Make it Up

As I rushed through the halls I could feel the eyes of practically every student around me. School had just ended for the day and I was on a mission. I could hear the squeak of my reeboks on the linoleum tile as I picked my pace up the smallest bit, trying to get through the swarm of students to the one person I needed to talk to.

I had received some unsettling news, and I didn’t know what to make of it. I had to confront her, and quick. I could spot the top of her blonde head in the wave of students as she was nearing the main entrance to the school. I make a final push through the people separating us and rush towards her, matching her strides with mine,

“Taylor, hey, I haven’t seen you all day.”

She doesn’t look at me, doesn’t even turn her head a little so I can see her beautiful ocean blue eyes. She just keeps going

“Sorry,” She says, “I have been a little busy, I’ll get back to you later.” She starts to walk faster but I’m not satisfied with that excuse.

I pick up her pace and wrap my hand around her wrist

“Taylor, stop, look at me.” She turns towards me, finally meeting my eyes, she sighs. “What, Alec?”

My eyebrows crease as I try to decipher the reason she’s being so cold towards me. At the same time, I try to tamper down the rush of anger I feel towards her for keeping something from me like this.

“I-What did I do wrong, to make you look at me like that?” I let out.

Her face softens at this, she turns fully toward me, I gently drop her wrist and mirror her stance. She slowly reaches up pushes the loose strands of hair off my face, her hand lingering on the back of my neck. She takes a deep breath, then speaks.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. You deserve to know everything.”

I take her hand off of my neck and hold it in mine, smiling faintly

“I just want to be there for you.”

She smiles at this, then looks around us. Everyone has pretty much cleared out of school for the day except for the select few lagging behind or chatting with their friends.

“Can we go somewhere else? I just want to clear my head a little.” She looks at me and I just know she’s using those puppy dog eyes to her advantage. How could I say no?

We walk to my car together, taking much slower strides now. I take the time to observe the weather, It’s a gorgeous summer day, one of the last we will have as it’s nearing the end of September. The parking lot is nearly empty now, I check the time on my phone and notice it only took about five minutes for everyone to clear out. Teenagers are impressive when they want to be I guess.

We finally reach my car, a Toyota Rav 4. I was lucky I took my car today, as I usually carpool with my brothers to save gas, which I pay for myself.

I buckle up and throw my bookbag in the backseat, starting the car. Taylor just looks out the window distantly. I turn the radio on to fill in the blatant awkward silence and begin to back out.

“Can we go to that orchard you took me to for that date?” She looks at me, her eyes widening with questioning.

I hold back a laugh, but let a smile slip at that. I’ve taken her to this orchard about a handful of times over the past two years we have been dating. I nod my head and she turns back toward the window.

As I ease onto the road, I reminisce the first time I took her there. I had planned out a picnic, but forgotten to check the weather, and it had been pouring rain when I went to pick her up.

I asked her if she still wanted to and she had said yes, but it hadn’t seemed like she enjoyed it. It surprised me when she asked to go back a few weeks later.

After taking that trip down memory lane, my doubts and insecurities start creeping in. The drive suddenly feels much more heavy and dark.

She can’t break up with me now, can she? We’ve been together for so long, what we have is good, perfect, even. At least, I think so?

I run a list through my head of everything I’ve done in the past few days, weeks, even just our whole relationship, and nothing stands out in particular.

I catch a glimpse of her as I’m driving down the road, her head is turned away from me, facing out the window, with her golden locks flowing freely down her shoulders, bringing back memories of the countless times I’ve threaded my fingers through them. I turn back to the road and sigh.

We finally reach our destination, the edge of a farm, I pull over on the side of the road and put the car in park, turning it off. I quickly unbuckle and step out so I can open her side for her. She steps out of the car, taking my hand. I shut the door behind her, and we begin our walk through the trees. We didn’t need to lock the doors, no one comes around here.

We hit the transition from grass to dirt as the orchard turns into the forest, I can hear the crunch of my feet on the wood and soil mixture, and the wind slowly breezing by us as she leads me down to the beach. The trees here are huge, and very very old, it makes me think about who must’ve been here decades ago, possible even a century or two, before us.

I see a break in the trees, a dark blue in contrast to the greenery surrounding us. I stop before the sand and take off my shoes, as Taylor does the same. I offer my hand to her and she places her shoes in it, something I’ve done since the beginning.

She finds a spot and sits down, crossing her legs and staring out at the water. She looked troubled, as if there was something weighing deeply on her mind, but what could possibly be so bad?

I take a seat beside her and join her in looking out across the lake. It’s blue reflection onto the trees and the other houses in the distance get me thinking about how there are so many separate lives right on this lake. I get so deep in thought I almost forgot about the matter at hand.

I gear up to ask her something.. anything, but my mind is drawing blanks. Just as I’m about to open my mouth and probably say something extremely stupid, she begins to speak.

“I’m leaving.”

Okay, that is a bit confusing. “where to?” There are a million other thoughts I have and questions I want to ask so badly, but I don’t. I’ll admit I’m a little shocked, even though I knew about the rumors I chose to disregard them until I heard what came out of her mouth.

“My dad, he got a new job in Michigan”

Oh god. She’s leaving. As in moving away.

“Well, it’s not that big of a deal, we can make that work, and it won’t be for a little bit won’t it?”

She cringed a little and drew her knees close to her chest, hugging them close.

“I’m leaving in two weeks Alec, I’m sorry.” She worried her lip, her eyebrows creasing as she looked at me.

I smile sadly, “Such short notice, Tay.” I look down a little to keep my composure, then look up to see a tear streak down her cheek. Without thinking, I reach my hand toward her and wipe away the tear gently. She sniffles a bit and I open my arms

She gently lifts herself up, and pushes herself into my lap. As soo as I enclose my arms around her she starts sobbing, her shoulders shaking lightly. I begin to rub her back slowly.

“It’ll be alright Tay, we will make it, I’m not going anywhere.” I smile a little at that, I really am not going anywhere.

I pull her back a bit to see her face ” Michigan is only a state away. I can drive up on some weekends, and you’ll be able to visit me, it’s not the end of the world, we can facetime.”

She hiccups a little, her tear stained cheeks and mascara streaks around her eyes cause me to frown slightly

“B-But t-that’s not the w-worst part.” she stutters, somehow getting even more sad.

How could this be worse? No one has died, no one's in danger,

“What, what's wrong?”

She hesitates for a moment, probably trying to figure out how to word her sentence, and looks out at the lake before turning back to me and flatly stating as well as anyone crying could,

“I’m pregnant.”