Take Me With You

Before Sabrina called me, Jordan and I had been making a plan for the school year. Basically, how we’d hide Sabrina’s pregnancy. The safest bet to me was for us to drop out, leave the state, and then come back twenty years later. But Jordan said that I was delusional for thinking she’d go along with it.

When she calls, I automatically know to go.

My new mission in life is to keep her happy and stay in love.

I hope it’s easy.

She’s sitting on the curb when I pull up to the mall, and she looks pained.

“What happened?” I ask her, cupping her face in my hands and pulling her close.

She pauses, like she’s not sure if she wants to tell me.

“Mina’s been cheating on Jordan, a few times,” she says, looking more upset than she had before.

I raise my eyebrows and freeze for a second. “What?” I ask. I’m looking at her like she’s gone crazy. “Are you serious?”

She nods and pushes me away, resting her head on her knees.

“Come on. We’re going to get out of here and we’re going to tell Jordan,” I hiss, grabbing her arm tightly and pulling her to my car.

“What? No,” she says, stopping and yanking her arm from my grip. “Is it really a good idea to tell him right now?”

I look at her, awestruck. “What?! How can we not tell him?”

“We don’t know everything about it and I just don’t-”

“Shut up! This is serious! We can’t keep it from him! He’s going to propose to her and she’s been cheating! How can you be stupid enough to say not to tell him yet?!” I yell, my voice much more harsh than I’d intended.

Her face remains unfazed, but her eyes are hurt. Really, really hurt. “Thanks. It’s good to know that I’m an idiot,” she says before turning away from me and walking off.

By the time I realize what I said, she’s already inside of the mall again.

“Shit,” I mutter, grabbing my hair in my hands. I’m an idiot.

I run in after her, but I don’t have to go very far. Mina’s already found her and she’s yelling at her.

Sabrina yells something and Mina pulls her hand back, slapping her.

Before I can intervene, Sabrina shoves Mina like a hockey player. Mina slams into one of the kiosks and has a rage filled expression.

She runs at Sabrina, attempting to push her back. Sabrina jumps out of the way and shoves her to the ground. I decide that now would be a good time to break it up, but I think my decision came too late.

Mina stands up and brings her foot up, kicking Sabrina in the side and sending her flying against the wall. Her face slams into it and I hear a yelp as I run to stop them.

“Sabrina!” I call, running over to her faster.

She stays still on the ground, her eyes shut. Mina is standing over her, looking terrified.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to kick her that hard and she just… She just made me so mad and I had to...”

I glare at her and bark, “Shut your fucking mouth, Mina!”

I crouch next to Sabrina and pull her close to me. “Sabrina, open your eyes. Please, tell me you’re okay,” I whisper, holding her face to my chest. A few tears slip out of my eyes.

As long as I can remember, Sabrina has always gotten into fights or been hurt somehow. When we were in fifth grade, she fell out of a tree on the playground and broke her leg. In sixth grade, she got into a fight with one of the girls on the field hockey team and kicked her ass. But she still ended up with a split lip and a black eye. It’s just always been that way.

“I’m okay,” she says, her voice raspy and her eyes still closed.

I take a relieved breath and hold her tighter. I’ve never been that worried about her until now. “Thank God. You scared me, darling,” I say shakily, smiling and wiping my tears away with one hand.

She looks up at me and asks, “Is my nose bleeding?”

Her face is already a little red from the impact. Her lip is swollen and her nose is a little bloody. She opens her eyes and they’re shiny with tears, but I know this wouldn’t make her cry. It’s just from the impact.

I smile and nod, wiping the blood away with my sleeve.

She smiles and looks at me. “Were you crying?” she asks.

I chuckled and look down. “A little bit,” I mutter. I lean in closer and whisper, so Mina doesn’t hear, “Do you think the baby is okay?”

“I don’t know,” she whispers, holding onto me.

Mina is looking down at us with tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” she says.

Sabrina glances over at her and says, “Sorry can’t fix everything, Mina.” She starts to stand up so I help her. I see the security officers coming and pull her along towards the door.

“Should we get you checked out at the hospital?” I ask her as we walk out.

She shakes her head and stays quiet, lumbering to the car with me. I open her door for her and help her in.

I get into the driver’s side and look over at her.

She’s looking down at her stomach and poking it. I watch her for a minute and see her move her hand lower. She pokes it there and sighs, sounding relieved.

“What?” I ask her, smiling and starting up the car.

“Nothing. I can still feel where the baby is, so I think that’s a good sign,” she says, smiling over at me.

I furrow my eyebrows and ask, “What do you mean? You can feel it?”

She nods and asks, “Do you want to try?”

“Um, I don’t know,” I say, suddenly much more nervous.

Her eyes roll and she grabs my hand, placing it over where she’d been poking it. “Just press down a little bit. It feels like a tennis ball.”

I take a deep breath and do as she said. I feel it and my eyebrows go up.

“Wow,” I whisper, pressing on it again.

She laughs and says, “I know. I noticed it a few days ago. And I’ve noticed that I have a little bit of a bump, but nobody else notices at all.”

“You don’t have a bump at all,” I say, looking at her weirdly.

She lifts her shirt a little bit and says, “I can see it when I look in the mirror from the side, but you wouldn’t really notice the difference.”

I laugh and pull out of the parking lot. “You’re seeing things,” I whisper, holding her hand and driving with the other. “Oh, and I’m going to be taking you shopping for anything you need from now on, okay?”

“Deal,” she says with a soft smile. Even with a beaten up face, she looks so cute.