I left the kitchen and went upstairs to go lay down. Between the morning sickness, work troubles, and Ezra, I was drained. I pulled back the blankets on my bed and tried to close my eyes. My thoughts were still racing and I turned, trying to get comfortable with no luck. My body was tired, but my head wasn't cooperating. I needed someone to talk to. I grabbed my phone and dialed Brynn. I needed my best friend right now.

"Where the hell have you been?"  She didn't even bother with the pleasantries.

"Can you come over?" I cried.

"Yeah. I was just going to go visit Aiden, but I can cancel. He won't mind. Be there in a few." She sounded so sweet. She was ditching her boyfriend to come bail me out.  It felt like our roles had been reversed over the past two months. She was the solid one and I was throwing myself off the cliff for some boy who didn't care about me.

True to her word, Brynn was at my house sitting at my kitchen table in minutes.

I grabbed a Mountain Dew from the fridge and handed it to her. She opened it and took a sip. Her eyes looked back over at me and she began to analyze my appearance. 

"You look terrible. I mean, epically pushed through a meat grinder and stomped on by elephants terrible." She said, turning her head. "Are you ok?"

"I'm in trouble." I cried. I laid my head in my hands on the table.

"What kind of trouble?" She asked me. She looked concerned and sympathetic. I looked up at her with tears in my eyes and I moved to grab my stomach. I looked back up at her, ashamed. I still hadn't been able to get the words to come out of my mouth.  Speaking them aloud only meant it was really happening.

"Did you get the clap?" She asked. "They have medicine for that."

"It's not the clap, Brynn." I said, rolling my eyes at her. 

"Oh shit."  She spat her drink out on the counter. Her eyes went wide when she suddenly got it. Aiden didn't tell her. I'm not sure why, but he kept my secret for me. "Is it Ezra's?"

I nodded my head. I wasn't sure why that was the first question she and Ezra both had. Brynn, of all people, knew I didn't sleep around with random guys.          

We sat at the kitchen table and I told her everything that happened over the last couple of weeks. I told her about the morning after pill and how Ezra reacted to finding out.

Every detail poured out of my mouth and I saw her body tense when I told her Aiden was there when I took the test. From her reaction, Aiden hadn't told her any of what happened the other day. Brynn didn't even know Ezra was the one who hit Aiden. My complicated drama was bleeding into everyone else's lives.

"Ry, I wish you or Aiden would have told me. I am your friend. I have always been there for you. I'm not going to lie. It stings knowing you both didn't tell me what happened."

"Brynn, I am so sorry. I'm really scared and I keep messing everything up. Please don't be mad at Aiden either. He was just trying to help me. I tried to call you first, but he was the only one who answered." Brynn's stance loosened a bit, but I knew it was still bothering her.

"Have you seen a doctor yet?" She asked me.

"No. I don't know where to go."

"There's a clinic a few miles down the road you can go to. I've been there a thousand times.  Not for this, but I'm sure they are probably really good about these things." She said, pulling out her phone and texted me the name and phone number. "Give them a call and set an appointment. I will take you."

"Thanks." Brynn wrapped me in a huge hug and I squeezed her back tightly. Having her support meant the world to me right now.

"I'm totally staying with you tonight. You need me."

"I'll be fine, Brynn." I didn't want her to change her plans because of me.

"It's settled then. I am staying and we are going to fill your belly with yummy goodies so we can fatten you up. Fat babies are happy babies. Fat Momma's are even happier. Maybe I'll gain some baby weight with you. I've been looking for an excuse to overeat." I laughed and began crying into her shoulder, letting all of my emotions go.

Maybe I did need someone to stay with me right now, even if I couldn't admit it.

Brynn took me upstairs and climbed into bed with me. She wrapped her arms tightly around me. She rubbed my hair and told me stories about random ridiculous people trying to take my mind off the blue-eyed boy who was furious with me. When it didn't work, she began telling me that I shouldn't worry. Ezra would come around eventually. I wanted to believe her, but she didn't see the look in his eyes when I told him I was keeping the baby. He would never accept this.

"Auntie Brynn. That has a nice ring to it. Maybe I can take it out for a spin every now and then and pretend to be a MILF."  She said, laughing into my hair.

"Brynn, it's a baby, not a car."  She was impossible. 

"I know that, I was just hoping to find some rich sugar daddy with a hero complex." 

"What about Aiden?" I rolled my eyes.

"He has the hero part locked down, if only he had buckets of money."  She trailed off, lost in her own fantasy world.

"Brynn!"  I squeaked. 

"Why can't I have a sugar daddy and Aiden? You know I have a short attention span. I can handle two men. Monogamy is so overrated." Brynn was hopeless.

I fell asleep with Brynn telling me how I would be a wonderful Mom and how beautiful my baby would be.

I was glad to have someone like her in my life.

"Miss Davis." The nurse called my name from the door that led back to the exam room. It had taken me a week to get the appointment. I slowly got up from my chair and Brynn stood up to follow me. She placed a kiss on Aiden's forehead and rubbed her hand in his hair. Aiden offered to drive us here when he found out about the appointment.

My stomach was churning as I followed the nurse down the dark hall. Brynn was right on my heels. The nurse went to her station and handed me a cup to pee in. I must have looked at it like I didn't know what to do because she felt the need to explain to me what it was for. I may be young, but I did understand why I needed to pee in the cup. The nurse pointed to the bathroom and motioned to Brynn to follow her to my exam room.

Once I was finished in the bathroom, the nurse took me back into the room she had placed Brynn in. Brynn was sitting on a stool spinning around when I walked in. She smiled when she saw me.

"Did you pass?" She asked, smiling at me. Brynn was trying to take the pressure off this situation, but I wasn't in much of a joking mood. I rolled my eyes at her before trying to jump up on the exam table. I finally got myself on the table after the third try. Brynn was laughing at me and then pointed to a step stool sitting on the other side of the table.

"Thanks for the help." I mumbled. Maybe bringing her here was a bad idea.

Brynn continued to make small talk over the next twenty minutes. Most of her conversation was about Aiden and the things they had done. I plugged my ears and shook my head no when she was going into the details about their escapades. She switched the conversation over to Ezra when I told her I didn't want any more details.

"He knows you're here today. I told him last night that Aiden and I were taking you to get checked out." Brynn smiled at me.

"You what?" I froze in place and my eyes went wide.

"That jerk should be here for you."

"Brynn. You didn't." I groaned.

"I told him it was his fault you were here in the first place and that he needed to grow a pair and be a man about it." She was waiting for a pat on the back.

"Brynn, it's both our faults for being careless." I pinched the bridge of my nose. She was bringing on another headache.

"Nope, just his. He has the penis. He has the responsibility to cover it." She challenged me back.

I was going to tell her how wrong she was, but there was a knock at the door and a plump middle-aged woman with a doctor's coat walked in.

"Hey, Roberta." Brynn smiled at the woman.

"Hi Brynn, I'm glad to see you're not the patient today. Keeping yourself out of trouble, I see." She smiled kindly to Brynn before looking back over to me. It wasn't meant to be a jab at me, but praise for the girl who was always in some sort of trouble or another. It still hit me the wrong way; it was like she was insinuating that I was a whore or something.

"Always." Brynn winked at her. Roberta smiled back at Brynn before turning her attention to me.

"Miss Davis, Riley, are you sure you don't want Brynn to step out while we go over this?" Roberta looked at me with soft eyes.

"She can stay. She knows why I am here." I said, not wanting Brynn to leave my side even if she was driving me insane.

"Well, I just wanted to be sure. Your urine test did come back positive." She said, confirming what I already knew. "We will need to do some blood work up to verify. We will also need to do a pelvic exam and check for any sexually transmitted diseases that could be passed along if you decide to have the baby."

"She's keeping it."  Brynn said, smiling up at Roberta.

"Have you told the baby's father you are pregnant?"  Roberta asked me.  "If you haven't, then we have some resources available to help guide you through this. I know it is a stressful and confusing time."

"I'm the Daddy."  Brynn interjected.  Roberta smiled at my crazy friend.

"All kidding aside, Riley, there are a lot of options and help for women in your situation.  I will give you lots of resources to help with anything you need and my medical staff is available 24 hours a day if you have any questions.  Whatever you decide to do, we can help you. Remember, this is your body and your choice."

"Can you put out a hit on moody dark-haired, not boyfriends who knock up your best friend and punch your boyfriend in the face?"  Brynn was dominating the conversation.  I was still in too much shock to talk.

Roberta paused to look at Brynn with horror on her face and then turned to look at me.

"Riley, is the father violent?" Roberta asked me.  "Do you feel unsafe around him?

I gave Brynn a death stare.  She had to open her mouth about Ezra's temper.

"No, he just got into a fight with her boyfriend.  He doesn't hit me."  I said, looking down at my feet.  He does hurt me, though, in ways that don't leave marks on my skin.  

"Honey, not all abuse is physical. There are many ways to abuse someone without ever touching them."  Roberta was sharp. I sniffed, trying to hold back the tears. "Are your parents around?  Can you talk to them about all this?  You need a support system now more than ever."

"Yeah, I'm going to tell them soon.  I just need to figure some things out."  I said.

"Let's finish your exam and I will give you all the information we just talked about.  You will come back here for an ultrasound in a few weeks to see the baby's heartbeat and make sure everything is progressing as expected." Roberta smiled at me, trying to lighten the room.

When Brynn and I exited the hall to the waiting room, Aiden jumped up quickly and almost knocked his chair over. Brynn was looking at my instructions and holding the little bottle of prenatal vitamins the doctor had given me. Roberta also gave me a few pamphlets with various options and resources for me to look at. The one staring at me on top was a pamphlet on resources for abuse.

"What did they say?" Aiden asked too loudly, drawing attention to us from the small crowd of people in the waiting room. I looked around and my head went down to the various pamphlets in my hands. I looked back around the room and felt the judgment on everyone's face.

"Let's get some lunch. I want to feed that baby some tacos." Brynn bounced over to Aiden and wrapped her arm in his. She pulled him to the door and I slowly walked behind them to the parking lot. I kept staring at the pamphlets in my hands. I needed to get rid of them before I got home. I couldn't risk my parents finding out this way. It would be hard enough hiding the prenatal vitamins until I was ready to tell them.

Aiden and Brynn stopped moving and I wasn't paying attention to them. I ran into both of them and all the pamphlets fell from my hands, scattering on the ground.

"He has some nerve." Aiden said, looking towards his car in the parking lot. I looked around Aiden and Brynn to see Ezra leaning against Aiden's driver side door. His hands were shoved in his pockets and he was fidgeting in place. He looked over at us when Aiden spoke and began to walk in our direction. I looked down at the mess I made on the pavement and decided getting away from him was more important than picking up my litter. I turned quickly and started walking in the other direction.

"Riley, wait." He called to me. Ezra's boots were pounding against the pavement after me. I had no hope of getting away from him.

"Riley, stop." He yelled again.

Ezra was now only feet behind me. I felt his large hand grab my shoulder and he spun me around to face him. He pulled me into him and wrapped his arms tightly around me. I didn't want to hug him back, but my body betrayed me by relaxing underneath his touch. I would have collapsed if he wasn't holding me up.

I was so emotionally drained.

"You shouldn't be here." Aiden said harshly to him, walking up behind us. Ezra moved his hand to the back of my head and pulled it into his chest before turning back to Aiden.

"And you think you should?" His stance was hardening against me.

"Someone needs to step up to help her." Aiden countered.

"You're just loving this. Aren't you?" Ezra said, about to turn to take Aiden on.

"Stop, please stop." My voice was shaking and my body was trembling. My body was about to shatter under the weight of it all. Ezra moved his hands to my chin and raised my eyes to look into his. The light blue was now a cloudy gray rimmed with red.

"Riley, can we go somewhere to talk?" He lowered his voice softly to me.

I hesitated before nodding my head, agreeing to go with him. Ezra shifted and placed his arm around my shoulders. He started to guide me towards his car.

"You don't have to go with him." Aiden pleaded with me to stop.

"Stay out of this." Ezra hissed back at him. "She is coming with me."

My head turned back to Aiden and he was pulling out his phone.

"I'm done tiptoeing around this bullshit. I am not going to let him hurt you again.  If you won't listen to me, then maybe you'll listen to JD." Aiden had his phone out and he angrily pressed it to his ear.

"Stop Aiden." Brynn said removing the phone from his hand and hanging it up before JD could answer. "Riley and Ezra need to talk. This is between them. She will call me as soon as they are finished and let me know she is alright. Don't get JD involved yet. Let her handle this."

"I swear if I hear you put your hands on her again, I will destroy you." Aiden screamed across the parking lot after us.

"How's your face Aiden?" Ezra called back to him.

Ezra shook his head and chuckled at Aiden's threat.  He was not the least bit intimidated.  He let me go and pulled the car door open for me and I climbed in.  I looked back and saw Brynn holding Aiden back from going after us.