A Night to Remember

Chapter Two: A Call

*time skips a week*

I groaned as the bright sun hit my eyes causing me to wake up. I put my hands over my eyes in attempt to block out the blinding light, but as usual, I wasn't be able to fall back asleep. I've been becoming better at sleeping through the night and Caspar wasn't being woken up to my cries as often, which ultimately made me feel better. It feels a lot better knowing I'm slowly getting over the loss of my best friend. Progress is better than practically living as a ghost inside your own home. I've neglected YouTube, but hopefully I can get back into the swing of things soon. I'm starting to feel more like Joe again.

My two bare feet met the cold floor and I walked down the stairs of our flat and into the kitchen to see Caspar editing a video. He turned around to say good morning and give me a small smile before putting his attention back into his work. I returned the good morning and made my way to the coffee maker to begin brewing it. I decided to use the bathroom while the hot beverage brewed to kill two birds with one stone. As I exited the room, the smell of fresh coffee happily greeted my senses. I quickly walked to the kitchen and poured myself a cup adding a bit of milk and sugar.

I decided that today I would work on YouTube video ideas and editing. Being in a rut has made the once somewhat-easy task an incredibly difficult one. I started to pull my neglected laptop off of the glass coffee table to edit my last video. No matter how hard I tried, you could see the sadness in my eyes. I just hope my viewers don't pick up on it, but knowing them, they will. I sighed as I watched myself doing a video about my favorite things of the month, which happened to be July. July... I sighed, McKenna was born in July. We always had the best parties to celebrate it, but obviously, that ended up being a mistake this year. I often find myself wondering what would happen if I had nothing to drink, or if I hadn't showed up to just this year's party, surely things would be a lot better than they are now. McKenna may have yelled my ear off, but that's better than her not talking to me at all. Plus, she isn't really one to stay mad at someone for long. Sighing, I realized I can't think about the what-ifs in life, the past is not something that can be changed, nor is the future. I guess I just have to live through it, suck it up like a man I'm supposed to be. Surely in a few years none of this will have an impact on me. Sure I might think about her from time to time, naturally, but nonetheless I will carry on. 

Understandably, letting go of a close friend that you have known since you were both in diapers is hard to forget, but I will have to move on, but I won't and can't let go of the memories. I have other friends, why am I even hung up on her? Yeah, okay, I've known her for what  very much could have been forever, but she's just another girl, she's not the first one who's left my life.

The day went on in a slow and boring manner. As productive as it was, it just went by too slowly, that is, until my phone began to ring. Assuming it was either Zoe or my dad I almost ignored it, but an unshakable feeling in my gut was telling me not to. I checked the caller I.D. and to my shock, a name I thought would never show up again was plastered across my phone screen in bold letter, accompanied by a familiar face. It was McKenna. My hands began to shake as they struggled at swiping the green icon to accept the call.

The device came to my ear in the matter of seconds. "H-Hello?" I sputtered out anxiously.

"Joe.." I hear her trying to hide her crying on the other end which was causing my throat to close up. "Joe.. I-" She couldn't seem to find the words she was looking for. I could hear her shaking on the other line because of the wavering in her voice, I tried swallowing the lump in my throat as I waited nervously. I did not like her tone of voice in any way, it was nervous, scared and just plain sad. And as always, her mood affected mine, turning me into a wreck once again.

Seconds turned into minutes as I waited for her to say something, anything to kill the near-silence. All I could hear were her desperate breaths, in what I assumed was an attempt to calm down enough to form a full sentence. It took awhile for her to do just that and I almost jumped at the sound of her voice when she spoke up again. "Joe.." Another sob reached my ears causing a few tears of my own to spill. "I'm pregnant." I froze in place unable to move, two words never had more of an effect on me than those ones. My limbs began to go numb and my knees gave out. I got her pregnant and she's only 19. I got my best friend pregnant, now her life will never be the same and it was all my fault. "Come over t-tomorrow around noo-n please, we have to talk." The line went dead and I just dropped my phone onto the floor. I couldn't find it in myself to care if it broke or not or to pick it up. Caspar came to my aid as my body stood frozen in place. My thoughts raced a mile a minute, what'll happen when we talk, what will she say? Oh God, what if she doesn't want to keep the child. I mean, I'm not so sure I would be any good raising it but what if she wants to give it up? I knew she was right though, we do need to talk about this, but I can't help but feel like it's just going to be a disaster.