Pregnant with the Bad Boy

25

I held the bags tightly and ran up to the door, I quickly opened it and to my surprise Dylan was sitting there with my mom, and they were laughing.

I was still panting from running up when they both looked at me and Dylan smiled lovingly at my arrival.

“Jen, finally, we've been waiting for you.” He held out his hand as I suspiciously put the bags down and went to his side and sat close to his bowed legs, it must hurt to have them down, but he didn't seem to feel it or he was faking the hell out it, my guess was the later.

I studied my mother with my narrowed eyes, and she smiled gently at me as she sat cross-legged with her hands clasped over her knees, looking like she was at a church dinner and not in Dylan's messy apartment.

“Of course, we have, I wanted to talk to you about what happened this morning.” She sounded sad still and I assumed what I had said had been maybe too harsh for her, but I had been angry.

“About what?” I crossed my ankles with my legs out next to Dylan's and twirled my fingers on the gold cross restless even before we started.

“I want to apologize Jennifer.” her voice was sincere, and I looked up at her in surprise as Dylan hugged me with his arm around me.

Really? I didn't know what to say as she sighed and leaned forward against me.

“I’m sorry you had to suffer for me, I should have seen you unhappy, but I chose to see my own grief instead of yours and Amanda's.” She fell silent, I held my breath, I thought she was going to apologise for everything with Dylan, it felt like a slap in the face as she smiled sadly at my dumbfounded reaction.

“I understand if you don't forgive me... “she was getting up to leave when I held my hand up for her.

“Wait.” She quickly sat back down, and I leaned against Dylan, I didn't want her to leave, I wanted to make up because I couldn't fight anymore.

“I forgive you.” She gasped at my words, Dylan smiled contentedly at my words, I knew he was overjoyed now.

“Do you really do that, honey?” She was crying now, and I nodded, what was the point of being angry with her over something I had no control over as Mandy had said.

“my darling baby you don't know how many times I wanted to call you but I didn't dare because you were so angry the last time we saw each other.” She looked guiltily at Dylan who dismissed her concern for him.

“I'm fine Grace, your daughter is taking good care of me.” he took my free hand with his and squeezed it, I smiled unconsciously at his touch, mom studied us for a few seconds before smiling again.

“I'm so grateful she has you Dylan, don't think otherwise.” I glanced at their wordless communication; I had definitely missed something here.

“Have you changed your mind about letting me and Dylan get married?” I stared straight into her startled eyes, forgiving her for everything else, but if she couldn't support my life with Dylan then I wasn't interested no matter how much it hurt not to talk to her.

“I have it.” she had a new gleam in her eye as I sat sceptically forward with my upper body and arms crossed, I didn't believe her.

“Prove it.” Dylan looked at me beggingly as he thought I was going too far but Mum just looked smarter now, I don't know what scared me more, that she accepted that we wanted to get married or that she could prove it.

“Here, take this. ” I watched nervously as she twisted off one of her rings and held it out in front of my and Dylan's astonished faces.

“This is your grandmother's ring, your father gave it to me when we got engaged, but I have no use for it anymore, and it belongs to you, it's your heritage.” She smiled calmly as she placed the ring on the small table in front of us, it was a beautiful gold ring with a row of small diamonds on it. I stared at it suddenly dry mouthed, she was serious. I looked up at her amused face as neither of us got a word out and she smiled broadly at us both.

“My only wish is that you wait to give me grandchildren until you've finished school, okay?” She was looking at both of us now and I felt my face turn bright red and Dylan winced uncomfortably at her sentence.

I mumbled okay with my eyes down and Dylan looked away embarrassed, my mum knew we were having s*x and it felt so embarrassing I wanted to sink underground.

“Okay then…. You're welcome to come to the farm any time you want, so you know." Mom laughed amusedly at our shamefulness and walked out the door without saying goodbye.

We both sat still, and I stared at the ring, it was so beautiful, and I could hardly believe that she had agreed to the whole thing.

“What did you say to her?” I turned my head quickly towards Dylan, who tried to shake off the embarrassment and shrugged.

“I just told you that I loved you and that I would give you a ring later.” He was looking at the ring too now, it felt like we were both sweating from the seriousness in front of us.

“it worked apparently.” I blinked sheepishly at his sweaty face, it was one thing to talk about it, and another to actually see the ring on the table, that we were actually going to do this.

“clearly.” He repeated my word slowly as we both looked at each other nervously.

He picked it up and I laughed restlessly at the way it looked in his big hand.

“it is beautiful.” He admired it for a while and I put my head on his shoulder and smiled, mum was amazing, she tried to scare us, and it worked.

“it is.” I leaned on his shoulder, I didn't want to push him, he would give it to me when he was ready.

“It's okay Dylan, we don't have to do this just because we have it in front of us, I can wait.”

 I smiled at his surprised face as I curled further into his arms.

“why would I want to wait?” I caught my breath as he took my hand and held it in front of him, feeling dizzy all of a sudden as I looked at his determined face.

“because you said you wanted to do it right?” I hadn't taken my eyes off the ring now, my mouth feeling dry as he smiled secretively at me.

“I said I wanted you and me and a ring.” His eyes were shining now and I felt my stomach grow cold from his intense voice.

He slowly caressed my hand so that it made me shiver all the way down my legs as he took the beautiful ring and slowly pulled it onto my left ring finger, I stared dumbly at it where it adorned my hand and looked like it had never been more perfect than where it sat.

“Dylan?" I looked up nervously at his confident eyes, they shone brightly at me as i leaned into his face and kissed his lips softly.

“Jennifer.” he smiled at me in satisfaction as I blinked in amazement at what had happened, he had really put it on my finger and I stared at it stupidly.

“so what do you say? Do you want to be Mrs. Hopper?” His voice was teasing and I laughed out loud as it was exactly what he had said last week, only now we were serious, I wondered if he had already planned this back then? I looked suspiciously at his secretive face, you could never tell with him.

“I just want to be yours.” I had put my hands around his head and leaned into his forehead, he didn't understand how much I loved him even though we fought as much as we loved.

He kissed me again and I smiled as he let me slide down on his shoulder, I was so tired and what had happened today was crazy.

“How did you get over here, by the way?” I looked up at him reproachfully, where he was now closing his eyes with a smile all over his face.

“I walked.” His voice was calm as if he wasn't in any pain at all every second of his waking hours.

“Dylan... please why didn't you just stay in bed?” I looked at him pleadingly, why did he do this to himself.

“it's okay babe, your mom helped me get here.” He opened his eyes now and looked at my surprised me, had mum, who was a head shorter than me and skinny as a fairy helped him to the couch? I didn't believe him as he caressed my cheek and looked into my eyes with his gorgeous greys that I could never get enough of.

“Your mother is not to be underestimated.” His eyebrows rose in a frightened smile as I laughed at his wonderment at his mother's strength, I knew she was after all these years herself, so much more than I was.

“Does it hurt much?” I looked at him sadly, really wishing I had never broken the plate.

His face was tired, I knew it said more about the whole thing than he could say, I felt the stab of guilt as he moved his feet slowly across the floor.

“I want you to go back to bed.” I started to help him up as he stopped me and grabbed the armrest and lifted my upper body up, I looked impressed at his arm strength, I figured his arms were more than just for me to drool over.

“Impressing, I know.” He smiled charmingly at me as I took around his waist despite protests and helped him back to the bed where he sighed as he got in there.

We sat down together, I quickly looked at the ring again, it felt completely unreal that he had dared to give it to me at once, nothing was decided one about when we would set a date but there it sat and promised that one day it would happen.

“Do you think your mother will choke when she sees it on you?” He jokingly looked at my hand as I estimated and held his hand up in the air so we could both see it properly, it was lovely.

“Most likely.” I laughed again and kissed him quickly before looking at the beautiful ring no, he said nothing but just smiled at my eagerness that it was there on me.

I put my hand down again and leaned against his body, sighing lightly with joy, could I be any happier than I was?

We sat like that for a while, he stroked my back with his fingertips, so I shivered from his touch as I always did, I looked at him furtively as he smiled back weakly but tiredly, I knew he was exhausted from the little bit to the couch, I pulled away and put him down without him protesting on the bed.

“I love you so much Dylan Hopper.” I looked lovingly into his eyes, which beamed back at me as he clipped tiredly with them.

“and I you Jennifer Thompson.” I leaned over and kissed him longingly but let it stop there as he was already drifting off to sleep.

“Good night my prince.” I whispered the words as he had already started to take light breaths and I sat up, it was only about half past one in the day and I came upon the groceries I had thrown in at the door, damn.

I ran over to the side of the entrance and picked up the brown bags, lucky I hadn't bought anything you needed to freeze, I went to the kitchen, not that Dylan's freezer was more of a box. I quickly stuffed the groceries in and took an extra look at my left hand every time I saw it.

I threw the pieces of chicken that I had cut quickly on the small bench into the frying pan and put in the spices that were available, I was not a fan of cooking or very good at it as my mother was, but I tried as I had promised Dylan to repent and I felt guilty that he had probably fallen asleep hungry.

Peppers, I knew mom used that, I slowly cut and put down the yellow bits, I know I had seen some canned further up in the cupboard, or was it above?

I took one of the chairs and stood on it, it was dusty as I dug out an old can of tomato sauce, it would have to do.

I was about to jump down when I saw a box at the end, I looked at it disobediently. Damn, I was horrible, but I wanted to look in it.

I slowly pulled it towards me, it was an ordinary wooden box with a lid and a small lock. I stared at the lock. What was it that he had in his past that was so secret that he had to lock it up, I felt it warily? Locked. I sighed disappointedly and pushed it back down as the chicken hissed loudly and I jumped back down, I would look for the key if I felt myself, no Jennifer. no. Leave it alone. I told myself out loud as I stirred the fragrant mess, maybe I wasn't so bad at cooking after all?

I threw down the pasta I had taken and stirred it slowly with my left hand, the ring reminded me that he was with me, that he loved me no matter what the box on top of the cupboard contained as I glanced at it worriedly while I stirred the food in exasperation, I hoped it was good enough to eat, I was already sick of the takeaway food Dylan seemed to live on, I had no idea how he was so fit yet lived on pizza? The thought made me smile as I turned off the water and stirred the pasta, I couldn't be bothered to put it up, Dylan wouldn't care, if he had his way he would eat out of the pan. I rolled my eyes to myself and grabbed a spoon and put on a deep drink, it smelt good as I sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out my phone, I would text Mandy what had happened, she would gossip to mum and then the circus would be on. I put the phone back down, she was probably still mad at me for what had happened at the hospital, in fact I was mad at her too.

I took a big bite of the chicken stir fry and chewed angrily, f*****g Mandy, thought she knew something about us, she was probably just bitter that Toby had dumped her.

I swallowed hard and immediately felt guilty, I was angry because she was right, she always was that brat. I looked at the food and sighed, I took another bite.

It wasn't that I wasn't hungry, because I could feel my stomach churning, but I just couldn't do it most of the time, the hunger disappeared when the darkness in me had the most room in me.

I was so grateful that Dylan understood, he knew what it was like to have darkness in him, because he had his piece to carry. I drank the water and stared at the phone again, damn.

I picked it up and quickly called Mandy, the signals went through, and she sounded grumpy when she answered.

“Hey.” I stirred the food and she sighed loudly as if I had disturbed her oh so busy life.

“Hey.” She must have been on the bed and on the phone when I called, I smiled at her bitterness.

“How is it at home?” I looked around the small kitchen that was my home now, she sighed quietly and shrugged confidently.

“As usual, except that that old guy who hangs out with my mom is here more.” She sounded nonchalant as I choked on her words.

“What? Is she with that loser?!” I must have been louder than I intended as Dylan stirred uneasily inside the bed, I immediately lowered my voice.

“Oh, she sure is...” she grinned over the phone I could hear it, that b***h. She had known about it all along and hadn't said anything to me.

“Mandy what the hell... it would have been good to have a heads up before I ran into them at the store.” I angrily put the fork down and she laughed at me now.

“Yes, I heard, you've really got a nice personality since you met him.” I know she meant Dylan and I laughed low too, typical Mandy to insult and give me praise at the same time.

“I didn't know it was that serious, it was only a few days ago they were getting divorced.”

 I pushed the plate away now, the thought of my parents' divorce cutting into me harder than I had thought, they were like a bad image of what my and Dylan's future could be.

“Well...but we both know what happened behind the scenes...” she shut up and all the laughter we had had was gone, I swallowed again, it was harder than I thought to talk about it.

“Sorry.” I looked up at the ceiling in embarrassment, I was tired of saying sorry to everyone, but I was the one who always messed things up.

She was silent for a few seconds as if she didn't know what to say any more than I did.

“Jennifer... I went too far too...” she sighed again for the hundredth time, and I smiled with the tears burning in my eyes, I sometimes forgot that she was in the same situation as me if not worse as she had no place to escape like I had.

“No, you just said it like it was... I know I'm horrible to him, I mean just look how it went because I can't be bothered to talk about things, I don't want to...” I was still looking at the ceiling, I didn't want to cry, because Dylan would see it later when he woke up and I didn't want to worry him any more than he already had on his shoulders.

“He'll be fine Jen... it was just that it was hard for me too, I've known him longer than you, even if he's just at the stables he's always been on my side, he's very driven you know.”

I nodded in shame, she was right, she had known him longer, I had only messed with him when I was younger, I didn't know him for that.

“I know... he's special...” I wiped away the first tear that fell down my cheek. f**k.

She didn't respond to it just hummed, I smiled at as she was probably smiling on the other side too now, we were so different yet almost the same person at times.

I wondered how much Mum and Mandy hung out, it seemed like more than she and I ever did lately.

“Well, she said that you had ripped Clark's head off and been generally unpleasant, so she wanted to make up because she felt bad about everything at the hospital.” She sounded nonchalant again, I laughed knowing she probably had more sense than she wanted to admit.

“She gave me grandma's ring.” I heard her coughing on the other side, that bit my mother had mentioned.

“Are you kidding me!?” she shouted into the receiver, and I held it a little bit away from her ear now.

“she's okay with everything?! Why? It's insane that you're still getting married, romantic yes, but completely insane!” She spat the sentences before I even had a chance to respond, and I smiled to myself on the other side. I knew it was crazy, I would have raised my eyebrows questioningly myself if I had been her.

“It seems so.” I pulled my hand up and looked at the ring again, smiling with satisfaction as Mandy was panting on the other side now.

“So what are you getting married soon or what? Or have you even gotten to that part?” Her questions hailed and I grabbed the plate again, the food was cold, I would have to heat it up later.

“we have come to that part.” I heard her scream a loud girlish scream on the other side, I hoped she was happy.

“Jennifer! -You got it! You're going to marry Mr. Hopper! I know girls who'd sell their souls for that, and then some!” She was probably red in the face by now as I calmly put my fork on the plate in front of me.

“Those bitches can try, he's mine.” She screamed again and I laughed out loud now before I remembered that Dylan was asleep and lowered my voice quickly.

“You are completely crazy. But I'm happy for you.” She was smiling now and so was I, that's all I wanted to hear, that someone was happy for us no matter how strange it was.

“Lucky for you that we knew him so it wasn't some stranger you met on an app, then you would never have seen grandma's ring on you.” She was laughing now and I rolled my eyes at her lame comment, I had never even used such an app.

“Mandy, I know it's hard, but could you let me tell her myself?” I knew my mum was probably hoping we'd get scared and back away when we got the ring but I was hoping she was happy for me for real anyway even though I was a nightmare of a daughter.

“Why? I thought she was the one who gave you the ring, doesn't that mean she's already got it all figured out? That you're engaged?” She said the words so simply. Engaged. I even knew if that was how I saw it all, I was already his, I just wanted it to be on paper so no one could stop me from his side again.

“I don't think so... “I kept quiet, I didn't want to say more to her, this was between me and my mother.

“I was so damn secretive then but what's the fun in that?!” she'd probably rolled her eyes but I knew she'd keep quiet.

“Thank you.” I smiled now, I had the best sister in the world, even though she gave me gall fever.

“I'd better get an honorary assignment later, once we marry you off.” She pursed her lips and I could see it in front of me.

“Of course. Honorary server.” I laughed at her insulted breath on the other side, silly kid.

“Yeah, forget it, I'll go and gossip right now.” She took a deep breath to call my mother as I laughed louder.

“Yeah, okay. You get to be maid of honor. Is that good enough for you?” I laughed as I could see in front of me how it lit up her eyes on the other side of seeing herself in some beautiful dress.

“It’s a deal sis.” She sounded calm now, I looked towards the bedroom, it sounded like Dylan was waking up now, it was probably because I had sounded so loud.

“Mandy, I have to go now, I'm going to help Dylan.” She was giggling on the other side now.

“Tell the bully that we miss him, his substitute is a stuttering girl who turns red every time she says something, super annoying.” She blew out the air and I smiled broadly at her, she missed him, I understood her.

“Of course, he'll be back soon, hang in there, and be good!” I sharply said the last word as she harrumphed as if she promised but still didn't.

“we'll see.... Goodbye....” She sounded sweet at the end, and I hung up laughing, it felt like the pressure on my chest was a little lighter, Mandy and I made up, again. I don't know how many times we were pissed at each other but she always forgave me and I her.