A Night to Remember

Chapter Three: Mirrors

After being unable to sleep because of how much I was thinking about the next day, I gave up and got out of bed. I sighed in frustration as I ran a warm bath to combat both the cold flat and my anxiety. It would be a good time to take time to calm down and hopefully wake myself up a bit more. After stripping my body of clothes, I dipped my foot into the filled tub. It was freezing but I let the warmth that the water provided seep into my skin in attempt to become more alert. I felt myself slowly feeling more soothed and got out of the bath. I got ready fairly quickly leaving myself time to have some much needed coffee. I took a white mug out from the cupboard after nearly knocking some down and filled it to the top with the dark liquid. I drank it and saw that it was 11:09 and figured I might as well leave now. I got into my red ford and drove down the familiar roads trying to stop the memories from almost a month ago from flooding my head. My car came to a stop in front of a gray apartment complex. Nervously, my hands ran through my messy hair and I dragged my feet up to the elevator. Deciding I was not in the right state for three flights of stairs, I took the elevator up to McKenna's place. I lingered my hand over her door for a solid minute before knocking. The door clicked as it opened indicating someone heard me, which was as expected.

What, or who, I was greeted by was not at all a pleasant sight. She looked exhausted, worn and just a complete mess. Her once silky hair was dry and frizzy and her tanned skin became much paler. The green eyes I loved were now lifeless and underlined with heavy bags. She was clearly a spitting image of what I must have looked like recently.

Tears formed in both of our eyes and we clutched each other as if our lives depended on it. In this moment, I almost forgot she was pregnant, almost. Loud sobs echoed throughout the flat from the both of us. "I missed you so much, Joe." She cried out, tightening her grip on me, if that was even possible. "I missed you more." I said as my voice failed me towards the end.

I held her tightly afraid to lose her again. I needed to keep her in my arms but we needed to talk even more than we needed the comfort. After we calmed down, I pulled her away from my body without breaking the contact. We made our way to her leather couch so we could sit and discuss our situation. She sat facing me and she gently took my hand in hers. Our eyes met and didn't break contact as we just sat in silence, neither of us able to speak. Eventually, she cleared her throat breaking the silence. "What do we do, Joe?" She asked me in an almost whisper.

I furrowed my brows trying to think of the answer. "What would you like to do?" I asked knowing whatever it is she wants, we will probably do; although I'd love nothing more than to raise this child, on my own if necessary, I knew that it would be too difficult to be a single father. Abortion, however, is not an option, we both are against it for ourselves.

"We should keep it. We should try to raise it as our own." She pointed at the soon-to-be swollen abdomen. "As a- uh, yanno, a family." She looked at me with her eyes pleading for me to agree. I caught on to what she meant by family and really don't know what to say. I looked at our hands before speaking up.

"McKenna, we can't be together just because of a baby." Can we? I saw disappointment in her eyes but stuck to what I said before. "W-well I mean, do you actually like me?" I obviously like her, that's become evident in recent times. I always have, I just never said anything about it and always pushed it to the back of my mind. It's a shame it had to be brought forward due to certain events. Caspar is the only other one to know about my feelings for McKenna, after he found me curled up on the floor for the millionth time, I opened up to what I realized. Since then, he's known, and he's the only one.

"I-" she nervously looked around the room. She looked so conflicted at first until her features softened. Slowly, her gaze moved from the floor to my face, her eyes leaving no room to deny her honesty. "I do... I do like you."  Before she could freak out I leaned in and kissed her. It wasn't heated, it wasn't lustful. It was slow and passionate and I felt everything that I've been repressing for the past few years. I pulled away to get a good look at her. We both grinned from ear to ear, a huge contrast to our expressions not long ago. "I like you too. You're right, we should be a family." And with that promise, I knew my life will never be the same and I'm completely okay with that. I can't find it in myself to regret the past anymore.