One Night...

Chapter 3

Scarlett slid carefully into the booth in the seat across from Andrew. She glanced his way quickly, flashing him a warm smile, which he returned. He was nursing a gigantic iced coffee, and he blushed a little when she sat down.

"Um, I would have gotten you something, but I... I mean, I didn't know what you liked. What do you want, I can go grab you something real quick?" he asked kindly, and she shook her head slightly. He really was sweet, she thought to herself.

"That's OK, I'm good... I'm trying to, um... lay off caffeine," she said carefully, thinking how crazy that sounded to her given how much she generally loved coffee. Andrew laughed a little, scratching his jaw. "I could never," he said quietly. "I'm addicted to the stuff," he said, gesturing to his half-drank cup. She smiled a little, pushing some of her golden hair behind her ear nervously, trying to figure out how much small talk to make with him before just coming out with it. Before she could open her mouth, he leaned on his elbows a little toward her.

"Hey, I'm really glad you called me. I felt so awkward not getting your number or anything. That was so rude. I'm sorry, I'm usually not such a jerk. I just... that was a rough night..." he mumbled, his voice trailing off. She nodded a little, putting her hands up in protest. "Please don't apologize. I, um, I was no better. To be honest, I don't know if I would have reached out, but I, um... I needed to talk to you," she said softly, wondering how to broach the subject. He flashed her a grin, and she couldn't help but feel a warm feeling. He had the sweetest smile she'd ever seen.

Scarlett paused for a second, studying the red-head carefully. He looked exactly like he had in his Instagram pictures, floppy red hair pulled underneath the brim of a L.A. Dodgers baseball hat, clad in a navy blue Notre Dame hoodie and black Adidas joggers. She grinned a little remembering his sweet brown eyes, and she recalled how they'd drawn her in when she met him that night at the bar. He had a dusting of freckles on his cheeks and nose and he wore a Rolex watch on his left wrist, a plain rubber band on the right. She immediately wondered what the deal was with the rubber band, but she didn't ask. She dared to look up into his eyes and he was looking back at her, chewing on his bottom lip a little bit, and she couldn't help but think how cute he was. If she had met him at a party or through a friend or something, she probably would have liked him and would have wanted to go on a date or be friends or whatever, but instead, here she was, struggling to figure out how to drop a bomb on his unsuspecting sweet face.

"So, you're probably wondering why I wanted to meet up," Scarlett started slowly, and she couldn't deny that it was the most nervous she'd felt in forever. She was comforted by his chocolatey eyes and kind smile, and she pushed forward, feeling like it was now or never. He nodded a little, and she took a deep breath. "There's no easy way to say this, Andrew," she said softly, and he furrowed his brows. "Are you OK?" he asked, voice soft, and she shook her head no slowly. "I'm not sure what to say, I've never been in a situation like this before. Um, I know we don't know each other at all, but I figured, I really had to tell you this," she said slowly, and he nodded, hand resting on his chin. "OK, what is it?" he asked plainly and she sighed.

"Andrew, I'm pregnant," she said, blurting out the news before she could chicken out, and she immediately glanced down at the table before nervously looking up at him. His face went pale, and he wasn't saying anything. She pursed her lips together a little and went on. "It's, um... it's yours. I guess that's obvious, or else why would I be telling you right?" she stammered, immediately realizing she was rambling. She always did that when she was nervous. "Um, anyway, I... I don't know, I just felt like, you had a right to know," she said, and with that, she stopped talking, and they fell into the most awkward silence.

It lasted what felt like years, and Andrew sat staring at her, almost as if he wasn't processing anything. He told himself to say something, but his mouth was dry and he honestly had no idea what to say. He looked over at the beautiful blonde girl sat across from him, and he felt every emotion in the world. Shock, awe, anger, frustration, fear, embarrassment. He also felt sorry. Sorry for her that she was in the position in the first place, sorry for himself that he was, sorry that she had to go through the complete discomfort that was telling a complete stranger he was the father of her child. He wanted to jump out of his own skin, and if he was being completely honest with himself, there was a primal instinct in him that wanted to bolt out of the coffee shop and pretend this had never happened. But of course, that was ridiculous. He had to say something, and quick, before this beautiful girl thought he was even more of a jerk than she probably already did.

"You're, um, wow..." Andrew muttered out, stumbling over his words, "you're pregnant. Um, gosh, I... I mean, shit. I could have sworn we used..." he stammered, looking at her with furrowed brows as he struggled to recall the events of the drunken night where they had hooked up. "We did," she said quietly, and it was clear to Andrew that she'd thought about this numerous times before. "I guess it's not always foolproof," she said, and he felt bad for even bringing it up. Of course, it didn't matter. She was pregnant and that was the point. "I'm sorry, I just... I'm not sure what to say, Scarlett," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, and she forced a half-smile. "I get it, believe me. I don't really know what to say either. Believe me, I'm not enjoying telling you this," she said with a sigh.

Andrew forced himself to stumble out the first thing that came to mind. "What are you going to do?" he asked with a hitch in his voice, and she gave him a strange look, not sure whether to be grateful that he asked her what she wanted or annoyed that it sounded like it was her problem. He immediately sensed that it might not have been the right thing to say, and he mentally cursed himself, but he had no clue how to act in this situation. "I'm sorry if that sounded, you know... but like, it's your body... I don't want to say 'we' because we aren't a 'we'... God, I'm SO bad at this," he blurted out, and in spite of herself, Scarlett smiled. "Hey, its OK," she said kindly. "They didn't teach a class on how to react to this at my college," she told him, and he smiled gratefully at her, laughing awkwardly.

"I want to keep it," she said, voice above a whisper, and Andrew's eyes grew wide as saucers. "I don't expect you to do anything," she stammered out, nervously twirling at her golden blonde hair. "I just, I don't believe in... and I don't think I could do the adoption thing and... well, I've thought a lot about it." She looked at him and bit her lip, desperately trying to keep herself from crying in front of this total stranger. He looked into her eyes and nodded wordlessly, and she sighed.

"Listen, Andrew, I didn't call you here because I want you to do anything. I just thought you had a right to know about this. If the situation was reversed, I'd want to know," she said, looking up into his big brown eyes, and they immediately softened at her words. It was incredibly thoughtful and selfless, he though to himself. He felt like he was going to be sick, of course. But if he was being honest, he did want to know. He desperately wanted to do something to make it better, to help her, to show her he wasn't a complete and total douchebag, but he didn't know how or what to do.

"I, um, I'll, like, give you some money, "he stammered out, and she raised her eyebrows in horror.

"Money?" she spat out, as if the word was poison. "I don't want any money, are you kidding me? What do you think I am?" she asked, and she felt tears pricking in her eyes, and she wiped them away hastily, not wanting him to see her cry. She wondered if he thought she knew who he was because of YouTube or if he thought she was just some trashy gold digger. He didn't know anything about her, and she was immediately defensive.

"Listen, I'm a lawyer, OK? I can take care of myself just fine," she said, voice quiet and shaky. "I don't want any money from you. I don't want anything from you. I just wanted to do the right thing and tell you about the baby so you didn't wake up in 18 years and find some angry teenager on your doorstep who'd resent you forever. And now that I did that, I'm gonna go, because this has pretty much been the worst thing I've ever had to do, and that includes when I broke off my engagement because my fiancée was having sex with someone else in our bed. And I'm eager to get it over with as quickly as possible." She grabbed her giant Louis Vuitton bag and started to slide out of the booth, and Andrew looked at her with fear and shock in his eyes. "So anyway, thanks for meeting with me and listening to me, and good luck with, you know, your videos and whatever. And um, yeah, I guess, goodbye." And with that, she disappeared out of the coffee shop, and Andrew sat frozen in the booth, wondering how he'd managed to royally fuck everything up this much.