Understanding Teenagers

54: Elephant in the Room

Liam's POV

A quiet night on the rooftop. For some reason sitting on the rooftop felt different. With all that had happened, the vibe felt different. It's hard to put a pin on it. Without another moment to spare, Giselle showed up and sat next to me.

"Hey stranger," she joked giving me an Oreo.

"Hey, Giselle."

A silence found its way between us with our eyes looking at the stars. A comet managed to fly by. Never saw that happen before.

"Listen Liam. We honestly need to address the elephant in the room. I really don't know how to say it, but I'll just say it. We had sex in New Orleans. Sex on the bed. Sex in the shower. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty damn amazing. Never did I realize how amazing that moment would be. And I'm still a teenager." Another brief pause. "OK, I know, I'm an adult. I can vote. But I'm still a teenager for a couple more years. It's weird to think about."

Her hand grabbed my hand and held on to it as tightly as it could. Something told me that she had something to say, but wasn't sure how to say it.

"I do love you, Liam. Over the years, I've always loved you. Over the past few months, my heart has grown for you and I don't know how I'd live without you. To be honest, I wish we could go inside and have sex right now. I'm dying for it. But at the same time, I can't." Her eyes were directly in my own eyes. "There's nothing here for you. I'll be graduating in May and will be going to college. Sure, it's a community college, but it's something. After that, who knows what my future holds. And I'm tired of worrying about what other people think of me. I'm tired of getting rejected. I'm just going to live my life and do the best that I can. You, on the other hand, you have a life in New York. You're a writer. You have to finish that novel. Leah is perfect for you. You can't deny that. You shouldn't. Trust me, you love her just as much as I love you. And don't worry about me. I'll find someone someday."

"Giselle..." I began putting a finger on her chin.

Without letting me say another word, she took my finger and softly kissed it. She calmly struck my hair and sadly smiled. This led to our fingers connecting only for her to lean in and give me my lips a passionate kiss as if our plane were about to go down. Her fingers snuck their way under my shirt and felt my skin. In the heat of the moment, I felt a burn and slowly pushed her to the ground of the roof with my shirt still on. Her touch left my own shirt. While continuing to kiss her, I slowly rolled up her shirt and began pecking her exposed skin. A soft moan left her mouth which led to a couple more moans until she cut us off.

"I love you, Liam. I always will."

With those words, she left the rooftop leaving me alone. What the hell just happened? She had rejected me. What? The idea of moving to New York with Leah seemed scary. Would I actually be able to do this? Was Giselle not the one for me? I could imagine how awkward the next several days or weeks would be considering we still lived in the same house.

Giselle's POV

Damn it, why was it hard to tell him? I really wanted to. Was he supposed to know that I was pregnant? Was letting him go the right thing to do? Would he even take me if he knew I was pregnant? Damn, why Leah? Laying in my bed, my attention went towards the pregnancy stick.

"OK, maybe I don't need Liam."

We're those words true? At that moment, all that my brain could think about was the child that would be arriving in nine months. The sweet and innocent child that would look at me and know they were safe in my arms. No matter what happened, things would somehow turn out fine. One could only hope Gloria would be proud. Of course, I couldn't help but burst out in tears. With my face on my pillow, I wept alone all night like a baby.

Liam's POV

Found myself at a diner that following morning sipping my Apple Juice.

"Another round of juice?" asked the waitress.

"I'm good. Thanks.

About another minute later, Heather walked in and found where I was sitting just as I had expected. The woman was more glowing than ever. She pulled up a seat and sat with me leaving me to smirk. She did the same.

"Hey, Liam." She looked tired and pregnant, but mostly tired. Giselle also seemed a little tired to me lately.

"Hey Heather, how are things?"

"Eh things are going I guess. I just wish this baby could come out."

Taking a sip of my juice, I spoke. "Still getting married?"

"That's what I actually came to talk to you about?" My eyes widened. Was she not getting married? "You see, how do I put it? Let's just say I'm not marrying Riley. He had a little too much fun one night and overdosed. He's dead. And funny enough, I didn't care that he was dead. The wedding plans were getting a little too crazy anyway." She pulled out her hand to show me that she had a ring on her finger. "But I guess you could say that I am married."

My mouth spit out the ice that was inside. "Who'd you marry?"

"Let's just say that my last name is now Bardelli. Heather Bardelli." Her face turned a little red with her palm on her head. She couldn't help but chuckle.

"So does that mean you're a..."

Before I could finish my sentence, she interrupted me. "Yes, I am. I mean I'm still attracted to... well, you know how it is."

At this point, I had no idea what to say? "Well, I guess you were always an obsessive fan over Bardelli, but I never would have expected this."

"Neither did I. But it's not all that bad. We had a small wedding in the family's backyard with about thirty people. And believe it or not, Bardelli is good with children. I do feel at peace with all of this."

The waiter made her way back asking Heather what she wanted. All she wanted was a glass of water.

"Now speaking of weddings, I do have a little gift to you." She pulled out a wad of cash out of her purse. "It's the deposit from our failed wedding. Half a million dollars." I found myself almost choking. Half a million? "I know, it's crazy, but our wedding was getting crazy expensive and I know you weren't a fan of everything going on. Once Riley died, I was able to get that money back. And you honestly should have it. You deserve it more than I do."

What was I supposed to do at that moment? Slowly, I reached out and took the money as she took a sip of her water.

"How are things going with you? Heard you were moving to New York. Was her name Leah?"

"Yeah, it's Leah. I don't know how I feel about all this."

"Well if it helps, I always thought you and Giselle made a really cute couple.  Don't understand why you didn't end up with her."

"Eh, it's a long story."

She took a gulp of her water. "It always is. You know, we were such a screwed up couple." She couldn't help but smile and rolled her eyes.

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Next Chapter: The most important conversation of this story happens between Liam and Piper. It was the conversation I had to really make sure to get right.

Is Giselle being stupid for letting Liam go?

Should Giselle let Liam be the father?

What should Liam do with all the money he got from Heather?