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I fucking knew it. There was no possible way that Kelsey was pregnant, let alone that it was mine. I had her take three tests to be thorough, paid by yours truly of course, and they all came back negative.

"I don't understand," Kelsey murmurs, her eyes glassy. She sits in the passenger seat of my truck, staring blankly down at the clear as day "not pregnant" written on the latest test. "I must have lost the baby. Oh Alex, I'm so sorry. We can try again."

My jaw hangs open at her words. What the actual fuck? This girl is one hundred percent crazy. I make a mental note to look into getting a restraining order, and then push the thought into the back of my head while I focus on the shit show in front of me.

"Kelsey, no," I tell her sternly, doing all I can to mask the bubbling rage inside me. "We were never trying for a baby. We were never together. I'm out of ideas of how I can get that to stick in your head."

She wrinkles her nose at me and rolls her eyes. "But I stopped taking my pill and—"

"You what?!" I exclaim, swiveling in my seat to face her. "Kelsey what the fuck? You can't do shit like that. I always use condoms, but come on, that's just nuts. You can't just rope in some guy by lying to him."

She bats her eyelashes up at me innocently. "I don't see what the problem is, Alex. I don't have to take birth control."

"No, you don't, but you can't go around fucking lying about it." I've officially hit my limit. "You know what? Get out. I want you out of my truck. You can walk your fucking psycho ass home."

"Baby—"

"I don't know what the fuck kinda drugs you're obviously on, but I'm officially done. Get. The. Fuck. Out." I reach over her to open the passenger door. "Now."

Kelsey stares back at me with a wounded expression, but I don't care. I want her out of my life. I don't need the drama, I just can't handle it anymore. I tried playing nice after being such an asshole to her, but it's not worth it anymore. I'm trying so hard to tend to the newly blossoming relationship between Mabel and I, and Kelsey's presence threatens to ruin everything.

"Get out," I repeat.

Crocodile tears fall down her cheeks, but I'm completely unfazed. I reach into my wallet and pull out a twenty, handing it to her.

"Call yourself a cab."

She stares back at me, unmoving. "Alex..."

"Fuck it," I hiss, kicking open my own door. I jump out of the truck and round the front end, coming to stand on the passenger side. "I'm fucking done, Kels."

I'm not one to hit a girl, but if she doesn't get her ass in gear pretty quick, I don't know if I'll be able to hold back.

"Get out," I repeat, snatching the sleeve of her jacket and giving it a tug.

She doesn't budge.

You've gotta be shitting me. I duck inside the cab of the truck and grab her by the waist, pulling her onto the ground with me.

Once she's out, I reach over and slam the door shut again, and head back to the driver's side.

"Alex you asshole!" She screeches, stomping her feet.

I ignore her and peel out of the spot, the tires of my truck squealing in protest, but I don't care. I just want to get back home and crawl back into bed with Mabel. I want to forget any of this ever happened.

When I make it home and up to my room, she's gone. Left in her place on the mattress is a piece of paper marked with her neat penmanship.

She heard. It's the only explanation. She must have overheard Kelsey and I arguing and left. It's not like I can blame her though. It seems as though I've caused more harm than good for her. Yet, selfishly, I don't think I can let her go.

Before I can stop myself my feet are carrying me back down the steps out out to my truck. I have to let her know. I have to tell Mabel that Kelsey isn't even pregnant. That it's not mine, that there was never anything to begin with.

✖️✖️✖️

"She doesn't want to see you," Hazel spits out bitterly, her eyes narrowing up at me.

I grit my teeth, feeling my jaw clench painfully. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what I just said. She's done. You and your drama have worn her down past her limit."

Fuck. I think I'm going to puke. If at all possible, my heart seems to shatter into even more pieces.

"Will you...will you tell her that I love her? That I'm sorry?" I ask helplessly.

Hazel's lips twist into a deep frown and she lets out a soft sigh. "No, Alex. I'll let her know you've apologized, but I'm not a fucking messenger, okay? You should've told her yourself that you loved her when you had the chance."

"Then let me do it now," I plead. "Let me—"

"No," Hazel cuts me off sternly. "Go home, Alex."

She slams the door, and from inside I swear I can hear Mabel's soft cries.

"Fuck," I hiss from between my teeth, my head thumping painfully against their dorm suite door. "Fucking shit."

You should've never gotten attached, a voice in my head chastises me.

A little too late for that, I grumble back internally. Great, now I'm talking to myself.

As I'm on my way down to the parking lot Tyler stops me on his way upstairs.

"I knew this would happen," he mutters in passing.

I whirl around, temper flaring. "I didn't do shit, Ty."

"You got some other girl knocked up," he retorts angrily. "You couldn't keep it in your pants for just one chick? Do you have any—"

"I never cheated on Mabel!"

"Well that's not what Kelsey—"

I throw my hands up in exasperation. "You're going to believe that psycho bitch over your own friend? That's pretty low of you Ty."

His expression softens the slightest bit, though his gaze remains hard and guarded. "What do you expect, Woodsie? You don't exactly have the best rep around campus."

I swallow the sudden lump that's grown in my throat harshly, nearly choking. Tyler has a point of course. Kelsey and I are in the same boat. We've both gotten around, and neither of us have an advantage over the other when it comes to telling the truth. Some will believe her, some might believe me, but it's fairly equal. The fact that my best friend doesn't even believe me though just adds another knife to my gut, twisting my insides painfully.

"I'll see you at home, Ty," I manage to choke out, turning on my heel and jogging out into the cold.

✖️✖️✖️

I drive around aimlessly for close to an hour, unsure of myself and unsure of where to go. For a brief moment the idea of skating at the rink a few towns over comes to mind, but then so do the memories of teaching Mabel to skate and just how goddamn exhilarating it was. That's a no go. I don't want to go home either since my bedding is still covered in her scent. I'll just end up picturing her sleeping next to me in my bed. The place where we belong.

Somehow, I end up at a run down bar filled with middle-aged pricks hiding from their wives and families. I stick out like a sore thumb, but it's the only place I could think of that wasn't tainted with memories of Mabel.

"You want another, kid?" The bartender asks. She masks her concern over the amount of alcohol I've ingested fairly well, her delicate eyebrows pinching the skin of her forehead briefly before smoothing back out.

Her eyes are green, but they don't hold the same amount of depth as Mabel's. They're dull, and there's too much of a blue hue to them.

"Another'd be great," I slur, doing my best to keep my head up.

She nods once and turns to mix my drink at the back of the bar.

"Got yer heart broken, didn't ya?" a man asks with a chuckle from beside me. He's missing two yellowed teeth, and stinks to high heaven like stale beer.

"Fuck off," I growl, waving him off.

He just grunts in response, another congested laugh rumbling his his chest.

A tiny bell jingles from the entrance, alerting everyone to someone walking through the door.

"Alex? What the hell, man?" Tyler asks. He claps a hand on my shoulder, steering my attention to him.

I sway on the barstool as I turn around. "The fuck d'you want?"

"Alright, you've had enough. Let's get home man, we have an early practice tomorrow." He tries to pull me up, but I push him away with both hands, my anger flaring up.

"Who the fuck cares? Coach can go fuck himself."

"Alex," Tyler groans, shaking his head.

The woman with my drink appears again, wearing a relieved expression at the sight of Tyler. "Closing the tab?"

He nods and pulls a fifty out of his wallet. "Keep the change. Sorry about this asshole."

"It's no problem," she chirps back, taking the money over to the register.

"I have money. You didn't need to pay for me," I mutter irritably.

"I know. Consider it an apology."

That peaks my interest.

"Apology?" I repeat uncertainly.

"For not believing you," Tyler explains. "I'm really sorry, dude. I should've known you'd never cheat on Mabes."

"Does she know?" I can't help but ask. "Did you tell her for me?"

He heaves out a heavy sigh and runs the palm of one hand over his face. "Yeah Woodsie, I told her. Hazel is the one who found out. Kelsey was posting it all over Twitter about how much of a dick you are for not wanting to start a family with her. Said you were leading both Mabel and her on at the same time."

"That's bullshit. Mabes knows that, right?"

"Yes."

"So she'll come back, right?" I ask helplessly, begging for my friend to show me that there's still some glimmer of hope left.

"I dunno," Tyler says softly. "I really don't know. But let's get you home to sleep this off, okay?"

I nod slowly, allowing him to lead me out to his SUV.

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Alcohol mends the broken heart...or so they say

I wasn't going to update until later in the week, but I have two more chapters after this up and ready to go. Maybe it would've been better to wait, but I'm as bad with cliff hangers as you guys are. I can't just NOT let you guys know what happens next 😉

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