And You're Just What I Need...

“so, all of the games are set up?” I ask Nick.

“yup. Every single one that you asked for.” He answers.

“great. Thanks for helping me with this Nick.”

“yeah. No problem.” He says, “now all you have to do is worry about telling Adam-oh shit.” He covers his mouth like he wasn’t supposed to say that.

I sigh and rest my head on the back of the sofa, “Katelyn told you. Don’t worry about it, I don’t even care if the secret gets out anymore. At least he’ll find out the truth that way.”

“Can I ask why you didn’t tell him in the beginning?”

I look over at him and shrug, “scared I guess. He was mad about having to pick me up at the airport that first day and I didn’t want to get him any angrier. And then after that, he started to trust me, then love me…I just got too afraid and now we’re one day away from the truth come out one way or another.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine with it.” I raised my eyes at him as if saying ‘really?’ “okay, that’s a comforting lie that I thought would help. Obviously you know he’s going to freak.”

“yeah, he’s going to freak.”

Silence filled the air for a moment before I added something, “remember that day when I pushed you and Katelyn out the door?”

“um, yeah. I think so…”

“I had just gotten back from the doctor and he informed me that I had had a miscarriage.”

“seriously?”

“yeah. I had been feeling ill and thought that I should go check up on what was going on. That’s when I found out.”

“what did Adam say?”

“he promised that if I was pregnant he still wouldn’t have left me.”

“and you’re second guessing that?”

“well…I’m not pregnant. I already had the kid and I think that might be just a tad bit different.”

“Adam doesn’t seem like the type that would just leave.”

“I hope you’re right.”

We dropped the topic after that and talked about Italy and school and just a bunch of other random stuff. Before we knew it, it was time for the party to begin.

“This is awesome!” Finn screams over the loud music, a can of pepsi in his hand.

“really?!” I ask reassuringly.

He nods his head, “yes. It’s great! I’m glad you planned it!”

I smile and thank him. The group of guys included his family and random friends from school. Basically the majority of males invited to the wedding were at the party.

I was, obviously, the only girl there but didn’t really mind. Though college guys are still going to be college guys and at about nine they started chanting for me to strip. It was actually pretty hilarious because I totally wasn’t going to. Luckily Adam wasn’t there or there would have been some pretty serious fights breaking out. Finn finally got his friends to understand that no, I really wasn’t going to strip for them.

The party ended at eleven so that Finn wasn’t exhausted tomorrow for the sunset wedding. Nick and I stayed after to clean up the mess.

“can I ask you something?” Nick asks while we pick up the garbage.

I laugh, “of course Nick.”

“why didn’t you tell Adam in the beginning? Like when you were pregnant.”

I stop for a moment, thinking about the answer. “I was eighteen at the time and Adam was my first boyfriend. He lived in Italy and I lived in Washington, not really close to each other. We never really broke up, but we didn’t talk about what would happen when I left either. I had his contact information, so I could have called him to tell him. But his life was in Italy at the time. He was going to school, had a job and family and friends…everything was in Italy. If I told him I was pregnant, he would have caught the first plane to Washington. Just dropped everything and left. I didn’t want to do that to him. I also didn’t want to force a relationship on us just because of one mistake. I decided that I had the support to raise her on my own and didn’t need Adam there for me.”

“so you didn’t want him to leave his life for you?”

“correct.”

There was a pause, “I’m moving to Italy.”

I drop the bag that was in my hands, “what?!”

Nick looks up and laughs at my expression, “I’m on track to graduate a year early, next year. My family has been going to the same college in Italy for, well, generations. I figured that I’d continue that tradition.”

“does Katelyn know that?”

“not yet. I don’t know how to tell her. I don’t want her to freak out about it or feel pressured to stay together or anything. I mean, yes, us being together does effect my decision a little bit, but not so much that I wouldn’t go if we broke up.”

“well, you still have time to tell her. Though just don’t wait until you show up to go to school.”

“like you did?”

“oh shush.” I tie off the last of my bags and toss it by the door. We were finally finished with the garbage and I was ultimately exhausted. “I’m going to go to bed now. You can sleep on the sofa in Katelyns room.”

“Adam won’t mind?”

“what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” I say before leaving the room and walking to my own. Adam was already asleep in my bed when I enter. I change into some pajamas and slip under the covers next to him. His arms automatically wrap around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

I whisper one last thing before letting sleep take over my body.

“please don’t leave me.”