Chapter 9

To say Ana was mortified would be an understatement.

She stood in the small hallway with her body still pressed to Christian's. The hem of her tank top had rode up her stomach when Christian had lifted her. His hands were still firmly planted on her skinny hips, refusing to let go as his mother stared at them. She had seen them making out. There was no doubt about it. The future grandmother of her child, had seen her pinned to a wall with her sons tongue down her throat.

Yep, she was absolutely mortified.

The woman who Ana could only assume was Ella Grey, crossed her arms tightly across her small chest as she stared at the two of them. Her eyes darting between her out of breath son, to the blushing girl that was captured in his arms. Ana couldn't look the woman in her eyes, she also couldn't look at Christian. Not after what they just did. Instead her eyes darted around, looking for some way to escape.

What looked to be an amused smile grew on Ella's lips. "I certainly hope you're Ana"

Ana swallowed hard "Yes, Ma'am" She put on her sweetest church voice.

She quickly straightened out the hem of her tank top to cover her stomach and then ran her fingers through her more than likely messy straight hair. She pretended not to notice Christian adjusting the crotch of his jeans.

She was hoping that if she smiled enough and appeared to be a sweet girl that Ella would forget what she had just seen. Though, she didn't appear upset by it. Not like Carla would be at least. Ana couldn't help but shudder at the thoughts if Carla had been the one to walk in on them. It would not end well.

"We were studying" Christian found his voice. "We were going to the library but it's closed. I didn't think you'd be home this early"

"Studying?" Her eyebrows quirked up in amusement "It didn't look like you were studying"

This was not the impression she wanted to make on his mother.

"I should probably be heading home" Ana said "We were loosing track of time anyway-"

"Nonsense" Ella waved her off as she placed a plastic bag of take-out food that smelt delicious on the kitchen bench, and beside it placed her car keys. Ella stepped towards them with her arms still tightly crossed against her chest. When she was standing before Christian, Ana noted how short she was. It was possible that if she were to take off her heeled work shoes, she may be shorter than Ana. She had never met any adult shorter than her before. The only people she ever had the blessing of towering over were children.

Not only was Ella Grey shorter, but she was also skinnier. A lot skinnier. The white sleeves of her work uniform sat loosely around her arms and her black trousers that looked to be a skinny leg, still hung off her thighs and calves. She was tiny. Her dark eyes were the biggest feature on her skinny, love-heart shaped face that was framed by the loose strands of curly hair. When Ana had thought of Ella Grey and given what she knew of the woman, she never thought she would be this…beautiful.

"I brought home Chinese food. There is far too much for just Christian and I. You're welcome to stay for dinner"

"Muma, Ana has places to be-"

"I wasn't asking you" She smiled to her son. Her dark eyes blinked back to Ana "Do you like Chinese food, sweetie?"

"I love Chinese food…"

Christian nudged her side, shaking his head. "Don't you need to be home soon?"

Ana looked from Ella's hopeful dark blue eyes, to Christian's grey reluctant ones. For whatever reason, he obviously didn't want her to stay, but when she looked to Ella, she could see how excited she was for Ana to take her up on her offer. She wasn't sure whose side to go on.

"I guess…I can stay for a few more hours…"

"See" Ella smiled a smug smile as she looked to her son "She doesn't have anywhere else to be. She can stay for dinner" Ella glanced over to Ana "I do need to get to know the mother of my grand-child"

It was awkward at first.

The three of them set up the takeaway dinner at the small round table. Their plates were cramped together with the clear Chinese take-out boxes sat in the middle. No placemats beneath the plates or glasses. No neatly folded napkins by their side. The table was a mess, and Ana liked it.

The mess made her feel as if she were back at home in Montesano. Back to times when Ray would be in his workshop all day and evening working on a new shelf or bookcase. Carla would come home late from one of her many jobs, whether that was being a maid or working administration. She would bring home pizza or Chinese takeout since she couldn't be bothered cooking. She had no time to cook a perfect three course meal or set a perfect table. Since moving to Bellevue, she had plenty of time. Carla Morton's new life revolved around perfection.

It wouldn't be for long.

The perfect life that she was trying to create would come crushing to a halt when the town found out her teen daughter was pregnant. Not just pregnant at seventeen, but pregnant to a criminal.

Throughout the quiet dinner, her eyes kept glancing to Christian. When she looked at him and into those grey eyes, her mind went to what they had done in the hallway. The way he had pressed her to the wall using the full force of his body. The way his hands had glided along the curve of her waist and to her hip. The way he had lifted her until they were looking into each other's eyes. He held her as if she weighed nothing more than a feather. The way his lips had captured hers in a hot, ferocious dance, as if he needed nothing else in this world but to kiss her.

Her whole body heated in response to the memory.

Christian didn't speak as he ate. Ella didn't say much either. She commented on the food, but mostly stared at Ana. Almost as if she was evaluating her. Christian on the other hand focused on the rice honey chicken that sat on his plate. Every now and then Ana would feel his knee brush against hers. The sudden feeling of his warm jean leg on her bare skin would send a rush of shivers down her spine. It was a simple touch, but she felt it throughout her whole body. That had to be the pregnancy hormones messing with her.

When she looked up into Christian's eyes, she could see he was thinking the same thing as her. He didn't blush like Ana did, in fact she had never seen him blush before. Instead of being shy like her, a knowing smirk pulled at the corners of his lips.

"So" Ella spoke up, breaking their stare. She folded her hands together beneath her chin as she looked to Ana. "Have you given thought to what you're going to do next April?"

"Muma…" Christian sighed "Do we have to talk about this now?"

"Yes!" She insisted "I would say that now is the perfect time. Having a child is not an easy task. Especially when you're both so young. You need to have a plan in place. Do you have a plan?"

"No…Not really…" Ana admitted sheepishly. She looked to Christian for support before continuing "We never really have the chance to talk about it, and I guess it's not a discussion we want to have. I mean, Christian will probably be in Massachusetts next year and if I decide to keep the baby, then once I finish high school, I will move to be closer to him…"

"That's a start" Ella said with a nod "You still have one more year of high school left?"

"Yes"

And your parents, will they support you?"

"I don't know" She spoke honestly "My mother doesn't know. I have been putting it off. I know she isn't going to take it well when I do tell her"

"How many weeks along are you?"

"Almost twelve"

"You're running out of time…" She said with a shake of her head.

"Muma, she will tell her parents when she is ready"

"Christian doesn't tell me much" Ella said with a shake of her head "Have you been having much morning sickness? I know with Christian I was having it every morning. Right as I woke up. It was like that for the first five months"

"No, thankfully" Ana smiled "I have it every now and then, mostly around the smell of eggs. I can't stand them right now. So far, the worst of my symptoms have been cramps. That's why I ended up in hospital a few weeks back"

"And have you been seeing a doctor?"

"I told Ana to wait until my pay-check came in" Christian explained "She doesn't want the bills being sent to her house. I'll pay for the visits, I am just waiting to get paid"

"I can help out" She offered and smiled to Ana "I want the best care for my grand-baby"

"No, Muma" He shook his head "We will probably see a doctor in a week or so"

"Well, I would like to be there. That wouldn't bother you, would it?"

"No" Ana said at the same time that Christian said "Yes"

The two shared a look from across the table. Christian adamantly shook his head at Ana with eyes that screamed no.

"Well, three months" Ella sighed and shook her head "You're running out of time, Sweetheart. I say that in about ten weeks you're not going to be able to hide it anymore. What about your father?"

"He is in the military. I don't have much communication with him until he comes home" A small chuckle left Ana's lips "And by some cruel twist of fate, he comes home in the beginning of April"

"Will he take it well?"

Ana shrugged her shoulders. It was the only answer she could give since she really had no idea.

At least with her mother she knew to expect a lot of tears and fireworks. Carla would go into meltdown mode. She would fight with Ana. She may even give her the silent treatment for a period of time, but at least Ana had a rough idea of how she would react. With her father, she wasn't sure. He wouldn't be happy. He would be disappointed. Would he shut her out, though? Would he refuse to help her? Would he see how badly she needed her daddy and be there for her?

"It's hard" Ella said with a slow nod of her head. She glanced across the round table to her son. "When I was pregnant with Christian, I hid it from my parents for as long as I could. I thought that I could hide it until my third trimester"

"How did they find out?"

"Well, I am not exactly a big girl. I was a beauty queen and a flyer on the cheerleading team. People noticed me putting on weight. Then when I was six months my mother barged into my room and found me getting changed. I couldn't hide my belly then. I remember she grabbed me by the arm, pulled me downstairs and sat me on the lounge until my father came home. They yelled at me for hours. They called Christian's father and demanded that he deal with me. Of course, he didn't pick up the phone. He was too busy with college. They kicked me out and told me to deal with it"

"I went to the father's parents' house. They always adored me. They said that he would marry me one day and they would buy us our first home. I thought they would help me. I cried on their doorstep and told them I was pregnant with their grandchild. They gave me money to go have an abortion and sent me away. They told me their son was doing well at Harvard and that he even met someone else. They said that he would have no place in his life for his teenage girlfriend and their bastard child"

"So, I used their money to buy a ticket into the city. I stayed at a shelter for a few months. Then I had Christian" Her eyes lifted up to her son "It wasn't easy, but we always had each other. The best decision I ever made was buying that bus ticket into the city"

Ana could see the love Ella had for her son. She carried proudly and boldly in her eyes as she looked at him, yet he shied away from her look. He instead pretended to be more interested in twirling his fork around the piece of chicken and rice on his plate.

It was like he was a completely different person to the one that Ana had spent the day with. She noticed that a lot when it came to him. One moment he was the sweet, playful boy that would make her smile and laugh. The next he was cold. His eyes harsh. His body reserved and removed, never too close to anyone else. Was it possible that only Ana saw that sweet side of him? That he allowed her close enough to see the man he was. That maybe his feelings for her were deeper than Ana ever thought, and maybe hers were too…

She pushed the thought away, knowing how ridiculous it was.

"So" She spoke up again "Did the father know about Christian?"

"He did" Christian answered her question in a tight voice "He just didn't give a fuck-"

"Christian!" Ella chastised him "That's not true"

"Really, mother?" He huffed "If that isn't true, then where is my dear father?"

Ella once again sighed, looking to Ana "He was nineteen. I was fifteen. He was busy at college. He told me that once I had the baby and turned sixteen, we would get married and I would move to be closer to him. That was our plan-"

"Except, he met someone else" Christian interrupted her again.

"Yes, but in the beginning he did try-"

"No, in the beginning he was scared and made promises that he never intended on keeping. He was never going to marry you"

"He loved me"

"If I loved someone, I wouldn't abandon them"

"No, you wouldn't" Ella said "But the world isn't as black and white as you make it out to be. There is a lot of grey area, Christian-"

"It doesn't matter. He bounced. That's all that needs to be known of my father. End of discussion"

Ana could feel the tension in the room weighing her down. Both Ella and Christian returned to eating, neither of them looking each other in the eyes. Silence fell upon the table once again. Ana sat anxiously in her chair, waiting for one of them to snap at the other and for a full blown fight to erupt.

It didn't happen.

Instead, Christian stood from the table collecting his empty plate then his mothers. He looked to Ana with a questioning look in his eyes, asking if she were done. She gave a quick nod of her head and watched as he carried the dirty dishes to the basin in the sink. She wasn't sure why she was so fascinated watching him, but her eyes were fixed on his toned biceps that flexed with every circle of the wash cloth…

Her pregnancy hormones really were doing weird things to her body.

"He can be so difficult sometimes" Ella said with a shake of her head. "It's his way or no way at all. He is stubborn, just like his father"

"Do they resemble each other?"

"More and more everyday" She sighed. "But, he hates talking about this stuff. He never wants to hear about him or be told how much he looks like him. To him, his father was an evil man who never gave a damm about his son or his underage pregnant girlfriend"

"But did he?" Ana found herself asking "Did he give a damm?"

"He did. He loved us. It doesn't sound like it, I know. The problem is that life will get in the way. It doesn't care how deep in love you are or what plans you may have for your future, life is going to put you in a different path than you ever imagined" A smile lifted at her lips "But you don't need to be told that. I am sure you had plans for the rest of your childhood"

It was hardly shocking that a teenage couple that got pregnant in high school may not go on to have their happily ever after. That wasn't Ana being a pessimist or thinking negatively, but her being realistic. They were just teenagers after all. They had barely figured out themselves let alone how to be in a relationship with other people.

And who was to say that she and Christian would be any different.

"Love is sweet and love is beautiful, Ana, but sadly it is not always enough"

"He doesn't like to see it that way, though. I think it is easier for him to deal with the pain of his abandonment" Ella continued "He likes people to think that nothing can hurt him. I put him through so much when he was a child. He had to put up these walls to protect himself, and that's my fault. I was a horrible mother"

"He really cares about you, I can see it"

"It doesn't excuse what I did" She said with a shake of her head "I think the reason he puts up those walls is because of how much he feels. Past the tough shell, is a sweet boy, and when he loves you, he will love you completely and never give up on you"

"He is pretty special"

"He is"

She stayed for another hour after dinner. Ella insisted on showing Ana the few baby photos that she had of Christian. She kept them in a safe box in her bedside draw. Ana was more than happy to stay and look at them, especially since Christian looked less than impressed with the idea. He grumbled and sat on the far end of the lounge with his arms crossed against his chest. He didn't want to look at the same three photos that he had seen one thousand times.

He was just as cute as Ana imagined he would be as a toddler. His now grey eyes were a light shade of blue and his now dark hair was an even lighter shade of red. It was so light that it almost looked orange. He made a beautiful baby, and Ana couldn't help but coo at the photos on her lap.

One photo that had caught her eye was off the pair in an isolated park. Snow had fallen on the ground that Christian now stood on, supported by his mother's hands. His tiny baby jeans had dirt stains, as did the blue jacket he was wearing. Ella was crouched down behind her, her body even skinnier than what it was now. Her beautiful hair no longer resembled a beautiful mane, but instead straw. Dark rings had formed beneath her darkly coloured eyes. Her hands that held Christian up as he looked to the camera were so skinny that Ana could see the bones coming out of them. She looked like no more than a skeleton. The only beautiful feature left on her once youthful face was the bright smile that sat on her chapped lips when she looked to her son.

It was hard to believe she was no older than Ana was when this photo was taken.

As she examined the photograph, it occurred to Ana that Christian and Ella were quite possibly closer than Ana was to her own mother. She always thought that her relationship with Carla was close, and maybe back in the day it was, but now she wasn't quite sure. She would never feel comfortable to be open and honest to her in the same way Christian was to Ella. He was able to speak freely to his mother without persecution, which was something Ana could never imagine doing. In fact, it gave her hives just thinking about it.

She turned the photo to the next one. This one was off Christian in just a diaper and tank top fast asleep on a lounge with a pacifier in his mouth and a blue teddy bear dressed in a white and green vest tucked under his arm. His pale cheeks were rosy with sweat as he slept.

"Look at you!" Ana cooed. She felt Christian move in behind her as he looked over her shoulder to the photo in his hands. She smiled over her shoulder to him ""Look at how tightly you're holding your teddy bear"

"That's Mr. Winkkles"

"You gave him a name, too?"

"Of course I gave him a name. I am pretty sure Mr. Winkles is still in my closet somewhere" He smiled back to her.

"He never let that thing go" Ella explained "He had a meltdown whenever I tried to wash it. He clung onto it until he was eight years old"

"Eight!?"

"It's not that old!"" He tried to defend himself "You never had a favourite teddy-bear?"

"No" She said "I can't say I did…"

"I don't believe you"

"I did have an imaginary friend until I was five, though. It was a grey and white husky that I named Pumba. He followed me around everywhere. I thought he was a real pet until I was ten and my mother told me it was all in my imagination"

"See, you can't tease me for having a favourite teddy bear" He said with a shake of his head "You're weirder than I am"

She stuck her tongue out at him in response.

"We still have Mr. Winkles" Ella said "All he would need is a good wash and some new stitching!" She then lit up "We could give it to this baby"

"Muma-"

"I am sure I still have your old crib, too. I brought it with my own money, there was no way I was throwing it out. It was a cheap and nasty thing, but with a little polish and work it would be-"

"Muma, Ana and I don't even know if we're keeping the damm baby!"

"Right…I am getting ahead of myself…" The excitement swiftly left her eyes. She reached across the lounge to collect the handful of photographs and placed them back in her safe box. She stood from the lounge. "I should probably put these away…"

Ana watched as she walked back down the narrow hall with her head hung low. She was obviously excited and eager to help, but Christian had to shut her down. It made Ana feel horrible. Once Ella was out of earshot and inside her bedroom, she quickly turned on Christian.

In a hushed whisper, she hissed "Do you have to be so mean to her!?"

"I am not being mean!"

"Really?" Ana quirked an eyebrow up at him

"What?" He tried to play innocent "She is getting ahead of herself. We haven't made a decision on whether we're keeping it or not"

"And?" She asked "She is excited and she wants to help. Could you please remind me how that is a bad thing, because the way I see it, we need all the help that we can get!?"

He shook his head and said nothing more on the issue. He instead stood up from the lounge and held his hand out to her to help her to her feet. "C'mon, I'll give you a ride home"

They left with Ella promising Ana they would have dinner again and that she was welcome to come over whenever she liked. Ana thanked her and agreed to dinner again, while Christian grumbled something under his breath and led her out the door.


A song Ana couldn't place filled the silence during the car ride home. It felt like an hour long drive, but really it was just under thirty minutes. The city streets were quiet from the night time, with only a handful of cars and pedestrians on the roads to entertain Ana's sheepish eyes. She almost felt too shy to look at Christian, not after what they did at least. This was the first time all night that they had been alone together. It didn't help that they were stuck together in the small, old car.

Slowly her eyes would glance his way to where he sat in the driver's seat. His right hand was securely placed on the gear-stick, his left on the steering wheel. Light from the streetlights up above casted shadows across his concentrated and determined face. He was unaware of her staring at him. His eyes solely fixed on the road ahead. She couldn't take her eyes off him.

He was beautiful. She didn't mean in a physical way – though, it was obvious that he was – but she meant deep down, she could see he was a beautiful person. Like Ella had said, past the tough and hard exterior was a sweet and loving boy. He had never been anything but caring and considerate of Ana. If only more people were able to see that side of him, maybe they would love – no, like - him as much as Ana did.

Not love. She couldn't love him. Not Yet.

Love is sweet and love is beautiful, Ana, but sadly it is not always enough.

Ella's words played in her mind as she watched him from the passenger seat. The words had been playing over and over again in the back of her mind all night, teasing her and taunting her. The minute she found herself staring at him for a little too long or the butterflies in her stomach erupting at the sight of his smile, she would think of what Ella had said.

He came to a stop outside of her house, just beneath a street light that illuminated the car. The yellow lights in the front sitting room shone through the curtains, as did the lights in Carla and Stephan's bedroom. It was late and past dinner time, so no doubt her mother would have words for her when she walked inside. She would have to deal with it. It was her decision to stay out tonight, and she was glad she did.

As she unbuckled her seatbelt, she glanced over to Christian once more. The brightness from the streetlight above them made the silver in his eyes shine. He really was beautiful.

"Thank you for helping me today and for dinner" She said sheepishly.

"I should be thanking you for putting up with my mother. She really likes you"

"I like her. She isn't nearly as bad as you seem to think she is, Christian"

"I don't think she is bad" He explained to her "But she is going to try and give her all. She over compensates when it comes to me. She is going to want to help to the point of annoyance. If she gets too much for you-"

"She wont"

"But if she does-"

"Christian" She said sternly "I like her. Please, stop worrying"

"It's not just that" He admitted. "I don't want her to get her hopes up…"

"What do you mean?"

He sighed "If we decided to adopt the baby out, I don't want it to break her heart"

Adoption, or keeping the baby, there were two options for her to now choose. Adoption was the simplest decision. If they could find a loving family who could give this child a better chance in life than she and Christian ever could, she would be silly to say no to it. She could go on and have a normal life. She would be able to finish high school and go to college like she planned. She would go on to live a big life and this small blunder that she made when she was sixteen would be nothing more than a thing of the past.

Yet, that blunder was her baby.

It was growing more and more a part of her every day.

"Is that what you want?"

Christian's eyes blinked up at her "I think so" He whispered. "The more I think about it, the more difficult it becomes. I am going to college next year and you'll be in high school still. How could we make that work?"

"I don't know"

"The only way I could think to make it work, is if I stayed here. If I took up Carrick's offer to work in his office and just forgot about college" He said "But, I would be lying if I said I was okay with that. If it's what you need me to do, I will do it, but college has been something I have been dreaming about since I found out it was possible for me"

"I understand"

A small laugh escaped his lips "When I was a kid, I thought that I would end up like the people my mother hung around with. I thought I would be no better than the slobs who spent their welfare on alcohol, living on the poverty line, addicted to something, or in jail. Those were my options"

"What changed?"

"A woman" He said in a soft voice. Ana had to assume it was the woman he had told her about before. The one who had helped him. "She showed me that if I tried hard enough, I could achieve more"

"She sounds like an amazing woman"

There was no masking the tightness in her voice as she spoke. She didn't mean to sounds like that. Christian picked up on it. With a smile, he reached across the car to rest a hand on her bare knee. The feeling of his warm skin against her flesh sparked the butterflies in her stomach to wake from their slumber. One touch was all it took.

Think of what Ella said, she reminded herself.

"I haven't spoken to her in a month" He said with a smile her way "You have no reason to be jealous"

"You speak very highly of her"

"She did help me a lot, but like I said" He gently squeezed her knee "you have no reason to be jealous of her"

She was though. She had no idea who this mystery woman was, but if she were an aunt or a grandparent, Christian would have said that. No, this woman was someone else to him. It scared Ana to think of what.

"I should get going. My mum is probably wondering where I am. No doubt she will have a fit at me being out so late"

She reached down and collected her bag off the floor of the car. As she sat back up in her seat, looking across to Christian, she wasn't sure how she was meant to say goodbye to him. After what they did in the hallway just hours ago, they were no longer just friends. It would feel almost weird to wave goodbye and leave with that. She decided the best course of action would be to reach across the console of the car and plant a soft kiss to his cheek. As he turned his head at the last minute, her lips connected to his in a slow, long kiss.

"Ummm…" She purred as she pulled just a breath away "You shouldn't do that"

"Kiss you?" He smiled. His lips moved in closer, lightly pressing to hers. "You like kissing me, Ana. I don't see why I shouldn't do it"

"Cocky much?"

He grinned and gave an eager nod of his head. Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip as she looked at him. He must have sensed that something was wrong, since the happy, confident grin quickly dropped from his face. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing"

"I can see something is wrong"

She shook her head to answer him. It didn't work. He only raised a questioning eyebrow up at her. With a sigh, she said "I don't think it is a good idea"

"What is?"

"Us" She whispered. "I just…I don't…" She had no idea how to put it into words without hurting his feelings "I like where we are as friends. I don't want to ruin that by adding feelings to it"

"Friends!?" He couldn't help the laugh that came from his lips. "Do you kiss all your friends the way you just kissed me?"

"You were the one who kissed me!" She snapped but then quickly shook her head. "It doesn't matter"

"I certainly hope you don't. I don't like to share" He teased, but Ana couldn't find any humour in it. "Wait, are you being serious right now?"

"I am" She said with a nod of her head "I don't think it's a good idea to ruin what we have-"

"What? What do we have to ruin!?"

"This!" She motioned between them. "I like you. I like you a lot, Christian. You are one of the few things in my life that bring me any kind of happiness these days. I was so lonely when my mother married Stephan. I hated it here. Becoming friends with Kate and then meeting you – although it has given me a lot of trouble – is the best thing to have happened to me in years"

She could feel the tears burning at her eyes as she looked at Christian. She bit the inside of her cheek until her teeth left indents in her gums in a bid to stop the tears from falling.

"I am scared" She whispered to him in a shaky voice. "That if we become a couple, we will be no better than all of the other high school couples that have babies and end up hating each other-"

"I would never hate you, Ana"

"You don't know that. We don't know what is going to happen in a year for now. You said yourself that you need to go to college, and I have to stay here in Bellevue. You'll be living a completely different life thousands of miles away from me"

"I'll go to school in Washington"

"No, I don't want you to do that!"

"Then what is the problem!" He snapped "One minute you tell me you're scared that we're going to be thousands of miles apart, the next you tell me you want me to go away. What do you want, Ana!?"

"I don't want to lose you!" She yelled back at him "You never hear of high school couples staying together and having a happily ever after. That doesn't happen in the real world. They all end up miserable and hating each other. My parents were in their twenties when they had me, and even they ended up divorcing. Your parents are no different…"

"We won't be like them, Ana"

"And how can you be so sure?"

"I…I just am…"

That wasn't enough for her. With a small shake of her head, she said in a soft voice "I don't want to ruin what we have right now. I like you too much to rush into anything and ruin it all" She blinked up to look into his frustrated grey eyes. "I think for now we should just stay as friends"

"And what if I don't want that?"

"I don't know" She whispered "But right now, you're just going to have to accept it"