When I woke up, I felt peaceful. The rain had stopped and I could see the clouds, through my window, slowly clearing up.
The golden sunlight gradually lit up my room. I was so content. Nothing could bother me, not even Grayson and all our problems.
When I turn on my phone, I'm some disappointed.
Violet: Dude I'm pissed! Scarlett's rich ass mommy and daddy bailed her spoiled ass outta jail.
Me: ur fucking kidding... not surprised😒
Then I go to text Ethan about the news. While I'm texting, a text from Grayson pops up at the top of my screen. 'Oh god. What does he want?' I think to myself.
Grayson: Hey, Chloe. I know you probably don't want to talk to me, and I get it. But I have something really important to you about. I promise you, it's good news. I can meet you at Starbucks or something?
This made my stomach fall out of my ass. Suddenly feeling motivated, I jump out of bed and leave my room. "Mom?" I call out.
"What?" She says, already sounding annoyed.
I go into her room, where she was reading a news article on her phone. "Grayson wants to talk."
"Okay, just call him," she shrugs. "Mom, in person. He says it's 'really important.'"
She looks up from her phone and sighs. "Fine, but you can only talk here."
"Why?"
"I don't trust you going out with him. Just listen to me, Chloe. Don't make me mad," she goes back to reading.
"Okay," I sigh and walk away.
Me: You're welcome to come to my house.
Grayson: Okay, that's fine. I'll be over at noon?
Me: Works for me.
———
I don't know why I'm so nervous. Maybe it's just because things ended pretty badly and here we are, meeting and talking about god knows what.
This 'important' news better be worth my time.
*door bell*
"Fuck," I jump up from the couch and head to the door, shaking my hands to ease my nerves.
I open the door, and there he is. Looking good as always. "Hey," he weakly smiles.
"Hey, uh... come on in," I say.
He enters, no hugs are exchanged... well obviously. "We can talk downstairs," I say after closing the door.
He follows me down to the basement and I turn on the lights, still feeling anxious as hell.
I stop and look at the couch. Wait, fuck. Didn't he almost fuck down here? Like just recently?
"Actually, it's nice outside. Do you just wanna... go to the backyard?"
"Yeah," he chuckles, "I remember too." His face turns red. "Exactly, so let's go!" I say.
———
We sit on the porch steps, which felt a lot more comfortable. "So, you have good news?"
"Yes," he takes a deep breath. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper. "So, I went in for a paternity test last week and I got the results back."
My heart started racing. I'm pretty sure I know where this is going.
He unfolds the paper and shows it to me. "This is the child's alleles and this is mine," pointing to each column.
"Not a match," he says.
"Oh my god," I place my hands over my mouth and start to tear up. I look at him and wrap my arms around him. It was the strangest feeling.
Everything felt... okay. I hugged him without holding back. I hugged him feeling like it was right.
"I don't know what to say... I'm speechless," I say after hugging him for what felt like forever.
"I just knew something wasn't right. It had to be wrong. I knew I wasn't the father," he starts to tear up. "I'm sorry," I say softly.
"For what?"
"Just... leaving you. I left you so quickly. I didn't have your back that whole time. I-"
"How could you have known? It's not your fault," he says.
"I know... I'm just disappointed in myself," I sigh.
"Don't be. There's nothing you can do about it now. Look at the bright side. I'm not a match," he says, making me smile.
"Yeah, you're right," I laugh.
"I know this is a lot to process, but I was just wondering if we could be mutual again?"
"You mean be friends?" I laugh. "Yeah... sorry, I just didn't know if it was too soon for that," he blushes.
"Yes, I'd like that," I say.
———
Later on that day, I entered a field at sunset. I was alone, free, and at peace.
Everything was good.
I looked around and saw nothing but grass. I was alone.
I took a deep breath and let out all of my worries. I was free.
I ran off far into the field so carelessly, allowing the wind to press against my skin. I was at peace.
Life was good.
———
