Free Just Like Heaven by Clarissa Carlyle Page B

helping sick children and eventually meet and marry a handsome, successful doctor. After at least three years of marital bliss, Demi would eventually become pregnant and she would have three children, two girls and boy. In her mind it was all mapped out perfectly, but now a gigantic spinner had been thrown in to ruin everything!
     
    Demi loved Arthur, she genuinely did. Her tattoo was proof enough of the level of her feelings. But she didn’t believe she’d marry him. She was still a teenager; so much would change as she entered adulthood, including herself. She was mature enough to know that the person she loved now may well not be the person she loved at twenty five.
     
    If she looked at the guys she was crushing on at even twelve and thirteen, which wasn’t that long ago, she hated them now. People’s tastes change. People change. Demi felt fresh tears moisten the pillow beneath her head as they cascaded down her cheeks. The thing which frightened her the most was that she was potentially becoming a mother but how could she, when she had no idea how to do it? Her own mother had been gone so long now that she had no idea how a mother was supposed to behave.
     
    Wiping away her tears she called Arthur again, needing to hear his voice, to feel reassured of his love for her, but still, he didn’t answer.
     
    ####

The following morning Arthur removed the cling film from his tattoo and noted proudly how dark the ink looked against his skin.
     
    “Why did you get a tattoo?” Jared asked between mouthfuls of waffles. Waffles were Jared’s favorite therefore he ate them each and every morning, always drenched in syrup.
     
    “Because I wanted one,” Arthur answered simply.
     
    “Mom, can I get a tattoo?” Jared asked innocently.
     
    “No.”
     
    “But Arthur has one.”
     
    “Arthur is a lot older than you.”
     
    “I’d get a tattoo of a space shuttle,” Jared told his older brother, all the while eyeing his new tattoo enviously.
     
    “That sounds cool,” Arthur smiled.
     
    “Did it hurt?”
     
    “Nah.”
     
    “You’re so brave,” Jared said admiringly.
     
    “Not as brave as you.” Arthur told his brother honestly, feeling a lump form in his throat as he did so.
     
    “Will you come with me to the hospital today? We can play Risk?” Jared asked his face sweet and angelic if washed out and hollowed by illness.
     
    “Yeah, of course. Just let me cancel Demi. She’ll understand.”
     
    “No need,” Arthur’s Mom called from the kitchen sink where she was washing dishes. “Demi is here, just walking up the drive.”
     
    ####

Fuelled by anger and panic Demi had come over to Arthur’s house that morning, tired of him ignoring her calls and she was also eager to leave her own home and her Dad’s interrogating questions. He was desperate to know what was wrong but she wasn’t ready to tell him, not yet.
     
    “What are you doing here?” Arthur asked, embarrassed as he pulled the front door to his house shut behind him so that they were standing alone on his driveway. “I thought we weren’t meeting until later.”
     
    “I need to talk to you.”
     
    “Well it will have to wait. I’m going to the hospital with Jared now, he’s just asked me.”
     
    “Where were you yesterday when I called?” Demi asked, looking hurt.
     
    “With the guys.”
     
    “All night?” she asked accusingly.
     
    “Yes all night!” Arthur snapped. “Look I don’t have time to stand here and argue with you, I need to be getting ready to go with Jared. We can talk later.”
     
    “Please, it can’t wait!” Demi pleaded.
     
    “Dem, it will have to, I’m busy!” Arthur said impatiently, moving to go back inside his house.
     
    “Seriously, it can’t wait!”
     
    “Jeeze, Dem, what can be so important! I’m busy today!” Arthur had his handle and was about to go inside when Demi blurted out;
     
    “I’m pregnant!”
     
    “Is it mine?” Arthur asked childishly as he went into