Promises...

Chapter 8

Henry is going to ruin what I have been planning to say gently for days in a matter of seconds. How could he be so heartless? I don't understand what I did so wrong to him. He's just being a dick about this entire situation.

"-beautiful," he finishes his thought. I need to figure this out before he or Adam tells my parents.

I look at Gloria, "I need to tell them now before someone else does. I don't care what you do to Henry, just keep me out of it," and with that, I rush out the door. My parents are at my Aunt Lauretta's house, so I decided to just drive there and break the news to them all at once. I know, why the hell would I tell more family members about this and be frowned upon more, but I trust my Aunt Lauretta. When my parents got into the car accident when mom was pregnant, she was there for me. My mom was sent in for an emergency C-section and we weren't sure if she or my sister were going to survive the operation. Hannah was seven weeks premature, and she was lucky that her spine didn't crack when my mom flew forward. Obviously, everyone was okay, was. Now everything is in shambles, and I don't know what I'm going to do after I tell them, or even how I should tell them. Do I just break the news lightly, or crack a joke, or just rip the bandaid off and wait for the fireworks from hell?

I pull up to my aunt's house and brace myself for a moment. A moment turned into five minutes, that's when my legs finally decided to cooperate. I make my way, slowly, to the front door and knock. I hear my aunt mutter the words, "Come in, it's open!" as if she were expecting me to appear out of nowhere. I slip off my shoes and take little steps to the kitchen where all the adults are enjoying themselves around the island, sipping delicately on their glasses of wine.

"Oh, Stephanie, how you've grown!" Aunt Lauretta sets her glass down and rushes to give me a hug. "Come, dear, have a seat, would you like anything to drink?"

"No, thank you, Aunt Lauretta," I say politely.

"Now, how many times have I told you to call me Aunt Laurel? You silly girl, I'm your only aunt, don't feel weird," her smile makes the nerves slip away for a few seconds, but they seem to find their way back no problem.

"I know, and that's why I felt most comfortable sharing this with you and my parents versus with anyone else." They all look at me with concern in their eyes.

"What is it, honey?" my mom asks.

"Do you guys promise to not freak out and hear the whole story?"

"We promise, cupcake. What's on your mind?" my dad questions.

I take a deep breath, "When you guys were in Colorado and I was staying with Adam, one thing led to another, things happened, and I'm pregnant." I blurt out in one breath.

"Do you know for sure it's his?" my mom asks.

"What are you trying to say, mom?"

"I'm just asking."

"Yes, it is definitely his, and he has since fled to be with his ex, who also has a child."

"I just don't completely understand why you two wouldn't use anything," my dad speaks his mind in a less than pleasant tone.

"We did, dad, I'm not a total idiot."

"Look at yourself, you got yourself pregnant with a low life's baby, a low life who isn't even in the picture!"

"Don't even go saying I did this to myself! I am not the one who shoved their-"

"Okay, everyone just needs to calm down. It took a lot of guts for Stephanie to share this information with the two of you, and you are only making it harder on her. Mistakes happen, and neither of you can say you didn't have sex with someone you thought would be in your life forever. It's just something you do in high school, and some end differently than others. You both need to relax and discuss everything while I take her out of here so we can talk; we will regroup in about half an hour," Aunt Laurel says after, thankfully, cutting me off.

We walk down the hall to her bedroom and shut the door. It is still draped in that beautiful, off-white silk with a hint of burgundy throughout, just as I remember.

We make our way to her bed and take a seat, tears streaming one by one down my cheeks.

"Steph," she says, turning my chin to look at her as she wipes my tears away with her thumb. "How did this happen?"

"He asked me out and we went back to his place, that's pretty much where it all started. Nobody was at his house, so we invited a few friends over. We played some sexual games that made us both a little too horny, and we ran to his room. I thought I was ready, so we went for it, and he told me he wore a condom. Aunt Laurel, he lied to me so many times. He told me he was a virgin, and he has another kid. He told me him and his ex were over, and Gloria saw them together when she was out. He told me he wore a condom, but he didn't because 'it felt better to be free.' I just don't know what to believe anymore."

"Oh, honey," she pulls my face to her chest so I can hear her heartbeat. She always did this when I was little and having a bad day. I remember one time, in third grade, this boy was picking on me because I had just gotten braces. I was staying with Aunt Lauretta for a week while my parents went to Vegas for their anniversary. I went back to her house that night and told her about this jerk-face boy who was picking on me because of my teeth. Yes, jerk-face, I was in third grade and wasn't allowed to swear, okay? Anyway, she pulled me close and sang softly to me, 'The heartbeat you hear proves you are still alive, and it doesn't matter what others say, as long as you refuse to let it be the reason you die.' I have never forgotten those words. I have written that phrase down at least a million times, because it means so much to me; it's that is why I am still alive and breathing today.

She strokes my hair for a minute or two and continues, "Life will never be a ride you enjoy when you're a little kid. It will never be the spinning tea pots, or the swings, but life will be a roller coaster. You will have ups and downs, turns and loops, everything you can think of to be part of a roller coaster. Those little rides aren't fun anymore once you get older, that's why life gets more complicated; because if you keep going on the tea pots, you never experience the exhilarating part of an actual ride."