We've Got Unfinished Business

I woke up in bed with Aubrey but Alex wasn't next to us. I got out of bed with her and went to check the bathroom and rest of the hotel. He wasn't here and he didn't leave a note telling me that he was going anywhere. I grabbed my cellphone and saw a few missed calls from Kellin. I ignored it for now and called Alex's phone. He picked up after the third ring.

"Alex where are you?" I said.

“Hello." I heard a female voice say.

"...Lisa?" I asked.

"Yeah.” She said as if nothing was wrong.

". . . Why do you have Alex's phone?"

"He came over last night and we talked everything through." She told me and I felt sick.

"You're lying." I said.

"No I'm not. He practically begged me to take him back. I'm sorry you had to find out this way." She said apologetically. I almost believed that she meant that.

"Where's Alex?"

"In the shower. Would you like to talk to him?"

I didn’t answer her, I just hung up.

I started angrily packed up Aubrey and my things again. I was going to leave Alex a note telling him how much I hated him, but I decided against. Ignoring him would hurt him so much worse.

I wiped away tears as I carried Aubrey and our bags to my car. I just wanted to get home and cry on my mom's shoulder. She was right about me not lasting more than a day away from her. She and Kellin were also right about Alex using me.

I quickly drove Aubrey and I back home. I tried to calm myself down before walking inside, but as soon as I saw my mom more tears fell.

"I'm so sorry, mom." I ran into her arms.

"Shh it's okay." She hugged me tightly.

I stayed in her arms until my tears slowed down, then we went to sit on the couch. She kissed me on the forehead while she rubbed my back and waited for me to explain myself.

"I'm sorry." I apologized again. "I shouldn't have ran off. Especially with some guy who doesn't care about me."

"What happened?" She asked.

"He left me for his fiancé." Warm tears fell from my eyes as I thought about it. "He didn't really love me."

"He's just some low life punk and he doesn't deserve you. He doesn't even deserve your tears." She wiped my eyes and I nodded.

"I just thought he was different. He made me really believe that he loved me this time." I sniffled.

"Guys have an easy way of doing that. But time will make everything better. You should just focus on finishing your GED and Aubrey for right now. You'll have plenty of time to date other people who will actually love you." She told me.

"Yeah you're right." I mumbled. "I'm going to go lay down for a few hours."

"Okay. I'll watch Aubrey while you rest up." She picked up Aubrey and I thanked her and went upstairs.

I went straight to my room, kicked my shoes off, and fell in my bed. I know my mom said time would heal this but it felt like I would need an eternity to get over this heartbreak. I cried myself to sleep.

I woke up a few hours later to twenty-two missed calls from Alex and forty-two text messages from him. I didn't open a single one of them and I didn't attempt to call him back. Instead got up and went to take a shower. Alex called me three times while I showered. When I came back into my room Kellin was sitting on my bed. He smiled sadly at me and got up to hug me.

"Where were you? You had me scared shit-less this morning when your mom told my mom you had ran away." He said.

"I was with Alex." I sighed.

"What happened?"

"He ran back to Lisa. He literally left Aubrey and me in the middle of the night to go be with her."

Kellin didn't say anything, he sat quietly trying not to let his anger get the best of him. My phone rang, it was Alex calling again. Instead of letting it go to voicemail like I had been doing, Kellin picked it up.

"Burn in hell!!" He fumed on the phone and hung up. My phone immediately began ringing again.

"Don't waste your time, he's just going to keep calling." I told Kellin. I picked up my phone and blocked Alex's number do I could finally get some peace.

"I can't believe he actually has the nerve to call you after what he just did." Kellin chuckled angrily.

"He's probably trying to beg me not to do anything stupid like tell the whole world about Aubrey being his daughter or something."

"Ugh I really wish we could." He complained and I rolled my eyes. Doing that wasn't worth the amount of hate I would get for lying to Alex about my age.

"No I'm just going to move on with my life. Alex Gaskarth, once again, does not exist to me anymore."

"Good. You're too good for that asshole anyways." He agreed.

We went downstairs to get Aubrey, I didn't want my mom to have watch her for too long. Aubrey was sitting in Avery's lap trying to clap her hands with her Elmo toy.

"There's your Daddy!" Avery exclaimed and Aubrey squealed. She held her arms up for me to pick her up.

"Thanks for watching her." I told him and kissed Aubrey on the check.

"No problem. Your mom just ran to the store really quick. She need some things for dinner." He told me.

We sat on the couch across from Avery. I was happy to see Aubrey was giggly and happy after everything that happened. Of course she wouldn't have understood any of it, but it made me feel like I could get over this.

"Did your mom ground you for running away?" Kellin asked.

"That's a good question. She didn't say I was in trouble or anything, but she probably just too happy about me coming home. It doesn't matter if I am though. It's not like I have anywhere to go now." It was just going to suck not having my phone for a few days.

"I actually talked her out of grounding you." Avery told me.

"Really??"

"Yeah. I told her how Angie ran away once when she was fourteen because some guy I wouldn’t let her date. Angie was only gone thirty minutes because I called the police to get her." He chuckled to himself. "But I didn't ground her. I just explained how much it hurt me to think about her not being there when I woke up in the morning and that made her actually think about what she did. As much as I really wanted to take her phone away and lock her in her room for the next six years, I didn't. And from that day we didn't have any problems. So Joyce probably won't ground you this time, but I can't make any promises for anything that you do in the future."

"Thank you, Avery. I literally owe you one." I sighed in relief.

"No problem."

My mom walked in a few minutes later with a few grocery bags. She went into the kitchen to start dinner and I followed.

"What's for dinner?" I asked her.

"I thought I would make your favorite. Homemade spaghetti and meatballs!" She told me.

I called Kellin to come watch Aubrey while I helped my mom cook. He played with Aubrey and I went to mash up the tomatoes for the sauce. Everything was starting to feel normal again until I heard the doorbell ring. I panicked hoping it was Alex trying to get me to talk to him. I'm pretty sure my mom would call the police this time if he didn't go away.

Avery went to get the door and a few seconds later he walked into the kitchen. He had a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

"It says: I love you. Please call me, Alex." Avery read.

I walked over and grabbed the flowers from him. I looked down at the card and Alex's handwriting. I really wanted to put the beautiful flowers in a vase and feel special about them, but I walked over to the trash can instead. I lifted the top and threw the flowers along with the card in the trash. My mom and Kellin stared at me to make sure I wasn't going to become upset again, but I was sure I wasn't. I went right back to mashing the tomatoes like nothing even happened.

*Alex*

"You did what?!?"

"I told Jack that our wedding was back on. He was going to find out sooner or later." Lisa shrugged, while brushing her hair.

I scratched my arm to make sure I wasn't having a nightmare. I felt worse after feeling my nails drag into my skin. I was fully awake meaning Lisa actually did tell Jack everything she said she did.

"Why? Literally why would you do that?" I honestly felt like crying. I could only imagine how confused and heartbroken Jack was.

"You came back to me saying the wedding was back on and how you wanted ‘me and only me.’ Plus I'm pretty sure we had sex last night so what the hell was I supposed to think?" She said.

"I only did all of that because you were drunk off your ass and threaten to tell the whole world about Jack and I if I didn't!"

"I did?" She frowned.

"Yes you called me last night and said all of that."

"I must have been completely fucked up.” She groaned. “I would never do anything like that. I mean I am pissed about you calling the wedding off but not that pissed enough to doing something that mischievous. I was just going to key your car, slash your tires, and spread a rumor that you having a small dick." She told me nonchalantly.

“That's nice, but fucking things up between Jack and I should be enough revenge from you. He probably thinks I left him and Aubrey to be with you." I sighed.

"You technically did leave him and Aubrey to be with me last night. I mean I know I tricked you into coming over but you still did come over and have sex with me. And Jack is probably going to care more about that then the fact that you thought you were protecting him."

Lisa was right, Jack wasn't going to listen to one word I had to say. That didn't stop me from calling and texting him. I left the rental house and went to my parents’ house. They were out eating breakfast so I had the house to myself.

I called Jack at least twenty times hoping that he would at least answer once. I was hoping he would answer just to tell me to stop calling so I could hear his voice. I stopped calling and went back to texting him. Each message begged him to call me or at least text me so I know that he was okay. I even sent paragraphs explains what actually happened. Of course he didn't text me back or even open the messages. I laid in my old bed trying to think of any other way I could reach him. I couldn't go to his house if he went home because his mother was probably going to call the police. I couldn't ask Kellin because he already somewhat hated me.

My parents came home hours later. I was staring at my phone hoping to see those three dots signaling that Jack was typing a message back to me. One of my calls got answered, but it was Kellin telling me to 'burn in hell.' My mom called my name and searched for me in the house. They saw my car outside and knew that I was here.

She walked into my room and her smile fell from her face.

"What's wrong, Alex?" She asked. I don't know why hearing the phase what's wrong made me break down.

"The wedding off." I sniffled and she walked over and hugged me.

"Oh no! What's happened?"

"I called it off because I didn't really love Lisa." I told her.

"Then why did you ask her to marry you?" She scolded me.

"I was trying to get over Jack. I still love him and he loved me until now."

"What happened, Alex? Just tell me everything."

I took a deep breath and wiped my face, then I began to tell her the truth. "Okay I wasn't completely honest when I told you the reason why Jack and I broke up. We actual broke up because it turned out that he was actually sixteen at the time." I said and she gasped.

"He was just a child!"

"Yeah and I didn't know until his my told me at the mall one day. But that's not the worse part. So um Jack was born with ovaries and other parts that allowed him to get pregnant and long story short I got him pregnant and we have a daughter-" I tried to rush past this part in the story but she stopped me.

"-Stop." She stated. "Just give me a second to process this . . . You're telling me that you got a sixteen year old boy pregnant?" She asked and I nodded. "And you have a daughter? You've known this and didn't say a word to me or your father?"

"I just found out about her a month or two ago. I really wanted to tell you and dad, but I was afraid of how you two would react."

"Afraid? You should be terrified." She raised an eyebrow at me.

"Mum I swear I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I didn't even know he was sixteen and I didn't know he could get pregnant."

"Oh we’ll talk about that later. But we've had a grandchild all of this time and you didn't tell us the second you found out!!" She scolded me, ignoring everything I just said for now.

"Yeah. Her name is Aubrielle, but we call her Aubrey for short." I told her.

"I want to meet her."

"I don't know about that. Jack won't answer any of my calls. I kind of did a bad thing and he probably won't ever forgive me."

"What did you do?" She sighed.

"I sort of cheated on him with Lisa. She said she would tell everyone that I got a minor pregnant if I didn't sleepy with her last night. I had to or else my career would have been ruined and Jack's life would have been ruined." I explained and she shook her head at me. "Plus his mum won't let me anywhere near him because I'm too old and he's only seventeen."

"Leave it to you to make the biggest mess and need your mother to clean it up for you. Come on." She said.

"Um where are we going?" I asked nervously.

"To Jack's house. I'm going to talk to his mother for you."

"Mom no! We're not doing that!"

"Why not?"

"Do you know how embarrassing that is? Plus there's like zero chance of that working."

"Alex I'm sure after speaking with his mother we'll sort somethings out like visiting hours for you and Aubrey. You also might be able to make things better with Jack."

"Can we please not do this today? I don't think Jack wants to see my face for at least a week." I complained.

"Fine, but I'm going over there at the end of this week."

Notes

I hope everyone is doing okay <3