Everything I've Never Had (COMPLETE)

EINH prologue*

˚Prologue˚

People are infinitely stupid sometimes. Take me for example, or even Preston. We were always fighting each other for the top of our class since kindergarten. We always got the highest marks on our tests and regular classwork. Everyone was awed at how intelligent we were, but we made the stupidest mistake. 

I've known the Lyndes since I was four. My parents and I moved in next door over fourteen years ago after my dad got a job offer that moved him from Boston, Massachusetts to Brooks, Georgia. We were on the same coast and only a few states down, but they were two vastly different worlds. 

It was always cloudy and windy here, and there was an almost always constant rainfall. It was beautiful, though, with all the lush, leafy bushes and trees and the grey clouds. There were wild animals everywhere, which made for many stray rabbits and hedgehogs over the years. 

The first day we had moved in it was cloudy and overcast, but dry. No rain had fallen all morning as we carried stuff into the empty house. When noon rolled around, a few kids next door came outside and seemed to enjoy the rain-free day.  

There were three of them; one my age and two older. They were all playing some sort of game that I had never seen before, albeit I was only four at the time. The girl, who was the smallest and obviously the leader, raced down the street on her pink bike yelling out something behind her. The older boys raced behind her on their boy bikes and yelled something back. 

I watched in fascination as my family got everything into the house. Eventually, a woman came up to me and sat beside me on the sidewalk. I assumed she was the kids' mother by her looks and her kind smile. She pulled her brown sweater tighter around her before she started talking. 

She introduced herself as Lillian Lynde. She had long wavy auburn hair and soft brown eyes and a nice smile. I stuck my hand out like I had seen my daddy do and told her I was O'Reilly Graclyn Holmes. I always used my full name whenever I introduced myself, for whatever reason. I thought it was cool back then, I guess, but it's just kind of strange now. My first name was enough. 

Mrs. Lynde welcomed me and then went inside our new house to talk to my parents. As soon as she was through the door, the littlest boy walked over to me and sat next to me as his mom had. 

He told me his name was Preston and that he was playing with his older brother, Kane, and his older sister, Andie. He told me he was four, and I said I was the same age, and we were best friends ever since. 

We went our whole lives in a platonic friendship, save for the few times we had pretended to be each other's boyfriend or girlfriend to keep away unwanted suitors. And the time that he was my first kiss when we were in eighth grade. But, that was only because I refused to kiss anyone else, and Preston wanted to get it out of the way. 

The two of us were inseparable and his siblings were close seconds. My older sister was four years older than me, so she automatically wanted nothing to do with the four of us. That is until she realized Kane was a grade older than her when she was in eighth grade and decided it was a good idea to pine for him that year. They dated for a few weeks but it quickly fizzled out. That was another reason why we didn't spend time with each other. 

Senior year, though, is what killed everything. The relationships I had built, the promises I had made to myself. Everything. It was all ripped down and demolished on one stupid decision and our apparent stupidity, even though we were valedictorian and salutatorian when we graduated a week later. 

It wasn't even like we were drunk or anything, not that I had ever drank or he had ever gotten drunk. We were just sitting in my room on a night when no one was home at my place writing our speeches. It was only about eight-thirty and we were bored with a house to ourselves. 

Somehow it came about that we were both still virtuous and whatever. Preston said he didn't want to head off to the military with no experience, since he wouldn't get another chance for a few years. I could see his reasoning behind it, seeing as he would be confined in a camp for months at a time and Preston was one that liked long term relationships before anything serious. His gentlemanly ways would not work with his fast-approaching lifestyle. 

It had been a sudden bout of verbal diarrhea that I had said I'd do it. I still had mine and wanted to get it out of the way before college. Who better to do it with than the guy I've loved like a proverbial brother for fourteen years? I can see how that would be off-putting, but it sounded good at the time. And, if I were to be completely honest, I had had a major crush on Preston since we were eight. I wouldn't call it love, because love that was one-sided was just infatuation. But I definitely felt romantically toward him.

A few more awkward words, unintelligent mumbles, an undressing and an uncomfortable yet mind-blowing experience later, we were both no longer virgins. And we had both been seemingly extremely forgetful for the next two weeks. 

A week after our graduation, Preston left for whatever you do in the military. Bootcamp, I'm guessing, but what do I know? I had been stupid enough to not remember a vital part of having sex.

During the two weeks after our encounter, everything had been back to normal, except for the chaste kisses every once in a while. It had changed us just a little physically, but we were still the same O'Reilly and Preston. 

Except, we weren't the same when Preston left and I had started getting sick two weeks later. We weren't the same when I realized I was a few weeks late. We weren't the same when I went to the gynecologist after my suspicions. We weren't the same when the gynecologist told me some sort of levels were higher than normal. And we sure as hell weren't the same when that little bean shape showed up on the fuzzy dark screen. 

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New story. Hope you guys like this little prologue :) Big thanks to @GirlsDoWhatTheyWant for the rocking cover. Much appreciated :D