The Inner Circle (5 page)

With this terrible weight already on his mind, Nick entered his house already in a poor mood. When he saw that the house was still a mess, he overreacted. Suddenly, his sister not cleaning the house seemed to be the worst thing imaginable. He made his way across the living room, muttering underneath his breath about the mess. Nearly tripping over the remote control on the ground finally set him over the edge.

"SARAH! Get out of bed already and come clean up this dump," he yelled towards the direction of the stairs leading up.

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"Sarah! Did you hear me?"

Sarah rolled over in bed and her eyes opened slowly, her alarm clock informing her that she had slept past noon. She didn't care, though. It was the weekend and she could sleep as late as she wanted. Her eyes closed again and she rolled over to get into a more comfortable position. She hit something hard and fleshy, though, and her eyes suddenly popped wide open when she realized Josh was still lying next to her. She looked back over at her clock, which read 12:15.

"Sarah, come on, I want this pig sty cleaned up for once."

Nick’s voice was growing louder and she heard the stairs creaking under his weight as he made his way towards her room. Sarah shook Josh roughly, unwilling to take any chance that he wouldn’t wake up right away. His eyes opened slowly and he asked what time it was.

"Shut up," she whispered. "We overslept and Nick is on his way up here. You have to get out of here now."

Josh hoped it was a joke until he heard Nick yell again. Like a bolt of lightning, he jumped out of bed and put his boots on as quickly as possible, not pausing to tie the laces. He grabbed his shirt and pushed it into his back pocket, having no time to worry about the small details as he nearly jumped through her open window. He leaned through the window and gave her a quick kiss goodbye. He was about to make his way down the roof when she blurted out the 'big news.'

"I'm pregnant," she said.

If his adrenaline hadn't been pumping on overdrive at that moment, Josh might have passed out from shock right on the spot. Discovering this news while standing on a slanted roof could have been quite dangerous. His escape from Nick was suddenly secondary in his mind, as he moved his head back towards the window.

"You're what?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.

"I'm pregnant. That's the big news," she said, as she was unable to look Josh in the eye. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your life."

There was silence between the two of them, as both tried to figure out exactly what to say.

"And I won't have an abortion, I couldn't do that to a child."

Nick knocked on the door, but Sarah and Josh did not seem to mind anymore. Josh saw the look of shame on Sarah's face and although he never could have pictured himself becoming a father so early in life, he was not as upset as he thought he should be.

"It's okay. I will be here for you no matter what we decide to do," he said, taking her face in his hands and reaching through the window to kiss her again.

It was at this moment that Nick could be ignored no longer and he opened the door just as his sister was kissing Josh, who just so happened shirtless and sneaking outside her window. At first, Nick was confused as the two looked at him guiltily. But when it dawned on him what was going on, he exploded.

"Josh? What the hell is going on here? What are you two doing?" he yelled. Josh froze like a deer in headlights, not knowing whether he should just stay and explain himself or make a run for it.

"Leave him alone, Nick. We love each other."

Nick gaped, not able to process what he was hearing. His little sister – who he tried to raise as well as he could – was making out with his astronomy partner, who was sneaking into his house – or even worse, sneaking out. The rage that coursed through his veins was so severe that Nick couldn’t stop himself from twitching. He ran towards the window and began to climb out, as Josh decided on the option of running. By the time Nick climbed halfway through the window, he saw Josh already jumping off the low roof. Before he could continue the chase, Sarah grabbed her brother around the waist and yanked him back in the room.

"What are you going to do? Kill him, Nick? I'm eighteen years old. It's time to start treating me like a grown-up."

This comment did nothing to calm his anger and he stuck his head out the window, just as Josh was pulling his motorcycle into the street.

"You better run, I'm calling the cops," he yelled down.

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He wouldn't really call the cops on me, would he?
Josh wondered as he ran down the street, dragging his bike while trying to put on his shirt and helmet. He glanced over his shoulder a few times to make sure Nick wasn’t still chasing after him. When he finally felt like he was a safe distance away, he finished getting dressed and started up his motorcycle. He was nearly out of breath, as a combination of unaccustomed exercise and the lingering shock of what Sarah told him made breathing very difficult.

After taking a few minutes to compose himself, he got onto his motorcycle and drove away. Hundreds of thoughts sped through his brain faster than his motorcycle drove down the nearly deserted highway. His mind kept wandering back to those two little words that Sarah said, two little words that were going to change his life forever:
I'm pregnant
. What was he going to do? He was only twenty years old. Was he able to provide and care for a child while he was still so young himself? Should he just break up with Sarah and hope that she wouldn’t expect him to bear any of the responsibilities of bringing a child into this world?

No
, he thought to himself.
What the hell am I thinking? This girl is the best thing that has ever happened to me and if I’m forced to grow up a little quicker than I had planned, then I may as well do it for her.

The simple fact was that Josh loved Sarah very much and every indication was that she felt the same way toward him. He had always been cynical about love while growing up, thinking that people often times made bad decisions and ruined their lives just because they thought they 'loved' someone else. He'd always considered himself too strong-minded and intelligent to let the silly notion of love interfere with his plans for life. Nothing was going to get in his way.

That was until he met Sarah. From that day on, the direction of his future had changed completely and he vowed to himself that every road he traveled in life would always lead back to her. So if she were pregnant now, he would become a father. It was as simple as that. They would share fear and anxiety and every other doubt that would come along with this pregnancy, but they would share it together.

Relief washed over Josh at this realization and a sense of excitement now filled him. He would actually be bringing a child into this world. He revved the engine of his motorcycle, taking advantage of the traffic-free highway, which was certainly a rarity. The wind whipped all around him as he excitedly sped forward, yelling with excitement and joy at his suddenly brighter future.

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Patrolmen Lance Cade was sweating profusely. His car was parked amongst a gap of trees on the side of the highway. He was trying – unsuccessfully at that – to keep the temperature down a few extra degrees by staying in the small shaded area. The air conditioning in his police cruiser had been broken for a few months, yet the station kept putting off getting it fixed, no matter how much he complained. Cade had also been denied a replacement car and was not happy about having to deal with such an inconvenience during the dog days of summer.

Well why don't you lose a few pounds, Cade. Maybe that would help keep you cooler,
he could hear the others saying.
The guys at the station were always poking fun at Lance's ever-expanding waistline, but they did not understand that it was purely genetics. Lance came from a big family and he could just not help that he was getting bigger with every passing day.

When he shoved the last of a sugar-covered donut into his mouth, a large glob of strawberry jelly squirted out the end and smeared down the front of his uniform. He carefully tried to lick it off, thinking that this would avoid a bigger stain being left right where everybody could see. He was wrong.

Lance could no longer contain his frustration. He had to sit in this God-awful heat all day and he knew once he got back to the station, he wouldn't hear, "Good job, Lance. Nice work, Lance." Instead, he knew all of the guys were going to rip into him for the jelly stain.

"Dammit!" he yelled, pounding his steering wheel a number of times, working himself into a frenzy until his face turned beet-red. His tantrum resembled that of a five-year-old child whose favorite toy had been taken away. Just as his assault on the steering wheel concluded, a motorcycle flew by Lance's perfectly hidden cruiser. His radar gun read 80 miles per hour, well over the limit of 60. As he turned on his siren and pulled out onto the highway, he was determined to gain the respect of his fellow officers, especially if it meant bringing this motorcycle punk to justice.

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"I am not repeating myself again," Nick yelled. "You are not allowed to see him anymore. He is my colleague and we are finally making some progress. I don't need you screwing it up because you have some little school-girl crush on him."

Sarah sat on her bed now, as she watched her older brother’s face turning crimson. He was always trying to control her life. While most of the time she just let him think he could, this was a time she had to make a stand. Nick could not continue telling her what she could and could not do forever, and now was the best time for her to make him realize this.

"Look, Nick. I am not going to repeat
myself
," Sarah said in a quiet, but firm voice. Yelling was not going to help anything at this point. "I love Josh, and Josh loves me. This isn't a little schoolgirl crush. I'm not a little girl anymore, I'm 18. There are decisions in my life that aren't yours to make and this is one of them."

"Oh I see, you're a grown-up now," Nick said sarcastically, his voice oozing with the kind of ridicule he knew his sister hated. "You are a big girl and can make your own decisions. Hmmm."

He paused and a faraway look came into his eye. Sarah hated that he had to act like a jerk whenever she tried being serious with him and she sometimes wondered which of them was the older one.

"Okay, Ms. Old-Enough-To-Take-Care-Of-Herself. Why don't you start paying me rent to stay in this house then."

"Because it isn't your house. Mom and Dad left it to
both
of us," Sarah fired back.  "And I don't think they'd be very proud of you if you kicked me out."

"Okay, then you can start paying half of the bills. Half of the electric bill, half of the water bill, half of the food bill."

“Okay, I’ll just drop out of school so I can work full-time then. Instead of trying to get good grades and make a future for myself, I could go get a job at the diner. Would that be better?”

"Hold on, I wasn't done," Nick said. "Half of the food bills, half of the phone bill, especially considering you are responsible for the bill being so high. Half of the cable bill..."

"Okay Nicky, you've made your point, you take care of me. But that still doesn't mean you get to run my life."

"I'm not asking to run your life, I just want you stop seeing Josh, who, by the way, I'm probably going to have to ban from the observatory now."

Sarah started to cry now. She hated to show weakness when she argued with her brother, but it was the only advantage she knew she had over him.

"Look," Nick said, softening at the sight of her tears. "He's a lot older than you."

"Three years, big deal. Dad was five years older than Mom."

She had a point there and Nick had no immediate response. He looked at his sister and realized just how much older she looked than he remembered. She'd grown up so fast and he was still having a hard time thinking of her as anything other than the little girl he used to pick on when they were younger.

And Josh. He could just kill Josh for doing this to him. After he'd been so good to that kid, this was how he paid him back. Besides the motorcycle and the strange clothes, Nick knew Josh was basically a good kid. Maybe a little lost in life, but nothing like most of the other punks who were growing up idolizing gangster rappers or Satan-worshipping heavy metal bands. There were plenty of worse people Sarah could have fallen in love with, assuming she really was in love with him...

"You really like him?" Nick asked.

"I really
love
him."

"And you're sure he really loves you?"