So, just, I don't have much to say other than try to not compare this story to the original. I loved the original, it was like my first real story that I published but I felt like it needed to be changed. This is going to be completely different—pairings are probably going to change, how some characters feel might change and, just, this is just a different story with the same basic concept. So, please, try to not compare—if you don't like this version then okay, I get it but please try to not put down what I'm putting out now. Thank you. Now, please, enjoy!
They eventually pull up to their home around seven o'clock—both Farrah and Bruce's cars were in the driveway and neither girl was looking forward to going inside and receiving a lecture that was sure to be waiting for them.
"How am I supposed to act normal?" Amy's voice startles Lauren being the girl had refused to talk the last hour of the trip home "I'm pregnant and I'm just supposed to go in there and act normal? Like I didn't just find out that—that there's a fucking baby in me"
"Just be your usual sarcastic asshole self" the shorter blonde lets out a deep sigh "That and avoid any and all interaction with Farrah"
"Sounds simple enough" Amy hops out of Lauren's car and starts down the street, away from the house. Lauren jumps out of the car and yells after her
"Where the hell are you going?"
"I said I had to talk to Liam and I just don't see how me talking to him at school is a good idea so here we go"
"Amy, don't you think you should wait?" Amy stops in her tracks and looks at Lauren "You're not in the right frame of mind and once he knows, he knows. He can't unknow it"
She waits for a second, sucks in a breath and looks at her step-sister "He deserves to know, and right frame of mind or not—I need to tell him"
"But can't it be later?"
Amy shakes her head "No. I wanna do it now" and with that she turns on her heel and starts down the street
"Amy—"
"Just tell my mom I'm at Karma's and I'll be home late!" the blonde yells over her shoulder
Lauren huffs and heads for the house—Amy's lucky that she kinda likes her now.
x
Amy's on her third lap around the neighborhood when she finally summons up the courage to pull her phone out of her pocket. She unlocks it and goes to her contacts, her finger hovers over his name for a second—she's scared to tell him, if she's being honest. She doesn't know how he will react and the uncertainty makes her queasy. It adds even more fear in this shitty cocktail of feelings she has going on in the pit of her stomach but she swallows her fear and presses 'call'.
She brings the phone up to her ear and swallows hard at hearing that first ring and each one after feels like a knot in her stomach. It rings four times before he answers "Hello?"
"We need to talk now" straight to the point, the way it needs to be
"Why?"
"Because" Amy looks at her feet and kicks a loose rock off of the sidewalk, anything to distract herself from the current conversation "Because something's happened and, just—" she sighs "I need to talk to you"
He must hear the desperation in her voice because he says "Okay, where do you wanna meet?"
x
He picks her up at the end of her street and they go to some diner about ten minutes away. They sit down at the nearest booth and when the waitress walks over to them and asks them what they would like to drink, they both just say 'water'. She comes back and puts them on the table and walks away. Neither of them speak for a few minutes before Liam sighs "Amy, what happened? Is it with Karma or..?"
"No, no" she shakes her head "This has nothing to do with Karma" a pause "Kinda"
"Kinda" he parrots
"Just—" she takes a big gulp of water from the glass the waitress had put on the table, as she tries to push the words that are stuck in her throat out "God how do I even start this conversation?"
He's officially worried because, Amy, as long as he has known her, which to be fair isn't long, never beat around the bush. At least not with him, he figures it has something to do with not liking him "Amy?"
"Like, you run through the conversation a hundred different times in your head, just go over it and over it and over it but now it's finally here and there's no way to start it. There's no way to just go about saying what you need to say because—" she's babbling and he doesn't seem to think it's going to stop anytime soon so he reaches forward and grabs her hand and he lets out a firm;
"Amy"
And then she just kinda blurts out; "I'm pregnant" like all the ways she could've said it slip from her mind and the only thing her feeble brain can think of in the moment is the bluntest to put it.
He pulls his hand away and then there's a silence.
"Liam?"
"I—" he looks like he might be having a heart attack "You're pregnant?"
She nods "Yeah"
"And I'm the—"
"Yeah"
"Wow"
"Yeah"
He runs his hand over his face and lets out a deep breath; he wrings his hands together and looks at the blonde sitting in front of him "Did you wanna, you know" he takes a breath "Abort it?" he whispers it like he just said the worst possible thing in the world and she isn't sure it's because he doesn't want her to abort it or because he's afraid she'd be offended he would even think of something like that
"I don't know. It's been brought up once or twice but—I just don't know right now"
He nods "How long have you known?"
"I took test last night and Lauren was kind enough to find a doctor who would take me today" Amy sighs "They just confirmed what the test told me"
"Lauren?"
"Yeah, shocker, I know"
"I can only assume you haven't told Karma, right?"
She nods "yeah"
"This is—"
"Crazy? I know"
Liam shakes his head a little "Like—" he lets out a humorless laugh "This is absolutely insane. We—you're—"
"I know"
"Fuck"
"Yeah"
"Look, I—" he runs a hand through his hair "If you wanna, you know, then do it but if you wanna keep it then—"
"Then?" Amy won't lie—the biggest deciding factor for her would be whether or not Liam would say he'd be there because she can't do this on her own. Logically, she knows she wouldn't do it on her own—she'd have Lauren, at least, maybe Shane and her mom. But this is different, he helped make this baby and if was about to say 'then I don't want anything to do with it' then she would probably ask Lauren to schedule an abortion in Dallas.
"Then I'll be there. I won't be my mom and just hand them off—I'll be there"
Amy nods "Good to know" her head lolls to the side and she looks at him, long and hard "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure"
"Do you want it? Like would you rather me keep it?"
He sucks in a breath and he looks at his hands "Can I be honest?"
"Please"
"I want you to keep it—I feel like, maybe, this is the good thing that comes out of all the bad that happened this year" a beat "But if you feel different, then you work on those instincts—I don't have to carry it, you do"
"Yeah. I do" Amy buries her face in her hands "This is all too fucked up"
"Yeah"
x
Amy texts Lauren to come pick her up, the idea of being in a car with Liam after this seems a little weird especially after what was the most awkward dinner ever so she texts Lauren who responds with 'fuck you' and then 'ill be there in 10'
"I just—" they're standing outside the diner and Amy's arms are wrapped around herself and Liam has his hands tucked into his pockets "Just let me know when you decide"
"You'll be the first to know"
"How do you think your mom's gonna take it?"
Amy scoffs "That's not something I want to think about" she looks over at him "What about your mom?"
He looks down at his shoes "It's complicated"
"Yeah, it always is"
They stand in silence for five minutes before Lauren's beetle pulls up, Amy looks at him and smiles weakly "I will, um, see you tomorrow" she starts for the car but his voice stops her
"Amy?"
"Yeah?"
"I—thanks for telling me"
She nods "No problem" she climbs into Lauren's car and they pull out of the parking lot.
x
"So do I need to beat his ass or what?"
"No"
"He was okay with it or what? C'mon, you have to give me the details—I live for the details"
Amy looks over at her "You sure you and Shane weren't separated at birth?"
"I will kick you out of this car"
She puts her hands up "Sorry, sorry" a beat "But it was okay. I babbled for it bit, and then kinda spit it out. He was stunned but said if I want an abortion then I should get one"
"And if you don't?"
"then he'll be there"
Lauren lets out a hum "So—are you gonna keep it?"
Amy knows her answer in the moment but decides to go with an 'I don't know' and sleep on it to see if her mind would change.
x
Her mom yells but only a little about being late and not telling her anything but she's quick to forgive and just send Amy up to her room. The blonde face plants on the mattress and lets out a deep breath, within the past two days her world has been thrown off its axis and she's just left to deal with it.
She buries her nose in her blanket and her mind drifts to Karma—oh Karma—her best friend in the entire world, her soulmate, her Karma.
Amy's heart clenches and her stomach twists, none of them deserved this—the pain that this would bring on them.
Liam, while he could be douche-y, didn't deserve this, Karma, who always has the best intentions but not always the right executions, didn't deserve this and Amy sure as hell didn't either. She just fell for her best friend. This wasn't supposed to happen.
"Stop thinking so loud" her eyes snap open and Lauren's standing there in all her pink nightgown glory "I can hear you from my room"
"Sorry" Amy mumbles "Can't help it"
"Well, let me try and help" Lauren walks over and stands right in front of Amy "Karma doesn't matter in this equation so stop thinking about her"
"Lauren—"
"Look, I get it. She's your best friend, soulmate or whatever bullshit you call it but, right now, this baby is just your and Liam's business. Hell, it's not even mine so it's definitely not Karma's"
"She's going to be affected by this" Amy says easily because, out of everyone who is going to be affected by this, she's worried about Karma the most. Not herself, not Liam and not her parents but Karma.
"I never said she wasn't going to be but this baby—the decision you have to make right now about whether or not you want it—it's not something she needs to be involved in"
"What about after though? What about the whole aftermath? The pregnancy? The belly? The baby?"
"We think about it later. Not now" she walks to the door "Choose your battles, Amy" she yells over her shoulder and with that she closes the bathroom door behind her.
Amy nods and throws herself back down on her pillows and blankets "Choose your battles" she mumbles to herself, she flips over and lies on her stomach "Choose your battles"
Her phone goes off and she reaches over to see a text from Karma asking how her doctor's appointment went—and her stomach twists.
And then she was faced with the fact that that was the only battle she was likely to lose.
Please review—hearing back from you means the actual world! Last chapter, I got a review and they told me a line that made them laugh and it made me smile so hard—reviewing is honestly just the best! :)