Four Weeks Later:

Kayleigh slowly slid down the tiled wall of the bathroom and onto the floor. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she tried desperately to stop the tears that were mercilessly streaming down her face. She sat like that for what seemed like an eternity, wondering how she could’ve let something like this happen.

“Kayleigh?” She heard Brooke call from the living room of the apartment that they shared. “Kay, are you here?” Kayleigh opened up her mouth to speak but no words came out. She balled up her fist in her mouth, trying to stifle the sobs that escaped.

“Kayleigh?” Brooke called again, the sound of her voice getting closer to the bathroom. A second later the door flung open to reveal a very worried-looking Brooke. She quickly rushed over to Kayleigh, scared by the state that her best friend seemed to be in. “Kayleigh, honey, what’s wrong?” Kayleigh could do nothing but cry harder as Brooke knelt down in front of her and wrapped her arms around her. “Kayleigh, tell me what’s wrong. You’re scaring me.”

“I’m…I’m…” Kayleigh couldn’t get the words out. She couldn’t believe this was happening. How could she have been so stupid? So careless?

“You’re what, honey?” Brooke questioned, softly, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. Kayleigh was scaring her. “Just tell me. I can only help you if you tell me what’s wrong.”

Kayleigh took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her speeding heart. “I’m pregnant,” she finally admitted.

Brooke’s eyes widened “What?!” Her sudden outburst only caused Kayleigh’s tears to fall harder and faster and she immediately felt awful. “Kayleigh, I didn’t mean it like that. But how? When? Who?”

“Memphis…Nick…oh god,” Kayleigh cried. “What the hell do I do?”

“Are you positive?” Brooke asked, carefully. “I mean, did you go to the doctor?”

Kayleigh nodded. “I’m absolutely positive. What am I going to do, Brooke? I’m in love with my best friend, I’m having his baby, and he’s hung up on someone else.”

Brooke stood up and pulled Kayleigh up with her. “Come on. You need to lie down. You’re not doing yourself or the baby any favors by getting yourself so worked up. Come on.” Brooke led Kayleigh into her room and helped her lay down on the bed.

“What am I going to do, Brooke?” Kayleigh whispered.

“Just tell Nick,” Brooke advised. “He’s a stand-up guy. He wouldn’t leave you in a time like this.”

“That’s not the point!” Kayleigh exclaimed. “I love him. This baby was conceived out of love. But only on one part. The other just needed an escape. An escape from the pain of losing Lauren. I don’t mean anything to him.”

“How can you say that?” Brooke cried. “So he’s not in love with you. But he still loves you. He’d never let anything bad happen to you. He’d take responsibility for this.”

“I can’t do that to him,” Kayleigh told her. “I can’t tie him down like that. Force him to be with me because of a baby. Maybe I should just lie and tell him it’s someone else’s.”

“You can’t do that, Kay,” Brooke warned. “That’s not fair to anyone and you know it. When that baby is born and looks exactly like Nick, he’s going to know. You can’t hide that from him. Just tell him. That’s the only way that things are going to work out.”

Kayleigh nodded slowly. “What do I tell my mom, though? She’s going to kill me. This is the one thing that she’s always preached about. I wouldn’t be surprised if she disowned me.”

“She’s your mother, Leigh,” Brooke pointed out. “She wouldn’t desert you either. No matter what parents say, most would never leave their children out to dry in a time like this.” She handed Kayleigh her cordless phone. “Now call,” she instructed.

“Who?” Kayleigh questioned.

Brooke rolled her eyes. “Either Nick or your mother. You choose.”

Kayleigh shoved her hand out of the way. “I can’t right now. I need to clear my head first.” Brooke put the phone back down.

“Fine,” she conceded. “You take a nap. But as soon as you wake up, you better call both of them. Now do you need me to stay here tonight with you?”

“No,” Kayleigh told her. “Are you going to Brad’s?”

Brooke nodded. “I was going to. But I’ll stay with you.”

“No you go ahead,” Kayleigh said. “I’ll be okay. I just need to sleep or something. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Brooke turned to walk away but Kayleigh’s voice stopped her. “Brooke, please don’t tell anyone about this. Promise me no matter what, you won’t.” Brooke nodded and gave her a hug and then left to go spend the night with her boyfriend, leaving Kayleigh all alone with her thoughts.

A few hours later, Kayleigh woke up with the intention of calling Nick and telling him everything. Well, everything about the baby, that is. No matter how much she didn’t want to tie him down, she knew he had a right to know. She leaned over and picked up her phone from the nightstand. Dialing Nick’s cell phone number, she listened to the three rings before it was answered.

“Hello?” a voice filtered through.

“Nick?” she asked tentatively. She hadn’t spoken to him in three weeks, the longest that they had gone for a while.

“Kayles?” he asked, surprised, his heart fluttering at the tone of her voice.

“Yeah, it’s me,” she answered, softly. “There’s something I need to tell you but first, how are you?”

“Great!” he lied. Thing was he missed her and no matter how much he tried to deny it or push it away, he was falling in love with her. “I finally talked to Lauren.” Kayleigh’s heart sank to her knees. She knew what the next words out of his mouth were going to be. “She wants to try and work things out.” Tears rolled steadily down her face. This was wrong. This was so wrong.

‘Tell me you love me, Kayles. Tell me you love me and I’ll forget about Lauren. I just need to hear you say it.’

“I’m happy for you,” Kayleigh lied. Her heart was shattered. How could she do this to him? How could she tie him down with so much responsibility when he was clearly in love with someone else?

“Thanks,” Nick said, wistfully. All he wanted was a hint. Something to tell him that she felt something for him like he did for her. “Now what was it that you needed to tell me?”

Kayleigh took a deep breath. Should she tell him or not? “I…I…uh…I found a really cool birthday present for Angel and Aaron and thought maybe you could go in on it with me,” she quickly covered. ‘What the hell was that you coward?’ she thought.

“Okay,” Nick replied, making a face into the phone. That was what she had wanted to tell him? “Just let me know how much.” The two talked for a few more awkward minutes and then Kayleigh said she had to go.

After she hung up the phone, she sat on her bed staring at a picture of herself and Nick taken last summer in Europe. There was no way she could do this to him. This would not only destroy whatever chance he had left with Lauren but could also destroy his career. What would the entertainment industry, the fans, the press, his friends, his family, anyone think of an unmarried teenaged kid fathering a baby with someone he wasn’t even in love with? They would eat him alive and that was something Kayleigh wasn’t ever going to allow. He had worked so hard to gain respect in his career and she wasn’t about to ruin that.

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