Dying With Grace || RUEL

8: Baby don't cry

Ruel's POV

The alcohol drips from my shirt and I sigh. I almost forget the reason why I hate parties. As I make my way upstairs, people fist bump me and greet me some "What's up?"s even though we've never talked before. I'm about to enter Harrison's bedroom when I hear people talking inside. My hand rests on the door knob and as I turn it, the voices become more prominent. I wish I haven't seen what I have seen and yet something compels me to stay even though what I'm seeing breaks my heart if it's already not shattered into pieces.

Mackenzie Williams, Australian model and influencer, also known as my ex-girlfriend who dumped me a few weeks ago is draped over Jake Kelly. Mackenzie well knows Jake and I have never gotten along since primary school. He was always the type to steal my clothes after gym, trip me in the canteen and get spaghetti all over my uniform, trash my locker and get me suspended for getting into fights. I don't know what his problem is but whenever he has a chance to jab at me, he takes it.

"Babe—" Mackenzie says in between their kisses. Her legs are placed across his lap and she has her arms around his neck. They're on Harrison's couch. "We need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about," Jake says, absolutely not bothered about her feelings. My hand on the knob clenches harder.

"No, babe, seriously—" Mackenzie cries. "It's serious."

Jake groans and pushes her aside. Every second of watching the scene, it's even more tempting to burst into the room and beat Jake up. "Okay, what the fuck do you want?"

"We've been doing this for months," Mackenzie begins after exhaling for a long time. Months? She's been cheating on me with Jake Kelly for months? I can't watch this. I cannot listen to this. My throat becomes dry. "And I want something more."

"Woman, we agreed on being friends with benefits," Jake waves her off. "Just sleeping around. None of this boyfriend girlfriend bullshit. Your boy Ruel might have put up with it but I'm not."

"Jake, I'm pregnant," Mackenzie bursts out. Tears flow down her cheeks and she stands up. My whole body freezes. "It's not Ruel's for sure. He said he wanted to wait so we've never done it."

Jake pauses. "So what are you going to do with it?"

"I'm going to keep our baby," she says, as if it's an obvious decision.

"Hold up, our baby?" he proceeds to ask in disgust. "Don't you fucking get it? There's no us. There's no our baby. It's yours. I never asked for this."

"And you think I wished for a kid?"

"Do whatever you want with it," Jake says. "Don't bother calling me. I don't fucking care about you or the baby. And if you tell anyone it's mine, you know what I'll do." As Jake stands up, I move away from the door and lean against the wall as if I haven't been listening. Jake leaves the room and storms off. When he's completely out of sight, I go back to the door and open it slowly. Mackenzie's crying on the floor and I approach her.

"Kenz," I say. Her head snaps up and her eyes are bloodshot, filled with tears.

"Ruel, what the hell are you doing here?" she asks in between sobs. "Aren't you on tour?"

"Does that even matter?" I ask. I squat down and sit next to her. "Kenz, you never told me."

"Told you what?"

"You're pregnant."

"You fucking eavesdropped on our conversation?" she asks, looking dead at me in the eyes.

"I didn't have a choice."

She rolls her eyes. "I've heard that excuse a million times when we were dating."

"Kenz, and you cheated on me the whole time we were dating?" I ask in retort. "That's why you dumped me? For Jake Kelly?"

"So fucking what? It's not like we're dating anymore." She sobs in her knees and continues crying. "What the hell am I going to do? I'm seventeen. I'm still in school. Who would want to hire me when they find out I'm pregnant? What model career still continues with stretch marks. Jake doesn't want me. You don't want me. Who's ever going to look at me in the eyes and tell me they love me ever again?"

I stop. Even though I've found out she's cheated on me countless of times, it's not my time to cry. I can't imagine what she's going through. She has a point—this baby will dictate everything in her life if she decides to keep it. "Kenz, I'm here. I'm here."

She continues to cry and I scoot over her so she can bury her face in my neck. "What am I going to do without you?"

"We'll get through this. Like old times."

"Oh, Ruel. Why are you so perfect all the time? You say all the right things a girl want to hear."

"Except I can't have the girl I want," I say. I spot the bracelet I gave her during Valentine's on her wrist. "You still wear the bracelet I gave you?"

"Of course. It's expensive."

"Right."

"Ruel," Mackenzie stops crying. She wipes away her tears and looks at me. "What we had—it was never going to work out. Our labels meshed us together so we have better publicity. I can't give you what you want."

"They didn't expect me to fall this hard."

"I didn't either," Mackenzie says softly, holding my chin. She kisses me on the cheek, gets up and leaves the room.

I sigh. I get up and go to Harrison's closet. I pick a yellow T-shirt and put it on. My mind is racing with different thoughts each time. I thought going back home will ease things out but it turns out, it's only becoming more complicated. At this rate, I wish I never got off tour so I don't have to handle all this bullshit. Nothing has really made me happy these past few months except when Grace has popped up in my life.

"Oh shit, Grace," I mutter under my breath. I get up and leave the room. Can this night get any worse? I'm about to go downstairs to meet Grace when I see people crowd around Harrison's sister's bedroom.

"I saw Jake go in with a girl," I hear someone say.

"Who's the girl?"

"No clue. I don't think she even goes to our school."

"We should leave them be. We don't want to mess with Jake."

I approach the crowd and that's when I heard it. I hear Grace's voice calling for my name inside. I shove the people away from the door and bang on the door. My blood boils with anger. Jake cannot touch Grace. He's stolen Mackenzie, and now he can't have Grace. Because Grace is mine.