First Comes Love

A few days passed, and all of a sudden, it was the worst holiday in existence; Valentine’s Day. Zoey was rushing around the room, primping her hair and putting on every piece of jewelry she could find.

“You sure you don’t wanna come with?” she asked, putting an earring in. Brooklyn sat on the bed with a book in her lap, looking up at her.

“Thanks, but I don’t want to be a third wheel,” she said, closing the book and putting it to the side.

“You won’t be! I’ll have Cayden bring a friend. It’ll be like a double date!” Zoey said excitedly, putting the other earring in. Brooklyn just shook her head.

“Really, don’t worry about it. I want you to have fun, and God knows I haven’t been very much fun the past few days,” she said with a sigh. Zoey frowned.

“It’s the baby stress. It’ll pass eventually,” she said. Brooklyn raised an eyebrow at her. “Okay, maybe not anytime soon. But eventually!”

“I know, I know. Get outta here, go have fun,” Brooklyn said with a light smile, getting off the bed to shoo her best friend out of the room.

“Okay! I’ll tell you everything when we get back!” Zoey said with a bright smile on her face. She kissed Brooklyn’s cheek, then left. Brooklyn shut the door and sighed, turning to sit back on the bed with her book.

Admittedly, Brooklyn had been feeling better about the whole situation. Why? Not even she knew. She hadn’t seen Collin since she’d told him about the baby. For some reason, that put her mind at ease. It was much easier to focus on herself and the baby rather than dealing with a ‘baby daddy.’ The only thing she was remotely worried about was Collin telling Adrienne. That could potentially ruin her life at Clarion Rock. Oh well, transferring schools was always an option.

An hour passed as Brooklyn engrossed herself in her book; escaping to a fictional world was much better than facing her reality. Soon, she heard a light knock on the door. She glanced over, seeing that the knob wasn’t locked. That meant it wasn’t Zoey forgetting her key. She raised an eyebrow and set her book down, walking over to the door. She looked through the peep hole and then took a step back. Seriously? She opened the door and looked Collin straight in the eyes.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Collin gave her a half-smile.

“I-I got this for you,” he said. Brooklyn’s eyes fell to his hands, which held a small, white teddy bear holding a box of chocolates.

“W-What-…?” she started to speak, but couldn’t find a sentence worth saying.

“It’s Valentine’s Day, isn’t it?” he asked, holding the bear out to her. A small smile playing on her lips, she took the bear from his hands.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked softly, looking up at him; she was significantly shorter than he was.

“Can I come in?” he asked, completely disregarding her question. After hesitating a moment, she stepped to the side, letting him walk in. She shut the door and sat down on her bed. Collin looked around a moment, then sat down next to her. He spotted the book she had been reading and picked it up. “Before I Fall,” he read out loud. “Is it any good?”

“So far. I’m only in the third chapter,” she said, tucking her legs up to her chest. A moment of silence passed.

“I broke up with Adrienne,” he said plainly. Brooklyn looked at him with fear in his eyes.

“You did?” she asked, biting on her bottom lip.

“Yeah. It was a long time coming, anyway,” he said, leaning back on his hands. How could he be so nonchalant about this?

“Well, what did she say? About…” she figured her meaning was implied.

“I didn’t tell her,” he said, looking at her.

“You didn’t?” she asked. Collin shook his head.

“Nope.”

“Well, how come?”

“I don’t really think it’s her business, do you?”

Brooklyn stared at him. This couldn’t possibly be the same kid she’d talked to days earlier about the same exact situation.

“I-I guess not,” she said.

“Look,” he stared, shifting so he was facing her with his legs crossed in front of him. “I am so sorry about the other day.” Brooklyn’s eyes drifted downwards. She didn’t want to hear any of this, and he could tell. He put a finger under her chin and lifted her head up, meeting her gaze again. “I’m serious. I was being selfish. I didn’t take you into consideration, and I apologize for that.”

Brooklyn looked into his eyes. She couldn’t tell if he was being serious or just trying to butter her up to make things easier on himself. Who was this guy?

“Do you mean that?” It was a stupid question, but she meant it. A light smile played on his lips.

“Of course I do,” he said, taking her hand lightly. Normally, Brooklyn would say this was ‘out of character’ for Collin. However, in that moment she realized that they knew absolutely nothing about each other. As much as he could be an asshat that ruined her life, he could be her knight in shining armor.

“Why did you bring me that bear?” she repeated her earlier question, nodding toward the small bear that now sat on her desk next to her bed. Collin smiled, leaning over to pick the bear up.

“Well, because,” he started, flipping the bear in his hands. “You’re the mother of my child. And like it or not, we’re in this together.” His eyes bore into hers. She felt her cheeks grow hot, tears slowly filling her eyes. Maybe it was the hormones, but she wanted to break down and cry. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise, okay?”

Brooklyn opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. A single tear fell down her cheek. Was this really happening? Or did she fall asleep and dream about the kind of thing that only happened in the books she lost herself in?

“Okay,” she whispered, smiling slightly. He handed her the bear again, and she let out a small laugh. She set it in her lap and Collin took her hands in his.

“We’re gonna get through this, alright? I swear, everything will be okay.”