It was the next morning. The birds were chirping, the sun was presenting itself to the world, and besides the sounds coming from nature, it was pretty quiet. No cars, no lawnmowers, just quiet. James woke up after his eventful night with his so-called best friend. He slowly opened his eyes, looking around, confused as he wasn't sure where he was. Slowly, he sat upright on the side of the bed, looking around.
"Wait, this isn't my room. This is just way too pink. I remember taking Lucy home, then everything after that was a blank. F***, it must have been the alcohol, right? Someone mixed some in the punch, and a bunch of people drank it, I being one of them. Wait—" question marks began to appear all over his head. "If I'm in Lucy's bed, where's Lucy?"
Just as James was standing up, he realized he wasn't wearing anything. No socks, no boxers, nothing. He was naked. "Wait, why am I naked?"
After standing up, he stepped on something hard. Taking a look, he found he had stepped on a bra — a black bra — and his boxers and clothes were mixed with the bunch of clothes on the floor that looked like the clothes Lucy wore just yesterday. Seeing this, his mind went blank.
"Wait, what…"
Before he could say more, he heard a sound just behind him — more specifically, a soft moan. Turning around, he saw Lucy laying down, her back facing him. It appeared she had no clothes on, same as him. She slowly turned around, still asleep, her hair laid flat on the bed just like a pair of vines covering a wall, except the wall was the bed and the vines were her hair.
But that wasn't the only thing that caught his attention. As stated before, she had no clothes. Her chest was exposed to him, strands of her hair covering her chest just well enough for someone to see her bare skin. It seemed in the process of turning around, she had moved the blanket covering her body, therefore revealing herself to him — not that he hadn't seen everything already.
Feeling a slight breeze graze her body, Lucy's hand subconsciously moved around, looking for the blanket. Her hand moved across the bed, trying to find it. Growing irritated from not finding what she was looking for, Lucy opened her eyes, sitting up straight with an irritated look, looking around for her blanket.
"Wait, why am I naked?"
Looking around, she spotted James in the corner of her eye. Letting out a yelp, she quickly tried to cover herself.
"Wait, what are you doing in my room? And why are you naked? Why am I naked?!"
Then they both heard someone coming up. James looked around. "Oh shit, your mom's coming!" He started panicking, looking around. Lucy was sweating as much as he was, looking around. He definitely couldn't hide in the closet — it was way too loud.
"F***, James, come on!"
James looked at where she was pointing. "You're not serious, right?"
"Well, do you have any other suggestions?"
"F***!"
"Lucy, I'm coming in!"
Lucy's mom quickly opened the door, looking around. "I thought I heard— is everything alright?"
Lucy's mom saw Lucy laying down with the blanket covering her whole body.
"Yeah, Mom! Everything's all good up here! Nothing's wrong!"
Her mom looked around. "Hmm, you sure? You seem pretty red right now."
"Mom, I'm naked right now! And what did I say about knocking when you're at my door? Stop coming in whenever you feel like it!"
Lucy's mom quickly closed the door, laughing. "I was just checking up on you, daughter."
Soon after, she walked down the stairs.
Hearing this, Lucy sighed. Just as quickly, James jumped away from her, apologizing while putting on his clothes that he took with him.
"Lucy, I'm so sorry! I really didn't know how we ended up like this. If anything happened, I'll take responsibility!" James said quickly, opening the window, jumping out, and running.
Lucy stared at James running in the distance. "I didn't even get a chance to say anything."
On the way home, James could have caught a cab, but he didn't. He felt so happy, after all. His memory of the events of yesterday wasn't so foggy — quite literally. He ran at full speed for 20 whole minutes before getting home, his clothes drenched almost as if he was unfortunate enough to have fallen into a body of water. His heart was beating like a drum.
As he entered his house, he met Alfred, who asked where he was — but this was just a formality. After all, Alfred had to know where he was, as his guardian. Covering his nose, Alfred said, "Don't forget to take a shower, James. You don't smell the best, and breakfast will be ready in a minute."
After heading to his room, James couldn't stop thinking about last night — the sensation, the touch, the burning feeling he felt. It couldn't get out of his head. After all, it was his first time.
After kicking his feet for a minute, a realization quickly came to James. He didn't know how to interact with, or more or less approach, Lucy after what happened. There's no way they could go back to the way things were. There's no way he could look her in the eyes and not think of what they did.
The same thing was going on at Lucy's house. As her mom was serving breakfast, she couldn't help but look over at her daughter, who seemed more distracted than usual. She seemed to be thinking of something, occasionally blushing and shaking her head. It got to a point where she hadn't even touched her food.
She walked up to Lucy, snapping her fingers. "Hey, Lucy dear, is everything alright? You haven't touched your breakfast."
Snapping out of her stupor, Lucy answered, "Yeah, Mom, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about some things."
Lucy's mom looked at her with a sly smile. "Oh my, did something happen last night, Lucy? With your little boyfriend?"
Blushing as bright as a rose, Lucy pushed her plate away. "Mom, it's none of your business!"
"But dear—"
She grabbed her plate and went up the stairs. "You know you can tell your mom everything! I've been in your situation before!"
"Shut up, Mom! I don't wanna hear about your love life with Dad!"
Lucy's mom took a glance at a picture on her necklace — of Lucy, herself, and an unknown man. Sighing, she whispered, "I really miss your father."
After going up the stairs with her plate, Lucy sat on her bed, still thinking about the events of last night. She couldn't stop thinking about it — the way he looked at her, the way she kissed him, the sounds she made. Slamming her head onto her pillow, she screamed, "F***! Why did I do that? What was I thinking? I was so pushy, despite it being my first time. He must think I'm a dirty girl or that I've done this before. Oh my god, I gotta let him know!"
Pulling out her phone and trying to text James, before she could, a text came from him. It wasn't anything grand, nothing like "how good was last night" or anything crazy — just a simple "hey."
Seeing this message, Lucy quickly stopped flailing, thinking of what she could text back. Going through several words before settling on a simple "hey" back.
James, seeing this, quickly texted back — although he soon regretted it. What he texted was: "Last night was nice." Instantly, he was rolling around thinking about how stupid he was. After all, it was her first time. What if it hurt? Shit, I'm such an idiot.
Lucy, on the other side, was blushing. "Why is he saying that? What should I respond with?"
"Well… umm, it was my first time, so it was nice, I guess," she finally typed.
James frowned reading this. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"
Lucy could sense the worry in the text. She was happy, and a blush made its way onto her face. "Well, you were pretty gentle for the most part."
Hearing this, James's face turned red from what she was saying. "Umm, okay… I just wanted to check up on you. I kind of left in a hurry. I was a little nervous about what happened between us."
After sending this text, James sat in silence for a moment before sending one final text: "Anyway, I'll see you in school on Monday."
"Oh, well, I'll see you in school on Monday too, James. And… I just wanted to say I love you."
Lucy sat there for a moment, staring at her screen for thirty seconds before a text came that said, "I love you too." Seeing this, she quickly set her phone down before giggling, looking at her phone and holding it to her chest.
After thinking for a moment, Lucy decided to go out and buy something. On her way out, her mother asked where she was going. Lucy told her she was going out for a bit, but in reality, she was going to buy a few pills—just in case.
After arriving at the store and looking around, she couldn't find her desired item. Soon after, she made her way to a guy sitting in a corner. From a quick glance, she could tell the guy worked there. Quickly, she asked him a few questions. Soon after, the guy went over to a section, grabbing a little box that seemed to have a few pills in it. After talking with the guy, he recommended this brand, saying how he had a few customers with the same problem. This was able to sort all that out.
After buying her desired item, Lucy quickly bought a water bottle before chugging a pill and then throwing away the rest of the pills, making it as if nothing had happened.
On her way back home, in a corner stood the purple ghost-like figure with golden eyes, staring at her and whispering under its tone, "It's going to take a whole lot more than that to get rid of a child blessed by me. Even if the heavens themselves arrived, that child is still going to be born."
Later on, Lucy continued on with her day as usual. As soon as she got home, a sour heaviness rose from her gut, her vision blurring as her skin turned clammy and cold, every breath thick with the taste of panic. She was going to throw up. Quickly making her way to the bathroom, she threw up what she had for breakfast that morning, and she noticed something lying between the water, acid, and the half-digested food—a pill. Her body hadn't digested the pill, and it had rejected it.
Quickly, she panicked, staggering to sit down, feeling her consciousness slip in and out before finally stabilizing herself. Grabbing a glass of water and going out, she left the house, going back to the same store, buying the same pills, going home, getting a bottle, and downing the pill with water before going up the stairs, trying to sleep off the weird feeling she felt at the moment.
Soon after, she woke up, running to the bathroom and throwing up again. Looking at her appearance in the mirror, she whispered, "Shit… I don't look too good."
She stood up, looking at her pale face, slapping herself. "Okay, body, listen. I know you don't like this—same with me—but we really can't afford to be pregnant right now. So I'm going to take one more. Please don't throw up."
Opening the faucet, she took a scoop of water with both her hands and the pill in her hand, downing the water. She could feel the irritation coming from her stomach. Clutching her stomach, she stayed like that for a good five minutes before her body went silent. Standing up with what little energy she had left, she walked to the kitchen, getting a few things and going to her bedroom, eating some of them.
She came out three hours later looking better, feeling her body jumping around. She realized she felt great and that her body hadn't regurgitated the pill. Taking a few things with her and putting them in the trash bag before taking the trash out, she sighed. "Well, I guess that's the end of that."
Soon, Monday arrived. It was the last two weeks before they finished high school. Both had mixed feelings about the whole situation, but such is life.
After meeting for the first time after the whole situation, James and Lucy were a bit shy and had a hard time looking at each other straight. But after talking for a little bit, they realized nothing much had changed. They were still the same people who just happened to know a little bit more about each other.
On the second week, it was graduation week. They were finally graduating from high school. Everyone had mixed feelings—some were happy to be graduating, others were saying their final goodbyes to their friends. Overall, a lot of things were happening. Lucy and James planned on attending the same college. Everything seemed normal, but Lucy knew otherwise.
Usually, her period was supposed to have started around this time, but yet it showed no signs of ever showing. This had her a little worried, but she chalked it up to being nothing. But two weeks later, she began experiencing a lot of side effects. Fearing the worst, she went to a nearby clinic. The results showed she was definitely pregnant.
After hearing this, Lucy was devastated. She was just 18 years old, and someone of that age finding out they were pregnant was a big shock to a girl her age. Soon after, she got home and shut her door. Lucy's mom, seeing this, was very concerned about what was going on with her daughter. She tried talking to her multiple times, yet Lucy never answered. She knew Lucy was in there, though—her faint sobs gave it away.
Getting a call about this from Lucy's mom, James tried calling and texting her, yet she wouldn't answer. After thinking for a moment, he went over to her house.
Lucy's mom let him in. "Okay, listen, James. I don't know what's wrong with my daughter. No matter what I try, she doesn't want to come out of her room, so I'm leaving it up to you. Got that?"
James nodded his head. "Yes, ma'am. I really want to be here for Lucy, but I got work today. I'm not gonna be here till the next day, so just make yourself at home. Call me if anything comes up."
"Oh, okay. Bye, Ms. Amber."
Looking around, James went up the stairs and knocked on Lucy's door for a good minute. Even after calling her name, she didn't answer. So, he started talking to her, knowing she could still hear him.
"Hey, Lucy, if anything's wrong, you can talk to me, you know. We've known each other since the beginning of high school. You remember when we caught the math and science teachers in that classroom, and when you fell and almost got caught? That was probably one of the stupidest things we did. Ever since then, we've been friends. Up until recently, we just started going out. Lucy, what I'm trying to say is that we've been together for a long time, so no matter what happens, I'll always be there for you. No matter what we go through. That's because I really love you."
After that, silence ensued. Shortly after, Lucy slowly opened the door, her face covered in tears as she sobbed, making her way into James's arms. James caught her.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong, Lucy?"
She continued sobbing. "James, I think I'm pregnant."
A silence followed. Lucy, crying into James's chest, looked up only to see James with a semi-stunned expression.
"Oh, really?"
"I just realized it today. I took a pill about a month ago when we had sex, but even after throwing up twice, I still took another pill just to make sure I couldn't get pregnant. I thought it worked because I didn't throw up. I'm sorry, James, I really—"
Before Lucy could say more, James just wrapped his hands tighter around her. "It's okay. I don't blame you. You're okay."
Lucy then continued crying for about five minutes before stopping. Wiping her tears, she asked, "So, James, what do you want to do now?"
James just tapped his forehead, thinking. "I wanna keep the kid. What about you?"
Lucy thought for a moment. "If it was a month ago, I'd definitely want to get rid of it. But now…" She touched her stomach. "I can feel it. There's a living being growing inside of me. I can't just kill it. I don't think I can go through with it. It's too much."
James patted her shoulder. "Hey, hey, it's okay. We don't have to. Do you wanna tell your mom about this?"
Lucy thought for a moment. "I can't do that to my mom. I remember she told me she lost her sister to teen pregnancy. Neither the baby nor her sister survived. I can't do that to her."
"So your choice," James said, thinking for a moment.
Lucy looked at James, staring at him. "What about you, James? What will you tell your parents?"
James thought about it, then sighed. "I don't think I wanna tell my parents. I haven't seen them in two years. I don't think they'll be on board with the idea of their son having a kid at this age. But this is a decision I'm willing to make with you."
"So, what do we do now?" Lucy asked.
"Well, I guess we gotta figure things out by ourselves, right?" James said with a smile that wasn't really a smile. He knew the weight of their decision and what effects it would have on the people around them. So did Lucy.
James's parents weren't always there, but he knew they cared about him to some degree. He always had what he needed when he needed it. Lucy was the same. She knew her mother loved her to death, but she also knew she had to do this. She couldn't let her mom know what happened.
Sighing, James stood up. "Alright, I'll be back tomorrow. I gotta get a few things ready for us."
"What are you going to do?"
"Well, we're definitely gonna need some money and a few other things. 'Cause you don't plan on living on the streets, do you?"
"Yeah, you're probably right."
Just as James was making his way to the door, Lucy went up to him, kissing him. She didn't say anything—nothing needed to be said. James just walked out.
On the drive home, James couldn't help thinking about a lot of things. After all, things took a wild turn. He knew he was partly responsible. After all, it takes two to make one. He thought he should have checked up on Lucy after the incident. Well, too late for that now. Things had already developed this far.
After making his way home, James looked around, finding Alfred sitting next to the door outside waiting for him.
"Well, hello," Alfred greeted him.
James greeted him back without saying anything more. Alfred just glanced at him before following him.
After James went inside, he went straight to his room, not eating anything, just heading straight to his room, opening his closet, and grabbing a suitcase. He stuffed at least 80k in his bag. This was money James made from doing a few legal and illegal things. After all, he might have grown up, but he was still the same boy who snuck into a school just because of a little suspicion. That side of him was suppressed for God knows what reason.
After also packing a few more valuables and clothes, James took a walk around his house, looking around. He went into the kitchen, with the professional chefs talking and not minding him. After walking around, he went up to his bedroom, getting the suitcase with most of the valuables in it. But before he went out, he looked around to see if Alfred was still around. Realizing he wasn't, he quickly went out the front door, taking the suitcase and throwing it in the trunk of his car.
He let out an exaggerated sigh. It wasn't that the things were heavy—it was the weight of his actions. Soon, James took a look at the time. It was around dinner time. Thinking for a moment, he went back in the house.
"Dinner's ready," Alfred called out to him.
James just smiled, calling out to him. "Hey, Alfred, would you mind eating with me?"
Alfred didn't say anything; he just nodded. As they ate, nothing was said to the other. They just sat there, eating their respective meals. Occasionally, Alfred would see James just smiling as if reminiscing about something.
Soon, he stood up, stretching off the tension that enveloped the room. "Alright, Alfred, thanks for the meal."
Alfred called out to him. "James, hold on."
Alfred went to get something, handing him a suitcase. James was confused. "Umm, Alfred, what's the suitcase for?"
"Go ahead, take a look inside it."
Opening the suitcase, James saw a few things inside. The most prominent thing was there was a lot of money, approximately 400k in cash, and a piece of paper with an address on it and a guy's name.
"James, in this suitcase is some of my life savings and a friend of mine who can help you out with what you need."
"Wait, Alfred, how did you know—"
"Listen, James, I've known you since the day you were born. I practically know more about you than yourself at this point. I can tell when you're acting weird and when something's wrong. And besides, it's my job to keep an eye on you. After all, you're like a son to me."
Hearing all this, James was stunned. "You knew?"
Alfred just laughed. "Of course, I don't know everything, but I know most of it. I've raised you myself. I've been in almost every moment of your life. I know you wouldn't do something like this without good reason. I may not know what that reason is, but I know it's a good one."
"But, Alfred, this is your money. I can't just take it."
"Oh please, James. Most of my family is dead by now. I have no close relatives, no kids, no wife, no goals or ambitions. I really never knew what to do with this money. It just sits around collecting dust. I figured I might as well put it to good use in someone else's hands."
Tearing up, James stuttered, "Alfred, I—I can't—"
Alfred just gave him a hug. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me anything. I just want you to be safe, okay? In whatever you do, just know I'll still be here. Just call when you get the chance. After all, you know my number, right?"
James just nodded, eyes filled with tears staining the floor. "Okay. Thank you. I'll get going now."
Alfred just waved before calling out to him. "Hey, James."
"Yeah?"
Turning, James caught a device. "That should destroy the tracker on you."
"Oh, you mean the tracker in my car and shoes? I got rid of those already."
Smiling, Alfred said, "Oh, did you check your clothes?"
"Oh, right, my bad."
Searching around, James quickly found small trackers inside his clothes, and running the device over them rendered them useless. Clutching the device, James thanked Alfred again before driving off.
Seeing this, Alfred sighed. "Is he really going to be okay?" Walking into the security room, he found the security guard sleeping. He forgot about the cameras. Before he could do anything, he found the cameras playing in a loop. This made him chuckle. "He should be just fine out there."