AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Panic starts rising in my chest with each minute that slowly passes by.
6:43.
7:01.
7:17.
I sit there, frozen in place, wondering if I heard him wrong last night. I know I should go inside, take off my make-up, get into my pajamas, accept that he's not coming. But the sliver of hope I'm clinging to keeps me there on the front steps, begging him to prove me wrong.
Did he forget? Decide he didn't want to go on the date? Or, worse, is he hurt somewhere?
7:22.
I see his headlights appear down the road. He's driving slow and it causes my heart to knot in my chest. Something's not right. I can feel it as the wind changes direction and the air thickens with tension.
He pulls into our driveway as I stand up, grip the railing for support.
When he opens the door and steps out, my stomach turns. The yellow glow from the front porch light is too dull to see his face, but I can tell his shoulders are slumped forward, his hair is a tangled mess, and his head is angled towards the ground.
I start walking towards him, my heart pounding erratically in my chest. "Where have you been?"
Matt looks up, takes me in. I watch his face fall as his eyes meet mine. "Jen," he chokes out.
He reaches for me as I grab his hands, pull him into my arms, rest my palms on his shoulders.
"What's wrong?" I ask as I search his face, see his bloodshot eyes, notice the tension in his jaw.
Tears slip from his big brown eyes as his arms tighten around me. "Jen, I...I…"
"Matt, you're scaring me." I shudder from the cold, from the look on his face, from the feeling that I'm about to get my heart broken once again.
He swallows hard, his hand cups my face. "Jen, Audra's pregnant."
Chapter 19
Audra's pregnant.
Audra's pregnant?
Audra's pregnant.
Matt wraps his arms tighter around me, sobs rack through his body as I try to process what he's saying.
They had...sex.
And she got...pregnant.
I mean, I know that's how it works. It's just hard to imagine Matt doing that with Audra. He had never even kissed anyone before he kissed me in his Jeep a few months ago.
Guess I can't really talk now, can I?
"I...I…" he tries choking out between sobs.
I rub his back, feel his hard muscles spasm beneath my palms. He's having a full-blown meltdown and I feel like a deer caught in headlights, unable to move, but I can't look away.
"Let's sit down," I finally say when it feels like my legs can no longer hold both his body weight and mine.
Matt keeps one arm wrapped around me as we take a few steps to the front porch. I help him down onto a step before taking a seat beside him, putting a few inches of space between us.
