Raising my fist, I banged on the large wood door again.

No answer. 

So, I did it a third time. And then a fourth.

Finally, Mike opened the door. And I didn't care that he was pissed. "Bro, what the hell is your problem? You're lucky my parents aren't home right now." 

"Where is she?" 

"Where's who?"

"Who do you think, genius? Karma. Where the fuck is Karma."

He blinked once. Twice. Then a third time. "What do you mean? I haven't talked to her today."

Fuck. I fucking knew she wasn't telling me the truth. After the whole almost-roofied thing at that Halloween party a few weeks ago, Karma and I both have been a little on edge. Mainly because we had no idea who tried to drug her. My first thought was Brian, Trish's brother. But according to multiple people and our coach, he had been out of town. 

Things had finally started getting back to normal after that. Until the past few days. Karma started making excuses not to see me. Cancelling for some reason or another. Dodging my calls. Responding to my texts with one-word replies. 

Now this. And this, today, was the final fucking straw. I was going to find out what the fuck was going on. 

"You haven't talked to her today?" I asked with an edge in my voice. "Funny, because she said she was hanging out with you when I texted her thirty minutes ago."

Mike's eyes widened and his expression told me he his brain registered what I was saying. "Uh, what I meant was, she was here, you know, earlier—"

"Save it. Do you know where she is or not?" 

Mike cursed under his breath and shook his head. "Shit. I don't know, man. She hasn't said anything to me. I swear." Slight hesitation from my girl's best friend. "Did something happen between you guys?" 

I scoffed and shrugged my shoulders. "That's what I wanna know."

And I also wanted to know where the hell she was. It wasn't that I thought she was with another guy or something like that. I knew she would never do that to me. But something was up. It either had to be an issue with her mom, or something else that I didn't know about. 

"Seriously, Mike, do you know somewhere she would go if she was really upset? Some place to be alone?"

Mike ran a hand through his hair as he thought about my question. I was hoping and praying that he had an answer for me. I tried Lanie and Harper, but they were at the damn movies and turned their phones off. And I knew Karma wasn't with them. 

"There's one place," Mike said softly. "One place she might be." 

"Where?" 

"There's a park not far from here. We used to go there a lot in middle school when Karma got into it with her mom. She said it was peaceful and helped clear her head. We haven't gone back in a while, though. At least, I haven't. You should try there." 

After Mike gave me the directions to the park, I raced back to my jeep and hauled ass. When I finally got there, it wasn't anything like I was expecting. I thought there was going to be people here. Lots of people and kids. But it looked like no one had been here in a couple years. 

Weeds and vines were wrapped around the monkey bars and swings. The grass was way overgrown. And right there in the middle of all of it, was Karma. She was sitting on a bench, facing away from me. I don't even think she knew I was there. 

"Hey, gorgeous." 

Just like that day where I found her by the pool in the gym, her shoulders tensed at the sound of my voice. And she didn't turn around to face me. With slow, cautious steps, I made my way toward her. Then when I finally got to the bench, I sat down next to her. 

The wood creaked and I was so sure it was going to break. I don't know why that stood out to me, but it did. 

"How did you find me?" 

"Mike told me about this place." Exhaling a heavy sigh I said, "But I don't really think how I found you is important, baby. What's been going on with you? You haven't wanted to see me or talk to me. You lied to me." The next question made me feel like somebody ripped my heart out of my chest and stepped on it. "Do you not want to be with me anymore? Did I...do something?"

Even though I felt comfortable with Karma, and I felt like we had a handle on our relationship, I was still new to this whole dating thing. 

Her head whipped in my direction, and I saw the answer in her eyes before she even spoke. "No. Of course, I want to be with you. More than anything. You didn't do anything wrong." 

"Then what is it?" When tears formed in her eyes, I cupped her face in my hands, my heart pounding in my chest. "Fuck, Karma. You know you can tell me anything, baby. What's going on?" 

She inhaled a shuddering breath before closing her eyes and saying what had her so upset. Only problem was that she spoke so low that I couldn't hear her. 

"I didn't hear you, baby. Tell me again. Say it again." 

Her eyes met mine, and there was so much fear in them that I wanted to fuck up whoever hurt her. "Oh, God, Nathan. I'm..."

"What? You're what?" Christ, I couldn't fucking take this anymore. 

"I'm late." 

Time stopped when I heard those two words. Two little words that carried the weight of a fucking freight train. Holy shit...

"Say something," she begged. "Please, Nathan."

My hands dropped from her face when I leaned back a little, trying to absorb what she said and to get my ears to stop ringing. She was late. Fucking hell. I may not know everything about being a boyfriend, but I sure as shit knew what 'I'm late' meant.

"Nathan?"

My mouth was so dry that I had to clear my throat a few times. "I'm sorry. I'm just...processing." Deep breath in, deep breath out. Come on, Nate. "How late are you?"

She dropped her gaze and turned back to face the decaying park. "A few days. I'm so sorry for how I've been acting. I just didn't know how to tell you. I was afraid—" her voice caught on a choked sob. "I was afraid of how you'd react." 

I mean...I couldn't really blame her. This was a huge fucking deal. She and I always used protection, but what if that hadn't been enough?

"Look at me, Karma." 

It took her a minute, and when she finally turned to face me, I held her gaze as I wiped away a tear that rolled down her cheek. 

"I'm not going to lie to you, baby. I'm fucking terrified. And I'm...I don't know what I am. But I—No. Hey, look at me. Look into my eyes, Karma." I made sure she heard the next part loud and clear. "You can tell me anything. Anything. Even something like this, you can tell me."

Whatever control she had broke, and that's when the tears fell. There was no stopping it. No making her feel better. So I did what I could. The only thing I could. I pulled her into my arms and held her, rocking her back and forth. 

"It's going to be okay, baby. We'll go get a test and go to my house. No one's home, so it'll just be us."

"But what if...what if..."

I closed my eyes tight. "If it's positive, we'll face it together. Okay? I got you, Karma. You and me. You aren't going to deal with this alone. You hear me?" 

She nodded against my chest. "I hear you, Nathan." 

***

"How long does it say to wait?" 

Karma glanced at the back of the box. "Three minutes."

"Okay," I said lamely from where I was sitting on my bed. Three minutes. It was going to be the longest three minutes of my life.

We got here ten minutes ago, and it took a good five to get her to stop crying when she got worked up again. It took another three to talk her through this whole thing. Basically, just reassuring her that I was here for her and that I wasn't going anywhere. I was surprised I knew what to say at all. 

She set the test on the bathroom sink and turned towards me. The worried look in her eyes seared me, so I opened my arms wide, beckoning her to come to me. And she did. 

I pulled her onto my lap and she rested her head on my shoulder as I wrapped my arms around her. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked. "You know, just in case it's..."

"Positive? I don't know, Nathan. I mean, we're so young. There's college. And we haven't even..."

When she didn't continue I asked, "We haven't what?" 

"Nothing," she murmured. I knew it was another lie, but with that ticking time bomb waiting for us, I wasn't going to press her right now. "We aren't ready for this." 

"No, we aren't." I thought about this whole situation for a moment, then I had a moment of clarity. "But you know what, gorgeous? I wasn't ready for you and look how that turned out." She looked up at me, her eyes shining as I continued. "I wasn't ready for you at all. And I was scared shitless. But we're happy, Karma. You and me...we're happy. We can handle anything. And if it is positive, we'll get through that together, too." 

 When she just stared at me for several seconds, I started to get worried that she was going to get upset again. Then she completely took me by surprise by giving me a deep, passionate kiss. 

"How do you always know what to say to me," she breathed against my lips. 

In spite of everything, I chuckled. "I have no fucking idea, baby. I guess you just bring it out of me." With a deep breath I asked her, "Is it...time?" 

She checked her watch and nodded. Rising from my lap, she took two steps towards my bathroom. Then she froze. She didn't move and she didn't turn to look at me. 

"Nathan..."

I got up from the bed instantly. "I got it, baby. I'll do it." 

My heart was pounding in my chest with each step I took towards the bathroom. I paused for a second to stroke Karma's back when I passed her. Then I forced one foot in front of the other until I got to my bathroom sink. 

I didn't miss how bad my hand was shaking when I reached out to pick up the test. Powering through it for my girl, I grabbed it and brought it in front of me. 

Then I read it. 

"Well?" 

My eyes met hers. "Negative. It's negative." 

Overwhelmed with emotion, she covered her mouth with her hands before she ran to me. I caught her in my arms and held her against me. The relief coming off of her was palpable. 

"It's okay, baby. Deep breaths. I got you," I said to her soothingly. 

And even though I felt the same relief she did, I caught myself looking at the test over her shoulder. 

It was a good thing it was negative. She was right when she said we weren't ready. 

But I also found myself wondering what would have happened if it had been positive. And beneath all that relief...was a little bit of disappointment. 

***

What did you all think of this chapter? I really enjoyed writing it, especially from Nate's POV. Also, since this book is about the whole year of their relationship, there's going to be little skips through time (a couple weeks here and there). I got some great chapters planned!

Thanks for reading 

xoxo