Love Hits Hard

Chapter 13-Girls Night

As we pull up to my house, I turn to Brendan and watch him as he places the car into park.

"Thank you for driving me home," I tell him as we look into each other's eyes.

"Anytime," he said as he grabbed my hands. "Remember that if you ever need me, I will always be there for you."

"I'll remember that," I said as I turned to get out of the car but before I did, I quickly turned around to Brendan and place a soft kiss on his lips.

He smiles and I get out of the car and walk to my door, I turn to wave goodbye but I can see that he is not paying attentions to I step into the house.

As I enter, I'm attacked with a hug from Adelaide who then grabs my hands and pulls my upstairs to my room.

She sits on the bed and throws me down next to her.

"Tell em everything," she says with a huge smile on her face.

"Wait for me," I hear Jessica call from downstairs followed by her footsteps pounding on the stairs.

"You guys are ridiculous," I laugh as Jessica slams the door open, shuts it quickly, and jumps on the bed next to me.

"Now you may begin," Jess says as she ties her hair into a bun.

"Nothing happened," I say in a mischievous manner.

"I may be 15 but even I'm not that sheltered," Adelaide says as she gently slaps my leg. "Something happened between you two, spill."

"We may have hooked up but that's all," I say laughing at how Jess and Ade are staring at me. "What?"

"Who's clothes are you wearing?" Jess said as she elbowed me.

"Oh, Brendan's," I say in a calm tone.

"You say that like it's a normal thing, it was your first date and you already spent the night. Before you know it, I'm going to be an aunt to another child," Adelaide said as she laughed and laid down on the bed by the pillows. 

"So, how was he in bed?" Jess asked in a mocking tone.

"Better than Adam is all I can say," I laughed and laid down next to Adelaide to which I was followed by Jess.

I snuggled into Adelaide and closed my eyes.

"Sleep," I said softly in the pillow.

"You need it," Adelaide said softly as she kissed my forehead and got up to leave the room. "We're continuing this conversation later."

I turned around and faced Jessica, "Jessica, there's a good chance I might be pregnant again," I said softly as I felt a tear slowly roll down my cheek.

"Did you use protection?" She asked softly as she wiped the tear and held me close to her.

"No," I whispered softly and felt a sob escape my body which caused for a sudden shake.

"How many time did you have unprotected sex?" Jess asked as she gently stroked my hair.

"A lot," I whispered.

"Well, if you are pregnant, we'll get through this together. Do you want to get an abortion? I'm sure you could still take the morning after pill."

"No, I have to deal with the consequences, I just don't want to ruin another child's life."

"Another?" She asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

"Jackson could have had a much better life if I gave him up for adoption. Now he just has a screw-up mother that goes around sleeping with the first attractive guy that shows interest in her and-"

"Athena," Jessica said as she cut me off. "You're not a screw up and if you ask me, Jackson got the best life possible because you are raising him. I'm not just saying this because you're my friend."

"Thank you," I said as I took a deep breath and felt my body slightly shake from the intake of oxygen. I took a few more deep breaths until my breathing evened.

I felt my eyes slowly getting heavier and I was pulled into a deep sleep.

Mom? Dad? I looked around me to see a fire engulfing the ground around me.

As my body forced me to look up, I saw my mother dangling above the fire from an invisible force.

I tried to scream out to help but I couldn't. I was useless, my voice gone. All of a sudden, I saw my dad run to her across the same force, grabbing her and holding her closely to his chest.

My breathing began to slow as I saw that they were together and safe. As my body looked down, I saw the flaw began to shrink.

In roughly a second, the force gave out, dropping them into the fire. As soon as they made contact with it, it grew. Becoming the height of the house and everything went black

I woke up to the feeling of my body shaking and realized that it was just my body shaking from the crying.

I look around, ready to call out to Jessica but I was alone and she was gone. What a lovely metaphor for the way my life became after Mom and Dad passed.

I saw Ethan slowly walk into the room and when he saw my limp, crying body, he rushed over to me and laid down next to me on the bed.

He hugged me to his chest and whispered to me, "it's okay, I'm here. You're going to be okay, nothing can hurt you while I'm with you."

"Ethan, Mom and Dad were... they were..."

"Shhh," he said pulling me close to his chest. "It's okay, I understand. You don't have to say anything that you don't want to. Save your energy," he said and covered me with the blanket that was laying near us. "I love you," he said softly and kissed my forehead. "I'm always going to be here, I'm never going to leave you like Mom and Dad did, I promise."

***

Hey guys, I haven't been doing little notes at the end of the chapters because I found myself skipping over them most of the time but for those few of you actually read it, I hope you have been enjoying the book.

I was thinking about dedicating chapters to the first reader to answer a question correctly at the end of a chapter but I don't know, what do you guys think?

Anyways, I hope that you're enjoying the story.

-Allie