Unraveling Harmony

20 - Seeing Abrielle Again

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Chapter 20: Ryan

            Never did I think I’d jump right back into my forgotten memories, but here I was behind the wheel with my final destination being Abrielle’s house. I had to hear it in person, the three words that have been lingering in my mind since I heard it a week ago: I’m pregnant, Ry.

            I still refused to believe it, denying it every time, but I knew somewhere deep inside that Abrielle wasn’t lying. The past was already in the distance and I couldn’t take back what I had done, what we had done that night. I should’ve known that this would all catch up to me. I was about to throw everything away: baseball, college, and Harmony, for a child that wasn’t supposed to exist.

            Don’t get me wrong: I want a child, I want to be a father, but I’m far too young to even think about raising a family when I have my whole future stretched out in front of me. And that future didn’t involve seeing my ex-girlfriend again who happens to be pregnant.

            I sighed in deeply before the neighborhood I thought I’d never enter again came into view. The third one on the left was just as I had remembered it: the apple tree in the front yard casting a shadow against the house’s frame, a freshly clean-cut green lawn, and a row of tulips lining the driveway, leading up to the porch.

            We had planted those summers ago, but it felt like just yesterday. She was smiling brighter than the afternoon sun and that dirt fight we had with two garden shovels ended up in a mess, but it hardly mattered because I was having the time of my life with the girl who I had believed at the moment was the one.

             I snapped myself back into reality and I knew she wasn’t that girl anymore. She changed and I had too. I parked the corvette on the other side of the street and sat there for a good few minutes. The pain flooded back to me during the silence that surrounded me, bringing all of the flashbacks along with it. What was I doing here? Setting myself up to be broken again from someone’s who has already shattered everything?

            I leaned back against the driver’s seat, feeling the cold leather seep through my plaid button-up. I closed my eyes, wondering if I wanted to face the truth. I couldn’t run away from this forever, but then again, if I did go up those porch steps, I was going to jump head first back into a life I had left a long time ago and there was no turning back after that.

            Running my fingers through my uncombed hair, I fumbled for the door handle and braced myself for whatever was about to happen next. Every step towards the front door brought another heart-breaking memory, another moment to regret what I was about to do, but I had reached the door and pressed the bell before I could stop myself. I paced across the porch, a million thoughts surging through my mind.

            “Ry?” I turned around to see Abrielle dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and a pastel sky blue tee. There was no denying the noticeable bump bulging from her stomach through her top, but she still managed to pull it off; she still managed to be breathless and beautiful all at the same time. “It’s nice that I still can get your attention by just saying your name.” Damn, what did I get myself into? She smiled when she realized I was staring at her.