Everything's Different Now

The past two days have been torture, Joe still hasn't spoken to me and I don't know whether that means he wants to see Darcy but is being too stubborn to actually speak to me, or if it means he doesn't and this is his way of telling me to fuck off. What am I supposed to do? Do I try and contact him again or do I just wait and see if he'll do it on his own.... If he does it.

"Erica, if you're not going to do any work today I would have preferred it if you didn't show up." Linda shouted from across the room as she finished wiping down a table.

"What work? The place is empty." I stated looking around, the only customer sitting in the far corner with his concentration firmly on the newspaper in front of him.

"Well can you at least look busy; you're not being paid to stand there with your head in the clouds."

"I wish they were in the clouds." I mutter walking to the sink and start washing the only mug inside.

Anyway back to the Joe-Darcy situation, I know letting him see her is a pretty big deal and it could be the biggest mistake I make but considering how he acted when he found she's his daughter I think it's only fair. Not only that but the more I think about it the more I realise that I should have ignored my fear and told him the moment I found out I was pregnant. I mean how hard would it have been to find out which college he was going to, show up out of no where and tell him I was pregnant..... Actually that sounds worse; and no matter how many scenarios I think of I end up being the bitch that ruins his life. I knew keeping it a secret was the best thing.... I still can't figure out how he even found out, Kenny didn't know... no one knew but me, and as far as I know there was no way of him getting hold of that birth certificate without some kind of legal action.

"Erica, go home." Linda said as she appeared next to me.

"Why?" I laugh

"Like you said, the place is empty and besides.... You're no used to me when you're distracted."

"Distracted? I'm not distracted."

"If you scrub that mug any longer the colour is going to wash off." she sighed taking the mug from me and putting it on the counter.

"Thanks, but I need work to distract me from my...... distraction." I sigh drying my hands on a dish towel.

"Well then stop thinking about whatever it is you keep thinking about."

"I'll try."

***

Taking the final bite of my sandwich I wipe the crumbs off my hands, hearing the door open I look up and see Joe stepping in.

"Joe!" I gasp almost chocking on my lunch, pausing I quickly swallow the food still in my mouth. "What are you doing here?" I ask getting up from my chair

"I went to your apartment and you weren't there and this is the only other place I could think of to find you. Is it a bad time?" he asked pushing his hands into his pockets.

"Er.... No. I've still got some time left before my lunch break is over." As I sit back down Joe makes his way to the chair on the opposite side of the small table.

"I think we both know why I'm here."

"You came to ask me out on a date?" I joke. Joe looks at me with a blank expression, clearly not amused by my attempt to lighten the mood. "Not the right time? Ok."

"When you said you knew where Darcy is and that you'd take me to see her, did you mean it?"

"Yea" I nod nervously squeezing the end of my fingers.

"Why didn't you tell me you know where she is?"

"Because you were angry and you wanted to leave.... I didn't want to make the situation worse."

"You took my daughter away from me, I don't think it could have gotten any worse."

"I didn't take her away from you." I argue

"I don't want to do this again Erica. Can you just take me to see her?"

"I-I guess." I shrug

"Great. So tomorrow?"

"What? No Joe, not tomorrow." I blurt out in a panic.

"Why not?"

"Because.- because, you just can't."

"So when?" Joe demands clearly getting frustrated.

I want to say never but I know I have to give him a real answer, Saturday seems like the best day it's the only day I've ever seen her at the park. Not that I wait for her or anything, that's just weird and kinda creepy.

"Saturday." I finally answer

"Saturday?" Joe says as if he doesn't actually believe me.

"Yes, Saturday."

------

"I know.... It's amazing." Justin announced as he walked across the large empty apartment. He's kept trying to drag me to different places but i always found an excuse not to go and now he's finally chosen somewhere..... and it's pretty amazing. "All the furniture is arriving tomorrow, so you'll have to come back and see it when it's furnished."

"My apartment is a shed compared to this place." I scoff while looking up at the high ceiling.

"Wait, there's more." He smiled and gestured me to follow

"Like what? " I laugh

Reaching the bedroom Justin turns and stares at the wall behind me "You can't see if you don't look."

Reluctantly I turn to find my reflection staring back at me. "Why am I not surprised to find you have a mirrored wall?"

"The best bit is that it was already here; it's as if it was destined to be mine." He said with clear admiration to whoever owned this place before him; I'm surprised there isn't a stripper pole too. "And to say thank you for all those times you let me crash at yours... You can use this room whenever you want." Feeling Justin's hand pat my shoulder I look at him and laugh. "I think i'd prefer a thank you card."

"So you're coming by tomorrow right?" Justin asked swiftly leaving the room.

"As much as I'd enjoy watching other people move your furniture in, I can't."

Stopping in place Justin turns and faces me "Joe you are not spending another day either at work or complaining about Erica."

"I'm not. I'm seeing Darcy." I smile

"Again with this Darcy chick, who is she?"

"You really wanna know?" I ask crossing my arms

"Yes I really want to know."

This could go one of two ways. He laughs in my face or he doesn't believe me; either way I'm leaving as soon as I say it just to avoid the reaction. "She's mine and Erica's daughter." I quickly say and walk around Justin towards the front door.

"Wait. Hold on!" He shouts to stop me from leaving. "You and Erica have a kid?"

Before I can say anything else Justin appears in front of me. "All that time we spent hooking up with girls and you didn't think to mention it?"

"First of all I didn't know back then and secondly, don't act like your offended because I know you're just dying to laugh at me for getting a girl pregnant in the first place."

"Yea you're right." He sighs before bursting into laughter. "Dude you are- for lack of a better word-Screwed."