Spitting Image • TFC 3.0 • l.t. au

Chapter Fifteen

Maybe you guys could use an update? :')

I lost track of the minutes that passed when Em and I just sat on the floor, me holding her like the small fragile child she used to be. Actually, Em couldn't be more fragile than she is now.

A couple of years ago, I remember Em and I were sat on my bedroom floor watching movies on my laptop the summer I met Louis. I was messed up and in denial. Em was doing stuff and saying stuff so randomly to make me laugh. The 10 year old who was once full of life and laughter is now sobbing uncontrollably on my shoulder.

"How long have you known?" I start asking her. She looks up, her blood shot eyes looking up at me.

"A while now, actually." She says quietly. I noticed how she looked down in shame, fiddling with her fingers. "A couple weeks after my birthday-"

"That's not a while," I snapped, shaking my head. I mentally slapped myself because that was not helpful at all. "You mean to tell me, it's almost 3 months now?" I ask her.

She nods slowly, still not looking at me. "Almost 4 now, actually." She says, her voice quivering.

I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair. This is a big surprise, I need time to wrap my head around it. Em got uneasy when I sat up. "You're mad at me, aren't you?" She asks.

"You know the answer there." I say coldly, not my most sympathetic response but I can't help it. "But not because you did... What you did. I'm mad because it took you this long to tell anyone, Em."

"I knew it." She says, sounding pissed off.

"Well you should have known how I'd take it." I snap again. I slap myself mentally again. 'Don't be an idiot, Meg. She needs you.'

"Well I thought you'd understand cause it took you just as long to tell Louis, didn't you?" She yells, turning to face me. "And didn't you almost lose Blaine as well because of that?!"

She doesn't know but she just crossed the line. "I wasn't 15 when I had Blaine, wasn't I? I was 23 and I was done with my education! How about you? Did you ever think about that when you gave yourself to Tyler?!"

She was taken back and looked like she would cry again. I took a calming breath and changed the subject, "did you tell him, anyway?" I ask her. She nods and spoke, "He's not leaving me, you know. He's gonna be there for me and he has been." Bitter tone but honest.

"But you're gonna keep it?" I ask her, turning my head sideways to look at her. She nods, her eyes welling up in tears again. "Then you better take good care." I say.

"I know. I'm not a kid anymore, you know." She says bitterly, looking down. "I know what I did was wrong. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you tell me that I ruined my life because I didn't."

"Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not doing any of that." I say and she turns to me in surprise. "But your life's going to change once that kid comes out. I've been there."

Right on cue, I hear Blaine from the other room laugh loudly. Then mum telling him he looks like a real cowboy. "You're gonna have to tell her." I say.

"She knows, I don't need to." She says impatiently. "I don't want to be yelled at anymore."

"Now you know I felt." I say, trying to lighten up the dark mood. "If it makes you feel better, she's yelled at me more than she has with you."

She chuckles, making me smile. "But you didn't make the mistake I did. Yeah, you messed with a lot of boys but you were careful."

I shake my head, "I'm no saint, Em. I've made mistakes I'm not proud of and hurt a lot of people, including mum. Now, I love mum and I love you," I say, squeezing her hand. "I don't want to see the people I love get hurt especially if they hurt each other. Mum's been hurt enough by me and dad. If you haven't notice, it's the people she loves most that hurts her. I don't want you to hurt her as well."