Meet Me Halfway

Chapter 8

He needed a drink. A strong one. No scratch that, he needed a whole bottle. Something that could get his mind off the craziness that his life had deteriorated to and wild thoughts that ran through his head.

Here he was one day dreaming about being the first Jones to go to college and prove everybody who ever doubted him wrong and the next, he was being told he was going to be a father, by a girl who wasn't even his girlfriend, just to make matters worse.

He could barely look after himself for the most part how was he going to be responsible for a baby? But no matter how troubling he thought things were for him, it couldn't be anything compared to what Alice was going through. It had been a full day since their families clashed and she stormed out of his trailer.

He hadn't spoken to her since, and within those hours he had been doing anything to get it off his mind but nothing seemed to help, not even the company of Gladys. He sat up with his head against the headrest of his bed as he watched Gladys nonchalantly file her nails.

She had come over by surprise, wanting to see the trailer park after the revelation in detention of her boyfriend living there, as well as wanting to engage in other activities that didn't quite go as planned seeing as FP was very distracted.

"That's never happened before." Gladys spoke as she continued fixing her nails

"I've just got a lot on my mind I guess." FP added.

"Well after getting exposed by Alice Smith of all people, things must be tough." She replied. She was never good with saying the right thing to cheer others up. "I don't know why you didn't just tell me you lived on the Southside. This place doesn't seem so bad. It might be smaller than my whole bedroom but at least it's practical, and compact." Gladys smiles as she tapped her nail file on his knee.

"Hmm. Whatever." He mumbled as he glared out of the window.

The door opened wide and his mother appeared in the room, causing FP and Gladys to jump up and focus immediately.

"Now I was sure it was just this morning we had a conversation about keeping this door open from now on." Fiona reminded him. "Especially with what's happening with Alice-"

FP sat up straight and swung his legs over. He raised his eyebrows towards his mother with a worrying look, hinting that he had not told Gladys anything yet and he prayed she would get the message before she continued.

"......Situation." Fiona continued before clearing her throat. She locked eyes with FP, indicating that she knew to stop. "Just, keep this open from now on, okay?"

"Yes Mom, I will. Can you leave now?" FP pleaded. Fiona left the door slightly opened and walked back into the living room

"What's Alice got to do with anything?" Gladys questioned. FP turned towards her at the mention of Alice's name. He had to come up with something quick.

"I- I guess she heard Alice was pregnant. She's probably just being cautious." He lied

"Oh. Well she doesn't have to worry about anything, I'm on the pill. Have been since I was 15." Gladys practically gloated as she brushed through her hair

FP continued to semi listen to her while his mind remained somewhere else. "Yeah."

"And I'm not as reckless as she is either."

"Yeah Okay Gladys."

Gladys put her hair brush down on FP's desk and turned around to face him. "Is she even still pregnant after the fall?" She asked, seeming to be at least a little concerned.

"Yeah. She's fine."

"That's good then. I wouldn't wish miscarriage on my worst enemy." She continued to brush through her hair. "I guess I should call Penelope. Let her know she's not a baby killer, no doubt she's panicking and pulling her cheap extensions out over it." Gladys mentioned with a little laugh.

"Gladys, can we not talk about this." FP pleaded, but clearly Gladys didn't get the message.

She spun around and pointed the brush in his direction. "Do not tell her I told you about her extensions."

"Whatever. Gladys-"

"I wonder who the Dad is." She continued, making FP roll his eyes practically into the back of his head.

"Though I doubt she even knows." Gladys jokes.

"Gladys stop." FP demanded a little louder, but she still continued.

"How stupid do you have to be to get knocked up at that age-"

"It's mine!" FP finally revealed, hoping it would get her to finally shut up.

And boy it sure did. She stopped running the brush through her hair and her face completely dropped. She slammed the brush onto the table and turned around to face him. He gulped seeing the shocked and almost hurt expression on her face.

She slowly stood up and breathed out. "I- I don't understand." She added.

FP placed his hands out of his pockets and folded his arms against his chest. "Alice's baby. It's mine, I'm the Dad." He revealed with his head down.

He could practically see the anger rise through her and acknowledged the disgusted look that fell upon her face after she looked to have been doing the maths to figure out if he had knocked her up while they were together.

He walked over to her in a panic and placed his arms on her shoulders. "Hey hey. Don't look at me like that, it was before we were together."

A flash of relief crossed her face before she removed her eyes from his and looked towards the door. At least he didn't cheat.

She brushed him off and began to collect her stuff, angrily going around the room.

"So another secret you were keeping from me?"

"It wasn't like that! I only found out yesterday." FP explained as he tried to get her to listen. She had her back to him and finally turned around.

"So when were you gonna tell me?" She questioned.

"I just needed to figure out the right time. But it doesn't matter, it doesn't change anything between us, it's okay." He said to her trying to relax the tension among them.

"Is she keeping it?" Gladys asked

"Yeah. She is." FP announced

She rolled her eyes and sighed before walking around him towards the door.

"So I'm basically dating someone's baby daddy. Great!" Gladys argued feigning excitement.

He walked towards her and rested his hands upon her shoulders. "Would you just calm down, this doesn't change anything between us." He explained as he moved his hand towards her chin

"You're an idiot if you really believe that FP." Gladys snapped back. She moved her hand towards the door knob and got ready to leave.

"Where are you going?" FP demanded to know.

"Far away! From you!" Gladys called out before leaving the trailer. She needed time to process all of this and being around FP certainly wouldn't help.