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“Yes, I do,” I replied, trying my hardest to keep the anger out of my voice.
“They took me to a party a few weeks before graduation, and a guy there …he …” she looked like she was about to burst into tears.
“Bella, I need you to answer me honestly; did he rape you?”
“I don’t know,” she shook her head. “It’s not like I said yes, but I didn’t say no either. It’s so difficult to tell.”
“If you want to press charges, I will help you. I can get the best lawyers; they’ll make sure he pays for doing what he did to you.”
Bernadette shook her head again. “I don’t want to press charges. I have no evidence, and besides, what’s the point? Right now, I need to focus on what’s in front of me, and that’s the fact that I’m carrying some stranger’s child.”
Tears were welling up in her eyes now, and I brushed them off of her cheeks.
“It’s okay, we’re going to figure this out, I promise.” Realistically speaking, I had no way of knowing that, especially with the way that her mother was about these kinds of things. But I knew that it was what she needed to hear in that moment, and as I said the words, I knew that I was going to do everything in my power to make them come true.
“I don’t know,” she sobbed. “How in the world is anything going to be okay? I’m not ready to be a mother, I don’t know how to be a mother. And my mom is going to freak out. I can’t hide this from her forever. It’s not like it’s going to go away.”
“Shhhh.” I traced one hand down her cheek, feeling her lean into my touch. “Let’s not worry about what we can’t control right now, and instead think about what we can control. There are some things that we can do, but before we can think about that we have to get you calmed down.”
She nodded, and I had a feeling that I was saying exactly what she needed to hear.
“All right.”
“I’m going to get you some water and something to eat,” I said. “Will you be fine on your own for a few minutes?”
She nodded, suppressing another sniffle. “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
I headed to the kitchen, grabbing her a glass of water and some cheese and crackers. A fun thing that I had learned while in college was that you couldn’t cry and drink at the same time, or at least it was very difficult, so I hoped this would help.
I returned to the living room and handed her what I had grabbed.
“Here you go. Do you want me to go over your options now, or do you want to eat something first?”
She gratefully accepted the plate and set the water down on the table next to her. “I think I’ll eat first,” she said, and I nodded, letting her have something in silence for a bit while I contemplated what to do next.
I really wanted to be there for her as best as I could, and I recognized the fact that this was a moment she really needed me, but I was having a hard time thinking of how I could help without being invasive.
My first instinct, of course, was to take her in my arms, kiss her until she stopped crying, and tell her that I would take care of her from now on, but not only would that probably aggravate the situation with her mother, but she also needed me as a friend at the moment. If she didn’t feel the same way as I did then she couldn’t afford to lose that friendship, or to have the awkwardness that would be there for a while.
Not that I could either, but I was trying to think of her first in this situation.
“I just thought of something else,” Bernadette said with another tearful look in her eyes. “How am I going to support myself?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, still stuck on the idea of taking care of her. I could. I could do it. I had a house and a company and plenty of money. And I would be inheriting my father’s business as well soon. But whether or not I could do wasn’t the problem, I supposed.
“I don’t have a job yet, and so far, not a single company seems interested in hiring me. And I can’t burden my mom anymore, especially not with a baby.”
This caused her to burst out into tears again, to which I pressed the glass of water into her hands and implored her to drink. She did as I asked and that seemed to calm her down quite a bit.
“I’ll help you find a job,” I promised. “I know some people, and I know the process well. We’ll get you a job, so let’s not worry about that right now.”
“Okay.” She choked back another sob.
“Oh Bella, everything’s going to be all right,” I promised again. “You’ll see soon, I promise. We’ll figure everything out. You don’t have to worry about it.”
“I know, I just can’t help but worry.”
