Free Work of Art by Monica Alexander

I had another option and she would even pay for it. My stomach churned at her suggestion, but she made point after point that started to resonate with me, but the one that stuck was that she said it was what Ryan wanted. She said he was too good of a person to ever tell me that, but he didn’t want me to have the baby, and did I really want to do something that big with a boy who didn’t want the responsibility?
    Then she offered me ten thousand dollars if I would abort the baby, leave for the summer and break things off with Ryan.
    And that was my breaking point. I told her to get out of my house. I immediately called Ryan, knowing I wouldn’t get him, but he’d get my message when he got back on land. I told him it was important. I needed to talk to him.
    I waited until Saturday when I knew he’d be back, but he never called me. All I got was an email from him letting me know that they’d decided to stay on the boat for another week and he’d call me when he got back.
    I panicked, because I had nowhere to go, and my mother wanted me out of the house. So I packed as much of my stuff as I could into my car and went to a motel.
    Three days later I got another email from him.
    Harper,
    This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I can’t see you anymore. I don’t want to be a father, and this time apart has given me some much needed clarity. I think we need to go our separate ways. I loved you for a long time, but this is just something I need to do. I hope you’ll understand. I also hope you’ll take my mother’s advice and terminate the pregnancy. It’ll be the best thing in the long run, you’ll see. Take care.
    -Ryan
    I called his cell, but it went to voicemail. And when I called every day for the next three days, I left pleading, crying messages for him to call me, but he never did.
    And after sitting in that motel for five days staring into nothing and waiting for Ryan to call, the reality of my situation finally hit home. So I called my dad, flew out to San Francisco and never looked back.
    And I forced myself to forget about Ryan Carson, but now, with him living in the same city as me and having come face-to-face with him, the guy who’d told me he loved me with every fiber of being and then broke up with me without a second glance, I couldn’t just forget about him. I couldn’t erase that I’d seen him again and that he’d brought back all sorts of feelings that I’d buried deep. I was angry and wished that instead of throwing up and crying that I would have punched him. It would have been more fitting.
    All I could hope was that I’d never run into him again. Because if I did, I might not be as civil as I’d been a few minutes earlier.
    Knowing I needed to talk to someone, I picked up the phone and called Kelly. She knew the full story about Ryan and me, and in that moment, when everything felt as raw as the day he’d sent me that email, I needed her.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Nine
    Ryan
     
    “Dude, you’ve barely touched your beer, and you’re staring into space like a zombie. What the fuck is up with you?”
    I looked over to see Brandon staring at me like I was crazy, and maybe I was.
    I sighed. “It was her – Harper.”
    He grinned. “Yeah, she’s smokin’ hot, right. I know she’s not you’re type, but she’s totally mine.”
    Yeah, he wasn’t going to like what I told him next.
    “She’s my ex-girlfriend.”
    Brandon’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Say what?”
    I sighed and swallowed, trying to figure out how to say what I needed to say. I hadn’t told another person this story, ever, but now it just seemed pertinent that I talk about it, about her, about us.
    “Harper was my girlfriend in high school ,” I said without preamble
    “No shit. You fucked her, didn’t you?”
    Brandon’s eyes were gleaming, and I just glared at him. “So not important, man.”
    “Oh, right, got it,” he said, finally hearing the graveness in my voice. “So what