Two Of A Kind

18. Walking on sunshine... or eggshells?

Rider's POV~

  "So are you going to the party tonight?" Cynthia asked me with hopeful eyes.
"What party?" I countered, shoving a fry in my mouth. I know I know, it was always a French fry. That seemed to be the only thing I could stomach from our schools cafeteria.
"Cameron's..." I paused at her response.
"Please say you'll go Ri. I can't attend by myself." My mind was already made, but I thought it'd be funny to make her sweat a little.
"I don't know Cyn... bad things always happen when I surround myself with those guys. Maybe I'll just watch all the Instagram stories you post, and live through those." I watched her expression change. It went from hopeful to disappointed in a matter of seconds.
  "Girl relax, I'll go to Cam's stupid party with you. I've been in a good mood lately, I think I deserve a little celebration anyway." And just like that her smile was resurrected. Not that it was easy for Cyn to be anything other than happy for more than a few minutes.
"This good mood wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the date you and Aiden went on, would it?" My face and neck started to heat up, just the thought of that nights events made me blush. Thank god for melanin or I could've been mistaken for a tomato.
"Maybe..." I answered coyly. But maybe wasn't the right answer. What I should've said was "most definitely" or "of course". I mean, since our date we've been almost inseparable. I say almost because we still had school and had to spend time with our families outside of that. Not to mention the fact that we didn't know if our parents were still seeing each other or not. Well Id hope not, since Angela's been caught. Nevertheless, none of that mattered when I was with him. I felt like I was walking on sunshine. All my problems melted away, and all the demons I seemed to be fighting were defeated. I didn't think about Eanraig. I didn't think about my dad and how our family was once so happy and fulfilled. I didn't think about what Aidan and I's relationship would be like if  our parents decided to be together. And I didn't care to think about it. It just didn't matter...
  "Hellllo, earth to Rider." The wind from Cynthia's hand waving frantically in my face brought me back to reality.
  "Sorry." I chuckled foolishly.
"I said, I'm really happy for you. You've been through a lot, you deserve this." Her smile was warm and her eyes even warmer as she looked at me kindly.
"Thanks Cyn, that means more than you know," I reached across the table we were sitting at, and gave her hand a light squeeze.
"Now enough of this mushy gushy shit, what are you planning to wear tonight?" I asked, successfully changing the subject.
"Um I'm not sure," She paused for a moment, deep in thought.
  "Oh maybe we can go shopping after school!" She suggested happily. I found it hilarious how she pretended to think so hard about that. Seeing as every time we got invited somewhere she wanted to go shopping to look for an outfit. While I on the other hand, opted for old clothes or ones recently purchased and never worn. Hell, sometimes I even shopped in Cynthia's closet, wearing items that she abandoned all together. Cynthia just loved to spend money in general, her last name wasn't Greene for no reason. She was the epitome of spoiled. So spoiled, that her dad gave her weekly allowance but didn't hesitate to throw a little extra her way whenever she asked. All that to say, we both knew our future plans before I even asked the question. But I wasn't complaining, not in the slightest. Tagging along to the mall meant Cyn would purchase my items also. Usually I would tell her I didn't have any money to spend at the moment and she'd give me that look. The one that said "Did I ask you if you had money?" So I decided against it this time.
"Sure, let's meet up in main hall after the final bell." I stated with a head nod. Right after finishing my sentence, Cameron and the rest of the basketball team entered the cafeteria, Aiden and Jason trailing further behind. My heart suddenly started racing. His eyes darted toward mine, failing to break contact. Trying to keep my cool, I picked up another fry and tossed it in my mouth. And then another. This time attempting to dip it in ketchup, without ending our staring contest. I guess I should've taken account to how goofy it would look if I kept attempting to dip the fry and missing the sauce cup completely. After one or two more embarrassing tries, I gave up and paid attention to what I was doing, this time successfully dipping the fry in the red concoction. Realizing what I've done, I quickly looked back up only to find Aiden Shaking his head at me with a sly grin on his face.
"Jesus, you are sprung." Cyn's voice interrupted, laced with feigned disgust.
"Oh really?" I challenged. "Lewis just walked in, right over there." Trying my best to suppress my laughter, I pointed in a random direction to get her focus off me.
"Where?" She turned her neck so fast, I could've sworn I heard a little crack.
"And I'm sprung?" I teased while laughing hysterically.
"Whatever, I ll catch you after my last block." She gave me a quick nudge and sprinted towards the double doored exit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angela's POV~
  
  "Yes, three-thirty is perfect thank you." I said over the phone. I was scheduling an appointment with the clinic to see how far along I was and options for abortion, and believe me, a huge part of me felt uncertain about the decision. I mean for one, I didn't tell Earnest what I was planning to do. I definitely knew in my heart he didn't want the baby, he had too much going on in his life at the time. But even so, it wasn't my place to make that choice for him. I knew that, but I didn't want anyone trying to sway me from what I wanted to do. From what I needed to do.
  "Angela..?" My breathing halted. The voice almost seemed foreign to me, being since I haven't heard it in what felt like weeks. Even though it's only been a few days.
"Elijah.." I whispered.
"I expected you to already be gone for work at this time." He stated numbly. The way he admitted that so bluntly stung a little.
I stared at him for a moment, wanting him to say anything else. Hoping he'd say anything else to lighten the blow.
"Elijah.." I repeated vulnerably.
His expression was difficult to understand, and the more I tried to figure him out the more pessimistic I became about what was going through his mind.
"So what you're avoiding me? Have you been here any other time since you left?" I questioned defenselessly.
" I'm not avoiding you Angela," I didn't believe him. Not one bit.
" But yes, I've been here one other time."
"Can we talk, please?" I asked once but it was not to be mistaken for anything else outside of begging.
"About what? There's nothing to talk about Angela," his once nonchalant demeanor started to fade and he clearly began to get irritated.
"Yes Eli, there is," I stated.
"I know I fucked up, and it hasn't stopped eating me up since-"
"Since what? Since you got caught. Would you even have ended it before then?" He was heartbroken, and it was all because of me. I had to fix this, but I didn't know if I could.
"Yes, I swear!" I cried. His eyes searched my face intently, trying to find any signs of deceit.
"Why'd you do it?" He interrogated. "And don't feed me that bullshit from dinner the other night." I signed heavily.
"I don't know Eli, It just happened. At a point in time you were always working. You never had time for me, you never even had time to go to one of Aiden's games until recent."
He didn't say anything so I proceeded.
"As far as this baby. I'm not keeping it. I can't do that to our family."
"You already did Angela!" I jumped at his sudden outburst, it was very rare for Elijah to raise his voice, and it pained me that I was responsible for bringing that side out of him.
"I'm sorry, truly Elijah. I'll do whatever it takes for how ever long it takes to make this right." I started to slowly walk towards him, tears now present in both our lines of sight.
"Angela stop. Don't come any closer." I ignored his requests, and only stopped when I got in front of him. I placed my hands on his cheeks, rubbing them softly. I slid my palms down until they landed above his chest. I could feel his heart beating sporadically, as I laid my head on him.
"I'm sorry.." Apologizing seemed to be the only thing I could successfully do in that moment. I meant it but I needed to make sure he trusted that. The cool temperature from his fingertips made me shiver as he lifted my chin up towards him. He stared at me for a second, his countenance unreadable again.
But in a split second I saw a flash of fire, and his lips crashed onto mine.
Urgent, yet so passionate. It was like a reminder, telling us that we so desperately needed what we were deprived of from one another for so long.
I groped his head firmly, tangles of his dark strands wrapped around my fingers as our tongues fought for dominance. A soft moan escaped my lips, drawing one from him in return. While gently sucking the soft skin on his neck, I started to unbutton his dress shirt from the bottom up. I could tell that turned him on even more from the way he cupped my ass.
"Angela we really should stop." He panted out huskily. I loved when his voice grew thick with arousal, and I loved that the root cause of the arousal was still me. Despite everything I'd done to him, to our family I was so grateful that he still cared.
"And I think we shouldn't..." I responded back seductively. That response alone must've sent him into a frenzy, the hands that rested just below my waist had me up and holstered in his arms in a matter of seconds. My legs were loosely wrapped around his waist but slowly started to tighten as he trailed soft tender kisses along my neck and jawline.
He paused for a moment and stared at me intently. I searched his eyes myself, still wondering what was going through his head.
"I love you Elijah, please forgive me. Plea-" Before I could finish my sentence, my panties were slipped to the side from under my dress and I felt Eli inside of me. All of him. He moved my hips back and forth against his center, making me strengthen the grip I had around his neck. The tears started to flow again, and this time because of how good his dick felt massaging my delicate flower. Perhaps it was the sweat trickling down his back, reminding me of the wetness between my legs. Maybe the sounds of sex, our moans and the clapping of skin filling the air. Or maybe the anger and aggression he gave off while fucking me into oblivion did it to me. Whatever it was, it wasn't like any other way he made love to me ever before.
"Fuck!"
"Yes!" We cried out at the same time, climaxing in unison. Shortly after, he put me down, grabbed his shirt off the floor, and started to redress himself.
"What are you doing?" I questioned, concern evident on my face.
"Listen, I can't do this right now Angela. I need some time to process okay?" And with that he turned to leave. An instant pain ran through my chest, making my heart sting. I  couldn't believe I was stupid enough to think that a few weak ass apologies and sex could fix what I destroyed. How could I be so naive. Was this the end of our relationship, our family, the life we built? In that moment, the only thing I could think about was how in the hell I could make things right, if even possible. My heart was becoming weary and I was afraid that nothing would ever be the same between us. My knees buckled beneath me and I fell to the ground, my cries filling the empty space in the room. I cried for hours until sleep decided to comfort me.