—Vivian—-
Beep, beep, beep
It was eerily quiet. The only sound was that annoying beeping sound. I slowly opened my eyes and was immediately blinded by bright lights. As I tried to move, I felt something attached to my arm. What the fu-
"Ah, Ms. Keeley. So glad you're awake. You had quite a scare there."
I squinted my eyes and saw a man with a clip board writing something on the dry erase board on the wall. As my vision became more clear I could see that I was in a hospital room. How did I end up here? I looked at what was on my arm and saw an IV drop. Ugh. I quickly looked away.
"Alright now, Ms. Keeley, do you remember what happened? From the look of things, you seem confused."
I concentrated really hard and remembered when the other car had crashed into my side and the car went flipping over. I mentally shivered from the topsy turby feeling that I had went through.
"Yes, I remember now. Just had a moment of blankness." I slowly sat up. The doctor came over and helped me adjust.
"Well, I'm Dr. Thompson. I'm glad you were brought in. If they had waited any longer.." he shook his head, "I'm glad you're doing alright."
"Here's the verdict, Ms. Keeley, you'll have to wear that brace on your arm for 4 weeks max." I looked at my left arm. "and you seemed to have suffered a mild concussion. We'll be prescribing some pain meds for that. We suggest you take it easy for the next few weeks. No torn ligaments. And just a few bumps and bruises. You're very lucky." Dr. Thompson continued to write on his clip board and finally looked up.
"And the baby is doing just fine. You've got a little fighter there."
...
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" I blinked.
"I said that you had a little fighter."
"No, before that."
"The baby is doing fine?"
"Baby? As in...mine?" I pointed to myself.
He chuckled, "Yes, I mean yours. Don't worry. The impact of the accident didn't affect the child. Your body took most of it."
"I'm pregnant?" I asked just to be sure.
"You weren't aware?" he questioned.
I slowly shook my head.
"Understandable. Symptoms take time to show up depending on the person. Well congratulations, Ms. Keeley. We'll need you to stay overnight to monitor the baby. Then you're free to go in the morning. Sound good?"
I nodded.
"You also have a visitor by the name of-"
"Oh thank god, you're alive. You look terrible." Luciano commented from the door way.
"Thanks, every girl loves to hear that." I replied.
A nurse came rushing in behind him, "I am so sorry, Dr. Thompson. I'll escort him," she gave a pointed look to Luciano, "out."
I shook my head. "It's fine."
"You must be the father. Congratulations. You seem to have a little miracle baby." Dr. Thompson smiled.
Luciano's face dropped. "Baby?"
Dr. Thompson realized his mistake and quickly excused himself. He had an apologetic look before leaving. Gah, it's not even his but ok. Once he left, Luciano turned to me.
"You're prego?"
"Mmhmm." I said numbly.
"And the baby daddy is..?"
"It has to be Steven. I haven't had sex with anyone else in the past month. Well, past year. Oh, God. What am I going to do?" I laid my head in my hands.
Luciano came over to the bed side and hugged me gently. "I'll be here for you. You know that. But if the fucker doesn't own up, I'll beat his ass."
I felt the familiar wetness of tears in my hands. I sobbed silently as he caressed my back.
"I-I could've killed my baby. I should've been more careful."
"Don't talk like that. It wasn't your fault. It was the stupid idiot that was too busy on the phone. The good thing is the baby is alive."
I nodded and struggled to wipe the tears from my eyes due to my brace.
"Let me." Luciano got a tissue from the night stand and dabbed at my tears.
"How long have I been out?"
"Almost a week now. Don't worry, I called the office and they gave you two weeks leave for recovery."
"Thanks."
"I can't help but think that this is partially my fault." he said softly.
I looked up at him, "Why would you think that?"
"If you hadn't had to drop me off then you wouldn't have been on the road and this wouldn't have happened."
"Lucia-"
"No, Vivian, I won't beat myself up about it. But in return, I'll be your very own slave until you're all better." he said determined.
I laughed, "What? No, it's fine."
"If not for you, then for the baby." Luciano playfully patted my flat stomach.
"Baby?"
Luciano and I turned to the door and saw Rich standing there with a bouquet of flowers. Before I could even blink, I saw a pile of flowers being roughly thrown to the side and Luciano was pinned against the wall beside me. I let out a scream as Rich punched Luciano square in the face.
"Rich, stop!"
Hit after hit after hit. He kept going. I pleaded. Begged for him to stop but he was blinded by rage. A nurse saw the commotion and called for security. Luciano's nose was definitely broken. Rich continued to choke him and knee him in the stomach.
"Rich, please stop. Please!" I tried to get out of the bed, but my legs gave out under me.
Security finally arrived. It took 2 men to get Rich off. The same nurse that called for security helped Luciano up. She helped him sit on the nearby couch and took out a medical kit to work on his bloody face. Another nurse came to my aid and sat me back on the bed.
"You little fucker. You got her pregnant. Are you fucking crazy!" Rich struggled against the security officer's hold. "I swear I will ruin you. You're going to regret the day you ever laid eyes on her!"
Luciano was way too beat up to even reply. From the looks of it, one of his eyes couldn't even open. The sight brought tears to my eyes.
"Sir, we're going to have to ask you to leave the premises."
"Me? You should be kicking that little shit out!" Rich pointed to Luciano.
"Rich, stop." I said softly.
"No, Viv, that little bitch fucking knocked you up and you got hurt because of him. My god, he almost killed you and your unborn child."
"Rich, the baby's not his!" I yelled in the middle of his rant.
Rich stilled in the security's hold. "Then who's is it?"
Oh, boy. This is going to be a lot to explain.
————
The car ride was silent. My parents were on the other side of town, so Rich offered to take me home. The plan was originally for Luciano to be my "slave" and drive me home but he's healing himself. Rich had awkwardly apologized to Luciano, but it's safe to say they won't be the best of friends anytime soon.
I occupied my time by looking out the window and unconsciously rubbed small circles on my tummy. Rich must've noticed because he cleared his throat. I stopped and slightly turned to him.
"Viv, you know you mean a lot to me, right?"
I slowly nodded. Where is he getting at?
"I mean, what I'm trying to say is-if you ever, you know need me for anything-"
I put my hand on his right hand, "I know."
"Good." he sighed, "so when are you telling Steven?"
I stiffened. "I don't know."
He looked to the side at me before looking back at the road. "He has a right to know."
"I know that. What am I suppose to do? Just call out of the blue and be like, 'Oh, I'm your baby mama.'?"
"Yes."
I looked at him incredulously.
"You can even use my phone." he tossed his phone to me.
"I don't have to do it right this instant." I threw it back at him.
"The longer you wait, the more you'll talk yourself out of it. Now call." he said strictly.
"No."
"Yes."
"I'm a grown woman. I can handle my onw business."
"You're a grown, pregnant woman. And the father of your child is unaware. So call." he put his phone in my hand as we came to a stop outside my apartment.
I stared at the phone long and hard hoping it'll disappear. It didn't.
"Fine." I dialed Steven's number and silently waited.
Voicemail! Voicemail! Voicemail!
I chanted in my head over and over.
"Hello?"
Fuck.
"Um, hi."
"I"m sorry, who is this?" he asked.
Rich looked at me expectantly. "It's me, Vivian."
"Oh! Hey, Vivian. Didn't expect you to call. How are you?"
"I'm fine. Look, I have something I need to tell you-"
"I have something to tell you too. I tried calling a couple days ago, but you didn't answer."
Oh. Well, that explains a lot. "But why was it from an unknown number? I'm pretty sure I have you in my contacts."
"I should've thought of that. No wonder you didn't answer. I thought you were avoiding me." he joked.
"What did you want to tell me?" I asked quickly.
Rich looked annoyed. He knew that I was trying to avoid the inevitable.
"If you don't do it, then I will." he whispered beside me.
I turned the other way to avoid him.
"I met someone." Steven said.
Shock coursed through me. "You've got to be kidding me."
"What was that?"
"Um, nothing. What were you saying?"
"Her name's Victoria. She's amazing, Vivian. You'd like her."
"I'm sure I would. When did you meet her?" I questioned.
"Just a week ago. She was actually at one of the NASCAR races. But enough about me, what did you want to tell me? Did that idiot, Richard, get his head out of his ass?"
I nervously laughed, "Nope. It was nothing. Look, I gotta go. I'll uh text you. Okay?"
"Um, okay."
"Bye." I hung up before he could respond.
I gave Rich his phone back. "What the fuck, Viv?"
"He met another girl. I can't just up and ruin that for him."
"You're carrying his child."
"So?"
I know I was acting like a bitch, but he has a life too. It would complicate things. I'm perfectly capable of raising a kid on my own. It can't be that hard.
"Hello? Steven. Yeah, this is Richard."
My head snapped to see Richard with the phone against his ear. I gave him a pleading look to not do what I thought he was doing.
"Enough with the pleasantries. You knocked up my best friend."
Shoot me. Just shoot me.
—————————————————————————————-
"When you're happy, you enjoy the music. When you're sad, you understand the lyrics."
"It's better to slap me with the truth than to kiss me with a lie."
Thanks so very much for reading, stranger. :3