“Mommy, I’m hungry!” Ashton whinged to me as I heard a tapping on the door.

“Okay sweetie, I’ll make you something in a sec,” I said, waking over to the door, my grey, and daggy track pants dragging along the rough carpet.

I looked through the eye hole in the door, the cover of it cracked but still useable, and viewed the other side. There, I assumed, was a man, looking at the floor and I could see long, dark, straight hair hanging down from their head.

Don’t tell me he followed me home from work! No, he couldn’t have. I always knew when someone was following me. Today, I never noticed anything on my way here.

I turned the lock to unlock the door, slowly opening the amount the door would let with the chain still intact. The mysterious man bolted into an upright standing position, his eyes, piercingly, hit mine.

I could never get past those eyes.

I never have.

It couldn’t be.

My heart was in my throat.

The breath in my lungs had stopped flowing. Inhale and exhale, I thought.

And I couldn’t take my eyes of him.

***

Narrator

The small teenager ran. She ran as fast as she could, as fast as her slim, average legs would take her. The tears blistering down her face could not be replaced. The thing she had dreaded most, had happened. She knew it in her heart, but would not accept it in her head.

There was only one resort. What if he said no? What if he refused?! What if she was left for dead?! No Grace, don’t exaggerate.

No, he wouldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t. He loved her. She loved him. It was all up to him now. He was aloyal guy. He wasn’t capable of cruelty.

Grace knocked on the door with her right hand, as her left attended to her eyes. Her eyeliner would be appallingly distorted by now, she knew.

The boy’s mother came to the door, greeting her with a worried expression.

“Do you want Andy?”

All the girl could do was manage a nod, she was so torn up.

“I’ll get him for you,” the nice mother said, smiling with concern in her face before turning to walk upstairs.

As the mother searched for her son, the young Gracie tried to stop the fall of salty water. It took a few moments before the boy, her boy, came to the door. He looked at her with a lack of expression.

“Grace? What’s wrong?” he asked.

Grace muttered the answer to his question.

“I can’t hear you,” the boy said rudely. Well, someone was in a bad mood.

The desperate girl took a big breath. Hell, she needed it.

“I’m pregnant Andy. It’s yours,” she squeaked.

Andrew’s eyes judged her, searching for some sign of unreality within her words. To his dismay, she obviously wasn’t joking. He stayed silent for a short moment.

“So, what do you want me to do?” Andy asked tentatively. Grace shrugged.

“Mum kicked me out,” the tears were trailing again.

“Stop overeating Grace, you always do. She’ll get over it,” Andy told her.

“No she won’t,” Grace replied quickly. Andrew sighed.

“This is stupid, you know she will. I don’t have time for this shit,” Andrew told her, not interested. Not caring.

“No, she won’t! I know she won’t! You gotta help me!” Grace pleaded, getting closer to Andy’s frame.

“You’re overreacting, just go home and give your parents some space. They probably just need time,” Andy flipped young Gracie off and turned to walk back inside.

“Andy, please?!” Gracie was on the verge of heavier tears this time.

“Look! It’s not my problem, okay?!” Andrew snapped back at her, leaving Grace speechless.

“Forget it,” Andrew told her, leaving Grace standing there in the cool breeze, her deep eyes still producing that never ending river.

And it wasn’t going to end any time soon.

******

Grace

“Mommy...!” Ashton innocently whined again. It wasn’t an annoying whine; it was more adorable than anything.

“Yes... I- I’m coming sweetie,” I told Ashton, letting off the chain, opening the door fully and tearing my gaze off the man.

I walked back into the open room and to the kitchen area in the far left corner. I assumed he followed because I heard the door shut quietly. I walked over to the bottom cupboards and got out a pot for the pasta.

I was filling it up with water when I felt Ashton’s arm around my right leg. I looked down at him as he nuzzled into my leg. He was holding onto me, gazing at Andy; Andy was an intruder. Andy just sort of stood about 3 to 4 meters away from us, staring at Ashton, glancing at me.

“Mommy, who’s that...?” Aston asked me. Andy’s mystical, mysterious eyes hit me.

“That’s your daddy, Ash,” I told him, giving him a warm smile.

Ash stared up at Andy with innocent eyes, full of questions. Ash’s eyes weren’t as piercing as his father’s but were still full of another type of intensity. He had Andy’s gorgeous blue orbs, with glints of my deep chestnut vaguely rimming around the edges.

His grip around my leg loosened, and then tightened even tighter than before.

“Hi...Little guy,” Andy said nervously, giving him a genuine smile.

Andy had changed so much. He had more tattoos down his arms, a nose piercing, and was dressed in tight jeans, like always, and a V neck black and white thickly stripped top. His vest tied the whole outfit together and was the type of thing only he could pull off. His hair was so much longer too.

I tore my eyes away from him and put the pot on the stove to boil. I put the lid after adding some salt to the water and then knelt down beside Ash.

“You can say hello, you know,” I said, tussling his hair.

Ash gave me a big puppy dog face full of anxiety yet excitement and glanced at Andy, giving him a tiny wave before fully burying his head in my frame immediately afterwards. I smiled as he slowly began to show his face.

Ash stared at Andy who stood there awkwardly as I started to dice up some tomatoes. Ash didn’t stop holding my leg the entire time I made the pasta sauce. It was difficult with his arm tightly clutched completely around my right leg.

“How have you been, Grace?” Andy finally said a word to me. I gave him a quick glance before replying. Was I nervous?

“Yeah, all right. Yourself?” I asked. This was very uncomfortable.

“Yeah, really good,” He said, changing the dominant foot he was leaning on. I nodded, stirring the pasta sauce together in a different pot from the pasta itself.

“You can sit if you like,” I told him as Ash jigged out of his shyness and bounced over to the couch, literally jumping with both feet in the air as if there were invisible stones lined across a river to get from point A to point B.

“U-uh, thanks…” he said, anxiously going over and sitting on the edge of the couch. Andy was never anxious or it never came across that he was. He always appeared confident.

I made sure the pasta could be left for a while to cook and sat down on a single arm chair opposite him as Ash began to play with his two train toys on the floor in front of the TV.

“So… What are you doing here exactly?”

Notes

WOOOOO, BVB site! So excited :D