Normal //Ryan Metzger

31: breath again

"What?" Ryan said, defensive towards her. "What did you just say to me?"
   "You heard me Ryan," She said to him. "Loud and clear. That's why I showed up at the hospital. That's why I tried to get back into my spot as yours."
   "You think this is a fucking joke?" He said, getting in her face. "We were never together."
   What made this whole situation worse was Ryan doesn't even remember being with her, let alone this. The whole situation broke my heart as I stood there as a bystander.
   "Ryan," I said, trying to calm him down but he was not having it. "Let it go, she's lying."
   "I'm not, Lauren," Natalie snapped at me, holding her baby close to her. "It came as a shock to me too, but it happened."
  Ryan ran his fingers through his hair and looked around outside to try and find a solution to this problem in front of him. I stood back, helpless in the situation.
   "Why, Natalie," He said, yelling at her. "Why do you think this joke is funny? We were never a thing so this obviously a joke, so drop it-" Ryan started but stopped when he realized it. "Wait, my memory. We-"
   "Yes Ryan," Natalie said to him. "We did."
    "But why today?" He asked her, growing anger in his voice. "Why on my fucking our wedding day."
   "Because I was in the state and if I didn't do it now, it would never have happened. I felt like you have the right to know you had your own flesh and blood walking around this Earth."
  Ryan shook his head, wiping the sides of his mouth.
  "This is what's going to happen," Ryan said, pointing to her. "I am going to go to my wedding reception with the love of my life, okay? With my wife and you are going to go back to your hotel room and we will discuss this tomorrow, got it?"
   "Ryan, I-"
   "Got it?" He repeated to her, her wincing back. She nodded and started to walk away, but not before getting the last word.
   "Look, Lauren," She said to me. "Replacement, don't you think?"
   Her words hit hard in me as Ryan opened the car door for me, trying his hardest to ignore her. I followed in his footsteps and climbed into the car, ignoring her with every last ounce in my body.
   Ryan walked to the other side of the car, climbing in himself and slammed the door behind him.
   "God dammit!" He said, slamming his hands against the steering wheel. I was silent, and all I could think of was what she said to me.
   "It makes sense," I said quietly as he started the car.
   "What?"
   "How Colton is yours, it makes sense," I said, looking up at him with watery eyes. "You guys broke up at the end of February, beginning of March. Colton was three months old making him born in January/December. That's nine months, Ryan."
   "But," He said confused as he drove to the venue. "I don't even remember it and that's the shittiest part. And even if we did, I'm not a fucking idiot I woul-"
   "Ryan, stuff happens like that. They can break, something can go wrong, the odds aren't in your corner. It's okay," I rested my hand on his that was placed on his thigh.
    "It's not okay," he said to me. "You don't deserve this."
   "I'm fine," I said smiling at him. "I just got married to my best friend. The love of my life, Ryan. I know this is scary to think you have a child but Natalie will run off to California again, it'll blow over in just a few months."
   "I just don't want to believe her," he said, turning down the street with a quiet tone in his voice. "But deep down I do."
   "I know love," I said. "We will take this one day at a time, okay? Now let's go have fun at our wedding reception."
   He nodded and we continued to drive to the venue in complete silence.
***
   "Okay," Jack said taking the mic from the DJ, his words starting to slur together. "Just a few words for the newly weds."
   We all laughed at a drunk Jack trying to get the crowd's attention, but there was shortness and fear in Ryan and I's laughter.
   "First thing, I just want to tell you guys how great this couple is. From Ryan messing with a girl he shouldn't have to that car crash? These fuckers have gone through a lot."
   I tensed up my grip on Ryan's hand and I could feel his demeanor change. I could tell he wanted to go home and be away from the crowd, but he was toughening it out.
   Adam joined Jack, finishing his drink before he did.
   "That's why I want to dedicate this song for their first dance. Here's to all the shit you guys have been through," he laughed and him and Adam went up to the stage as Ryan and I took the dance floor.
   Jack and Adam started playing Alice by the Hudson as we swayed along to the beat, our friends and family watching us.
   "I'm sorry," I said to him, whispering. "I wish I could take this all away from you, love."
   "I'm sorry," he said to me on the same tone. "This shouldn't be happening. Not on our wedding day."
   "Any day would be shitty," I said laughing through the pain. "We just have to get through it."
"Why can't our lives be normal, Lo?" He asked me. "Why can't we live normal lives?"
"It comes with it," I said shrugging as we continued to dance around the ballroom. "You show maturity in how you react to things that are thrown at you."
He smiled and looked at me.
"Where would I be without you, Lauren Pearson?"
"You mean Lauren Metzger," I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder to continue dancing. He kissed the top of my head as the song continued.
*
Days had passed since the wedding and Ryan refused to leave for our honeymoon until this thing was sorted out.
Natalie was sitting on our couch while we waited for the phone call, awkwardly waiting for us to say something to her.
Ryan's cell started ringing, signaling the answers to the questions we all had.
"I'll be back," Ryan said without making eye contact with anyone of us. He got up and grabbed the phone, leaving me alone with her.
"Would you like to hold him?" She said smiling, offering her son to me. I looked back to see Ryan not there, so I reached for the baby.
I looked down at Colton and held his tiny stature in my hands. The longer I stared at him, the longer the pain of losing my own grew from within me. I started to choke back tears and I handed her Colton back.
"I'm sorry," I said, wiping away a free floating tear. "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," Natalie said, taking back her baby who was starting to fuss. "It happens to the best of us."
"You don't know what I went through," I said, holding back angry tears. "You don't know what we went through when we lost our child. It was heart crushing, devastating. So this is why it is heart wrenching for Ryan because you have something with him we will never have."
"I didn't mean any bad spirits," she said, a devilish sparkle in her eyes shone. "I just knew Ryan had the right to-"
Ryan came back into the room, tears behind his eyes as he tried to find words to say.
"So?" I said standing up, waiting for the news to spew from his mouth.
"Natalie, I think you need to leave," Ryan said quietly. "Because that child is with whoever you cheated on me with, and not mine."
I felt the world being glued back together, piece by piece as he spoke. A huge weight fell off of my shoulder as I let out a sigh of relief as Natalie hitched her breath at the news.
"But-" She started, but Ryan wasn't having it.
"I'm sorry, but I think our time here is over," Ryan said, starting to the door and opened it for her. She stood there for a second, flabbergasted and in shock as to what just happened.
She grabbed her things, putting her child into the stroller and refused to give us eye contact as she left the apartment, along with her bad spirits.
"Natalie," I said to her before she left. She looked over at me and my hand, on instinct, slapped across Natalie's face with a hard smack. "That's for trying to ruin my family."
She held the side of her face and looked at me with complete shock.
"Thank you for stopping by," I said and Ryan held the door open for her. She left without another word.
"I told you," I said as he shut the apartment door. "One day at a time."
He closed the door with the lock clicking in place and gathered me into a hug, kissing me on the top of the head.
"Thank you," He said, letting it out with a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
"You're not a dad," I said looking up at him, trying to make a joke out of the situation. "You're okay."
"I am one," he said, confusing me. "Just not to Natalie's. To ours."
I teared up at the memory that was again resurfaced in the timespan. His words warmed my heart and I pulled him into another hug.
"We can breath again," I said, letting out a sigh of relief. "We can breath again."
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-haha sorry bout that