Slamming Demon (Pounding Hearts 2)

Dad wrapped his arm around me and smiled. “Were you protected?”

Nodding my head, I looked both of them in the eye. Embarrassed or not my parents expect me to be responsible. “Yes, we were.”

* * *

Standing in front of the school building, I waited to see her. I didn’t sleep well at all and I may have gotten there even earlier than normal. But I needed to see Mandy again. Her texts weren’t all that talkative last night, but being home with her parents I could understand it.

I kept thinking of what Mom and Dad talked about to me the night before– were we being careful and were we in love? And had we talked about the future and what we wanted?

I was pretty sure about the first two, but the last one was the most interesting to them and me. Because the truth of the matter was that I was pretty sure we weren’t exactly on the same page, but we were close.

I had applied to quite a few colleges all over the country. I wanted to give in to what my father said and give myself as many options as I could. It never hurts to have backups of backups. So, as far as I was concerned I was going to go to one of the ones that offered me full ride with academic scholarships, which was about five schools. Two were in the northeast part of the country, one in Florida, one out west at USC, and my very own UNLV. I liked the idea of going to one here. I could continue training and fighting as well as get my Master’s in Education. I really wanted to be a history teacher if the fighting stuff didn’t professionally work out.

Mandy had her applications out there too, but she hadn’t told me much about it. I knew she wanted pursue Theatre, but where? Surely UNLV had a good theatre department, at least I heard then it did.

Did I want to be with her for the rest of my life? Right then, if I was given the choice? I would have raced to the nearest jeweler and bought her a ring. We just fit right, together it felt like we were whole. I knew it was young love and often times it ended badly, but I could dream and hope.

* * *

She smiled at me as she and Grace walked up the stairs together. It was one of those special smiles she saved for me, but it didn’t hold for long. She tilted her head to a very distracted Grace before coming up and giving me a brief but fierce hug.

“I love you,” she whispered. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

I nodded my head and smiled to her, all the while in my head I was thinking what the fuck? But if her friend was in need I’d do what I could to help and support her.

Chapter Thirteen

Mandy

Things te

nd to come in threes, don’t they? First it was my parents splitting. Then it was my weekend with Brett, losing my virginity. And finally it was Grace and her missed period.

I felt like a shitty friend. Grace needed me last night but I couldn’t invite her over. I just couldn’t do that to my dad. What was happening between my parents was still very private, and he deserved to handle it however he wished without anyone else seeing. Even if that other person was my best friend. So I did my best to console her through text messages and on the phone.

I don’t think I did a very good job of it though.

The next day Grace and I met early before school. We hit the pharmacy and bought a few pregnancy tests, but decided it would be best if she waited until after school to take them. That probably wasn’t the best decision, either. Grace was seriously a wreck. And Brett, he was there early to meet me, and I couldn’t even explain it to him.

School felt like it lasted forever, and when it was finally over I gave Brett just a quick kiss on the cheek and promised to tell him later. Well, what I was allowed to tell him, anyway. He didn’t seem happy, and I knew I was giving him some serious mixed signals but it couldn’t be helped. My best friend needed me, and I needed to be there for her.

Grace and I retreated to my house to take the tests. After checking, I found my dad snoring loudly in his own bed. Grace was too wrapped up in herself or just polite enough not to comment on the state of the house. The place had that very distinct, very noticeable stale liquor smell to it.

In my bathroom connected to my bedroom we had all the privacy needed and the comfort of knowing we wouldn’t be interrupted.

“What does two lines mean?” Grace asked.

I hesitated to take the stick she held out in offering to me. I knew she just peed on the thing and seriously didn’t want to touch it.

“Um,” I said and bit my lip while reading the box the test came out of. We had five different brands and every single one of them used different symbols to show the results. We should have splurged on the ones that told you straight up pregnant or not pregnant. It seemed cruel of the companies who manufactured the tests to have them read like hieroglyphics. Seriously, what the fuck?

“Two lines you’re pregnant. One line you’re not.”

Grace’s bottom lip trembled. “Shit.” She looked down at the stick, her eyes watering and I just knew she was on the verge of bursting into tears. I threw the box to the side and stepped forward, meaning to give her a hug.

Suddenly her lip stopped trembling and she said hopefully, “Maybe this one is broke.”

I dropped my arms and gave her a quick nod. “Let’s try a different one.”