Lavender

Chapter Sixteen

Theo

"Hey Mathews, do you happen to have any Advil up here? My head is throbbing," I ask through the bathroom door, massaging my temples.

"Yeah, of course. Top drawer of my nightstand." Her soft voice is barely audible above the noise of the running shower.

I drag myself to the other side of the bed, closest to the large doors that lead to the balcony outside of her room. Tugging open the drawer, I start to dig through all of papers and other items Cora had tossed in. A filmy paper touches my hand, and I casually flip it over in my search for the pill bottle.

Nothing could have prepared me for what's printed on the other side.

A black and white picture of something fuzzy stares back at me. I finally realize that it's an ultrasound picture. I'd never seen one in real life, only in movies or tv shows, but the small bean shaped figure with limbs sticking out of it, is unmistakable — a baby.

But it's the words typed out in the corner that put me into shock.

This can't be happening.

Cora and I haven't gotten past kissing and a little touching, so I know it isn't mine. So she's been seeing someone else on the side?

Something moves out of the corner of my eye. A human figure comes into my peripheral.

Cora.

I think she says something, but only I hear a muffled noise. It's like a tv left on in another room; I can tell someone's talking, but I can't make out any of the words being spoken.

"Theo?" I finally hear her voice clearly, dragging me back to reality.

"Is this real?" is all I can make come out of my mouth.

I watch as ten different emotions flicker across her face, settling on one of pain.

"Yes." Her voice is so small now, as if she's afraid of the answer to my question.

"Who's is it?"

She clears her throat before answering, "You don't know him. It was before I ever moved out here. It's actually why I moved out here to begin with."

"And what was your plan exactly? To come here and meet someone that you could trick into thinking they knocked you up?" My words come out harsher that I mean for them to, anger taking the place of shock in my head.

"Of course not. I wanted to tell you the minute we got serious, but I couldn't. So, I tried pushing you away. That didn't work either, so I've been trying to find the right time to tell you."

"So when is the right time to tell someone you're dating that you're pregnant, Cora? I feel like it's kind of an ice breaker, if you ask me." The sharpness of my voice makes her wince.

"I-I don't know. Theo, I never meant to hurt you. I wanted to tell you!"

"Don't. If you wanted to tell me, you would have."

I stand, abruptly, so I don't have to smell the familiar comforting scent of her lavender lotion anymore. The clean air clears my head, so I can think without being distracted.

"I have to go." I let the picture fall onto the tousled bed sheets before making my way to the door.

"Theo, please wait. I can explain," she follows me down the stairs, pleading from behind me. Her bare feet slap the hardwood floors as she hurries to keep up.

When my hand touches the cool metal of the doorknob, I look over my shoulder at her one last time. The despair in her eyes is almost enough to make me turn around and lift her into my arms. Almost enough to tell her it's fine and that I would gladly raise any child of hers, whether it's my blood or not.

Almost.

"Goodbye, Cora." I yank open the front door and make my way to my truck.

Quickly, I crank the engine and throw it into reverse. As I pull away from her house, I can't help but to watch in my rearview mirror as she stands, unmoving, in her driveway, until I turn the corner.

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Slamming my apartment door so hard that it rattles nearby pictures on the wall, I make my way to my bedroom. My cellphone rings again, for the hundredth time since I left Cora's house. I ignore the call from James. The last thing I want to do is to talk to anyone about what just happened.

There are no words to describe how I'm feeling. My chest aches, knowing that someone I care so much about, someone I believed to be sincere and honest, can lie straight to my face about something so big.

Why didn't I just let her go when she told me she wasn't interested, dammit?

The fury and sheer pain of being betrayed by someone I loved starts a burning sensation in my spine, and spreads through every bone in my body. I slam a fist into the wall, punching a hole into the sheet rock.

"Fuck!" I yell, holding my fist to my chest, now coated in red blood and white dust.

Begrudgingly, I walk to the kitchen to wash my hand and find an ace bandage to wrap around it. I grab an ice pack out of the freezer, and reach for the half-full bottle of vodka in the corner.

Maybe I can make the memory of today go away with this.

Skipping a glass all-together, I press the cool bottle to my lips and take a long swig. The icy liquid burns my throat and slightly numbs my head.

Just what I was looking for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A splash of freezing water jerks my body upright.

"What the fuck?" I can barely open my eyes to see someone standing over me,  holding an empty cup in their hand.

"Dude, what happened?" David's loud voice sends a sharp, piercing sting into my head.

It takes me a minute to realize that I'm on the couch in my living room, the empty bottle of vodka lies haphazardly on the floor beside me.

David's foot taps impatiently, James stands silently behind him. 

"Could you be a bit more quiet?" I place my throbbing head in my hands.

"Could you please explain to us what the hell happened? We were all dozing away when we heard shouting. Then all of a sudden Kimi is screaming, pulling Cora inside. She looked terrible, man. Like someone died or something."

"None if you damn business."

"It is our business if we have to come pull our best friend out of a drunken coma at ten o'clock in the morning," James says sternly, coming to stand next to David, his arms crossed firmly over his chest.

"I was just sleeping. I had a bad morning, in case you couldn't tell."

"We've been trying to wake you for an hour, Theo. And you have a broken hand for Christ's sake."  Concern is written all over his face as he eyeballs my bandaged hand.

"What could have happened between you guys sucking face last night and waking up together this morning?" David asks in an annoying tone.

"None of your business," I repeat.

The image of Cora's face when she realized that I was holding her ultrasound picture pops into my head, all sullen and scared. What did she have to be scared about anyways? Surely she knew what having unprotected sex could entail.

"I'm going to take a shower." I stand, too quickly, and the all the blood rushes to my head.

Staggering, I fall into my roommates. I try to steady myself, but my traitorous legs go weak, not able to hold my body up straight. James and David help me back into a sitting position on the couch, and I feel my face get hot. A mix of humiliation and deception take over my emotions, and I know about to cry.

What a pussy. 

But I can't stop the tears of frustration that trickle out of my eyes.

***As promised, here's your chapter in Theo's POV!! Thanks so much for the votes and comments on the last chapter, and definitely let me know what you think of this one! You guys are awesome ❤️