The Past(1)
I stir in the bed and feeling the cold space beside me, I slowly open my crusted eyes. Almost immediately, my gaze lands on his muscular back as he pulls up his pants. “Hunter?”
He didn’t look at me, he just reached for his shirt on the floor, slipping it on.
Did he not hear me? “Hunter.” I croak, my voice louder this time as I pull the covers over my body, sitting up in the bed.
“Listen, bibi, whatever happened between us last night was a mistake. We were both drunk and we weren’t thinking clearly.”
My blood runs cold at the crude words he used to describe my first time.
Mistake.
How could he say something like that when he was the one that came onto me?
“You can’t be serious, Hunt.” I look around, noticing my dress in a distant corner of the room. How did it get over there?
“You can stay however long you’d like; I’ll cover the expenses.” I could hear my heart slamming against my chest, the sound ringing in my ears. “Wha—”
He opens the door and without so much as a glance back, he leaves. My gaze lingers on the closed door, denial seeping in.
He…just left me here.
Tears well in the corners of my eyes, threatening to spill, the aching pain from the previous night just a painful reminder of what I had lost.
I don’t know how I got home last night. Pushing the front door open, a pair of arms wrap around me, engulfing me in a familiar embrace.
“Mama.” I choke out.
“Christ, Bibi, where we're you? You weren’t answering any of my calls and I was so scared that something happened to you.”
I open my mouth to speak but my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth, preventing me from doing so. She pulled me through the doorway, closing the door behind me before ushering me into the couch, serving me a cold cup of water.
I didn't realize just how parched I was until I gulped it down, the cool liquid the only relief to my scorching throat. Painfully relieving.
“Bibi?” my mother called. Her warm hand reached up, brushing away a strand of my hair and tucking behind my ear. “Are you alright?”
No, no I’m not alright.
In fact, I’m far from alright.
A shiver kisses its way up my spine, my eyes glued to the pregnancy test in my hands. This couldn't be right. It was my first time and it was only once. Only once. “Bibi?”
A knock sounds on the bathroom door and I shoot up from my position on the toilet. “G-give me a second, mama!” I screeched, I tossed the test into the little garbage bin and at the same time, flush the toilet.
Quickly washing my hands, I saunter over to the door. “Yes?”She gives me a slight smile. “Breakfast is on the table,” looking toward her watch, she frowns momentarily, and with a sigh, she continues, “I’ve gotta run.”
Plopping a kiss on my forehead, she runs out of the house, handbag in tow. My legs give out and I sink to the floor. “Whatever happened between us last night was a mistake.”
His words ran through my head on repeat, the better half of me—the logical half, pushing those words to a far part of my subconscious, forcing me to my feet and down the stairs. The sweet aroma of maple syrup on top of pancakes hit me the second I step into the kitchen like a tidal wave.
I’m grateful Mama always makes breakfast for me whenever she has the time even more so since I don’t know one thing about cooking.
I recall a time when I tried frying bacon and nearly burning the entire kitchen down, it ended with me having to throw away pieces of charcoal.
I shake away those thoughts, shoveling a spoonful of eggs into my mouth. Delicious as always. My phone’s ringtone catches my attention for the 5th time this week and I can’t help but take it into my hands. Clara. Again.
I knew it was wrong to ignore her this past week for something she had nothing to do with, but I couldn’t answer her calls as if nothing had happened between me and her brother.
Clara would kill me if she found out what had transpired between the two of us, but it was far from a pleasant experience. I sigh, “Hello?”
