Chapter 28
Keith
I watched her walk away holding her stomach. Everything I've ever truly loved was done for me. There was nothing that I could say that would make her change her mind. I need Cara. And I need my babies. She doesn't even want me around her. What am I supposed to do? She's supposed to be moving in with me! We're supposed to be starting a family together. But wait, what is she going to do? She has no place to go. That had to be a good reason for her to stay with me! I looked up to see where she went and she was gone. I got up and ran into the hotel lobby. I looked everywhere. I quickly went up to the front desk to ask for her room number.
"Uh, excuse me! Um, I'm looking for a Cara Mason?" I said out of breath.
"I'm sorry sir, but we can't give out that kind of personal information. You see, our contract states our privacy policy-"
"Yah, um, I'm her fiancé and I really need to talk to her." I say getting a little impatient.
"I'm sorry sir, but I can't give out that kind of information. We only have the best interest for our clients here at the hotel.”
“It’s an emergency dude! She’s pregnant and she lost her phone and I really need to see if she’s okay! I have to be there for her if she goes into labor!” I said slightly irritated. The guy at the counter looked a little uncomfortable.
“Hey, man, I’m not supposed to be doing this.” He whispered.
“I know, sorry, but this would be great. Hey, I could pay you.” I say. I pull out my wallet and hand him a couple fifties and his face lights up. He quickly turns to his computer and starts typing away.
“Cara Mason you said?” He asks. I nod and his face frowns. “I’m sorry but we don’t have a Cara Mason staying here.” I glare at him.
“Dude, I just gave you like two-hundred bucks!”
“I know, and I’m not trying to rip you off or anything! It’s just that there seriously isn’t a girl with that name here!” He turned the screen towards me and I saw what he meant. There really wasn’t.
“Try…Ava Divine?” I ask. He looks at me suspiciously and shakes his head no. So there’s no Cara or Ava.
“Oh! Try Christopher Mason, that’s me.” He squints his eyes with suspicion and hesitates a second.
“What?” I say.
“Look, you’re not some kind of creepy stalker are you? Cause I could seriously get fired and I need this job!” He says angrily.
“No, I’m not, I swear!” Although that’s what Cara might tell them. I kind of do seem like a creepy stalker to her.
“Then how is your name Christopher Mason and her name Cara Mason when you two are engaged!?” He glared at me knowing something was up. I paused for a moment and thought about a lie.
“We’re cousins. Yah, I know it’s weird but in our family, we allow it.” I grin nervously, hoping that he’d buy it. He just says whatever and tells me her room number. I tell him how thankful I am over 12 times and run towards the elevator. When I reach her floor I see her still walking towards her room. I smile, knowing that she’s so pregnant that she’s walking a lot slower. I noticed that she was sniffling a lot. I knew if I snuck up on her she would be pissed. I called her name and waited for her to turn around. But she didn’t. She just stood there, not speaking or anything. I called her name again and she quickly turned around.
“What are you following me? It’s already hard enough to just walk away from you! Can’t you just take a hint!?” She says loudly. I walk towards her.
“No Cara, I can’t take a hint. I just need to know if you’re going to be okay. And not just you, I mean Ava as well. Where are you two going to stay?” She looked at the ground for a moment and sighed.
“I don’t know Keith. I’ll figure it out though.”
“But that’ll just make things difficult. If you want, you can stay at the house. I mean, it’ll just make things a lot harder on you two. You guys are basically already moved in.”
“Keith, I’m not going back there.” She started to walk to her door and unlock it. I grabbed her hand and stared into her eyes.
“Please. Baby, you mean the world to me and I just want what’s best for you and the girls.”
“Well you should have thought about that before you left” She snapped. She opened the door and I tried to follow her but she slammed the door in my face. I don’t want to give up but that’s all I can probably do now. I love Cara and if what she wants is to be away from me, then that’s what I’ll give her. But I refuse to let her take my girls away from me.
I walked back to the elevator and sighed. I pressed the lobby button and waited for my car. I sat there in my car for a few minutes. Contemplating on whether I should go to the new house or go back home with my mom. I knew my mom would give me hell for screwing things up with Cara. Yah she was my mom, but she loved Cara like a daughter already.
I went to the new place. When I got there I saw Cara’s car in the driveway and Ava’s new car there as well. I sighed again and unlocked the door to my empty loveless home. I dropped the keys on the kitchen counter and hopped up on the counter and sat there. Cara would have yelled at me if I did that in front of her. I grabbed an apple and took a bite. It tasted bad. I don’t know why, but it did. I had no appetite. I wasn’t hungry. I jumped off of the counter and opened the fridge. It was empty considering the fact that the three of us were supposed to go shopping. I sighed again and walked over to the living room. I plopped myself onto the couch and picked up the remote. As I flicked through the channels, I realized that nothing good was on. Football came on Sundays so I’d be bored all week, and it was only Tuesday! I groaned and took out my phone. I scrolled down the contacts to see who I could hang out with. Chris currently hates me. I tried calling him and texting him and he just ignores me. Jerry went on vacation with Nicole on Monday. He doesn’t even know what’s going on with Cara and I. Austin and Cameron where most likely at school right now.
That actually reminded me that I had to enroll somewhere for my senior year. I could go to school in Laguna Beach but I’d miss all my friends in Beverly. I got up and went to get my laptop upstairs. When I reached the top of the stairs, the first thing I saw was two pink cribs. I felt a pain in my chest as I walked into the room. It looked great, everyone really outdid themselves. I went over to their closet and touch the new clothes. The nursery looked great, but it just made me even more depressed the longer I stayed in there. I quickly walked out and screamed. There’s no way I could live in this house, passing that room everyday and not feel sad. I walked towards our…I mean, my bedroom and lay on the bed. Thankfully, Cara hasn’t slept in it yet. It just smelt like a new bed set. I sighed and stared at the ceiling. She’s supposed to be right by my side though. I got up and went over to my laptop sitting on my desk. I was probably on there for like two minutes when my phone rang. The caller was unknown so I ignored it. I don’t know why I did, but I did. It rang again, same person.
“Hello?” I bark into the phone agitated.
“Hey, Keith? It’s Javon.” Oh…interesting. Now I get to hear his side of the story and call him out. I figure that it would be much better to confront him in person.
“Hello Jay. What’s up?” I try to say in my friendliest voice possible.
“Uh, nothing really. I’m bored; you want to hang out today?”
“Sounds good! When and where?” I ask.
“Uh, I’ll go over to your place, how’s that?” He says. Perfect I say to myself.
“Cool.” I say.
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Okay, see you soon.” I say. He hangs up and I get up and run downstairs. I sit on the sofa and smile. I’m going to let him have it! He’s a liar. I believe Cara. I should have believed her in the first place. He just kind of ruined everything. It was his entire fault and I’m going to make him guilty as hell. He doesn’t even know that Cara and I broke up.
I just sat there staring at the TV. I wasn’t even paying attention to whatever was on. I heard the doorbell ring then. Damn, he got here fast! It was as if he was outside the entire time. Creep…I answer the door and he’s there with Chinese food in his hands.
“Hey man, brought food for ya.” He says. He walks past me into the kitchen. Boy he’s got nerve.
“You got here fast.” I say as he puts the bags on the counter.
“Yah, well I was basically right around the corner picking up food for myself.”I nod in understanding and sit at the island. He unloads the food out of the bags and starts opening drawers.
“Where are you forks dude?” he asks. I glare at him but his back is facing me and he can’t see. He finds them without me telling him and spins around.
“Found em’! So what’s new?” He asks. I squinted my eyes in suspicion and he smiles.
“Dude, what’s you issue?” He laughs to himself and takes a huge bite out of the low Mein he bought.
“Nothing.” I say. He nods in understanding while stuffing his face with food. “Cara and I broke up though.” I say. He looks up and almost chokes on his food.
“What? Really? What happened?” He says stupidly. I mean really? C’mon, he knew exactly what happened.
“We got into a fight.” I say flatly.
“Damn, that sucks. I did notice that you were mad that night. What was the fight about?”
“Her ex showed up to her baby shower and gave her a heavy check.” I say angrily, getting more and more frustrated.
“No way! That’s insane! Man, he’s got to know his boundaries! Follow the guy code, you know?”
“Yah…oh I’ve been meaning to ask you. That night, when I came home early and pissed, what was that on your face?” He looked up at me again. He paused for a moment and then looked back down at his food.
“What do you mean?” He asks quietly.
“You had some red stuff on your face.” I say flatly.
“Well, since you two already broke up, I should tell you, only because you’re my boy.”
“What Javon…?” I bark out.
“Well, she busted a move on me. She kissed me.” He said, still not looking at me and face buried in his food.
“Really.” I say.
“Yup! Crazy huh?”
“Sure is. But you know what’s funny? She told me you tried to kiss her…and then another thing is she doesn’t wear lipstick.” He practically dropped his food and choked on a noodle.
“Well she’s lying.”
“No she isn’t Jay.
“Keith, you believe that whore? Who knows what she did with that ex of hers. Those kids probably aren’t even yours!”
“They are mine Javon! She lost her virginity to me! And she isn’t lying. I talked to her and everything!” I stood up with my fists clenched and felt a vein pop out of my neck.
“Look, Keith, I can explain-“
“Oh no need! No need my friend! And what’s this I hear about you being a single dad?” I yell. He curses under his breath and runs towards the backdoor. I run after him and miss him by a hair. He’s fast, real fast. And I haven’t been doing any sports since school got out. He quickly got into his car and locked his door. I banged on his window and yelled for him to stop being a chick and get out. He started his car and flipped me off and drove away. I screamed at him as he drove away and kicked his tire. Ugh! This just sucks.
I walked back into the house and noticed that he left a lot of food on the counter. I smiled. At least I got something out of this.