MISSING YOU; Bradley Simpson

4.

EVELYN

I drive towards my mother's house, not being able to get the images of Brad's naked body out of my mind. Two years ago if somebody would have told me this will happen again, I would have killed that person. After I ran out of the diner, I never thought I'd see Brad again. I told my mother everything that happened and she allowed me to drop out of school. For a few weeks, I've been living in my old room, until I found my apartment. Everything was going fine, I started going out more with the girls, not clubbing, but just hanging out, and started forgetting about him, until... Until I found out I was pregnant with his child. I couldn't believe it and it took me a few days to figure out how, but then I remembered our last time in Brad's car... We did it without a condom and now here I am, picking up Faith from my mom's place.

I wanted to tell Brad about our daughter, but my mom convinced me not to. She was really disappointed in me. Since we both were very religious, I made a promise to her that I'd never lose my virginity until I'm married. And of course, I broke that promise. She didn't speak to me for days after I told her about my pregnancy. She practically hated me, but something changed and she came to my apartment to talk.

Flasback:

"Is... Is Bradley the father?" my mother asks, gulping heavily.

"Yes," I nod, looking down at my hands.

"Did you tell him yet?"

"No. I wanted to do it tonight," I sigh.

"Don't. After what he did, he doesn't deserve to know about his baby," she puts her hand on mine.

I look up at my mom in disbelief. I can't believe she's encouraging me not to tell Brad. Even though he lied to me the whole time we were together, he still deserves to know about the baby that's growing inside of me. It's his too, after all.

"I know what you're thinking right now, but don't. He deceived you for months, Evelyn. Do you really think he deserves any kind of information about your life after that?" mom asks. I look away from her, thinking about every word she just said.

I know this is wrong, but maybe she has a point. I can't just let him think that a baby will make everything right between us, and I don't want my child to grow up with a father who maybe will lie to her too. Just like my father did to me.

Present time:

I park my car in front of mom's house and climb out. I lock my vehicle before walking up the porch and knocking on the door. A few seconds later, mom opens it with Faith in her arms.

"Hey," I smile at my mother. She gives me Faith as I walk inside the house. The small girl wraps her little arms around my neck and rests her head on my shoulder.

"How was the party?" mom asks as I sit down on the couch next to her.

"It was good," I answer.

I sit there for a few more minutes and talk with my mother, then I say goodbye to her and leave with Faith in my arms. I place her in her car seat and circle my car, so I can sit in the driver's seat. I check my phone before starting the car, seeing that I have a few notifications from Instagram. I click on them and my jaw drops open. A celebrity news account posted a picture of Brad and I kissing in the club. I quickly dial Maggie's number.

"Hey," she picks up on the second ring.

"Maggie, I'm in deep trouble," I say, completely freaking out.

"Why? What happened?" my ex-roomate's cheerful tone quickly changes to a worried one.

"Come over to my place in twenty minutes and I'll show you," I say before hanging up the phone.

I start up my car and drive home as fast as possible. First of all, who took that picture, second of all, how did that account know that it was me? You can barely see my face.

-

"Whoa, what the fuck?!" Maggie exclaims, analyzing the picture.

"Keep your voice down please," I plead, pointing to my daughter's bedroom where she's sleeping. It's hard enough to put a baby to sleep, it's harder to calm her down after someone or something wakes her up.

"Sorry, but... I can't even see your face. I wouldn't tell it's you."

"I know!" I freak out.

"Calm down. We're calling Brad," she takes her phone out and dials Brad's number.

I lean back on the couch and let out a long and frustrated sigh. If my mom sees this, how am I going to explain it? She already hates Brad. I mean, she can't control me anymore, but still. She can go nuts to get what she wants, and if she wants Brad completely out of my and Faith's life, we're screwed.

"Okay. Come to Eve's place as soon as you can," Maggie says before hanging up the phone. I turn my head sideways with wide eyes. "What?" she asks when she finally looks at me.

"Why would you invite him here?" I ask in disbelief.

"I know you don't want him to find out about Faith, but do you want this solved or not?" she has a point.

"You're right," I sigh and stand up.

I walk into my kitchen and pour myself a glass of juice. I lean against the counter as I slowly drink the juice, Maggie walking into the kitchen too.

"Shouldn't you be in classes, by the way?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"Nah, I skipped," she shrugs. I shake my head with a chuckle, taking another sip from my drink.

We stand in my kitchen for what feels like forever when the doorbell finally rings. I walk over and open the front door, being face to face with Brad. We greet each other and I let him inside, leading him into the living room. Maggie is already sitting on the couch, waiting for us to join her and solve this situation.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone would take pictures of us and then post them," Brad looks at me as I sit down next to him and my ex roommate.

"It's not your fault," I shake my head.

"What are we going to do?" the dark haired girl asks.

"Joe can talk with whoever is in charge of that account to take that picture off, but... it's too late. A lot of people saw it, including your fans, Eve," the curly haired boy explains, looking at me carefully.

I cover my face with my two palms, sighing contently. Yeah, I gained a few fans with my books, but I never thought they'd ever care about my personal life. I thought they only care about what I write and that's it. Clearly, I was wrong.

"I guess we can't do anything, then," I finally speak up, taking my hands away from my face.

Suddenly, Faith starts crying. Maggie and I  exchange glances before I jump to my feet and hurry to calm her down.