Hellion, a New Adult Romance Novel(37)

 

“Wow. You just cussed.” In all the times I’ve ever been around Alissa, I have never even heard so much as a ‘dang’ pass her lips. Her shirts are always buttoned up to her throat and her pants never tight or sexy or anything but bland, bland, bland. A ponytail or simple hair clip describes the extent of her hairstyles. She’s every parents’ wet dream of a kid as far as I’ve ever been able to tell. And now she’s cussed. Oh, the slippery slope she’s on right now. I should probably warn her.

 

“Yes. I’m doing a lot of things these days that I thought I’d never do.”

 

“Oh, yeah? Like what?”

 

“Like trying to get a late-term abortion at a free clinic.” She tries to smile but it quickly disintegrates into more crying and her face scrunching up into the saddest thing I think I’ve ever seen.

 

I reach in and pull her to me as my heart breaks for her. She only makes it part way before her belly gets in the way, so I have to move into a half-squat to complete the hug. “Come here, sweetie, please don’t cry. I’m sorry I teased you.” My chest feels heavy and I want to cry right along with her. This is one of those moments where I realize my life is pretty damn good in comparison to the shit other people are dealing with, and I hate that I’m ungrateful for it most of the time.

 

“I don’t know what to do!” she wails. “I’m stuck. I’m stuck with this…. with this… with everything. I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere with everything and nothing!”

 

My eyes fill with tears at the hopelessness I hear in her voice. Panic takes over my mouth. “You’re not stuck. You’re not stuck. No one is ever really stuck when she has friends.”

 

“Friends? Friends?!” Her voice is rising again, so I grip her harder and start patting her on the back, really fast. It’s almost me whacking her at this point, but I don’t stop.

 

“Yes. Friends.”

 

“I don’t have any friends!” She struggles to get free. Pushing me away, she slams her back into her seat again. “The people I thought were friends are long gone, believe me.” She stares out of the windshield, bitterness taking over her tone. “The only person I have left is her.”

 

I look out the front window. “Her? Her who?” There’s no one out there except for the a-holes with signs harassing chicks going into the clinic.

 

Alissa looks at me like I’m the dumbest girl on the planet, which is probably perfectly appropriate seeing as how that’s who I feel like right now.

 

“Her. Her!” She points to her belly.

 

I can’t help but smile through the tears swimming in my eyes. I don’t know why, but it’s not until that moment that she called her baby ‘her’ that it really hits me what’s going on inside Alissa’s body. “It’s a girl?”

 

“Yes,” she says, sounding like she’s about to fall asleep. “It’s a girl.” She closes her eyes and leans her head back once more. “Can I go now?”

 

“Nah. Nope. Nyet. Nien. Fuuuuuck no.”

 

She lifts her lids and looks at me. It kind of freaks me out how undead she looks with her pale skin and red-rimmed, glazed-over eyes. “Why do you care what I do or where I go?”

 

I stand up to get the circulation going in my legs. Shrugging as I struggle for the answer, I look for Teagan. Thank all that is holy, she’s coming out of the building with a bottle of water in her hand and her phone to her ear. “I don’t know, Alissa. I guess I see you sitting here looking like a lost sheep and I feel the need to shepherd you somewhere.”

 

“Just let me go. You have Teagan.”

 

I frown down at her. “I don’t have Teagan. Teagan and I are friends because we care about each other. And it looks like you could use one of those. You know … friends?”

 

“It’s too late for that,” she says, reaching over to grab her keys off her dashboard. “I have to go.”

 

I point to Teagan to get her attention and then point at the passenger side of the car and make a twirling signal with my finger. When I yell, “Hijack!” my BFF jumps into action, bless her little stinkin’ heart.

 

“What are you doing?” Alissa yells, as I push the seat lever and shove her seat forward a couple inches. Mindful of her belly, I only go far enough to be able to squeeze through the space and dive into the back seat.

 

The passenger door flies open and Teagan jumps in, yelling, “Hijack alert!” She pretty much sings it with glee.