Madeleine sat in her room, clutching her teddy bear to her chest. What was happening? Brian and Leighanne had gone out to dinner, and Nick was probably watching TV or playing video games. She had barely left her room for two days, claiming she wasn’t feeling well, but she could tell Nick knew otherwise.
“Mattie, I’m ordering pizza!” Nick called from outside her room. “What do you want on your half?”
“Nothing, I’m not hungry!” she replied.
“You haven’t eaten anything since breakfast yesterday. You have to be starving.” When she didn’t answer, he reached for the doorknob. “I’m coming in.”
“Just leave me alone.”
Despite her plea, he opened the door and stepped inside. “Something is wrong, and it’s killing me to not be able to do anything about it.”
“There’s nothing I can do about that. I can’t tell you, Nick,” she stated, her eyes filling with tears.
He sat down next to her and let her fall into his arms. “Please, babe. I love you. I hate to see you like this.”
In her heart, she knew she shouldn’t be pushing him away. If she should tell anyone about what was wrong, it would have to be him. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Please, Madeleine.”
He only used her full name when he was serious. “I’m late,” she sniffled.
“Late?” he asked, puzzled. Suddenly, it clicked, and he nearly passed out. “Late, as in…”
“As in my period. I’m pregnant.”
“Is it from me, I hope?”
“Of course it’s from you. You’re the only one I’ve ever been with,” she sobbed.
Brian and Leighanne stepped into the house and tiptoed up the stairs, trying not to wake Madeleine up. She had a habit of falling asleep early lately. When they reached the top, they noticed her door open a crack. “Thank God she actually let someone in. I was beginning to worry about her,” Leighanne whispered.
Two voices floated out. “Brian’s gonna kill us!” Madeleine exclaimed.
“No, he won’t. We’ll figure something out, baby girl,” Nick answered. “He’ll understand.”
“He will not, and you know it. I mean, his best friend got his baby sister pregnant!”
Leighanne’s jaw dropped, and Brian stomped to her door. She tried to grab his arm and hold him back, but he shook her off and pushed the door open. “What?”
“Shit!” Nick exclaimed.
“Nick, can I speak to my sister alone for a few minutes?” Brian calmly requested.
“Go easy on her, Brian. It’s my fault,” Nick replied, slipping out and closing the door behind him.
Madeleine looked down, avoiding her brother’s glaring eyes. “It was an accident.”
“What the hell were you thinking, Madeleine? How could you be so stupid?” he shouted.
She bit her lip to keep her tears from spilling over. “I didn’t mean to. It was just that one time. I’m sorry.”
“What the hell are you going to do? Dammit! I thought you were more responsible than that.”
That did it. An ocean of tears spilled over her cheeks. “Please, stop it. You’re just making things worse. Can’t you see? I feel bad enough about this already, without you screaming at me for it.”
“I’m really disappointed in you right now, to say the least. I thought we went over that. That was a pretty dumb thing to do.”
“God, Brian, don’t you think I know that?” She hesitated. “I’m scared. I don’t know what to do.”
“I really can’t help you with that. That’s something you’re going to have to figure out with Nick,” he said brusquely. “Why don’t you get some rest? We’ll talk about what to do in the morning.”
She crawled under the covers and buried her face in her pillow. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.