Have Faith In Me

Grace was sitting in the restaurant waiting for Jonny show up. All kinds of ideas were running through her mind about what could’ve happened between him and Callie. She was nervous to find out. It was clear that Callie was really hurt by it. She was also nervous about going to see Mike afterwards. Grace was slightly embarrassed by the way she handled things the night before and felt like she overreacted. A chair scraping across the floor snapped Grace out of her daydream. She looked over and saw Jonny sitting down.

“What’s up?” he said

“Not much.” Grace said leaning back in her chair.

“You don’t look as mad as you did last night. You feeling better?” he asked

“Yeah. I’m good.” She nodded

“So you don’t need to talk to me anymore, do you?” Jonny asked looking through the menu.

“Not really. But we had a deal. I would tell you why I was mad and you would tell me about you and Callie.” Grace responded

“Yeah but if you’re not mad anymore there is no reason for me to make you bring it up again. It might make you mad all over again.”

“Its not a big deal.” Grace said

“No don’t worry about it. You don’t have to tell me. I just, I need your advice.” He said

Grace just nodded as the waiter came over and took both of their orders. The waiter collected the menus and left the two alone.

“Ok so what happened between you two anyway?” Grace asked sipping on her soda.

Jonny sighed before adjusting his hat and leaning forward.

“We started dating last year. We were good. I really cared about and we hardly ever fought. Then my band started to record our record and tour. Callie was in school at the time so she couldn’t come along with me. When I was out on the road without her it was so hard to stay faithful but I tried really hard because I loved her you know?” Jonny said looking at Grace “And when she would visit me it would always give me a boost. I realized that sooner than later I would be back home with her and everything would be good. But then she would start to get frustrated about me being gone and I got tired of hearing her whine about it. I understood why, I just didn’t want to hear it. We started to fight all the time. I met this girl out on tour and we hit it off.”

“So you cheated on Callie…”

“Yeah I did. I felt bad, trust me, I was just so stressed and I was looking for a release…” Jonny said

“I don’t think sleeping with a girl who isn’t your girlfriend was the right kind of release.” Grace said

“I know.” Jonny said simply as the waiter brought them their food.

The two of them took a few bites of their foods before Grace looked back at Jonny.

“Ok so what happened next?” Grace asked

“Callie flew out to one of the dates to surprise me. She told me she had some news.” Jonny said hesitating

Grace patiently waited until Jonny spoke again.

“She told me she was pregnant.”

Grace’s jaw dropped when she heard those words. She couldn’t believe it. Callie had never mentioned that she had a daughter, let alone Jonny being the father. Grace started to wonder why Callie wouldn’t tell her. It had to be a bigger reason as to why Callie hated Jonny. Then a thought popped into and a grim look fell on her face.

“Jonny…” Grace said seriously

“I freaked Grace. I wasn’t ready to be a dad. I wish I could’ve been but I wasn’t. The band was going so well and I didn’t want to mess it up.” He explained

“So you told her to get an abortion?” Grace said disappointed

“Callie’s parents both died in a car accident. She has no brothers or sisters and only a few true friends. If she wanted to keep it she would need all the help she could get. Money and support. She was going to have to drop out of school and at one point quit her job and then I would have to completely leave my band to be home with her.” Jonny said stressfully

“Well you should’ve figured out a way to make it work Jonny. You and Callie made that baby together and the fact that her boyfriend, the only person she felt she could trust, turned his back on her probably killed her. You wanted her to kill her you guys baby Jonny.” Grace said shaking her head.

Jonny sat there looking down at his lap when Grace spoke again.

“What did you say when she told you?”

“I asked her was she sure.” Jonny answered

“Was she sure about what? If she was pregnant or if it was yours?” Grace said

“I’m pretty sure how I said it sounded like I was implying both.”

“Jonny you’re an idiot.” Grace said, running her fingers through her hair.

“The girl I was sleeping with decided to come on the bus and looked at Callie with a face that said it all. I’m pretty sure Callie thought something was happening but didn’t have any proof. Callie knew when she saw her. She slapped me and told me I was a no good son of a bitch and to never talk to her again. Oh and that she hated me. That happened about four months ago. She never answered my calls and when I got back from tour two months later and saw her in town she looked the same so I knew she had the abortion done. It broke my heart and I regretted even suggesting it but I was stupid. I don’t ever make the best decisions. I’ve tried to talk to her but you see how that ends up.” Jonny said.

“I still love her Grace. I really do. I just don’t know how to get her back.”

“Well maybe you should stop talking to her when you’re drunk.” Grace suggested “And stop acting arrogant. It makes you seem like you don’t care that you were the reason she had the abortion. You should go to her and beg her to hear you out. Tell her everything. How you felt about everything, how you’re sorry, and how much you still care about her. She has no reason to listen to you if she thinks you don’t care about her. Show her you care.” Grace said

Grace and Jonny finished eating while making small talk. Soon enough they were parting ways.

“thanks for talking to me Grace. You shouldn’t have especially because of the way I treated you at the party.” Jonny said

“Don’t worry about it. That’s behind us. Just take some time to figure what to say to Callie. If you tell her how you feel she might take you back.” Grace said patting Jonny on the back.

“I hope so.” He said sending Grace a soft smile. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later Jonny.”

Grace walked back to her car jumping in and headed towards her house. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Callie’s number.

”Hey. she heard her friend say

“Hey. So I was thinking, how about I grab us some ice cream and we have a slumber party at your house?” Grace asked

”So he told you everything?”

“Yeah and I just want us to hang out. You know, have a girls night in.”

”I’m down with that. My favorite ice cream is Rocky Road. Don’t forget.” Callie said making Grace laugh.

“I won’t. I’ll be over in a few hours.” Grace said

”See you then.”

Grace arrived at her house fifteen minutes later and quickly made her way into the house. She packed a bag and chatted with her dad and Eddie before leaving the house again. She threw her bag in the backseat of her car before getting in the driver’s seat. After about twenty minutes she pulled into Mike’s driveway. She felt butterflies invade her stomach but she managed to keep them at bay as she knocked on his front door. A few seconds later, Mike answered the door in only a pair of basketball shorts. Grace felt her eyes widened but immediately gained her composure. She heard Mike chuckle and she began to blush.

“Don’t blush. I looked at you the same way when I first met you.” Mike said as Grace smiled.

“Well that makes me feel better.” Grace said

“Come in.”

Grace walked into Mike’s house as he shut the door behind her. She turned around to face him and saw the hesitant look on his face. She knew he didn’t know where they stood and she hated that. Mike had been nothing but amazing to her since she met him. Even though she was mad, she had no reason to think that Mike was the one that told Katie.

“Grace I didn’t say a word to Katie, I swear. I would never do that to you. I made a promise to you that I wouldn’t lie to you and I didn’t. I promise I didn’t.” Mike said seriously

Grace looked into Mike’s brown eyes and saw nothing but sincerity. But that’s all she’s ever seen when she was with Mike. He has always been there for her and at this moment she realized that hadn’t changed. She felt a rush of emotion flow through her body and she suddenly wrapped her arms around Mike pulling him into a hug. Mike wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“I’m sorry.” Grace mumbled into his neck.

“Don’t be. I understand why you felt that way. I just wanted you to know that I wouldn’t do that, especially to you.”

“I know that now. I won’t doubt you anymore. I’ll promise you that.” She said pulling away to look at Mike.

Mike just smiled at her before leaning forward and kissing her. Everything that was happening between Grace and Mike came full force during that kiss. Everything they felt for each other became evident. They hesitantly broke away from the kiss and stared at each other.

“Be my girlfriend Grace…” Mike said softly “I know this is really fast but I...I like you so much.”

“I like you too Mike.” Grace said smiling

“That didn’t answer my question beautiful.” He said with his infamous smirk.

Grace laughed before responding, “I’ll be your girlfriend Mike.”

Mike smiled before kissing Grace on the lips before moving to the rest of her face.

“As much as I would love to stay here so you could shower me in kisses I have to go.” Grace said dropping down from Mike arms.

“Where are you going?” he asked

“I have a date.” Grace said walking towards the front door.

“Oh really? With who?”

“Callie. We’re having a girl’s night. I told her I’d be there soon and I still need to buy ice cream.” Grace said

“Well if she likes Rocky Road I have an brand new container in my freezer that you can have.” Mike offered

“You would have her favorite kind. Are you saying that to keep me here longer?” Grace said smirking

“What if I said yes?” Mike said pulling Grace to him by her hips.

“I’d say its working.”