Mona couldn't sleep. She knew what the ghouls were doing. Lake had said as much before he walked out of her dorm that night.
She was sitting on her bed, her lower abdomen cramping. The pain had been unbearable. She had taken some Tylenol to hopefully ease the pain, but nothing was working. She saw the blood staining her sheets around her.
She had lost the baby.
Everything was going wrong in her life. She shouldn't have gotten involved with Lake in the first place. He had shown her some attention and she had fallen into his trap. She should have tried harder to keep Max.
She felt the tears roll down her cheek. She had to think of something else. If he found out that she had lost this baby there wouldn't be any reason for him to stick around. She had to continue to play this game until she figured out her next move.
Max woke up to the smell of pancakes and bacon. He felt a little confused as he sat up and his head began to throb.
His parents had come to pick him up last night, and on the car ride home he had told them everything. Sylvia had begun to cry while Goofy just remained silent, his eyes focused on the road. He knew he had disappointed them, but as soon as they pulled up to the driveway, Goofy embraced him so tightly, easing up Max's stiff shoulders. Sylvia kissed him on both cheeks and told him that it would all be okay.
He didn't feel better but at least he felt reassured. He wouldn't be doing this alone. His parents were going to be by his side.
He yawned, still feeling sleepy. The clock read 10am. He had gone to bed only an hour ago.
"We need to talk to that girl's parents," he heard Sylvia say. He could smell the coffee she drank every morning without fail. "I wonder if they know already,"
"I was Maxie's age when I had him," Goofy said. "It was hard even for me,"
"Those were different times Goofy," Sylvia said. "You were married. You had a stable job. Max has none of these things,"
Max stood by the kitchen entrance, trying to hear what they were saying. He wanted their honest opinions. This might be the only way to get it.
"He said he didn't know if it was his," Goofy said. Max heard a clutter of dishes.
"Of course we have to take a paternity test," Sylvia said sternly. "If there is an ounce of doubt we have to do it."
"Don't you think that's mean?" Goofy said softly. "Wouldn't Mona get upset?"
"They're not together anymore, Goofy!" Sylvia said, trying to keep her voice down. Max sighed. He knew he couldn't hide anymore.
"I feel awful thinking that too," he admitted as he walked into the kitchen. He noticed the table was full of his breakfast favorites, none touched. Goofy was still cooking.
"Honey, you're awake," Sylvia said, setting her mug down. "Did we wake you?"
Max shook his head. "No, the food did," he said giving them a soft smile.
"I'm sorry if you heard some stuff you didn't want to hear," Sylvia said.
"No, no," Max said, shaking his head. "I need to hear it all. I don't know what to do, or who to really talk to."
He grabbed a plate and stacked some pancakes and eggs on it. Goofy turned around and dumped a large portion of bacon onto a bowl next to him.
"Want some coffee?"asked Sylvia. Max nodded.
"You guys don't have to do all this," he said, feeling guilty. They were treating him as if they felt sorry for him, which he understood. He hadn't expected all this.
"We want to," Goofy said, cutting up some strawberries.
"It's how we take out our stress," Sylvia said, taking a seat next to him. "We cook way too much for our own good."
Max chuckled. He knew this all too well.
"What do you want to do?" Goofy asked, now peeling some oranges.
"I obviously want to be there if it's my kid," Max said cutting his pancake in half. "But I don't want to hurt Roxanne,"
"It's a tough call," Sylvia said, taking a long sip of her coffee. She seemed lost in thought. Max took a bite of his breakfast and waited.
"You are going to have to accept that you can't have both. If Roxanne does not want to be involved with you or Mona, you can't hold it against her."
"Yeah, Maxie, and if it's your child, the child has to always come first. Roxanne's feelings won't matter." Goofy said sadly.
Max swallowed, feeling a knot in his chest. "Roxanne's feelings won't matter? This is what my conflict is all about! I don't want to hurt her anymore, dad. I don't want to lose her."
"Max, it's not fair to her if she stays by your side. She might come to resent you, and she's young. She can't want to be tied down to this kind of life." Sylvia said.
"She told me she would," Max said.
"Of course she did," Goofy said. "She loves you."
"But a baby changes everything. Like Goofy said, the baby must always come first. There will be days where you'll have to be with them all day, days where Mona will need you. Will Roxanne be okay with this? We are just trying to get you to really think about this matter. How sure are you about this baby?"
"What do you mean?" Max asked, losing his appetite.
"How sure are you that it's not yours?" Sylvia asked.
"I'm not really sure. Roxanne asked me the same thing, but I can't think of Mona cheating on me, or being with someone else."
He heard Sylvia sigh.
"Then even more reason to be honest with Roxanne. She might not like what she hears, but she doesn't deserve to be thrown into this. She has a whole life to live. She needs to know what she's signing up for." Sylvia said. "Trust me, I want Roxanne in your life, but we can't ask her to accept without knowing everything."
"We will be with you with whatever you choose, Maxie," Goofy said, placing the bowl of fruit on the small space available on the table. "I wish we could be more helpful."
"You guys are doing enough," Max said softly. "I need to hear all sides. Of course I want to make things work with Roxanne, and I can't ask her to make this decision without seeing everything."
"You'll figure this out. But you do need to take a paternity test to clear all doubts. In the meantime, be there for Mona. I can't imagine she's having a much easier time with this either." Sylvia said.
Jasmine woke up to a knock on their door. Roxanne was still sleeping. She got up, startled that she wasn't in her room.
The knock came again.
"Who is it?" Jasmine asked. This was Bradley's house. She didn't know everyone in it.
"It's Mikolaj. I was told you were here,"
She opened the door and saw him standing in the doorway. She smiled at him, really happy to see him.
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" He asked, looking down at her. She had forgotten she was just in a bra.
"Yeah, how did you know we were here?" She asked, stepping out into the hallway. She didn't want to wake Roxanne. She slowly closed the door behind her.
"My brother told me, who heard it from Cora." He said. "I wanted to make sure you were okay,"
"I'm okay thankfully, it was a crazy night." Jasmine said, wrapping her arms around her. She was getting cold.
"I should let you get back to bed," Mikolaj said, a blush creeping on his cheeks. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay."
"How sweet of you," Jasmine said, knowing she was flirting. They hadn't talked in a while. He was busy with his sports and she was busy with her modeling. She looked up at him, his full lips and strong jaw. She suddenly wanted to kiss him.
"Hey, what's going on here?"
She turned and saw Bradley coming down the hall. "Who let you in?"
"I'm sorry dude, my sister did." Mikolaj said, his brows tense.
"I don't want you here, if you don't mind." Bradley said, frowning. "I should have put you in jail when I had the chance,"
"Look, Brad, it's fine. He was just checking up on me." Jasmine said.
"I let him in," Cora said, walking out from behind Bradley. "He wanted to see her. Is that so bad?"
Bradley turned to Cora, his face red. "Yes, it is. If you don't remember, your brother was the reason I got placed in the hospital in the first place. Just because I agreed to vacation with you to meet your family doesn't mean that it's okay for him to be in my home."
Jasmine couldn't argue with him. Brad was right.
"Could we not do this here?" Cora asked, tense. "Please?"
"I'm leaving," Mikolaj said, looking down at her. "Hopefully I'll see you later?"
Jasmine nodded and watched him walk away. She looked at Bradley who was staring daggers into Mikolaj's back. She didn't say anything and made to go back into her room.
"I need to talk to you," Bradley said, catching her off guard. Jasmine saw Cora's face turn red.
"About what?" She asked, annoyed.
Bradley didn't say anything and walked away, turning into his room. Jasmine didn't know what to do. Should she follow him?
She saw Cora's face, her eyebrows down in a frown. Yeah, she would follow him, even if it was just to make Cora mad.
"Where are you going? Aren't you going to put something on?" Cora asked, angrily.
"He said he wanted to talk to me," Jasmine said smirking. "And I am wearing something. It's called a bra."
She knew she was being petty, but she couldn't help it. Old habits die hard.
She walked into his room, a room she had been in so many times. She closed the door behind her, spotting Bradley in standing by the window.
It still smelled of him. His dark cologne, mixed in with something she wasn't familiar with. Was it cherry? She looked over at the nightstand and saw Cora's bag. She rolled her eyes.
"What do you want?" She asked, annoyed.
"If you're going to live here I'm going to need to set some rules," Bradley said, turning back around.
"Rules? I'm not one of your frat boys," she said.
Bradley walked up towards her so fast she didn't have time to blink. She felt her body tense up, goosebumps running down her arms. She honestly regretted not putting on a shirt.
"Clearly you're not one of my frat boys," he said, his eyes traveling down her neck and landing on her exposed cleavage. "I just have one rule, I don't want him in my house."
She knew who he was.
"You know what he did to me, yet you're seen in public with him. You took him to meet your family. I never met your family," Bradley said, softly.
"What I do is none of your business," Jasmine said.
"It's not, you're right," Bradley said, his eyes bearing into her. She felt his hand near her side, but he didn't touch her. Instead he rolled it up into a fist and ran his fingers through his hair. "But I can't say it doesn't hurt."
"Hurt?" She asked, wanting to laugh. "I hurt you?"
"Just don't bring him around. Not into my home. I don't care if you see him on the street. That's all I ask." Bradley said.
Jasmine didn't want to argue. She knew she could afford to move into her own apartment, with her own security, but she didn't want to. She knew that the only reason she agreed to live here was so she could be near him.
"Then don't bring Cora around," she said.
"What?"
"I don't want to see Cora either," Jasmine said. "You know that she doesn't trust me, and she doesn't believe her brother did anything. Yet you still went on vacation with her. If you want me to listen, then do me that favor."
Bradley was so close to her now, that she could see every lash on his dark brown eyes. She swallowed. She couldn't be this close to him. She didn't trust herself.
They heard a knock at the door and Cora walked in, looking uncomfortable.
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Nothing's going on if you're so worried," she said.
"I thought I heard you guys arguing," Cora said to Bradley, completely ignoring Jasmine.
Jasmine saw Bradley sigh and took a step back. "Everything's fine, Cora. I was just setting some ground rules."
She noticed that Cora kept looking at Bradley, jaw clenched. Of course them being so close had looked strange to her.
"Why are you with him if you can't trust him?" Jasmine laughed, turning to leave. "I'll see what I decide to do Brad, for all you know I might not even decide to stay here. Won't that make you happy, princess?"
Jasmine closed the door behind her, trying to regain her composure. It was hard pretending not to care. It was hard to keep herself from slapping Cora in the face, and Bradley too.
Maybe she shouldn't stay here. She'll look around for her own place. Now that her secret was out, it didn't matter where she stayed. She could find a nice condo downtown, get a new car and have security around her, just like Brad was doing. The last thing she needed was to share a roof with Cora.
No. The last thing she wanted was to see Bradley and Cora together.
Her mind was made up.
"Max, why did you go without me?" Roxanne asked, clutching the phone tightly. She was sitting on PJ's bed.
"I had to leave earlier, I'm sorry," she heard Max say.
"I came to look for you, but PJ told me you had left. We were supposed to go together." Roxanne said, feeling down. "That's what we agreed on."
"Roxy, this is something I have to figure out on my own. It's not fair to drag you down with me. I needed to speak with my folks alone."
Roxanne sighed, understanding. It didn't make her feel better though.
"I told you I was going to be by your side, you know that right?" She could feel her eyes beginning to tear up. "You can talk to me too,"
"That's the thing, I can't do this to you. A whole life with me attached to Mona- I can't do that to you."
"What are you saying?" Roxanne asked, her heart beating quickly. "Are you breaking up with me?"
"No! No, Roxy, I just need time, I don't know what to do." She could hear Max's frustration in his voice. That's all he kept saying.
"You don't even know if it's yours," Roxanne said softly.
"I can't believe Mona would do something like that. I know you don't like her, but I grew to know her. I just can't see that happening,"
"You can't possibly mean that!" Roxanne snapped.
"Please, don't get worked up over this. I'm coming home tonight, we'll speak then okay?"
Roxanne didn't wait for him to say anything more. She hung up the phone, trying to contain her disappointment. Just seconds later the phone was ringing again. She picked up her jacket and walked out of the dorm.