Kay, so… still contains mention of rape because I left it alone. No details, but it's in there. Just a little warning.
"April, why did you date him?" Will asked, breaking the silence that had permeated through the apartment. "You knew he wasn't a good guy so why?" He wasn't trying to make her feel worse, he was just desperately trying to understand what would make her so desperate that she would stay with a man that treated her like dirt.
"Because I needed a place to stay. It's not the first time I've done it," April said, looking at the floor. "If you don't have a job, you don't have money. If you don't have money, you don't have a roof over your head. It's that simple."
"April, why didn't you call me? I would have let you stay with me." It was the truth. He would have helped her out. He would have done anything to keep her from being hurt like this.
"Because you're too good for me to use like that. The men I use aren't good guys, obviously, so I don't feel bad about taking them for all they're worth. But you? You're different." April sighed. "I guess I care about you too much." She shrugged.
He was taken aback by her words. Too good. Lately, that was the last thing he felt he was. "I'm not that good." He had made out with Shelby, slept with April. True, all they had done was sleep but he'd hurt the woman he loved and that was not the mark of someone good.
"What do you mean?"
"I cheated on Emma." There, he'd said it. He waited for the disappointed look but was surprised when that look didn't come.
"What happened?" April asked, an understanding look on her face. Will realized she had probably been in the same position he was before.
"I made out with the director of Vocal Adrenaline and Emma thinks you and I had sex."
"Why would she think that?"
"We did sleep together." Will shrugged.
"Yeah. Emphasis on the word sleep." April yawned. "Speaking of which, I'm getting really tired."
"You wanna go to sleep?"
"Yeah. If you don't mind. I'll take the couch."
"No. I'll take the couch. You sleep in my bed." April opened her mouth to protest but Will stopped her. "You're pregnant, April. You need a comfortable place to sleep."
"Okay," April said, walking into his bedroom. He was grateful she didn't ask to sleep with him again. He could tell she wanted to, though. He realized that he probably should call Emma. They were on rocky ground and he didn't want her to think that he was sleeping with April so he picked up his phone and called her.
"Hello?" He heard Emma's voice on the line and his heart jumped a little bit. He missed her voice and he was glad she answered.
"Emma, it's Will. Look, I want to tell you some things and I need you to listen, okay?"
"Okay, Will." He heard her typical guidance counselor tone and took a deep breath.
"First, April and I never had sex. Whoever told you that was lying. Second, she's at my apartment now. Her boyfriend found out she was pregnant and he, well he hit her and then kicked her out on the street and she came to my place. We're friends Emma. That's all."
"I'd like to believe that Will," Emma said sadly. "But I can't."
"Emma." It was too late. She had already hung up the phone. Will let out a growl of frustration. He loved Emma and he missed her terribly.
Will flopped down on the couch. He really had screwed up. He sighed and got up to grab a blanket from the closet. He lay down on the couch and fell asleep. He was awakened around two in the morning by a scream.
"No! Ed! Leave me alone!"
Quickly, Will got up off the couch and ran into the bedroom. "April." He shook her gently. "April, wake up."
"Will." She blinked a few times before focusing her eyes on Will.
"You were having a nightmare." And from what it sounded like, a pretty bad one.
"Oh." He heard her let out a shuddering breath and he knew she was crying again.
"You wanna talk about it," he asked, keeping his voice gently and soothing. "It might help."
"Okay." She took a deep breath. "I was having a nightmare about one of the nights Ed came home drunk."
"What happened?" Will had a feeling that he really didn't want to know what happened but April needed to talk to someone.
"He pushed me against a wall and we ended up having sex. I didn't want to but he just wouldn't take no for an answer" She shrugged and Will had to fight the urge to be ill. "I mean, we were together so I guess..."
"No," Will said angrily. "What he did was wrong April. I don't care if you were together or not. It was still rape."
"Please don't say that."
"I'm so sorry April. I should have called you. I got so wrapped up in everything that I didn't even make time to make sure you were okay."
"It's not your job, Will. You can't change the world and you can't save me all the time," April said sadly.
Still the same as the original, again, but I'm doing the POV switch for chapter 3. It will be written in April's POV to show what she thinks and feels in the matter.