The jerk and I
Chapter 19:
The whole day went by smoothly after the talk I had with Neal. I was stopping at a local store to pick up some groceries my mom needed when I saw someone I didn't want to see. Or should I say people. Gab and Maddy. They were there looking at the snacks; Gab carrying a basket and Maddy beside him picking what they were going to buy. They looked like a couple. They turned around and our eyes met. Maddy's coat was open making me realize something I hadn't notice this morning. She was wearing a sweater that looked a little too tight on her making her belly swollen a... little.
No. She couldn't be pregnant right? She couldn't. Was that why she came back? Is... Is Gab the father?
Maddy must've noticed me starring at her belly because she suddenly buttoned her black coat.
"Y-You're... pregnant?" my voice came out like a whisper. She nodded slowly. I glanced at Gab, hoping he would say something like, oh i don't know, I'm not the baby's father. Something; anything. But he didn't.
"I-Is that why you came back? Because... Cause Gab's the father of your baby?"
No reply. I took that as a yes and ran out of the store. My eyes were blurried by my tears that had fallen out. I fell onto my knees as I cried, not caring if people were watching me. I heard someone huff behind me.
"I'm... I'm not the father." I whipped my head to the side to find Gab behind.
"What?" I got up on my feet, facing him.
"You heard me. I am not the father of Maddy's child." I stare at him in confusion.
"B-But you didn't deny it."
"That's because you don't wait for me to explain or do anything about it!" he shouted in fustration. Some people's eyes were on us, but they kept walking away.
"I'm-I'm sorry. I'm sorry for before too," I started sobbing, "I should've listened to you and let you explain, like today."
He sighed, rubbing his temples before taking a step and hugging me.
"Don't be. It's my fault too. None of this would've happened if I didn't kiss Emilia," he whispered. It felt like eternity as we stood on the street hugging each other as I quietly sobbed in his chest.
"Now, should we get some coffee? I'll explain everything." I nodded and we headed to the little Tim's which was located a street away.
When we got there, he went to order some coffee as I went to sit in a booth. He came back with our coffees and sat in front of me. He took a deep breath and started explaining. Everything.
~~
"Do you understand now?" I nodded. It felt like hours went by as he explained his situation to me. Now that I knew what really happened, I really felt like I was a naive little girl.
"I'm so sorry for not listening to your explanation. I'm really sorry."
"It's fine."
There was a moment of silent before I spoke up.
"So what now? What's going to happen to Maddy?"
"She's gonna have to go back to her family. I mean, she can't hide with me for a long time you know. She'll eventually have to tell her parents."
I nodded. Gosh, I felt bad for her. Sleeping with someone that wasn't her boyfriend and on top of that getting pregnant. Man, this felt like something I would read.
"Joelle?"
"Yeah," I stare at him in his eyes;these brown with hints of green eyes.
"Will you give me a chance and take you on a proper date, friday night?" he asked. Yes!
"Yes!" I said, a little too loud making him chuckle.
"Sorry, yes. I'll give you a chance." I grinned.
"Okay, cool. We should probably go home now," he suggested and I nodded, still grinning like crazy.
~~
It's been a month since Gab and I were dating. He asked me out the day we went on our date that friday night. It was fun, it was just the typical movie and dinner night. When we got home, I invited him over and we chilled in my backyard on my deck, swinging in the couch. We were talking and remeniscing our childhood memories. We also talked about what we wanted to do in the future and other stuff. Then he took my head and stared deeply in my eyes and asked if I wanted to be his girlfriend. I said yes, of course.
Nothing has ever been perfect in my life right now. Neal and Gab finally got along and I was content with that. I didn't want them to hate each other, since one is my best friend and the other is also my best friend and my boyfriend.
Damn, thinking about it, I never thought that I would end up being friends with the guy who I thought was a jerk, even worse, I never thought I would be able to actually fall for him. I thought all connections between us were broken but I guess not.
Anyways, Maddy went back to Ottawa. It wasn't really a disaster. Her family was surprised at first and furious. But they eventually learned to accept the fact that she was pregnant. She made a decision that aborting her baby was out of the question. Maddy and I actually became good friends. I didn't hate her before but I also didn't like her too. I'm not her friend because I pitied her. No, I didn't want that. I was her friend because I wanted to. We had a lot in common actually. We both liked to read novels and we almost had the same thoughts everytime we had to speak out our ideas.
I went to my locker to get my textbook out. It was the end of the day and I was tired, but Gab was coming to my house to hang out. Thursday nights were our chill days.
"Hey beautiful," I hear him whisper in my neck making me chill.
"Hey," I turned around and gave him a quick peck on his lips.
"Joelle! Joelle! Oh my god Joelle!" Guess who that was. If you guessed Meredith then you were right. She ran up to me.
"What's up?"
"You. Will. Never. Guess. Who. Asked. Me. Out." she said in between her breaths. I chuckled.
"Ryan?"
"Ew, OMG, I am soooo over him. Didn't you know? He is dating, ha not Gloria, buuuut, Brook Finns! And I actually don't have a problem with her," she smiled.
"Okay," I laughed, "Then who asked you out?"
"Michael Doyle!" She jumped up and down excitingly.
"No way! Way to go Mer!" I hugged her, jumping with her excitingly.
"Yah, and guess what too?"
"What?"
"Did you know that Gwen and Harry are hooking up?!"
"What?! What happend to Jp?" I asked.
She shrugged, "Turns out he was an asshole or something, eh, I don't know the full story."
"Oh," I nodded, telling her i understood, "What about Shelly? She still goin after Morice?"
She gasped, "You don't know?! I guess you've been hanging out with Gab a little too much that you forgot about her. They're eloping together."
"What!" I shouted as she tried stifflinf a laught but failed.
"I'm joking," she said in between her laugh.
"No way, I couldn't tell," I rolled my eyes at her.
"Sorry," she cleared her throat, "Anyways, Shelly and Matt are dating. I thought you knew that."
Oh yeah, now I remember. Shelly said they started dating a week after Gab and I. Awe, we should go on double dates. Someone cleared their throat. Oh right, Gab was still here.
"We should probably head out now. The gang must be waiting for us," he said. Mer and I nodded and we started heading out.
Well I guess everyone was happy now. Except for Neal, since he was moving back to Montreal in three months. The girls and I were planning a party for him before he went home. WE were all going to miss him. He told us not to be strangers and to come visit him when we could. We agreed for sure we would.
I guess this is how my story ends now. Scratch that, this is only the beginning and there is more to come. And I couldn't wait for it.
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