To Save You (14 page)

We head down with my bag, everything of mine has already been shipped to my new beach house in Australia, even Bear is there already, I had him picked up and taken to the house. I was moving to Australia. What is my life?

I hug Dessie first. Her red hair is pulled back into a braid that I taught her how to do. Her gray eyes were filled with tears.

“I never get to see you.” Dessie cries into my shoulder.

Dessie is like my little sister, we’ve become that close to each other. I hug her a little bit tighter.

“I’ll be traveling a lot, and I’ll send you cool little trinkets that I know you love. I’ll also be here every month.”

The new magazine I was working for had an office in California. There is no reason I can’t just swing to Illinois while working.

“You better.” I pull away and she goes to James to give Mathew and I a bit of privacy.

“You should just let me go to the airport with you.” I kiss him softly on the lips and give him a small smile.

“I know you have a test today, probably an important one for your major, so I will not be responsible for having you miss it.” He smiles at me because he knows I am right. “I love you, and I’ll see you for spring break.”

He kisses me. My eyes sting with tears, but I will not cry. He has to be the one to pull away and he hugs me one last time.

“I love you, baby. More than life.”

Chapter Thirty One

Presley Masters

One month later…

I had arrived back to the US to go to Mathew’s graduation. I told him I wasn’t sure if I could go, but I could always go. I lied to surprise him.

Although, back in Australia, I wasn’t sure if I could go. I fell with the stomach flu, and I was sick in bed for a week. It helped with the lie.

I got to Dessie’s apartment thirty minutes before we had to go to the stadium for the ceremony. A big wave of nausea hit me, I seriously thought I was over the flu. Maybe I was wrong.

“You don’t look so good.” Dessie says, she, like me, has opted for a sundress. Hers was black and mine was sky blue.

“I think I might be sick.”

“Maybe you caught something on the plane.” She hands me a cup of water and throws a Seltzer in it.

“I’ve seriously been feeling like this all week. I was perfectly fine on the plane.” I shake my head.

“You should probably go to the doctor.” I take a sip of the water, but I start gagging at the taste, which is odd because it has never bothered me before.

I barely make it to the bathroom before vomiting into the toilet. It was mostly dry heaving since there wasn’t anything in my stomach.

“Are you okay? Are you going to be able to make it to the graduation?” I flush the toilet, and lean back against the tub.

“I just feel like crying, it was such a great surprise for him.” I have to bite my lip to stop myself from crying.

“Throwing up, emotional…” I looked at Dessie.

“No. We only had sex over a month ago, when we got back together. He couldn’t even make it for the end of spring break. It’s impossible.”

“Did you use a condom or any sort of birth control?” Dessie sits down next to me.

“Yeah, we stole condoms from you guys.” Her eyes widened.

“What condoms? I’m on the pill, and we never use them, like have not used in months since I got on the pill.”

“Okay, one, gross. Two, Mathew got them from James bedroom stash.” She shakes her head.

“Those have been there for months.” My mouth drops.

“You’re saying those condoms could have expired.”

“They did. I know for a fact, I made James throw them away because it’s not like we could use them or anyone else.”

I felt sick again.

“Hold on, before you start panicking, I have two pregnancy tests in here.” She gets into a cupboard and grabs both of them.

“I can’t be pregnant.” I say softly.

“It happens, Presley. You and Mathew can deal with this, but don’t over think this. It could just be the flu, okay?”

“I’m going to throw up again.”

“No, mind over matter. We have to be at the graduation soon. Just take the test, everything will be fine.”

“Okay.” I suck it up and start breathing normal again.

“I’ll be right outside.”

I look at the boxes. I guess I’ll just take one and depending on what it comes up with, I might take the second one.

Chapter Thirty Two

Mathew Pennington

I spotted Presley in the stands when I looked over to my family. She made it to my graduation. She was smiling at me, but I could sense that something was wrong, I could always tell.

“Have you talked to your sister? She looks a little bit upset.” I say to James as the ceremony is happening.

“She’s probably just tired. Dessie said she just got to SU about an hour ago.” I nod. That makes sense, unless she really is upset.

The part of the ceremony where we get diplomas happens. I can’t really enjoy it because now I’m just worried about Presley.

As soon as we get to the stands, I get to Presley. I can see that she’s been crying, but her make up is redone.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“We’ll talk later, Mathew.” Her parents and mine come over to James and I, and she shields her eyes away from them. I grab her hand.

“We are so proud of you guys.” My mother says as she pulls James and I into a hug. I see Ashton with her two, almost eight months old, daughters. Braxton is right behind them. I smile at their little family, I know in a few years I’ll want that with Presley.

Their daughters are fraternal, and they were not alike at all. One had Ashton’s brown hair, the other had blonde, but their eyes were both gray. The brunette is Anna, and the blonde is Grace.

“Congrats, little brother.” Ashton looks at Presley and I’s hand and smiles before giving me half a hug because she’s carrying Anna in her arms.

We spend half an hour just all talking, Presley just nods along, but I know she’s barely paying attention to what anyone is saying because she’s lost in her head.

After dinner, I make up an excuse about being tired and I take Presley with me back to my apartment. Her behavior is very zombie like, and to be honest it is beyond terrifying to watch, I just can’t take it anymore.

Presley sits down on the couch and I sit on the table across from her, so I am looking right at her. I grab her hands.

“What’s going on?” I straight out ask.

Her eyes find mine, and they start filling up with tears. “I got sick when I got to Dessie’s apartment.”

“Do you have the flu? Is it something worse?” I was thinking the worst of everything. “Did you cheat on me?”

“No! I would never cheat on you, I love you.”

“I love you, too. Just tell me, quick, the wait is making me anxious and worried.” She nods.

“She suggested that maybe I should take a test.”

“What kind of test?” Then it dawned on me on what type of test she would have to take. “Oh.”

“She had two and gave them to me. Almost immediately, the first one came up positive. Second one, too.” I am in shock. I stay silence, waiting for the words to come out of her mouth to confirm what I thought she was saying.

“I think I’m pregnant.” She burst out into tears.

Her family is as religious as they come. James and Presley are the odd ones out, but I know they still have their beliefs.

We both have careers. I am supposed to be getting ready to take over my father’s company, learn the business inside and out. Now I have a child on the way.

“How did this happen?”

“What do you mean how did this happen? One of the condoms must have broke or been defective, Dessie said the condoms we used were past their expiration date.”

“Fuck.” I placed my head in my hands. I should have checked the date, we wouldn’t be in this mess had I checked the fucking date.

“I’m giving you an out, Mathew.” I looked up at her.

“What?”

“I’m saying you don’t have to help me raise this child. You have a big future ahead of yourself-“

“Would you stop?” I couldn’t help yelling. “I will be a part of this child’s life, and you can’t push me away from you again. I’m done pulling away, too. I love you, more than life, remember?”

She nods.

“We will figure this out together.” I put my hand on her stomach, and she burst into a puddle of tears, I’m hoping from relief.

“We’re having a baby.” She cries. I pull her into a hug and kiss her head. “An actual baby is growing inside of me.”

“What do you mean there is a baby inside of you?” We turn and see Presley’s mother at the door. Neither of us heard her come in. “Well, which one of you is going to answer me?” Fuck.

Chapter Thirty Three

Presley Masters

“Can I stay here?” I looked at the guy in front of me. One I barely recognized anymore. I stopped talking to him because of Mathew. It made him jealous. He trusts me, he doesn’t trust him. Truth is, I missed Finn so much.

“What’s wrong?” He asks, letting me inside of his house.

If there’s one place nobody would guess I’d be at, it’d be Finn’s house. He lived in Evanston, not too far from where my parents live. They’d never look here, though.

“I can’t tell you.” I had just wanted to escape from SU.

Mathew and my mother had been screaming at each other in the apartment. Today was supposed to be a happy day, but I’d ruined it with the news that I was expecting.

Finn looks at me with his brown eyes and nods. “Don’t have to tell me anything now.”

I paced back and forth in his living room, and he stepped out. My phone was vibrating with calls from my family and Mathew. I finally just had to turn off the phone.

“Here.” Finn comes back with a cup of tea. From the smell I could tell it was peppermint. My favorite.

“Thank you.” I take a sip, letting my nerves settle.

“How long do you need to stay here?” Finn asks.

I look at him. He looked like he was ready to go to bed. I’m glad I hadn’t interrupted anything.

“If you don’t want me here, I can go find somewhere else to stay.” I would hate to be a bother to him. Finn has always been there for me, and I would respect his wishes if he didn’t want me here.

“Nonsense, I just need to know so I can stock up on food.” I give him a small smile.

“Two days.” I look down for a moment, glancing at my phone on the table, before looking up at him again. “Can you do something for me?” I ask him.

“Anything.” I could see that he still had feelings for me. I knew one day he’d find the girl he wanted to be with. I wasn’t that girl, I had never been that girl for him.

“I’m pretty sure Mathew and my parents are close to calling the police, I don’t want them to know I’m here-“ He cuts me off.

“I got it, don’t worry.” I continued sipping my tea and I listened to him making a call.

He called Mathew first. “She’s not here, I swear. Presley did call me and said she was going to her safe place until things settled with her parents.” Silence. “She said to tell you to stay here in Illinois, that she’ll come back when she feels calmer.”

I saw the expression in Finn’s face as he listened to what Mathew was telling him. He looked at me then at my stomach. I felt the need to cover it up with my arms.

“She didn’t tell me that, but I’m glad you did. I’ll make sure she’s safe, don’t worry.” He hung up the phone, and I saw him take a deep breath.

“Go on, yell at me.” Finn rolls his eyes at me.

“I’m not going to yell at you. You should’ve led with that. Who knows in your family?”

“My mom. I’m sure she’s told my father now, probably James, too.” I looked down. I couldn’t look at him.

“Tell me that you were being safe with him, and that this was not planned.”

“Of course it wasn’t planned! I have a job in Australia, his job will be here in a few months. We accidentally used expired condoms, it was an accident.” I sobbed, and he rubbed my back to calm me down. “I’m so scared.” I admit.

“Why?”

“What if I’m a horrible mother? Not once had I ever thought about children in my future because I was so fucked up in the head, I could pass that gene on to them. Now it’s inevitable. I’m going to be a twenty one year old mother.”

“What did Mathew say when you told him?”

“He said he would be there for me. Isn’t that what every guy says when he knocks up his girlfriend, and then just leaves after the baby is born? I’ve seen Teen Mom so many times, and that’s how it always ends up going.” He chuckles.

“I really don’t think you should be that hard on Mathew or even be comparing him to those douches on Teen Mom. He’s a man of his word. He promised to get you help, and he did. He promised that he would not stand in the way of your dreams, and he didn’t. Mathew is the great guy here.” Finn hugs me. “Plus, if he does leave you, I’ll hurt him. I don’t care how much taller he is than me.” I laugh.

“Thanks, Finn.” This is why I came to him.

Two days later…

I was looking at my phone, and finally I just couldn’t help it anymore. I turned it back on, and it immediately flooded with voicemails and text messages from everyone.

I heard Mathew’s first. He constantly told me he loved me in it. That we would get through it. Hearing his voice calmed me down, and I knew I wanted to get back to him right away.

James and Dessie’s voicemails were next. They didn’t call me as often as my mother and Matty did.

James was just worried about me, Dessie just said to call her when I got a chance. I’m sure Finn told her I was here. They’ve gotten close, too, they did share the secret about my self harm.

My parents voicemail was next. I felt sick trying to listen to it. Before two days ago, I had never seen my mother so cruel and angry.

Presley, it’s your mother. Again. What you’re doing, making us worry, is childish. Grow up. Get home and we will deal with this like adults. We will talk about your situation. Just know that we want what is best for you, okay? We love you.