IM5 Preference #36 "It's Been a While"

2. Dalton

You’ve got to do it. It’s for the best. At least, that’s what you tell yourself. It makes it easier, believing that this is the way to go. It doesn’t make you feel like you’re playing the bad guy, ruining the poor victim’s life. And yet, you’re both the villain and the victim, you’re ruining his life and telling yourself that you’re not ruining yours as well.

So you call him up and tell him that you “need to talk”. He pauses at the other end of the line and you can hear him let out his held breath as he replies with, “I’ll be right over.” And as soon as he walks in the house, you can feel the tension settling in. You know what he’s thinking, but you can’t let yourself chicken out of this, you have to end it, for the good of all three of you. Three. You’re two months pregnant and you can’t risk holding him back. It doesn’t matter that you think he’d want the best for your child, that’s not relevant. What matters right now is that you need to get out, get everyone out of this situation.

And when he arrives, his face is grave, and he knows what’s coming. You close the door without locking it and he shoves his hands in his pockets before turning to look at you. “You, um,” he clears his throat, “said you wanted to talk?” You just nod and avoid eye contact, “Y-yeah…” Absentmindedly, you gently place a hand over your stomach, tapping your fingers. “I think we should end this.”

That catches his attention. His head snaps up and he spins around, his eyes wide, “What?” You take a shaky breath and say it again, but more confidently than before, looking him right in the eye, “I said, I think we should end this.”

“After all this time?” He doesn’t even try to hide to the hurt in his voice as his eyes grow sad. And you just nod, letting it all sink in.

He exhales heavily, and until then you don’t realize that you were both holding your breath. He’s standing in front of the door, “You sure you don’t want to change your mind?” You want to say yes, but you know you can’t as you watch him walk out.

That night, after a two-hour bus ride, you find yourself in the hallway of an apartment complex, far from home. Your parents kicked you out, they said it was all your fault for letting yourself get pregnant, and you know that Stacie will be there for you. She was your mentor when you were going through a rough patch sophomore year, you opened up to her, and she knows you well.

When she answers the door to see your tear-stricken face, she doesn’t ask a single question, but just pulls you into the apartment and into a hug. You cry and cry, having lost not the support of both your boyfriend and your parents. But Stacie promises to stick around for you.

*             *             *             *             *

Raising your daughter turned out to be even more of a struggle than you thought it would be. Sure, you had Stacie to guide you, but she’s not exactly an experienced mother. On top of that, you’d been doing everything you could to avoid all contact with Dalton and the boys. You changed your phone number, you deleted all your social media accounts, and you hoped the fans won’t be able to dig up anything on you.

Thankfully, nearly four years go by peacefully, without so much as a peep about what happened. You’re at the grocery store, your three-year-old daughter, Christina, sitting in the shopping cart, holding her precious sock monkey. Even though Dalton always wanted to name his daughter “Vera Lynn”, you couldn’t bear to have any more reminders of him than necessary. You hear a soft plop as she drops her sock monkey on the floor and begins to cry.

“I got it,” he picks the sock monkey up off the floor and hands it to your daughter. Her crying stops right away and your heart skips a beat. He stares at her for a moment before turning to see you, his face full of shock. “Hi, Dalton.” You scratch your head, “This isn’t exactly how I imagined you two meeting…”

He looks from you to your daughter, “How did you imagine it?”

“Um, I didn’t.”

“Oh…Hey, listen, um, do you think you could call me sometime? I’d love to actually talk and catch up and…” his eyes wander to Christina.

You nod, “Sure, I can do that.”

“Do you need my num—”

“I still have it,” and you blush, remembering how you changed yours, but could never bring yourself to delete his.