NO STRINGS ATTACHED

TWENTY-EIGHT

Abby gave a lazy chuckle.
Her stomach was all over the place but she was trying her best to act normal. She still hadn't been able to tell Nick what was going on. Neither had she been able to touch her delicious order.

"Nick, I really need to talk to you, now." She said, more aggravated than she'd intended.

He turned to her from speaking to the waitress, opened his mouth, and then his phone rang. He smiled apologetically at Abby. "Just a sec, this is important." He got up. "I promise I won't be long, I need to close this merger right now."

She smiled nervously but gave a nod of approval and he excused himself.

Abby got up immediately and hurried to the rest room. Finding an empty stall she emptied her stomach.

She hated throwing up with a passion.
When her stomach eased a bit she sat down on the floor a tear ran down her face.

Having a child in his life was bizarre, it was out of the question. He couldn't even spare a minute before his job intervened. He was in the prime of his career, he didn't have time to settle down now, much less have a kid. She would be holding him back, cutting him off from his real dreams.

She was not going to ruin his life by her mistake.

"You're pregnant."

Abby head snapped out to find Della looking down at her. Abby quickly got to her feet, shakily, and went to the sink. She splashed water on her face.

She mustn't cry. She had to be strong.

"I'm sorry, I need to get my things and leave." Abby grabbed some tissues to wipe her face.

"But you can't leave, what about my brother?" The girl's eyes widen as the borrowing realization dawned.

"I can't stay and ruin your brother's life, Della, he doesn't need that kind of responsibility now, he already has so much."

"Don't you think that's a decision he needs to make? What about what he wants? And I think he would want this." Ardella touched Abby's arm. "Don't you love my brother?"

"I do!" Abby found herself crying again. She really did with all of her heart. "That's why I have to go, Della. Your brother has everything he wants and I don't want to saddle him with a child .... I don't want to hold him back. You're still too young to understand my decision but I hope you never have to be thorn by this dilemma someday."

Abby walked out the bathroom.

"So you're just going to run?" Della chased after her. "You're a quitter."

"What's going on?" Nick stopped them just as they headed for the table.

"I need to leave. I don't want to see you again." Abby quickly, gathered her things and heading out.

"Abbigail!" Nick shouted. They were all outside now.

"Can't you just make things easy and just let me go." Abby wiped furiously at her cheek.

"Abby, what's wrong?" He was struggling with pulling her into his arms.

She resisted and pulled free.

"I can't go on with this, I don't want to see you again."

"You already told me that. Why? What's happened between now and breakfast?" Nick grabbed her wrist.

"I don't want to ruin your life!" She yelled. "Passion, desire, love --- none of them lasts, Nick. Between your meetings and deals they're bound to fail."

"They wouldn't if we don't want them too. I'm sorry about taking the call. I can make more time." Nick narrowed his eyes at her. "You weren't behaving like this a while ago."

"Why can't you just accept what I'm saying?" Abby shook her head.

"Because it's not good enough!" Nick yelled, letting go of her wrist. "We were madly in love over the weekend, we couldn't get enough of each other. Now you think you can drop me with a bunch of generalization and assumptions about love based off your fears?"

"Alright, then let me tell you. I am pregnant." She snapped at him.

He looked at her and fear settled in her gut. His expression desolate and bleak. Nick stared at her, he frowned. "Pregnant? You can't be. But I thought you're ----"

"I missed a pill, I don't know when but I did, and because of that stupid mistake I'm pregnant. You have your life Nick, you're a very busy man and I'm not going to ruin your life and career by saddling you with a baby." Abby said then quickly briefed him about her birth parents.

"Abbigail, you're not your goddamm parents!" He was trying his best to stay calm, but he couldn't let her go especially now. "And doesn't a decision like that involves two people? Involves my say?"

"I disagree." Abby stared as he took a step back. "I can't help it, Nick, now is the time to end this while it's still sex between us ---"

"Just sex?" He interrupted with a short laugh that no where matched his eyes, then his expression went stone cold. "Is that all I am to you, just some prized fuck?!"

"It is what it is Nick, you can sugar coat it an put a cherry on top, it's just rare mind blowing sex!"

"Abby, we made love!"

"That's just an expression, don't pretend its anything else."

"Just because you're afraid of your own emotions don't mean you get to dump on mines, Abby," he said furiously. "I wasn't even a person to you was I?"

"Nick, we-----"

"And I thought it was men who were supposed to be found guilty of that particular fault." He backed up, as if he wanted to be as far away from her as possible.

She wanted to cry, but this was the right thing. She had to end this before they both ended up regretting this decision.

"It's my baby too, Abbigail! There's part of me in you too!"

Abby shook her head. "This needs to end."

"If you leave, Abbigail, we lose and our fears, your past win." His stance was defensive. "If you walk away now, I'm afraid I'll let you go. We'll be over."

Abby felt tears. She felt her heartstrings snapped. Felt the colors drained from her world. But she found herself stopping a cab, "Good bye, Nickel." She said before getting in.