Creating Something out of Nothing

ZACKY'S POV

"MATT!!" I stood in the same spot that Tammy had left me. I couldn't move, I was still so shocked at the fact that she was pregnant, and that it was mine, and that she wasn't gonna let me see it or have any part of its life. I wanted to cry or something.

Matt came running from wherever he was. He spoke, out of breath, "What's up, man?" He paused to look around. "Where's Tammy?"

"She just walked out. I yelled for her, but she walked out."

"What happened?"

"I- Well, I was angry at her for not telling me. Then she got into why she didn't tell me. It was because of me, Matt. I was the reason I didn't know that she's gonna have a baby that's mine. Then she said something about heartbreak and emotions and... I don't even fucking know anymore! I just know that if I have a baby, I wanna be there for it and be part of its life, and have it know me and love me just like I'll love it. And I don't want her to take that away from me. I mean, there's only so much resticting she can do to me. What's she gonna do, leave?"

Matt was quiet, and when I looked at his face, his eyes were on the ground.

"Matt. She's not leaving, is she?"

Still, he wouldn't say a word.

"Dammit, Matt, tell me what she's got planned!"

"Alright. Fuck. She's going away for college. This college that offered her a scholarship, a full ride. She decided she's gonna take it, since she said you didn't want anything to do with her."

"Where is she going, Matt?"

"Florida."

Florida? That's like three thousand miles away! My mind went bonkers trying to figure shit out and I just couldn't. So I turned around and ran. I ran after her, even though she wasn't outside, which meant she was in her room.

END ZACKY'S POV

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I was sitting on my bed, crying like my mom had just died, when my phone rang.

"Yeah?" I sniffled with the greeting.

"Hey. Zacky just left my house, which means he's probably outside of yours somewhere. And he knows you're leaving."

I sighed at the last thing Matt siad. I did not want Zacky to know I was leaving. "Well, the door didn't open or shut. Nobody rang the doorbell."

Then I heard a noise. The same noise I heard when Matt was coming up to my window.

"Oh, fuck."

"What?" I heard from the phone.

"He's coming up."

"I figured he'd do that. Well, I'll let you go."

"I'll call you after I get him out of here."

"Alright. Good luck."

"Luck I won't need. Patience, I might."

As I hung up the phone with Matt, Zacky was opening my window. How he knew it was unlocked, I'll never know, because I never asked him. All I wanted at that moment was to get the asshole out of my room and out of my life. As he climbed in, I stood with my arms crossed over my chest, waiting for this to be over.

"What do you want, Zack? I'm tired, I've got a plane to catch tomorrow."

"Wait." He looked up at me, eyes wide. "You're leaving tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I might as well. Semester's gonna start soon," I said, shrugging. I pulled off my tshirt to reveal my tank top and walked to the closet, rummaging around. "Alright, say what you've gotta say, then get out." I turned back around to face Zacky.

He walked over to stand right in front of me. "Please, don't leave, Tams. Please don't leave."

"Why shouldn't I leave?"

"Because I want you to stay. I want to help you while you're pregnant, and see my baby, our baby, and help take care of it and help raise it. I wanna be around, don't force me to be an absent dad. Don't be a bitch just because I was an asshole."

"Are you seriously asking me that? Zacky, if that's gonna be your argument, you might as well climb back down and leave now, because I'm not gonna listen to your crap about me being the bigger person when you could've done that yourself."

"You're right," he said, looking down at our feet, his in shoes and mine bare, "I'm a fucking hypocrite." He looked up at me. "But come on, there's a baby in the picture. You shouldn't make it fatherless. A baby should only be fatherless if the father dies. And I'm right here, ready to be here."

"I don't give a fuck what you want. And quite frankly, you made it fatherless. So you can just leave, I've heard what you had to say, and I'm not buying it, so take your crappy fake-sentiment, and get the fuck out of my life!"

"Fine, Tammy! I'll let it go for now. But you're gonna hear from me, or you're gonna hear about me. It may not be now, it may not be tomorrow, but one day, you'll realize you're fucking wrong."

I was about to reply when he kissed me. The kiss was hard and rough and all tongues and teeth, it was angry even. And as much as I was pissed at him, as much as I was unwilling to accept his apology and forgive him, I wanted that kiss, because I still loved him. I kissed him back, pulling him closer with my arms around his neck, his arms around my waist. But I pulled away from him only an instant after and shook my head, holding him at arms length and pushing him farther.

"No, Zacky. You had your chance for all of this. It's too late for you now."

"But Tammy-"

"Just let go, Zacky," I whispered, "just let me go."

A tear slipped down my cheek as I heard the window shut and noises down the side of the house as Zacky left. I knew that'd be the last time I'd seen him for a very long time, and I sighed then, knowing that even though I wasn't okay with it, shit had to be this way.