It Wasn't Meant To Turn Out Like This

Brian slipped his SUV into park in Jimmy’s driveway and cut the ignition. He stared up at the plain house, its siding illuminated by the street lamp on the sidewalk. Most of the curtains of the windows on the top floor had been pulled shut to block out any light. Brian knew Mayza was probably asleep in one of the rooms up there. Jimmy’s house was closest to where they’d been on the beach, and he and Mayza had always been close. He knew Mayza wouldn’t want to return home where she would potentially see him again after he ditched her like an asshole.

He had stopped by the house before coming over here. Mayza had not been there. The logical choice after that had been Jimmy’s house. He had not expected to find Mayza at home anyway.

Brian wanted nothing more than to own a time machine or have possession of all the money in the world so he could somehow bribe the gods and buy back that moment, the moronic move of his when he abandoned his pregnant fiancée on the beach. She’d called out to him, and he had heard her tears, but yet he had not turned back. He’d been a coward, a lowly, useless coward instead. He’d be the luckiest bastard in the whole damn world if Mayza took him back.

Brian climbed slowly out of his SUV, shutting the door quietly behind him. Knowing at least the front door would be locked at 2 AM in the morning—Jimmy was crazy, but he wasn’t crazy enough to leave his front door unlocked at night—Brian walked around the house towards the back door. Jimmy never locked the back door, his excuse being that if the robber was so desperate to try the back door, he more than deserved the ass-kicking he’d receive upon entering the house. When that wasn’t a good enough excuse for Leana, Jimmy moved on to the excuse that they would have a quick escape if the house caught fire.

Brian pulled open the back door and stepped silently into the kitchen, closing the door behind him. He’d fucked up bad, but he wouldn’t be sure how badly he fucked up until he saw and talked to Mayza. If she would even agree to talk to him. He knew if she was pissed, she could use her fairy magic on him and probably break every bone in his body before throwing him out on the back lawn to die a slow and painful death.

Upon glancing at the sink, Brian wondered if Mayza had thrown his ring down the garbage disposal yet. No, she’d probably return it to him at least. He wasn’t very optimistic that she would want to go back to him after what he’d done.

Brian wound his way quietly through the house and headed up the stairs. He knew which one was the guest bedroom—he’d stayed in this house countless times when he’d been dating Michelle, when they fought all the time before she turned into a controlling bitch. He went straight for it and silently pushed it open and stepped inside.

Mayza slept soundly on the bed. Her curtains had not been drawn; moonlight streaming in through the open window illuminated the lower half of her tiny body. She lay on her back, her arms sprawled out on either side of her head on her pillow. Brian recognized it as the position that Mayza adopted once she’d fallen into a deep slumber. Her chest rose and fell underneath the shirt of Leana’s that still dwarfed the little fairy.

Brian slid the door closed behind him and silently stripped down to his boxers. He knew it was foolish, and if he made the wrong move and woke up Mayza, no doubt he’d find himself flung across the room and slammed into the wall in a very painful fashion, but he wanted to lay next to her one last time. He had a strong feeling their relationship was about to fall through and he didn’t want to leave it without feeling her beside him once more.

Brian slipped stealthily underneath the sheet, scooting as close to Mayza as he dared get. Then, gently, he rested his arm across her stomach and just watched her sleep. After a few moments, Mayza reacted in her sleep to his touch and turned into him, pressing her face into his neck. Brian curled his arm tighter around her waist, pulling her body gently into his.

They lay there for several moments more. Brian’s arm around Mayza’s waist lifted of its own accord and snaked out from underneath the covers. Brian started to scoot away, knowing Mayza had woken up and was telling him to give her space, when his own hand smacked him across the cheek hard.

Mayza shot up into a sitting position, glaring down at Brian as her eyes darkened. An invisible force shoved him backwards off of the bed. He took the sheet with him and landed hard enough on the floor that he knew Mayza had shoved him downward so he landed harder. He sat up, disentangling himself from the sheet, and looked up when Mayza appeared around his side of the bed, her hands on her hips and looking almost ready to kill.

“Come back to give me some lame excuse for your departure?” Mayza growled, her voice deep. She took a slow step towards him, and Brian decided his every-bone-broken theory hadn’t been that far-fetched. “Or have you come back for your ring? It’s right over there on that end table.” Mayza pointed across to the end table on her side of the bed. “I bet you’ll find some other chick, won’t you, one that’s not pregnant so you can ask her to marry you instead.”

“No, of course not, Mayza!” Brian exclaimed hastily. “I’m so sorry. I was just...”

“Being an asshole? Demonstrating every definition of ‘total fuckface’?” Mayza cut in angrily, taking another step towards Brian.

“Yes, all of those things,” Brian answered. “But please, can I explain?”

“I don’t want to hear your fucking excuses!” Mayza snapped. “You abandoned me out there! I wanted you to be happy with me! But you abandoned me and you abandoned your child and there’s no explanation good enough for that shit, Brian!”

“I love you, Mayza, and I hate to lose you!” Brian answered.

“You seemed pretty intent on losing me out there on the beach!” Mayza snarled.
Behind her, the door into the bedroom slowly opened.

“Mayza, I know you’re mad, but please don’t destroy my house,” Jimmy said as he started to step inside the room.

Mayza swiveled her head around, turning her body slightly to look at him. “Don’t worry, Jimmy. I’ll destroy him before I destroy the house.”

She shoved Jimmy back out into the hall and slammed the door shut. She turned back to Brian, advancing another step forward. She was inches from him now.

“Fine then, let’s hear this explanation of yours. Then, I will kill you.”

“After I left the restaurant, I knew that I’d been a total dick,” Brian explained quickly. “I wanted to go back to you and apologize, but I knew I needed more than an apology to make up for what cowardly thing I’d done. So, in order to get time to think, I drove the long way home, just meandering through town. I finally got home at about 1:30 AM and stepped inside. You weren’t there, and without you home, it felt desolate and I knew it wasn’t right for us to be apart. I assumed you were here because it was closest and you were always good friends with Jimmy.”

“Okay, so that explains what happened after you abandoned me,” Mayza growled. “Now tell me why you abandoned me in the first place.”

“I don’t know why,” Brian answered. “I panicked. I was in shock. I couldn’t think of myself with a kid. I had this plan set where we’d be married for a bit and enjoy each other’s company and then have kids, but that plan wasn’t going to work out and I couldn’t accept it. So I ran away. Please, Mayza, I don’t want to lose you.”

Mayza turned away from Brian and hurried to the door. Brian scrambled to his feet as Mayza wrenched the door open and shot out into the hall, narrowly missing Jimmy who had clearly been listening for sounds of breaking things. Brian ran out after Mayza, dodging Jimmy as he tried to grab Brian. He burst out of the back door right as Mayza launched herself into the air.

Brian reached Mayza just in time to grab her ankle and yank her back down to the ground. She squawked in alarm as she slammed into the ground, but brushed it off as she scrambled to her hands and knees in an attempt to launch off the ground again. Brian lunged forward, wrapping his arms around her waist and throwing her down onto her back. He quickly sat down on her hips, keeping her pinned down so she couldn’t go anywhere.

Mayza struggled for several seconds, but Brian knew if she really planned on going anywhere, she could have him off of her in an instant. Finally she stopped. She glared up at Brian, but there were tears in her large eyes. Her eyes had faded to pink again.

“I don’t want to lose you either. But you cannot imagine how hard it is for fairies to get pregnant,” Mayza choked out around her tears. “Abortion is not an option for me. You either accept me and the baby, or you get neither of us.”

Brian gently moved off of Mayza’s hips. He reached out for her, and she carefully moved to seat herself in his lap, wrapping her arms around his torso and burying her face into his neck. Brian kissed the top of her head, rubbing her back soothingly.

“You know, the more I thought about it, the better the prospect of being a father sounded,” Brian said after a few minutes. “I always wanted kids. I guess now is as good a time as any.”

“Whichever hip the brown mark appears on specifies whether the baby is a boy or a girl,” Mayza replied, sounding much calmer. Brian realized just how lucky he was to have such a generous fiancée. Most women would’ve left his ass for someone who wouldn’t abandon them. Brian felt that he loved Mayza more now than he ever had. He’d taken her for granted until now.

“Well?” Brian wheedled.

Mayza pulled away slightly and grabbed Brian’s wrist, resting his hand gently on her stomach. She smiled up at him out of the remainder of her tears.

“Daddy’s little girl.”

Brian smiled back and wrapped his arms tighter around Mayza. “I love you more than anything, Mayza.”

“I know,” Mayza answered. “C’mon.”

She stood up and helped Brian to his feet. They headed back inside.

Once inside the guest bedroom, Mayza slipped her engagement ring back on and the two of them settled down into the bed together: how it was meant to be.