Rugged Lace

Bonus Chapter #2

So, here's another bonus chapter! This one is in the point of view of Chel, Tyler's exfriend who wound up in the book quite a few times! It's a bit short, but it's a bonus chapter. The next bonus chapter I'm going to update is what SHOULD have been the first time Tyler met Jake, but it didn't exactly happen as I wanted it to...

Until then, here's Chel!

.

Outside the foggy glass of her window, the city sleeps. It moves and breathes a broken perfection, constantly drowning itself just to surface again. Like her, nothing seems to be right, yet it can't be wrong. A perfect bit of imperfection, moving and breathing only to fall to the ground so it can rise again. Chel sighs, running a hand through her blonde hair.

"Today sucks," she whispers. "Today is the worst day ever."

She clutches a tiny stick in her hands, slowly bending it until it breaks. The pink color still stands out to her. With a frustrated sigh, Chel tosses it into her trash bin. It hits with a tearing sound, and that's it for her. A tear slips from her eye, her face scrunched up in anger and fear.

"Oh God, what the hell am I supposed to do now?" she asks, looking down at her lap. Her stomach states back at her, laughing and mocking her. "This wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was. Fuck it!"

Out of habit she reaches for her phone, cradling it as she scrolls through her contacts. No one she can tell. No one at--

"Tyler," she whispers. Then, louder, "Tyler!"

She dials instantly, knowing that Tyler will know what to do. Lately the girl's been doing everything right, getting the grades, the boyfriend, and she's been happier than ever. At least, her Facebook and Instragram accounts reveal that.

"Hello?" Her voice is groggy but not mad. A promising sign.

Chel takes a deep breath, "Can we talk?"

"Chelsea?"

"Yeah, it's me. I miss you, Tyler. I miss being friends with you. I need you," she tells her. The brokenness in her voice is impossible to miss.

There's a pause. "What happened?" she finally asks.

Chel doesn't even pretend to have another reason for calling. Her voice manages to steady itself as she tells her. "I'm pregnant. I'm single. I got fired last week. My parents hate me. I don't know what the hell to do, Ty. I need your help."

"Who's the father?"

"I don't know. I don't think I want to know either. I just...please, tell me what to do. I'm scared." Her voice shakes, quivering between a high and low note. Hands shaking, Chel tries to make herself be calm.

"Chel, calm down. Breathe, okay? Breathe. It's going to be okay." Her voice is so calm, so smooth. A bubble of hate starts to rise in Chel. Why is she so damn perfect? I should be perfect. I should be the one with the better life. This, this bitch--"Okay, listen to me. This is going to be really hard on you. But I know you, Chel. I know you. When we were little girls and we'd run around town all day long with our little dollies, doing nothing but fun, you never did anything wrong to your little doll. You were a great mother then. And back in middle school? When we both got babysitting jobs so we'd get enough money to go to the movies and stuff? You were great then. Remember that?"

Chel nods, "Yeah. I do."

"Yeah, see?" Tyler continues, "You'll be a great mom. Now, you're going to have to get a job. I know, you've been fired and it sucks. But you need a job. Do you have a place to stay? The money to stay there?"

Breathing slower now, Chel takes her time responding. Her mind is cloudy from the past few nights, but she remembers most of it. "I...don't have a place to stay. Right now I'm at some guy's house, I think it might be a guy named...Chris? Oh, Ty, I don't even know. All I have on me is a twenty."

There's another pause on the other end. In that eternity, she can see her life ending. She can see Tyler giving up on her, leaving her to go do something else. She can see people laughing at her once they find out the truth. She can see everything but good. And then...Tyler starts talking again.

"Okay. I'm going to give you directions to my apartment, okay? My roommate and I were just talking, she said that between the two of us we should be able to find you a place to stay and a job. You're going to be okay. Everything will be fine, right?" Tyler's voice sounds so hopeful, so happy...Chel clings to it.

She nods eight times before she remembers that Tyler can't see her though the phone. Her voice cracks a bit, this time out of joy, "Yes! Thank you, thank you, Ty."

"Hey, anything for a friend."

"I thought you didn't like me?" Chel asks. The moment it leaves her mouth she regrets it though. Oh God, oh God...don't leave me because of that. Don't leave me.

"We've been friends since we were six. I don't have to like you to want to help you. Now, come on. Sit up, get yourself cleaned up, and get over here. I'll text you the way in a bit. See you later?"

She smiles wide, feeling her chapped lips crack just the slightest. "See you later."