Food, Cats, and Being Lazy

Paige was actually right about Vincent. As soon as she decided to give the baby up for adoption, they broke up. She cried in her room all night, but she wouldn’t talk about it. She said it was a mutual decision and what they both wanted.

But I was still really pissed at Vincent. Sure, they didn’t love each other anymore, and maybe they weren’t going to be parents after all. But it was still partially his fault that they were in this situation in the first place. And it wasn’t fair for him to leave her to deal with it on her own just because he didn’t love her anymore.

So I decided to tell him so. I passed him and his friends in the atrium at school. Paige wasn’t with them for the first time in forever. I walked right into their little group, and they all looked at me like they had no idea who I was. Everyone except for Vincent, of course. His eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Can I talk to you alone, please?” I asked him.

“Ooh,” one of his dumb friends said. He glared at the dumb friend in question and then turned back to me.

“Sure,” he said. Then he followed me to the stairwell as Dumb Friend wolf-whistled us. When we closed them out, he leaned against the wall, and I stood by the stairs. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Why you broke up with Paige,” I said.

“I told you it would happen.” I wanted to slap him.

“It shouldn’t have happened while she’s pregnant, stupid.” He sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead. He still looked exhausted.

“It’s not like that, Pip. I can see what you’re thinking. It’s not like that at all.”

“Then what is it?”

“I didn’t break up with her. We made the decision together. I’m not ditching her. I promised to be there for whatever she needed. We’re planning on going out to lunch every weekend. I’m giving her rides to all her appointments. I’ll be there when the baby is born. But she knew as well as I did that it was over. Once she decided not to keep the baby, we decided to end it. I know it looks bad, but I promise I’m not going to make her do this on her own, okay?”

“You’re really okay with the fact that she’s going to give your baby away?” He squinted like he was hurt.

“It’s not my baby, Piper. And yeah, I’m okay with it. I’m not ready for this.”

“What about the closed adoption thing? You really want to never see this baby again?”

“It doesn’t have to be closed for me.” He gave me a look that said, “Are you satisfied?” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall by the stairs.

“Can I be honest with you?” I asked him.

“Always.”

“I still feel really guilty.” He looked at his feet and stuck his hands in his pockets like he did when nervous or uncomfortable.

“You don’t have anything to be guilty for. I’m the one who did it. I know the right thing to do would be to tell her I did it. But I don’t think she’s ready to handle it right now.” I nodded.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Do you like me?”

“I’ve always liked you.”

“That’s not what I mean, Vincent.” He sighed and then looked at me again.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. I nodded again. I was pretty sure that was just his way of saying “no” without hurting my feelings. I was good at reading between the lines.

“It’s okay,” I told him. “I would have been surprised if you’d said yes.”

I headed up the stairs and heard him leave through the door to the atrium.