Just Flowers Chapter 10 - WOO!

~~As you can tell, I'm excited about this. There are only seven chapters left, and I'm done. WOO!~~

The next thing she knew, it was morning. The sun shone bright through the curtains and a strange tune called from on top of her desk. Bryn answered her cell phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Bryn?"
"Yeah?'
"Hey. It's Lucas."
"Lucas? What're you doing? I said I don't want to see you again."
Ellie made a noise and turned over in her bed.
"I know, but every time you say that, you go back on your word."
"Like when?"
"When you slammed the door in my face at your house then came out to my car. Besides, you don't kiss with that much passion and not mean it."
"I was mad. The kiss didn't mean anything. And why are you calling me this early? How did you get my number?"
"I asked Jodie for it. I only called you on your cell because I didn't want Ellie to answer."
"You know we share a room - oh right. Of course you do."
"I never said I was doing the right thing. She was the one who pressured me into it."
"Again and again and again?"
Lucas laughed. "No. It just became habit."
"Don't need to know that."
"Why haven't you hung up yet?"
"Do you want me to?"
"No, it's just that I thought I'd have to keep calling to have a simple conversation with you."
Bryn sighed. She knew exactly why she didn't hang up.
"You're scared."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"No, it's okay. When I figured it out for the first time I was terrified too."
"Figured what out - and I'm not afraid of anything happening or not happening between us."
"Bryn, I know you know what I feel. I know you feel the same."
"I don't love you."
"Don't love who?" Ellie asked angrily from beside her sister.
"Nobody, Ellie." She turned back. "Ellie's awake," she said to Lucas.
"I'd better go then," Lucas said.
Ellie grabbed the phone. "Lucas is that you? Lucas? Lucas! I know what the fuck you're doing so you might as well give it up!" she screamed. Lucas had hung up already and the silence on the other side made Ellie scream. She threw the phone down, breaking it against the floor and a leg of the desk. Bryn cried out.
"What the hell was that for?"
"What d'you think? Maybe for stealing my goddamn boyfriend." Ellie slapped her sister straight across the mouth.
Bryn stood up and pushed Ellie backwards, then watched as she tripped over her own feet and fell to join the carpet.
"Don't fucking slap me."
They stood frozen, watching each other, mapping out their next moves.
"I wouldn't if you weren't screwing Lucas," Ellie said, wiping off her legs defeated. She got up.
"You're one to talk."
"I don't want to hear your voice anymore. As of now, I have no sister."
Bryn was taken aback. "Ellie," she pleaded.
After everything I've done for her!
"No. I don't want to hear it. God, are you deaf or something?"
"Ellie, you don't understand. He... called my number by mistake. I told him you were asleep. He, uh, told me to tell you he loved you and I was just joking around."
"Bull."
"No, really." Bryn got off her bed and took her sister by the hand. "I wouldn't ever do anything with Lucas. There's nothing in the whole world I want more than to protect you. Why else would I get so mad when I... walked in on you guys?"
Ellie looked away, sulking.
"Okay," Bryn said, letting her sister's hand fall. "If you really need some proof, I'll tell you a secret. Maybe you'll be able to trust me then."
Ellie's eyes lit up. "I'm listening."
"Okay, but you have to absolutely promise over everything sacred to you and if you so much as hint to anyone about what I'm about to tell you may you be hit by lightening on the spot."
Ellie rolled her eyes. "Deal."
"Deal. All right. Here it goes." She took a deep breath and took her sister's shoulders. She looked into her face, into her eyes and said, "Jen was pregnant."
"Holy hell you're joking."
"Never."
"Holy crap. Oh my god. I'm actually speechless." She fluttered her hand like a fan upon her chest as Bryn explained what little she knew.

Once she had gotten everything out, Bryn could see a gleam of forgiveness in her sister's eyes.
"So how did you find out that she was pregnant?" Ellie asked, brushing her teeth from the bathroom.
"It was in-" she stopped herself thinking greedily of the notebook. If she told Ellie about it, she would want to see it and read it and it would no longer be only hers. "In an email. A really old one. I forgot to open it."
"How can you forget to open something like that?"
"It's not like she wrote 'I'm pregnant' in the subject line. It was really... sort of coded. She didn't actually come out and say it."
"Well how do you know then?" Ellie asked, wiping her mouth, exiting the bathroom.
Bryn thought. "Now that I've had time to think about it, I don't see how I didn't see it before. She was always sick and home from school," she lied. "Even on the day she-"
Ellie looked to the floor and Bryn gulped. "Never mind."
After a moment, Ellie spoke. "Hey could you send the email to me so I can see it?"
Shit. Another hole. Better dig deeper I guess.
"Uh... yeah. Sure."
"Ellie, time for-" Their mother walked in and stopped abruptly when she first caught sight of Bryn.
"I thought you ran away," Angelica said, taking a defensive stance in the doorway.
"Did you look for me?"
She folded her lips together. "Honestly? No. I was still mad, and by the time I realized I should have, you could've been out of the province."
Bryn nodded her head. "Could you maybe get out? I need to change."
"Yeah." Angelica left with a trembling lip and Bryn could hear her crying from the other room.
Ellie came back from the hallway and asked, "What did you say? She's crying."
"I just asked her to leave so I could change," Bryn replied, pulling a David Copperfield magic trick to change her shirt. "She'll get over it."
Her sister sighed. "Speaking of having to change..."
"What?"
"Where were you all night?"
"Why, were you worried?" Bryn mocked.
"No. Mom was."
"Sure she was."
"Fine. Believe what you want. Now tell me where you were," she demanded, landing from a jump on the edge of her bed.
"I stayed at Will's."
"And?"
"Nothing."
"Come on, Bryn. You guys are spending too much time together for you to pull the wool over my eyes. Spill."
"Just because I stay the night with a guy, doesn't mean I stayed the night with him."
"Ah, so you admit you slept together."
"I never said that."
"But you implied it."
Bryn cocked her head. "I slept on the couch and he slept in his room. Happy?" She continued getting dressed. As she brushed her hair, she saw out of the corner of her eye that Ellie was sulking again.
"You said you trusted me," she whined.
"Fuck," Bryn sighed. "What's it gonna take for you to stop moping?"
Ellie smiled, biting her tongue. "Tell me about what happened."
"Nothing happened. I told you."
"Did you have sex? I can tell when you're lying."
"Ugh!"
"Come on, Bryn. We're sisters. Sisters are supposed to tell each other everything."
Bryn looked at Ellie, who looked back. She knew her sister wouldn't give up until she knew the story, extracted every detail she could.
There were problems with that, though, and Bryn knew it. Ellie had once been sworn to secrecy over a situation involving a broken vase and hiding a stray cat. In the end, Bryn was grounded for three months and had to eat dinner from the foot of her bed.
Ellie was sneaky.
Ellie was conniving.
Bryn didn't know if she had been fully forgiven, and knew anything she told her sister could, and on the right occasion, would be used against her.
But she would be out of the house soon, just a few weeks. It wouldn't matter if her mother knew. Right then, Bryn couldn't care if her mother knew any of the things she had been kept secret from her because of the "sisters pact."
She would tell her.
"All right. Define sex."
"Ooo! Bryn had sex! Did you... get off?"
"Shit Ellie, just make you mind up about things. Use your imagination."
She didn't want to talk to her little sister about what went on inside her.
"Well?"
"Well?" Bryn mocked, pressing her hands to her face to cool it.
"If you want me to trust you and know that you trust me, we shouldn't have any secrets anymore."
There was the bear trap. She could deny Ellie anything more and risk her causing trouble with Lucas or she could tell her that she couldn't go through with it. Or she could lie.
"If I tell you, you can't play the 'trust' card again. Ever. This is the big one. I'll tell you because I trust you." She looked around and made sure Ellie acknowledged their agreement. "I didn't have an...orgasm. But he did."
"Now you're in my world." Ellie smiled and hugged her sister, fake crying. "Now we're the best of friends forever."
Bryn rolled her eyes, pushing Ellie away. "Now get out. I have to finish getting ready."

The two sisters walked to school at a quarter past eight and separated as the bell for first period rang. Bryn sat down in math class next to Connor.
"Hey," she whispered.
"Oh, hey."
"I need to talk to you."
"Can it wait?"
"Why? You don't do your math during class anyways."
"Bryn, finals are coming and I need to get good marks so I don't have to do this year over again."
"Connor, it's serious. Like really desperately serious."
"Would you two like to leave?" the teacher asked, directing the attention of the entire class to them.
"No Mr. Simpson," they said in unison, trapping smiles behind their eyes.
"The class continued. Ten minutes later Bryn poked Connor in the arm.
"We need to talk," she mouthed.
"Leave me alone," he mouthed back, smiling.
She tore a piece of paper from her scribbler and wrote the three words that would get the desired effect from him.
'It's about Jen'
She passed it to him and watched his eyes widen as he read. He turned it over and wrote a reply on the back and returned it to her.
'Meet me after class'

And she did.
Bryn pulled him to an empty section of the hallway and began.
"I don't want to be intruding or anything, but for the sake of so many things, I have to ask. Did you hand Jen... have sex?"
"What? No! I mean, I know most guys would try to make themselves look better but, yeah, no. No we didn't."
"Damn."
"What? Would it be better if we had?"
"No, sorry. It's just... actually never mind."
Bryn started walking away, disheartened. She had come so close.
Connor caught her arm and squeezed, Bryn thought, unintentionally.
"Why? What, I mean there was something-"
"No. Well I guess I can tell you. But you can't say anything."
"Okay," he said, shaking his head eagerly.
"She was pregnant." His grip loosened entirely and his hand dropped.
"Shit. I shouldn't have said anything," Bryn said, regretting so many things.
"No, it's okay. It's good actually."
"You're not mad?"
"Why would I be mad - oh yeah. Well it doesn't change anything. I mean, if we were still together, yeah, I mean I'd be pissed, but..." he trailed off, staring blankly into the hall.
"Sorry Connor. I should've kept my mouth shut."
"No, no. It's good."
"You sure? Man, I really feel like an asshole," Bryn said, holding her hand to her forehead hoping it would turn back time.
"No, it was an honest mistake. You're beautiful. You're wonderful."

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May 1

Jen checked the mailbox adjacent to the door outside the house and brought to the kitchen table a pile of varying sizes of envelopes and flyers. She began sorting, with one particular envelope in mind.
"Flyer. Junk. Bill. Junk. Flyer. Flyer. Aha!" She pulled a large brown envelope from the middle of the pile and sat down next to the mess she had made.
Staring at the thing in her hands, her eyes greedily looked over it. It was from the university in Quebec she applied to a few months before. The package was thick, so that meant there was good news inside.
"Good news. Happy thoughts," Jen cooed to herself, feeling a bit nauseous.
Her stomach rumbled and she suddenly got up and just made it to the sink before throwing up. She rinsed the sink, then her mother and wondered if she would've been less grossed out if he had puked on the floor.
"Probably, but anyways..." Jen replied to herself, combing through her hair with her gingers. Sitting back where she had left, Jen thumbed the envelope and dog-eared the corner.
She shook her head to clear her mind and tore open the letter.
"Dear Miss Currant... da, da, da... we are pleased to inform you..." Jen dropped the letter and jumped up, pushing her chair back in excitement.
"I got in!" she yelled. "I got in! I got in!"
She jumped around the kitchen and into the living room, then started dancing, flailing her arms around in disbelief. "I got in!"
Jen moved in front of a mirror in the front hallway. "I did it. I actually did it. I-" She touched her stomach. "Shit. Shit! How could I forget about this?"
She slammed her hand into her head and cried. "What am I supposed to do? How can I get out."
Sitting for a long time, not knowing what to do, Jen cried. "I can't have a baby," she argued. "But I don't want someone else raising something I made."
The phone rang.
"Probably Mom again," she sighed, ready to pick up and immediately hang up.She read the caller ID. It was an unknown number.
"Hello?"
"Hi, uh... Jen?"
"What d'you want Connor?"
"I just want to talk."
"Don't you even. I never want to talk to you again. Not after what you did to me."
"What did I do?"
"You know goddamn well what you did," Jen yelled, then hung up. She cried harder, breathed unsteadily and clutched her chest, hoping it would help the situation.
The room swirled.
Jen dropped, hitting the back of her head on a chair on the way to the floor.
Lights out.

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