Chapter Fourteen: This is The End |✔
November 25, 2018
Six Months and Twenty - Three Days Pregnant
The Starbucks is cozy with warm-toned wooden tables on the inside and on the outside, there are black circular tables. The soft lighting illuminates the room, behind the counter, baristas are wearing their iconic green aprons as they work to get orders out. The sound of the espresso machine playing in the background as I sit down at a black circular table waiting for Ricky since I "owe him". I do not even like coffee, the bitter or overly sweetened liquid usually used for energy only gave me a mere warmth. And from my research, your intake of caffeine when pregnant should be less than two hundred milligrams. "Hey." Ricky says sitting across from me, "Took you long enough to pay your dues."
"I am not the rich one here Ricardo," I comment playfully rolling my eyes.
He shakes his head, "I have been paying you though, so you should still have a significant amount of money."
"I am paying for my mother's treatments, my brother's knee surgery, and tuition so yes I am a little low on money sir," I said, I hadn't told them about everything yet, so I decided to keep this to myself. Instead, I told them I had been saving up from a job I had over the summer and then asked, "Are you going to go order?"
"Did you already order?" He questions, effortlessly slipping past what I said. "My favorite is the Caramel Frappe. Do you want one?"
"I can't have coffee," I say as he stands up, stating the obvious without a hint of hesitation. "I'm pregnant. I can't have coffee; I researched it," I add matter-of-factly, my hand instinctively resting on my growing belly.
"I searched it too I know how much caffeine you can have," he retorts and I am taken aback, "Can I surprise you?"
"Sure," I reply, he pushes his chair back and he heads over to the inviting aroma of freshly brewed coffee.
As he approaches the sleek, polished cash register, the friendly barista greets him with a warm smile. He engages in a brief exchange, his voice mingling with the subtle whirr of the espresso machine. The cashier swiftly takes his order, fingers dancing on the keys of the register with practiced efficiency. With his order placed, he retrieves a small receipt, a ticket to the forthcoming indulgence. As he returns to our table outside, the door swings open, releasing a burst of warm air and the tantalizing fragrance of freshly brewed coffee.
He settles back into his seat, "What did you get me?" I ask as he sits across from me once again.
"It's a surprise." His slight smile caused his dimples to protrude as he began to make another comment, "So how are my babies doing?" He questions.
"They are fine, they seem to like your voice," I say as I feel them continue to kick me lightly in my side.
"Who doesn't?" He laughs at his own words as one of the workers says his name inside. He goes inside grabs two drinks and when he comes back places a violet-colored drink with darker chunks of blackberries on top of the drink in front of me and says, "Here's your drink."
"What is this?" I question as I take the drink inspecting the cup he hands me that is adorned with the iconic Starbucks logo and filled with different purples.
"The Violet Drink. It has a little caffeine but I don't think it has too much, I asked." He says to me nodding to get me to agree also. "So we never really talk much except for those doctors' appointments what do I need to be caught up on?"
I sigh thinking about my uneventful life, "Nothing really, just been going to my classes, this semester is kicking my ass." I could tell he was not interested in what I was talking about so I talked about something to get his attention, "Jaxon came over but he didn't talk to me he just sat silently."
"Why does he do that?" He asks an awkward smile on his face, he looks confused.
"I don't know but I do know when he comes over he is all smiley and happy even if he doesn't talk to me, he just sits with Ian and goes back and forth with jokes. Then when Lucy comes home he's all quiet and giving everyone a mean glare." I explained I hadn't even taken a sip of the drink yet.
"You drink this?" I question as I take a sip of the nicely colored liquid.
"No, Victoria used to get them all the time." He says taking a drink of his Caramel Frappuccino, "Do you like your drink?"
"Yeah," I question, "why do you never talk about her?"
He just shakes his head dismissively, "I just don't feel like it's appropriate to."
"But getting a surrogate behind your wife's back is appropriate," I muttered as I continued to sip on my drink, I didn't want him to hear me.
"You know what, Victoria and I were not married when this happened okay? She and I have been through a lot and I would appreciate it if you minded your own damn business. I need to get going." He says quickly standing up, he seemed upset as he picked up his drink and exited the Starbucks. A lot of people seemed to be upset with me lately. I grab my cup, and begin to walk to my Jeep.
I didn't want to go home either, I had a feeling that something is possibly wrong with Lucy. She comes home with a dead look inside as if she just hates even coming home now. She seemed different when she found out Jaxon and I had broken up.
I remember first telling her a few days after we broke up, she came into my room happy, a smile on her face, "So what's up with you and Jax? I haven't seen you guys together in a while, you don't even give me anymore details." She gave me a sad pout as she laid down onto my bed.
I hadn't told her another else about our relationship or even much about Ricardo and I because I felt like she was taking information and twisting it to fit her narrative, "We decided to call it quits."
"Call it quits?" She asked me, she had given a face that resembled the grinch when he discovered happy children.
"Yes Lucy we broke up." I reiterated.
"What do you mean you broke up?" She questioned she was now sitting up.
"He broke up with me. He said he just didn't think it was okay to continue on hurting me." I said, I didn't think it was that big of a deal considering Jaxon and I both thought that was the best for us. We hadn't even been together long enough for me to trip over it.
She moved her head to the side in confusion, "Hurt you?"
"Yes. Do you not remember the bruises?" I asked her as she sat up more on my bed almost on the edge.
She shook her head, "No I don't." She stood up, "You don't have to ruin a good thing Rosalynna. You said you'd give him a chance."
"I did give him a chance," I laughed awkwardly, I couldn't even believe we were having this conversation. She sounded more offended that my relationship had ended than I did, "We just didn't work out. I don't see the big deal Lucy."
"You always ruin everything good for you. Jaxon is good for you."
"No he's not or we'd still be together, I'm confused as to why my relationship is so important to you."
"Because I want to see you happy."
"Well me being happy isn't being with a man who hits me Lucy." I say, I now stand up getting annoyed with this shit. She had some nerve. She just scoffed my way and just shoved me aside, even slamming my door on the way out.
Since then coming home is awkward it's like an unsettled tension that keeps on going. So now as I finally make it to my apartment I am not prepared for what's inside. Lucy has proven to be not a good friend and who's telling what's next. It's like walking on eggshells when I twist the lock to my apartment door.
As I enter the apartment with my Starbucks cup in hand, I'm quickly startled by the shouting going back and forth, "You played me Lucy!" Jaxon yelled at Lucy as she looks over noticing me. Ian sat on the couch watching the two argue back and forth, shouting so loud we can barely understand what is happening.
"Why are they arguing?" I ask Ian sitting next to him, "I thought they got along?"
"As soon as Jaxon and I got here, he said he had to talk to her, she didn't like that I guess and she started just getting louder and louder," He explains trying to speak over the two yelling as if they weren't in the same room, "Jaxon just started saying something about knowing about some pills."
"You did this okay, you ruined me!" Jaxon screamed at her.
"Calm down guys," I calmly state, the yelling was becoming excessive, something that I was tired of hearing especially when I know our neighbors at any moment could file a complaint trying to kick us out for "disturbing the peace." The cops would be here soon if they continued with this.
"No don't tell me to calm down." Lucy looked my way, red flared through her delicate eyes, and for the first time. . .I was truly afraid of what the outcome of her anger would be. Scared for not only me but Jaxon, Ian, and the triplets.
"I just don't see the point in arguing with him when we could all calmly speak like adults." I say trying to reason, they were ruining my mood even more than entering this apartment.
"Shut up okay, all you do is try to play peacemaker when you're the exact reason I got sent away to a fucking mental institution." Lucy snidely said to me, her eyes glared me down.
"No I didn't." I say, I examined her features trying to see if maybe her eyes were showing any signs of drug use or any substance, her body language and her words showed something was seriously wrong with her right now.
She grinned, "You seriously don't remember that you, little miss perfect, told my family I was bullying you and I got sent away?" She scoffed, "Don't play dumb Rosalynna." My mind swirled, but was still blank until she spoke again, "You told my parents and I quote, 'She threatened to kill me, she even had a knife.'"
Then it hit me. Walking up to the Justins home, brown bricks lead to their doorstep. I knew Lucille had been somewhere out with her twin sister Victoria. I had seen them earlier that day and that was when Lucille threatened me or was it Victoria?
"Hello? Who are you?" Vibrant red hair was the first thing that caught my eye. The door two sizes bigger than my front door ever could be, was opened wide exposing the nice decor inside, "Hello?"
"Hi, I'm Rosalynna Dominguez." I say reaching my hand out towards her to shake.
She accepts the handshake and examines me up and down before saying, "Leanne. Is there something you need?" I nod my head, "Well can you hurry I have a Roast in the oven."
"This may take a while it's about your daughter." I state. She sighed allowing me in, my senses quickly picked up the aromas of the Roast waiting to be extracted from the oven. I never knew that from my words Lucille would be taken away or that a couple years later Lucille would be back and even angrier than when she was escorted away to the institution. To top it off the day she was sent away she attempted to end her life.
I thought they had sent her away because she had attempted to take her life not because of what I told her parents. Yeah I thought maybe they'd take her to therapy or even better move her from my school but I never thought they'd send her away like that.
It all made sense now. I originally was going to move onto campus when I got a message from a girl who was looking for a roommate in her off campus apartment. I agreed to save money being off campus would save me a lot of stress, from what I know being on campus gives you way more of a hefty bill. She seemed nice but familiar. Seeing as we had grown up and she used the name Lucy Duncan (her mother maiden name) on her form so the idea of her being Lucille Justin never hit me.
"Well now I have a knife." She says, I was going to reason with her but the flash of silver made me stop.
Her hand pressed against my neck and the cold blade caressed my check, Ian jumped up off of the couch trying to talk to her, "Sit down Ian. I don't want to hurt you."
"You're hurting her." Ian says stepping closer.
"Back away Ian."
"Ian she's not playing she's crazy." Jaxon says also slowly moving closer while I try to stay still on this couch, careful not to get sliced.
Ian moved closer, in one swift action of events my neck was relieved of being held and Ian was wounded. I stood up getting to his side, he told me to put pressure on his wound, as his blood dripped out of his side. Lucille stood there shocked that she had even done this herself, "I - I," She stuttered as she almost let down her guard to help Ian until Jaxon tries to grab Lucille who flails the knife trying to somehow slice Jaxon.
As soon as Lucille was about to finally stab Jaxon in came Ricardo, who I luckily gave a key in case of an emergency, "Hey guys wha - get off of her." Ricardo said dropping whatever he had in his hands onto the floor, he came closer to Jaxon trying to detain him. I was too shocked to even say anything to Ricardo, quickly Ricardo sees that Lucille is the aggressor when she causes blood to trickle down the side of Jaxon's face -- almost stabbing his eye out. Ricardo grabs a hold of her, his hands getting a hold on the knife and her trying to hold the knife away from her. She shouts random words at him as she tries to grip onto the knife when the two slip and fall.
Jaxon held his face as blood gushed out the side, he held his phone close to his face as he whispered into the phone. I wanted to help Ricardo as he struggled with Lucille but I couldn't, Ian was here dying on the living room floor and I couldn't just leave him. The two struggled until there was a loud gasp.
"I want you to run." Ian whispered to me, I shook my head, "I'll be fine, just go get help." I leaned down kissing his forehead, "I'll see you soon okay." He said, I just nod trying to stand up to go for the door. Jaxon notices what I'm doing and goes towards Lucille grabbing her as she stood up trying to come towards me.
"Go!" He screamed at me as she tried to kick him and scratch at his already wounded face. As soon as I left my apartment bright red, white, and blue lights flashed in my eyes. Sirens rang in my ears, police charged towards my apartment, one helping me towards an ambulance that was approaching the scene. My heart raced as EMT's tried to get me to calm down.
"I need to stay here my babies father is in there." I say to the lady trying to get me to lay and be as unstressed as possible.
"Ma'am I understand but you -- " Shots caused my ears to ring, one, two, three, four, the world went still around me as I watched more cops go into my apartment.