results ⇒a.i au

(six)

side/top: this is a picture of aimee carrero, who is casted as eliza. i think this picture is a fairly accurate representation of how eliza would look when she was telling her parents/ashton. this picture kind of inspired me to write this story, i guess.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  

january part two (four months ago)

ashton was in shock. he sat behind the wheel of his car, which was parked in the hospital parking lot. eliza sat beside him in the passenger seat. her arms were crossed over her midsection and her shoulders were curled in. they sat in silence, neither of them daring to speak.

ashton was primarily focusing on keeping his breaths even. his heart was already racing; but his mind was racing faster. questions chased each other around his thoughts. they seemed to crash continually into the walls of his skull, resulting in a pounding headache.

eliza was going through her options silently in her head. she went over the pros and cons of each one, and imagined the path each choice would lead to.

finally, ashton opened his mouth to speak. nothing came out. he closed his mouth.

eliza managed to speak: "so..."

ashton echoed, "so..."

"i'm...uh..."

"you're...uh..."

"pregnant."

"pre--" ashton faltered. he couldn't even say it.

eliza's voice fell to a whisper. "there's a thing inside me. a–a kid. i'm pregnant." her voice cracked and ashton saw a tear run down her cheek as she said, barely audible, "i'm pregnant."

ashton reached over the console and wrapped his arms eliza the best he could, and then quickly pulled away. "hey," he murmured, wiping a tear off her cheek, "it's going to be okay. we have options."

eliza rubbed her eyes. "what, abortion? that's expensive, ashton, and i'm not eighteen yet. i need someone to sign the forms. you're not eighteen either. it would have to be one of our parents and we'd have to tell them i'm pregnant in the first place. can you even imagine doing that? because i sure can't."

ashton sighed in frustration. "okay, so abortion is out for now. there's more we can do."

"keep it and give it up for adoption, or just keep it and raise it as ours? i never wanted to be a mother, ashton. not this early. how can i love and take care of the thing inside me when i never asked for it in the first place?"

"well..." ashton's jaw tightened. "maybe you shouldn't have encouraged me."

out of the corner of his eye, ashton saw eliza stiffen.

"what?"

he said nothing.

"say it to my face, ashton." her tone was cold.