Postcards

Chapter 20

A/N: Alright, folks. We've got 3 regular chapters left and then an epilogue. Updates will either be late Saturdays or Sunday mornings. I've had a massive change in my schedule, and after 3 1/2 years working on third shift, I'm finally moving to first, so things are slightly erratic right now. Huge thanks to my beta, Heather, for her awesomeness, and thanks to all of you for reading/reviewing.  

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I'd just taken my seat in the cafeteria at the table next to Angela when I heard raised voices coming from a table behind us.

"Just leave it alone!" Lauren growled, and I saw Jessica roll her eyes before she told Lauren to sit down and shut up.

By now, it seemed as if the whole cafeteria was watching them, and neither of them seemed to care. They kept going at it, yelling and hissing at one another, with poor Mike trying to diffuse the situation with no luck whatsoever.

"You're such a slut," Jessica snarled, and my eyebrows practically flew off my face. I knew that Lauren and Jessica had been having issues, but calling your best friend a slut, and meaning it, was pretty damn low.

"At least I'm not knocked up!" Lauren shouted loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear, and a deafening silence covered the room.

Jessica stared at Lauren with a stunned look on her face before bursting into tears, and Mike wrapped an arm around her and began to lead her out of the cafeteria but not before telling Lauren what a shitty friend she was.

The second the two of them were out of the room, everyone began talking, and I just shook my head at it all. I wasn't a fan of Jessica's, by any means, but I couldn't imagine finding myself pregnant at seventeen and then having my best friend out my condition to the entire school.

"Holy shit," Eric muttered, and I turned back around to look at him. "They're going to be parents!"

It was a slightly terrifying thought, but perhaps it would make Jessica grow up a bit.

"I can't even imagine," Angela said in a quiet voice, and I was in agreement with her. The thought of having a kid at our age was scary. My parents had only been a few years older than I was now when I was born, and it had been hard for them. I had no desire to go through that.

"Me either," I told her in a soft voice, glancing back over at Lauren's table once more.

She was sitting there with her arms folding on the table and her face buried. I had a feeling that she felt like shit for outing her best friend, and I was willing to bet that it would be a long while before Jessica and Mike forgave her.

By the time school had ended, I was sick of hearing about Jessica and Mike, and I just wanted to go home and relax.

Two hours after I'd gotten home, my doorbell rang, and I grinned when I saw Edward standing on the porch.

I opened the door and let him in, placing a kiss on his lips before he'd even gotten all the way through the doorway.

"I didn't know you were stopping by," I said, not that I was complaining.

He shot me a grin before leaning down and placing a hot kiss upon my lips.

"I don't have much homework, and I missed you."

That was as good a reason as any, so we made our way over to the couch, and we soon got lost in one another. We couldn't seem to keep our hands to ourselves, and it wasn't long before our shirts had been discarded and I was straddling his lap.

I was completely lost in Edward's taste and touch, grinding away on his lap, when I was stopped cold by the thought of Jessica and Mike. I had no idea, really, why they popped into my head all of a sudden, but it was like having a bucket of ice water dumped on me, and I pulled away.