touch her, feel her warmth next to mine and just pray hope that we are okay.

Minutes go by and when the doctor is yet to come out I feel like I'm going to pull every strand of my hair out, or bite my nails until there is only flesh. All this waiting is driving me insane! But before my worrying thoughts can make me go off the edge, the door opens and Dr. Wallace makes his exit.

I'm almost ready to get up when he looks at me and I fall stiff in my chair. For the first time in more than a month, he's not giving me a warm look. Instead now he's looking at me in a way I can only describe as hateful.

What the hell happened between him and Reena? Did she tell him something because clearly it is not good.

Shit!

Before standing I take a deep breath and try not to overthink things. I should just be glad she's okay and that's the main thing. I make my way to her too., take a long deep breath and open the door. I step in and notice Reena is sitting up with a worried look on her face.

"Reena?" She looks up at me and her wide eyes stare vacantly, like she's here but she's not really here.

I move closer, all the while doing so carefully. She looks so fragile I'm scared if I make a wrong move she'll disappear.

Slowly, I sit on the bed and when she turns to look at me, I pull her into my chest and hold her. When she starts shaking I squeeze her tighter wishing whatever fears she's feeling I can take them away so she can be at peace.

"You wanna talk about it?" She pulls from me and wipes at her face.

"I'm okay." She says and I hold her hand, pulling it from her face.

"I know you aren't." I wipe under her eye with my thumb and smile sadly. Her face drops and I put my hand under her chin, forcing it back up.

"Why were you ignoring my calls? I was so worried I thought..." I take a deep breath, sighing.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't really ignoring you just, a lot was going on and... I didn't want to involve you in all of that."

"You can't decide that for me Reena. You should have told me."

She shrugs and looks down. "My life's a mess."

"But I'm here now aren't I? What does that tell you?"

She scratches the side of her head and looks at me. "They told me you're the one that brought me here. So I guess I owe you." She gives me a ghost of a smile and my chest aches.

"A thank you would suffice." I say and when she smiles, I smile right back. But as soon as it appears I notice her eyes go blank and the smile falls away.

"Reena?" She looks at me and her eyes search my face like she's looking for something that's not there. "You want me to get the doctor or the nurse?"

She immediately responds by shaking her head no. "I'm fine, just thinking."

"About?" I ask and she looks away. I don't bother pressing, instead I hold her hand and feed her my warmth. After a long time she looks down at it like she's just now noticing that it's there.

"Why are you here Reed?" Even though it's a simple question, it rattles me the core as this is the second time she's asked me the same question. Only this time it sounds much more different and it saddens me.

"For you."

She shakes her head and I see a tear fall, she quickly wipes away the trail and pulls her hand out of mine. "It was a mutual understanding for both of us. We both," She stops and takes a quick breath. "We both benefited. There's no need to be pretending like it was anything more or that you care."

Her voice breaks and she looks away from me. I remain quiet, letting everything she said sink in. She thinks she can get me to leave by saying a few harsh words but truly, all I see is a girl who is afraid so instead plays cruel.

"I'm still not going anywhere." I sweep my hand over her cheeks and she breathes calmly. When I stop she shuts her eyes and massages her temples.

"That's what you say now."

"Look, I want you okay." It just comes out and when she looks up her eyes are searching but also seem well-guarded.

"What?" She says and this time I'm holding both hands as I stare at her. After seeing her lying unconscious for a month I decide that I'm going to tell her what I've wanted to before that night.

"I want you to be mine. I want to make us a thing, I want to hold your hands while at school. God Reena, I just want you to be that someone I can tell anything and listen to for hours nonstop. And no, I'm not saying this because of what happened, I've wanted you before that, but I just couldn't tell you. Then we had sex and my feelings for you grew and -" I take a long deep breath, "I want you to be my girlfriend and yes I'm sure it's what I want."

She gives me a quizzical stare, then her eyes narrow and her face grows hard. "You want me to be your girlfriend?"

"Yes, I want you to be my girlfriend."

"We don't even know anything about each other, we've only had sex. Once." She sighs.

I clear my throat. "Fair enough. Then I'll get to know you and then you'll be mine."

"It's not that simple, what if you don't like me anymore when you get to know me?"

I smile when I see the fear lurking beneath her strong dark eyes. "I will."

She rolls her eyes. "You're way too optimistic about this."

"And you're not." She rolls her eyes again and I smile a little. "I've liked you for more than a year now." She looks at me then and her eyes go wide before narrowing. "So you already have the advantage, and from what I've seen there's isn't anything about you I don't like."

Her head falls and she gathers her hands at her stomach before straightening and putting them at her side. "Let's hope you're right."