Growth (Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott fanfic)

Chapter 7

I stick my foot in between the closing elevator doors, stepping in and glaring at careless Alex Bowman.

It's been two weeks since I told all of my friends that I'm pregnant and ever since then, Alex has either made snide comments or avoided me. I kept trying to apologize or explain myself for the first three days and then when it became obvious that he just refused to listen, I decided to just give him space.

"You can't just leave without me, you don't even know where you're going," I hiss out, crossing my arms and leaving a decent amount of space between us.

"You're starting to show," he tells me, completely ignoring my words.

I uncross my arms at his words, pulling my shirt out from hugging my stomach.

He lets out a bitter chuckle at my action. "How far along are you now?"

"Twelve weeks. I'm in the second trimester now," I say. I can't help but let the last part slip.

"Do they know yet?"

I shake my head and watch him turn to me out of the corner of my eye. "I was waiting to make sure that everything is okay with the baby. And now that I had an ultrasound and everything was going well," I take a deep breath, "I just have to work up the courage to talk to them about it."

"You've already had an ultrasound?" The hurt in his voice makes me turn to him in surprise.

"Yeah. Why? What's wrong?"

"I wanted to go with you," he whines.

"Alex you haven't talked to me for the past two weeks," I point out in disbelief.

"I know, but-"The elevator stops on the bottom floor and the doors open. Chase Elliott stands on the other side.

His lips quip up into a smile when he sees us. "Hey, guys."

Alex nods in greeting as we step off of the elevator and I push him gently. "I'll meet you there."

He gives me an encouraging smile and I grab Chase's arm gently, tugging him to the side.

"We need to talk," I state. My heart squeezes at the smile that spreads across his face. I know he's thinking that I'll ask to get back together... but it's much worse than that. "Do you want to come over to my apartment for dinner when we get back to North Carolina?"

"Sure," he quickly agrees. "You still have my number, just send me your address."

"Alright," I smile despite the nervousness running through my veins. "I'll text you a good time."

~

It's midnight and I'm craving a Pepsi. I try my best to avoid soda, especially since I found out that I'm pregnant, but I don't think this craving will pass until I get what I want.

Before I know it my feet are pulling me towards the garage where I saw a soda machine earlier today. I'm slipping a dollar bill into the machine when I hear a soft, "RC?"

I turn my head, freezing when I see who it is. His eyes are connected to my stomach, which is noticeable in general because of my growing baby bump but even more noticeable now because of the tight-fitting tank top I'm wearing.

"Shit, RC, is there anything you want to tell me?" Ryan breathes out.

"What are you doing here at this time?" I question.

"Please just answer me," he begs. I watch the lump in his throat as he swallows.

This isn't how I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him somewhere private and personal. I wanted to explain everything and get it all out on the table- then invite him to a doctors appointment I would schedule beforehand to get a paternity test.

I hate this. I don't want to be put on the spot like this, I don't want everything to just be thrown out there without a plan. I want things to be more organized to show these potential fathers that I will be a good mother, despite the early mistakes I've made.

"I'm pregnant."

"You're pregnant," he scratches the back of his neck anxiously, peaking around to see if anyone else is here to witness this conversation. Luckily, nobody is. "Well, okay, I'm going to be a d-""It might not be yours," I quickly interrupt him.

I force myself to look at him. I always feel like such a cop out when I avoid eye contact because of this situation that I created. I should own what I've done and deal with the reactions, despite how bad they may be, and especially the reactions from the potential fathers.

"What?" He stumbles back like I just punched him in the gut. It probably feels like I did.

"I'm sorry," I say lamely.

He just stares at me. I watch as a rush of emotions washes over his face, confusion, anger, hatred, sadness, excitement, practically every emotion that you could name. And I don't blame him for feeling this way.

"Um," I clear my dry throat, "I was waiting to schedule a doctor's appointment to get a paternity test before I told you. But, um, I know I should've told you right away."

"Yeah. You should've." I wince at the harshness in his voice. I know I deserve it though. "When were you going to schedule an appointment for?"

"Probably Tuesday," I mumble, allowing myself to bow my head and judge my dirty shoes. It's a much better view than the disgusted look on his face.

"I'll be there." I hear footsteps and assume that he's walked off but I'm surprised when I look up and see him standing just a few feet away from me. The look on his face has softened and he holds his hand out gently. "Give me your phone so I can put my number in. Then you can text me when and where the appointment is."

I nod, silently pulling out my phone and pulling up a new contact for him. He enters his information and when he passes my phone back to me, our hands brush each other and tingles are sent down my spine.

It's like the night we met.

"And make sure the other guy is there," he orders, seeming to take a while to step back from my aura. "I want to get this figured out as soon as possible."

"Will do," I whisper, watching him walk away. Was the bottle of Pepsi worth this interaction, baby, or did you somehow know Ryan would be here and you wanted me to tell him?

EDITED: Yes

B