Decisions

Chapter 10

It was as if the room had froze. Time stopped. The look in Aaron's eyes of betrayal said it all. Aaron begins to walk up to Nash, I stand in front of him. "Aaron, please its not what it looks like."

"Move aside Bethany."

"Aaron, come on please, its really not what you think." Aaron grabs my arm not even looking at me and shoves me aside. I trip over my feet into the coffee table. I go to stand up again but Nash begins to walk over, till Aaron stops him grabbing the cuff of his hood in his hand.

"Mate, what do you think your doing. You come into my house, ruin my living room and then go and abuse your girlfriend. Get your hands off of me." Nash pushes Aaron with his good hand, Aaron shoving back.

"Don't you dare touch my girlfriend, what happens between us stays between me and her. You have already done enough damage. Knocking her up and all."

"That is enough" I shout now standing up. "Aaron you know I could only be pregnant with your kid. Why can't you just accept that?"

Aaron moves from Nash to me.

"Beth you are a bunch of crap. You play this whole I love you and only you game, but I knew I just knew something was up. I don't believe you could ever be pregnant when we only slept together once. but I trusted you. Then the moment I come back in you are here with another guy, that you clearly tried to hide from me." He grabs my shoulders now and begins to shake me. "Wake up Bethany, you stuffed up. Don't put your problems on me. How selfish could you be, try ruin my career because you slept around." He starts to push me to the wall. I become pinned. I turn my head. "You may think you are so much better than everyone else Beth, but trust me when I tell you, you don't have anything to give. You are not attractive, or smart or funny. I only dated you because I knew you were a virgin. Or at least I though you were. But now you are nothing and have nothing, and will never have anything to give again." The words pile up and I become weighted down, tears begin to fall. Nash comes over pulling Aaron off of me. "Leave now, and don't you ever come here again or I will call the police." Aaron slowly begins to back away. "Have fun being a teenage parent. Wouldn't want to be in your shoes. I think my future has been threatened enough for one day, so I should be off." He walks to the door whispering before he leaves. "Couldn't even wait till I got in the car." The door slams. I stay sitting on the floor by the wall. I look around at the chaos that was created. What am I going to do? I look up at Nash across the room, he now looks as tired as Aaron. It's not fair me bringing my problems into their life like this. He turns to me holding out a hand. I take it. He walks me over to the couch. "I want you to sit here, I'm going to go check on Skylynn and put her to bed, then when I come back I will sit with you and you can do whatever will make you feel better. I promise I will not be long." He lets go of my hand that I forgot he was holding and walks upstairs. I look down at the promise ring Aaron gave me. What a weak promise. I wiggle the ring off of my finger and hold it in my hand. His words repeat in my head. I am nothing. Without Aaron what am I? I begin to sob again. I am so sick of crying. I look at the ring and the house, our family, this perfect life we dreamed of starts to float away. How will I ever find anyone now? I should of knew this life we made was too good to be true. I look down at my stomach. I throw the ring. It's no longer my life but ours.

Nash walks back downstairs. "She is all tucked down, I told her all the noise was from a movie we were watching, she is now sound asleep. And you have my full attention." He walks over and sits beside me. "Bethany, now I know we haven't known each other that long, but I want you to know I consider us friends. And if you need to talk about anything I am here. You have kept my secret and have been nothing but kind to me. Other than breaking my arm but you know what I kind of like the cast look. Anyway I don't really understand what is going on but if that is the Aaron you have been talking about he is a total jerk. And every single thing he said tonight is a lie. Trust me Bethany he is not good for you, and I hope you never have to see him again." I look at Nash going to defend Aaron, but then I look around at the mess. "Bethany, you deserve so much better." I look back at Nash. "Thank you. Really."

"So do you want to tell me about this?" He says pointing at the mess.

"It might be easier to start at the beginning." I tell Nash all about Aaron. And once I started I couldn't stop I never realised how much of this I had been holding in. I tell him all about Aaron how he supports the family, about his fears of me. I tell him about the fits of anger but also the beautiful apology gifts, I tell him about his dads business and about our anniversary night. I told him about the pregnancy. "He's not perfect Nash, I will be the first to admit that. But truthfully who really is. He is just scared and now I'm alone" I lower my head and Nash touches my hand.

"Oh Bethany. I never knew. I would never had made those jokes yesterday if I did. I know no one is perfect but Bethany, your boyfriend is someone who should make you feel perfect. Not someone that tears you down and makes you feel less. What he was doing to you was manipulative not protective. And this baby, I mean your anniversary night, that was rape. Your no was your no. And I don't care what he says he took advantage of you. Bethany you never ever deserved someone like this. And please I ask of you don't see him again. You really should talk to someone about this." I look up into his blue eyes. "Nash, what's done has been done. I really don't want to go to the police about it anymore. I now just want to do the best I can for this child. I don't want this child to know how it was conceived. My family name already carries so much shame."

"What do you mean?"

"Well lets just say this child I carry wasn't the only child conceived out of wedlock. My mum was 15 when she left home. Her parents couldn't provide for her. My grandad was an alcoholic and my grandmother passed away when my mother was young. She lived on the streets and being so young was unable to get work, so became a beggar. One day while begging she met Drew. Drew was a photographer and promised my mum a future in modelling. He said all her problems would be solved. Everything at first seemed so perfect. My mum was his model client and he fed and clothed my mum. They lived together and mum made quite a bit of money from modelling work. One day Drew suggested a naked shoot, mum loving Drew trusted him. They were so close but when mum found out she was pregnant with me Drew no longer loved her. Stretch marks don't look good on camera. He made her choose between me or him and after choosing me he sold her photos. Her naked pictures were soon plastered everywhere. Article after article '16 and all grown up' and 'why be young when you can have fun.' She was devastated. She had saved enough money from work to travel to the country. So she packed what little things she had and took a train. She managed to get a job at a local inn where she ended up meeting my grandparents. She moved in with them and they gave me the best childhood I could ever ask for. That was also how she met James my dad. James was the son of Nana Ada and from there was history. They were married moved back out to the city, had Charlie and all was good until Dad got cancer. He passed on my sixteenth birthday. And that is why Aaron gave me my promise ring. Because I said I didn't want to be with him and needed to be with my family. I should have trusted myself, but he promised a future, a future I didn't think I had. And that is all of it."

The room went quiet again, we were just two people sitting amongst so much chaos. Till Nash spoke up. "Bethany I had no idea"

"Hey, its okay."

"You know what though, I feel like out of anyone your mum will understand. You should tell her. Really." I look at our hands. I look at Nash. "Thank you, for all of this, thanks for listening." He squeezes my hand a little. "I always will." I blush a little and smile. I look at the wall clock and am in shock. Its midnight. I have been talking for hours. "Oh my goodness, we should get to bed. Goodnight Nash" I say going upstairs.

"Goodnight Bethany," He smiles at me watching me go.

Hey guys so hoping the loose ends are starting to come together. Updates might not be as frequent now sorry. Still hope you are enjoying. Please comment and vote so I know you're enjoying it. Thanks.