Chapter 6

Amy woke up the next morning, Ricky's arm around her waist. His hand protectively covered her belly. This was her last day in California before she had to return to college. Amy and Ricky had yet to work out the details of their relationship or the long term plan.

Ricky began to stir next to her. Unaware that Amy was awake next to him, he slowly rubbed circles on her still flat belly. He snuggled up a little tighter, having forgotten how much he missed the woman in his arms. His phone vibrated on the bedside table.

Hey, can I stop by later?

The text message from Clementine came in. Ricky sat up in bed to reply. The relationship with Clementine was complicated to say the least. While they were only friends at the time, they had crossed the line between friends and more than friends. More than once. While they had not had sex, Clementine had spent the night at the apartment when John was gone after a late night study session.

Yeah. We have to talk. 4pm?

His phone vibrated again

Well, I'm already down stairs.

Ricky quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed his jeans off the floor. Amy turned to look at him, curious why he was in such a rush.

"I've got to take care of some stuff downstairs."

"Alright?" Amy was unsure of how to respond. Ricky was never this abrupt.

Ricky bolted down the flight of stairs. He found Clementine outside the front door of the closed butcher shop. Her long hair was down and she was wearing dark red lipstick. Ricky quickly unlocked the door to let her in.

"He-" Ricky was cut off by Clemtines lips firmly pressing against his own. Her lips were soft, warm and full of passion. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. For a moment, Ricky began to kiss her back.

Clementine began to unzip the sweatshirt she was wearing, revealing a tight red corset top. Ricky couldn't help but stare at her chest, completely forgetting about Amy upstairs in his apartment.

"I'm ready, Ricky. Let's make this official." Clementine took his hand and placed it on her chest.

A gasp came from the staircase. Ricky quickly removed his hand and spun to look at a distressed Amy. One look at the compromising position of Ricky and Clementine was enough to send her running back up the stairs.

"Amy– wait!" Ricky called after her. He began to chase after her but the slam of the apartment door told him enough. He had messed up. He turned to look at Clementine.

"I… I didn't know she was her. I thought she would be at her parents house with John and you would be alone." She frantically said.

"Yeah, well she is here. Cover up, we need to talk." Ricky motioned towards her unzipped sweater with his eyes averted.

Clementine quickly zipped her sweatshirt up, she was clearly embarrassed.

"Look, Clem, I greatly appreciate the help you have been the last month but things have changed. I've got to focus on John and Amy again."

"Why would you focus on Amy? She just left you and John here. She broke your heart. You were barely functioning last week." Clementine pleaded with Ricky.

"Things changed. She's pregnant." Ricky ran his hands through his hair. Out of everyone he dreaded telling Clementine the most.

"Oh. Wow." She replied.

Ricky nodded his head.

"And you're sure that it's yours?" She pressed.

"Yeah. It's mine. She's about 6 weeks along." He confirmed.

"I suppose, this is congratulations?"

"I suppose so." Ricky lowered his head but smiled a bit. "I really care about you, Clem. But right now I need to focus on this."

"Of course you do. You're a great father." Clementine rubbed his arm before heading out the butcher shop door.

Ricky ran his hands through his hair, dreading going back upstairs to be confronted by Amy. The walk back to the apartment door seemed to take an eternity. When he opened the front door, he found Amy frantically packing her suitcase. John played quietly next to her.

"I'm heading to the airport." she stated

"Your flight isn't for hours." He replied. "Amy, what you saw…"

"Your hand on Clementine's breast? After accusing me yesterday of sleeping with all of New York?" The tears were freely falling down Amy's cheeks.

"I haven't had sex with Clementine. She just showed up."

"Wearing lingerie?" Amy pressed further.

"She thought I was alone."

"But you have been having sex with her?" Amy accused

"No. I haven't. She's just been helping. It's been a lot with you being gone, Amy." Ricky explained. "Look, Clem and I have blurred lines between friends and more. But we haven't had sex. You left. I didn't do anything wrong. You left me."

"I…" Amy trailed off. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left. We could have called off the wedding without me going to New York. I just thought… there was more out there than this tiny apartment and being a teen mom and wife." Amy wiped the tears that had started to run down her cheeks.

"I thought what we had was pretty good." Ricky admitted the pain in his voice. Amy leaving broke him.

"It was. I made the wrong choice. I never should have left."

"Does that mean you are coming back?" Ricky asked, a small amount of hope in his voice.

"I have to finish out the summer semester… But after that, I'll transfer back here. I'll see if I can move back into my mom's house." Amy explained her plan.

"You don't want to move back here?" Ricky gestured to the tiny apartment.

"I don't think moving in here is a good idea until we figure out our relationship."

Ricky nodded. "Probably not. We can work out John's schedule later."

Ricky walked up to Amy and brushed her hair out of her face. He took her face in his hands and wiped the tears that were running down Amy's cheeks away with his thumb. He brought her into his arms.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled into her hair.

"Me too." She replied.