Page 31 of F Buddy

I walked out of the bathroom on shaky legs. I didn’t even have to show her the damn stick; my devastated face was enough to let Olivia know. Immediately, her expression became one of sympathy. She rushed over to me to take me by the tops of my arms and led me to the sofa. She sat me down and sat right next to me, keeping a hand on my arm.

“Scarlett?” she called my name hesitantly when I didn’t do or say anything for a while. “I know this is a stupid question, but are you all right?”

I huffed a quiet laugh, my lips quirking into a smile that died quickly. “How could I possibly be okay, Olivia?” My eyesight blurred as tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them back. “I’m pregnant.”

Saying it out loud made it even more real, and I had to squeeze my eyes closed to keep the tears in. I would not cry, not over this. Not when I still had so much to do and think about, now that this one thing had been confirmed.

I was going to have a baby. I was nowhere near ready for this.

“Olivia,” I whimpered. “What the fuck am I going to do?”

“First of all,” she said, and I could tell she was trying to keep her voice calm for my sake. “Do you know who the father is?”

I sent her a glare because we both knew just how stupid that question was. “I’m sure you know. I haven’t been with anyone else since he left.”

Her shoulders slumped, and I heard her curse under her breath. Had she hoped I’d found some other guy to impregnate me? Maybe it was because Zach was far away—and because he was Zach, the guy that wanted nothing to do with commitment or getting tied down.

I hadn't exactly forgotten, but now that it all came back to me… I curled against the couch and whimpered some more. “What am I going to do?” I wailed, looking to Olivia for guidance.

“Nothing at all,” she told me with a glare, though it softened when she saw my face. “Look, the best thing for you to do right now is… nothing. You’re upset, Scarlett, and making decisions when you’re stressed is never a good thing.”

“But, there’s…” I wracked my brain for all the things I would need now that I was pregnant with a child. “I need to look for a doctor, and I need to know how far along I am.” Though I had an idea. “There’s like a million things to do.”

Suddenly, she was gripping me by the tops of my arms and shaking me lightly to get my attention. I blinked at her face and waited for the reason she’d interrupted.

“Look, Scarlett, I’m serious. For the moment, you will do nothing.”

“But—”

“No buts,” she said, voice stern. “Scarlett, this is something big. It’s true that there’s a lot to think about. There’s shit you have to do to prepare for a baby. But, you don’t need to do all that right this moment. You can relax, or cry if you want to, and worry about other problems later on. You know I’m always here for you if you need help, and I want you to lean on me.”

My lower lip trembled as she spoke. It sounded so good, just letting myself go, letting the knowledge I was pregnant sink in, instead of moving onto the next logical thing so quickly. I didn’t realize until she said it, but at that moment, I didn’t want to be logical. I wanted to cry and scream about the unfairness of it all.

I whimpered again, and Olivia brought me into a fierce hug.

“Why did it have to be him of all people,” I whispered. “Why did this have to happen now?”

She just shushed me, patting lightly on my back, trying to offer me as much comfort as she could.

It wasn’t going to be enough. I should have told her so she wouldn’t waste her time. Nothing was going to make me feel better. I managed to hold my tears back, but my insides were still raving with the unfairness of it all.

I didn’t want to be pregnant, and not with Zach’s child. Not after I’d made him mad after accusing him of cheating on me, just so he could remind me, harshly, that there wasn’t anything between us. It was all in my imagination.

“What am I supposed to tell people?”

Olivia sighed. “You can keep it to yourself for now, but you do know how pregnancies work, don’t you? This isn’t something you’ll be able to run away from forever.”

Oh, I knew. And I knew what I should do, though whether or when I would do it was still unclear. I was so grateful to Olivia, offering to help me so readily. But I knew she alone wouldn’t be enough.

I would need to speak to Zach, and soon.

Chapter 13

Zach

I attempted to call Scarlett, not for the first time that morning. I got up ridiculously early so I could catch her in the evening, and she wouldn’t even pick up my damn call. I’d tried everything; texting, Skype, email. But it had been a few days, and she wasn’t responding to any of my communication attempts.

“Dammit, Scarlett,” I growled at the phone, immediately trying the call again.