Boys Don't Cry
Chapter: 1
Rating: R-ish
It was a disaster, an absolute disaster. What started off as a fun little arrangement had blown up in their faces. A casual relationship was fantastic for a while, but then feelings got in the way. Then they decided to start openly dating each other instead of sneaking around but still see other people too. And suddenly what was once easy and fun became sloppy and complicated. They had feared that they weren't compatible enough for a relationship and they proved themselves to be right. Everything had become an argument and the only thing keeping them together was the sex.
They had experienced one of the biggest battles of all time. A battle that not even the most incredible sex in the world could fix. And it just happened to take place in the newsroom. A mistake to end all mistakes. Mary had walked out of WJM and apparently out of his life altogether. She made up some excuse to Phyllis about having to go to Roseburg and put all her furniture in storage. She couldn't get out of Minneapolis quick enough.
Mary stayed a few weeks in Roseburg with her aunt and then decided that it wasn't going to work. She needed a change of pace and not one that involved leaning how to crochet. So she did the only thing she felt she could, she called her best friend. Rhoda had been in New York about eight months and she seemed to love it. And within seconds Rhoda had convinced Mary she would too. Her sister Brenda was getting married and moving out so there would be a empty bedroom for her. And lots of job opportunities.
Carlton the doorman had buzzed her up and when she reached Rhoda's apartment she found her friend waiting in the doorway for her. "Mary!" she smiled. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."
Mary was immediately wrapped in her friends arms. "I'm happy to see you, too."
Rhoda hugged her tight. "You don't seem that happy, Mare." she said, pulling back. "Something happen between you and Lou?"
"Oh, nothing really." she was vague.
She closed the apartment door. "You wouldn't be here if it were nothing." she said. "Until you called me I thought you had dropped off the face of the earth. Do you know I actually had to call Phyllis? I was shocked when she told me you went home to Roseburg."
"I needed a change." she forced a smile. "Sometimes a change of scenery can do a world of good."
Rhoda looked her friend over. "I know you're upset over something." she said. "But I've got to tell you, you look fantastic! You've gone from thin to voluptuous. How did you do it?"
"It was simple, really."
"Yeah?" she asked. "Mind sharing your secret?"
"Well pregnancy seems to have a way of filling you out."
"Preg..nan...cy?" Rhoda could barely get the word out. "You're pregnant?"
Mary was pretty use to the idea or so she thought. After all she had known about it for about five weeks now. "Yes." she replied. "I'm almost to the second trimester."
Rhoda was a little more than stunned. They shared everything with each other. She was the first person Mary called after she started fooling around with Lou Grant. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I am telling you."
"I mean before now." she clarified. "Why didn't you tell me when you found out?"
"I thought it was the kind of news that should be delivered in person." she told her, sitting down on the sofa. "And besides other than you noone knows but my parents."
Rhoda sat down beside Mary. "What about Lou?"
She shook her head. "No." she said. "We ended our involvement before I found out I was pregnant."
"Involvement?" she arched an eyebrow. "Your relationship is now an involvement?"
"Yeah." she breathed out. "I didn't know I was pregnant until after I left Minneapolis."
"And you don't think Lou should know he's going to be a father?"
"Of course he deserves to know." Mary said. "I'm just not ready to tell him just yet. Besides I don't know how he's going to take it. It's not like we were in a committed relationship. It was more like a series of one night stands."
Rhoda was thoroughly confused by the entire thing. She knew that Mary and Lou had been carrying on a relationship of sorts, but she really wasn't sure how to define it. Mary never really went into detail about it. "Even still you should really tell him, Mare."
"I'll tell him." she replied. "I just don't want to tell him right now."
"This is so unlike you." she said. "You're usually so open and honest and you always, always do the right thing."
Yeah, well, not anymore."
She moved closer to her and wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulder. "I know that you're hurt but things will work out, I promise." she assured her. "You should just take some time and calm down a little."
"I've spent the entire last month trying to do just that." Mary tried her best to fight back her tears. "I just end up angry and even more hurt."
"Have you talked to him at all?"
"No."
Rhoda reached forward and grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table. "Does he know where you are?"
"No." tears were now starting to fall. "I haven't talked to anyone since I left WJM."
"Why don't you try talking to him." she handed her the tissue. "It might help. I mean you have to start somewhere."
"No." Mary wiped at her running mascara. "I just want to forget about him for now."
"I think that might be a little easier said than done." she said. "Especially now that you're pregnant. I'll be a constant reminder."
"It hasn't been so far."
"And what happens when you start to show?" she asked. "Won't it be different then?"
"I don't know."
"You're really in love with him aren't you, kid?"
"I was." she admitted for the first time and to anyone. "Or at least I thought I was. We really didn't talk about how we felt."
"What happened between the two of you?" she asked. "I thought you were happy with things they way they were."
"Everything fell apart." she said. "Oh and he thought I was seeing someone behind his back."
"He thought that you were cheating on him?"
"Yes and I was having a hard time convincing him otherwise even though I shouldn't have had to." her tears had now turned to anger. "Our relationship has never been completely exclusive, we've always seen other people."
"So what happened to make everything blow up?"
"Well remember Matt Bryan?"
"Yeah." she replied. "The architect."
"Yeah well I ran into him one day and he asked me out for dinner." she explained. "So we went out and when we left the restaurant he kissed me. I was taken off guard a little, but I kissed him back. And Lou saw the entire thing."
"Is that all that happened?"
"Yes." she answered. "Lou and I have been seeing other people but I've never, ever had sex with anyone else but him since this entire thing started."
"Does he know that?"
Mary shook her head. "No." she replied. "I don't think so."
"I really think the two of you should sit down and talk this out." Rhoda suggested. "In six months the two of you are going to be parents. How did this whole thing start anyway? You never really told me."
"It started not long after you moved here." she told her. "I was a little lonely and I kept having these horrible dates. Anyway one evening after work Lou and I went out for drinks and we started to commiserate together and you know the story one thing led to another and well, here we are."
"But at some point the two of you starting openly dating."
"Yeah, about a month before I left Minneapolis." she replied. "We always knew we couldn't carry on a real relationship and that's why we decided to still see other people. We thought that things would be better that way."
"And clearly they weren't."
"Not at all." she agreed. "We're absolutely furious with each other. It almost makes me wish that we never started this entire thing."
"Mary, what about the baby though?" she asked. "How do you feel about being a single parent?"
"Well, it's not exactly what I had in mind, but I think I can handle it." she said. "The entire situation has thrown me for a loop. I never expected to get pregnant at this point in my life. I never expected my birth control to fail."
"No one does." she said. "Are you happy though, Mare?"
"Yes." she smiled since the first time they had sat down. "I'm very happy about the baby. It took me a little while to adjust to the idea, but I'm excited."
"You don't think Lou would be happy too?"
"I don't know." she replied, honestly. "We said some really awful things to each other and I don't think enough time has passed just yet."
"I really don't think it matters how much time passes, it's still going to hurt." she told her. "You're not going to heal until you talk things out. Just get it over with."
"I'm just not ready, Rhoda."
"This just isn't about you anymore." she pointed out. "At least call him and tell him about the baby."
tbc...
Feedback is welcome :)