Cinders

~70~ Deserves Better

The next day after school, dad picks me up since my car is still at mom's.

"Hi, champ," he says quietly.

"Hi," I say, looking at him carefully. "Are you still mad at me?"

"I'm still disappointed, yeah."

As we drive silently to the station, every mile closer the more nervous I become. When we get inside, we both notice that the ambulance isn't there.

Taylor sees us right away and comes up to us quickly, with a big smile on his face.

"What's up, guys?!?" He asks, pulling me into a hug as soon as he gets to me.

"Congratulations are in order we hear!" Dad says, reaching over to give Taylor a hug too. "You're gonna be a great dad."

Taylor smiles wide and shakes his head. "I had two years to get that girl pregnant, and I had to wait until right before we had broken up. That part sucks."

"You get to be in her life now and you have a baby on the way. Focus on that," dad says.

Taylor simply nods.

"She out on a call?" Dad asks, pointing to the empty space where the rig should be.

"Yeah," Taylor nods. "They've been gone for a bit. They should be back soon."

"How's she doing?" Dad asks quietly.

Taylor shrugs. "I have no idea; She won't talk to me...She won't hardly even look in my direction. Once the shock of the positive pregnancy test wore off, she went back to pretending like I don't exist," he says, looking down to the ground.

That's hurt him bad.

Dad nods. "Yeah...well, she's had a hard couple of days," he says, looking at me now with a hard expression.

Taylor notices then that there's an issue. He doesn't ask though—He must figure it's not his business anymore.

"Has she talked to anybody here about it?" Dad continues, trying to figure out how mom's mental health is.

"Only Megan. Megan won't tell me anything, though. She's still so pissed, I've basically lost her as a friend too."

"She'll come around—They both will....Care if we hang out for a bit? Liam here has an apology to make."

I simply look down at the ground, avoiding Taylor's stare.

"Sure you can. You can either hang out here, or you can hang out in my office. Whichever."

I know him well enough that I can practically feel his curiosity burning.

I look over then and see Jessica watching us. "Can we go to your office, please?" I don't want to be around that girl.

Taylor looks over his shoulder and follows my gaze. His back stiffens and he clenches his fist. "Sure," he says, understanding instantly. "Come on."

He walks right past Jessica without looking at her, and she bites her lip in a creepy way.

"That her?" Dad asks me quietly.

"Yeah"

We get to Taylor's office and we go in. I go over and sit on the bed, wishing I was here for a fun reason so we could play some ball.

"Do you want me to shut the door?" Taylor asks.

"No. We're good, man," dad says.

They chat about the game that was on last night... I got to see none of it... suddenly I see Jessica walk in and go to her cot, and I let out a frustrated sigh.