The Girl Next Door - Emma Hart Page 0,6
her a smile of my own.
Ivy closed the door, and I waited until the I heard the click of the lock before I went into my own apartment.
Anna followed me in and shut the door behind her.
“Don’t,” I said sharply, walking over to the fridge and pulling out a beer. I uncapped it with the magnet opener on the fridge and took a long pull of the cold liquid.
Anna padded over barefoot and took her wine out to pour herself a glass. Silence reigned uncomfortably for a long moment until she said, “So. You knocked up the girl you’ve got a raging schoolboy crush on.”
“Oh, fuck off.” I grabbed the beer and took it into the living room where I threw myself onto the sofa.
I didn’t need her shit tonight.
I could barely wrap my head around the fact Ivy was pregnant. I’d kept my shit together because she was a mess, and the last thing she needed was me freaking out all over her.
Ivy was pregnant.
With my baby.
The woman I’d had feelings for for weeks was having my baby.
I was going to be a father.
Holy fuck.
I put down my beer and buried my head in my hands.
“You look like shit,” Anna said brightly. “Especially for someone who just got an in with the girl he likes.”
“An in? Have you lost your fucking mind?” I jerked my head up and looked at her. “She’s fucking pregnant, Anna. The last thing I want to do is use that as an excuse to get her to go out with me. Fucking hell. What’s wrong with you?”
“A lot.” She sipped her wine, leaning against the island without a care in the world. “How did this even happen?”
I blew out a long breath. “We got together a few weeks ago after a party and weren’t as careful as we should have been. End of.”
“So she’s not trapping you?”
“Trapping me? What am I? A bear?” I snorted. “If you don’t have anything useful to say, shut up.”
“You’re gonna have to tell Mom and Dad.”
“Not. Useful.”
“I’m just saying.”
“Well, don’t!” I grabbed the beer and finished it before retrieving another. “Can’t you see I’m having a bit of a crisis right now?”
“You looked fine five minutes ago.”
“Yes, because Ivy is the one who can’t eat her dinner without poking it because she’s afraid it’s going to make her sick. I’m not the one who threw out all my coffee because the smell is gross, Anna, that was her. She doesn’t need me losing it right now.”
“She’s a woman. She’s probably expecting you to lose it.”
“Well, I am. She just doesn’t need to see it happen.” I sat back on the sofa with my beer. “I have no fucking idea about babies. Or pregnancy.”
“Maybe you should have thought about that before you screwed her without a condom.”
I stared at her. I was getting really tired of her shit. “Anna. That’s not helpful.”
“I’m not trying to be helpful,” she drawled. “I’m sorry, were you expecting me to coddle you and tell you everything is going to be okay? That nothing really changes? That’s it’s fine? Newsflash, bro, it’s not going to be fucking okay. You’ve knocked up a girl you’re half in love with. You’re going to have to hold her hair while she throws up, rub her feet when they hurt, massage her shoulders, make sure she doesn’t just live off the inevitable fake craving of her favorite chocolate or chips, and you’re going to have to literally hold her hand when she pushes a baseball out of her vagina.”
I swallowed.
“Then, when she’s done all that, you’re going to have to clean dirty diapers, mop up baby sick, survive off three hours of sleep for at least a month, and look after her while she’s recovering from the most harrowing experience of a female’s life.”
“You are really, really not helping.”
“But before all that, you have to tell Mom.”
“Jesus, Anna, if you tell Mom and Dad—”
She held up her hands. “I’m not telling them anything. But I want to be there when you do.”
I huffed out a breath and got up. “I’m going to bed. I’m not listening to you anymore.”
“It’s not even eight-thirty.”
“So? Even going to bed before my elderly neighbors is better than sitting here while you aren’t helping me.”
Anna flipped me the bird and put her feet on the coffee table. “Are you finishing that beer?”
I slid it over the coffee table to her, then headed for my room. I pulled off my shirt and shoes and