Tempted Hearts (bxb)

Chapter 15 - Are You Positive?

The second we arrived back at Lilly's, I jumped out from the front seat and darted into the house, running to find Jake as soon as I could. It looked a little suspicious, I'll admit, but I'd planned to play it off as being excited about the eggs and bacon breakfast that we would have the next morning- which wasn't even a lie.

I made my way through to his room and found him sitting on his bed, arms and legs crossed. Time was of the essence, though. I had no time to carry him through his sorrows, he'd have to take that journey alone for now. I threw the small pink box onto his lap and he quickly looked up at me, and before he could thank me, I was back downstairs meeting Lilly at the front door.

"Jesus, Max. Where the hell did you even go?" she questioned, moving past me into the kitchen.

"I'm so unfit... honestly..." I breathed, following her in to get a drink.

Once we were both inside, and after I'd shut the door with the bottom of my foot, she turned to face me. "Max, you're literally a cheerleader..." she continued as I held my glass under the fridge's water dispenser and then under the ice part. The perks of living in Jake's house were honestly endless.

"Well, you suck," is all I could come back with as she stuck her tongue out at me before turning around to put away the items that we had bought.

Lilly then opened her mouth to speak, probably about what movie we were going to watch that night, when we heard Emily shout from upstairs, both of us turning to look at each other instinctively with wide eyes.

"Was that Emily?" She looked at me.

"Did it sound like Jake to you?!" I mocked. "Relax, she's fine... probably," my attempts to not act suspicious seemed to fail immediately.

"Holy fucking shit!" we heard from upstairs, Lilly's attention landed on me again after she had turned in the direction of the noise with a furrowed brow.

"Okay, so there's definitely something you should know..." I let out quickly.

Lilly made a stern face that struck a slight sense of fear into me as she quickly spun around and we ran up the stairs together, heading for the main bathroom.

Jake was standing just outside, he then turned to us as we reached the top steps. "Hey, you two," he uttered, stretching his 'hey' with a guilt-struck tone. "She's um... having... lady problems."

"Cut the shit, Jake. I know what lady problems sound like, and that is not one of them," Lilly declared abruptly.

"Well, technically he's not wrong," I laughed slightly, but Lilly's concerned face slapped my grin away. I really did feel awful, having to keep a secret from her. In hindsight, I really have no idea why Jake didn't just tell us both, but I didn't want to give him any reason not to trust me. In my head, it was his first test to see if I was worthy of being a close person in his life.

Lilly's eyes then widened as she thought about my words in her head. "Oh my God..." She trailed off, looking down. "What the actual fuck?" She slapped her brother's back and he flinched. It sounded like a harsh one.

He rubbed his back with his left hand. "Babe, can you come out?" he asked. A few seconds later the lock clicked and she exited the bathroom, holding the test in her hands.

"I'm... fucking pregnant," she revealed and I couldn't even be bothered to pretend to be shocked, although the truth was a little hard-hitting. It was like a wave of reality crashed over me and suddenly my hopes for romance had been carried away again, forever to be lost at sea.

I looked over at Jake who was completely shaken. His lips quivered, but not in a way as if he was about to cry, but as if he was trying to speak, to find any words to describe how he might be feeling. His lips parted and his jaw tightened.