For the Best

I had been lying in the floor of the bathroom since I had hung up with Shannon, because it seemed that as long as I was lying flat on my back, I had a small amount of control over my stomach. I must’ve been there for longer than I thought, and drifted of slightly, because when I woke up, I heard Brian frantically knocking on the door.

“Saylee? Saylee, is everything okay in there? Are you alright? Do I need to- Can you hear me?!” His voice just got more frantic.

“I’m fine.” I croaked, my voice dry.

“You don’t sound okay.” I heard his voice, and I heard the door inch open and a moment later I saw his face above me. “Are you alright?” I just shook my head.

“Look at it.” I whispered, and barely mustered up the energy to point at the test lying on the counter next to the sink. He turned and looked at it, and the color drained from his face.

“Oh god.” No doubt he was staring at that devilish little pink plus sign. “Please tell me it’s Matt’s.” He pleaded, looking down at me, and I shook my head.

“It could be Zacky’s or Matt’s.” I whispered, and brought my hands up over my face, mentally exhausted, and just wanting it all to be a nightmare.

“Oh god.” He fell back against the wall and slid down, and I looked over at him as I sat up.

“I can’t do this, Brian. I can’t.” I could already feel the tears and he quickly hugged me, and I cried into his shoulder.

“Say, you gotta tell them.” He whispered and I pulled away from him, looking at him, and I knew I looked terrified. “You have to.” He pushed on, taking my arms.

“But-”

“No buts. It belongs to one of them because I know it sure as hell doesn’t belong to me, and I know for a fact that it’s going to take them some time to process this and-” Brian was cut off by the sound of the front door closing, and we both looked over to the doorway.

“Saylee! Brian! We’re back!” Matt yelled, and I looked back at Brian as he looked at me.

“Saylee, you’re fucking pregnant. If you don’t tell them now they’re going to find out sooner or later, and you just-”

“Hey, what are you two doing?” I looked back over to the doorway at Matt, who was standing there, looking at Brian and I. It couldn’t be that good looking of a situation, because I was straddling Brian’s lap, and he was holding onto my arms as if to try to shake some sense into me.

“Matt,” My heart was racing so fast I could hear it as Brian let go of my arms. “I’m pregnant.” I couldn’t stop the words and after I just put my hand over my mouth, the reality weighing on me.

“You’re…you’re pregnant?” Matt just took a deep breath as I nodded. I couldn’t tell if he was happy, or not as his eyes stayed the same, staring at me.

“And I don’t know whose it is.” I admitted, and Matt just went quiet. I didn’t even think he was breathing. “Matt?” I questioned quietly as I got off of Brian, and took a few steps towards him. He turned and slowly walked off, his face blank. I looked back at Brian as he got up.

“This is why I didn’t want to tell him.” I whispered, knowing that he’d space out on me and possibly-

“YOU DID THIS TO HER, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!”

“MATT, GET OFF OF ME! BRIAN HELP!”

“Oh shit.” Brian took off at the screams and I was right behind him as we both ran down the stairs and into his living room, where Matt was holding Zacky by the neck.

“You did this to her, you son of a bitch!” Matt growled, and Zacky kept his hands on Matt’s, in a desperate attempt to get him off of himself.

“Matt, get off of him!” Brian ran over and pulled Matt off of Zacky with a little difficulty, and stayed in front of him, his hands on his chest as Zacky just backed up. “Just calm down.”

“Wh-what did I do?” Zacky asked, shaken up, no doubt, looking at me and then at Matt.

“You got my fucking girlfriend fucking pregnant, you fucking bastard!” Matt yelled, and Zacky looked at me, terrified.

“You’re pregnant?!” I just nodded slowly, and Zacky began shaking his head as if in denial. “No! No, th-that can’t be from- I didn’t! I fucking didn’t!” Zacky looked over at me. “Tell me I didn’t!”

“Oh you did! And now you’re going to-”

“Just shut the fuck up!” I screamed, and Zacky stopped, and Matt looked at me, still being held back by Brian. “This isn’t anyone’s fucking fault! This isn’t Zacky’s fault, and this isn’t your fault either!” I yelled at Matt. “There’s a fucking fifty-fifty chance that it’s either of yours.” I said, calming down some, and Matt just sighed, and then spoke after a silent moment.

“Can you find out?” Matt asked and I shook my head.

“Not until it’s born.” I whispered, my voice going quiet again.

“Until it’s born?! You’re keeping it?! With a possibility of it being mine?!” Zacky asked, obviously not liking the fact. “I can’t deal with a kid right now, Saylee! I can’t! I still have a life ahead of me!”

“Shut up and stop being so insensitive!” Brian snapped at Zacky.

“Of course she’s keeping it, asshole!” Matt yelled. “Did you ever think that I do want to be a father?!”

“Okay, okay, look, both of you, calm down.” I said, and sat down on the arm of the couch, putting my head in my hands.

“She’s pregnant, she doesn’t need this right now.” Brian said, and I felt him sit down side me, rubbing my back.

“Zacky I’m keeping it.” I said calmly. “If it’s yours, then you’re going to be there for me, and him-”

“Or her.” Brian said and I nodded.

“And if it’s not, then you’re getting worked up right now for nothing.” I said, looking up at Zacky and Matt to see the two of them now standing in front of me. “Now this is my fault, because I was fucking stupid the day I slept with you, okay?” I said and Zack nodded slowly.

“It was my fault too.” He muttered.

“But it happened, and there’s nothing any of us can do to change anything.” Matt said, and I could tell he was keeping his attitude under check for me. “For now we just…we have to make the best of things.”

“Right. Until it’s born, and we know for sure whose it is, then it’s both of yours, and the two of you have to fucking stick together, or I’ll kick you both out of here.” Brian said, still sitting beside me, his hand now on my shoulder.

“Kick us both out? What does-”

“You’re all staying here.” Brian said quickly. “I don’t want her and Matt alone in some ratty, ghetto ass apartment.”

“Hey!” Matt and Zacky defended.

“I grew up there, it’s an awesome apartment!” Zacky said quickly.

“Then why in the hell are there five different locks on the door?” Brian asked, and Matt just looked down.

“We’re….protective and safety oriented?” Zacky tried and Brian shook his head.

“Everyone’s staying here.” Brian said sternly. “There are enough bedrooms, and I’m even closer to the hospital than then that shitty ass apartment.”

“Can you just…stop hating on the apartment already?” Matt asked, and it almost brought a smile to my face.

“So it’s settled, we’re staying here.” I said and Matt sighed.

“Well I need to go get a few things from my apartment if I’m going to be staying here for nine months.” Matt said and I stood up, needing to get some things from my house as well.

“And we need to drop by my house so I can pick up some things.”

“By your house? With your psychotic parents lurking around?” Matt asked and I nodded, hearing Shannon’s words about my parents echo in my head. I did need to talk to them.

“This changes a lot. I need to at least try to talk to them, and get on their good side.” I said and Matt gave another sigh.

“Can I stay in the car?”

“No.” Brian said. “Hell no you are not going to let her go into that place by herself.”

“Are you wanting her to get eaten alive?” Zacky asked and Matt groaned.

“No, Zachary, I don’t want my pregnant girlfriend to get eaten.” He ran a hand down his face. “When do we leave?” He asked and I took a deep breath.

“Now.”

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
^*Matt’s POV*^
After a few threats from Brian and Zacky over me keeping Saylee from being yelled at, we finally got to the car and drove out. Neither of us said anything to one another. I still had the fact that I could be a dad in a few months on my mind. But it could also be Zacky’s. If it’s his, he’ll flip shit. I know him, he doesn’t want to lock his life into place with a kid just yet. But me…I’ve been waiting to settle down, and finding Saylee has just made that want grow. I trusted her, even after everything, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I never wanted this love we shared to go away. But before I could dive into what a kid would do to us, we arrived at her house, but something was wrong. Both of their cars were gone, the wreath on the door was missing, replaced with a note. The house looked bare. I looked over to Saylee, who was staring at the place in confusion.

“Something’s not right.” She whispered, and opened the door and got out. I quickly followed, and stayed beside her as she walked to the door. She opened the screen door and pulled the piece of paper from the tape. It was in a page protector, and she just slowly read over it.

“What does it say?” I asked as she finally looked up at me.

“They left.” She whispered.

“They left?” I asked and she handed me the note. I started reading over it.

Saylee,

Your father and I have tried to raise you the best we could. We realize now that the best we could probably wasn’t the best after all. We also realize that we’ve probably pushed you away by shoving you in the direction that we wanted you to go, instead of asking where you wanted to go with your life. We realize now here you want to go. You love Matthew, we get that. You love him, and you want to spend your life with him. As long as he takes care of our baby girl, we don’t mind.

You’re probably wondering why this note’s on the door, why the cars are gone, and once you get inside the house, why everything’s missing except for your belongings. Sheldon and I have decided that it would just be better to leave you alone. You’ve got a good life for yourself now, with people who – no matter how badly we hate them- have showed that they care about you and your wellbeing, and would risk their life for you. We’re headed back to Alabama, back to family, to try to figure out where we went wrong. This isn’t because of you, or Matthew, or any of his friends, this is because of us. We just hope you can keep on with what you have going now, and try to look past all of the flaws in our family.

I called Benji last night and talked to him for the first time in a while, and he told me what all had happened the day you were over there. I asked him to just keep an eye on you, because you are still a kid. You seem to listen to him more than us, anyways. He’ll be there for you whenever while your father and I are always too busy to deal with problems. I gave him the address of where we dropped Matthew off after we bailed him out, and he said he’d go and check on you later today.

We haven’t put the house up for sale, because it’s paid off and it belongs to you now. You and Matthew. I just hope you can keep your life together, but I know Matthew will be there with you no matter what. I just wish things could’ve been different, so your father and I could be there with you.

We love you,
Mom & Dad

The date in the far right hand corner was today, June 25th, just a few hours ago at three PM. I looked up to see Saleigh had opened the door, and was standing in the doorway, the inside of the house empty.

“They just left…a couple hours ago.” She whispered, and took a deep breath.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly, resting a hand on her shoulder and she nodded, looking at me with a slight smile.

“Yea, I am.” She turned and hugged me. “As long as I can love you.”