Chantal Fernando - Toxic Girl

“Gray,” I say, shaking his shoulder. His eyes open, and then a smile forms on his lips. “Dylan’s here.” That gets his attention.

“Dylan?” he asks, brows drawing together. “What the fuck?”

“She’s at the door,” I say, shrugging. I have no idea what’s going on, or why she’s here. He gets out of bed and throws on a pair of jeans. “And a shirt.”

He stops at the door, turns back and grabs a white t-shirt, sliding it over his head. I follow him as he walks to the door.

“What are you doing here?” he asks her. Instead of answering, she runs to him, and wraps her arms around him. He stiffens, shooting me an apologetic look.

“I had a fight with Dad. I have nowhere else to go, so I was hoping I could stay here. You always said if I needed a place to crash…”

I see him mouth the word fuck. “That was before, Dylan, and you know it. Paris lives with me now, so I’m going to have to retract that offer.”

I tap my foot, watching the scene unfold. “You’re going to turn me away because of her?”

“Yes,” Grayson says. “I love her. You need to find somewhere else to stay if you’re having issues with your parents.”

She takes a step back from him and turns her head to stare at me. “I have nowhere else to go. I thought I could always crash here if I needed to, because that’s what you told me!”

“Go stay at Leah’s, or my parents then,” Grayson says, looking frustrated. He keeps sending me little worried glances.

“She knows we’ve fucked before, Grayson. I was your first after all,” she says, looking at me as she says it. Riiiigghhht. Well, I’m fucking done. As I turn away, I hear Grayson calling out my name. I ignore him and go back into our room and flop on the bed. It’s always something, isn’t it? I rub my forehead, feeling a migraine coming on. I can hear Grayson and her arguing at the front door, but I try to block them out. She was his first? I don’t want to be jealous, I don’t. It doesn’t change the fact that I am.

He enters the room a few minutes later, his face drawn, and his head down. “I’m so sorry she came here, babe. Please don’t be mad. I told her she can’t stay here.” He moves closer to me. “She’s just starting shit. Don’t let her win,” he says, sitting next to me and putting his hand on my hip.

“She’s such a bitch,” I growl.

Grayson exhales, looking down at me. “I know. She just wanted to hurt you. Fuck her.”

“Well, she succeeded,” I say.

“Paris…”

“She was your first! She will always have that piece of you. I get it—I do. I don’t have to like having it shoved in my face, though,” I say, getting up and heading to the bathroom. I lock the door behind me and lean against it. Sliding down to the floor, I sit there. Thinking. He knocks a few times and gently says my name. He pleads with me. I ignore him. I start to feel a little nauseous after a while. Grayson must still be on the other side of the door, because when I start to throw up, the knocks get louder.

“Open the door, Paris!” he growls.

“I’m fine!” I call out.

“No, you’re not. Please just open the door!”

I have a quick shower, brush my teeth then exit the bathroom. Grayson is sitting on the bed, his head in his hands. He looks up as soon as he hears me. “Are you ill?”

“I’m fine,” I say, ignoring his worried stares. I do math in my head. When was my last period? Did I skip any pills? Sometimes, I would forget one day, but take two the next day to make up for it. I was told that was okay by London, and she should know! I look at the time and curse. "I need to get to class.” And then I have a shift at work.

“Can we talk before you leave?” he asks, standing up.

“No, I don’t feel like talking right now,” I say, getting dressed in jeans and an off the shoulder black top.

“Don’t do this...”

“We can talk later tonight, okay? I just want to have some time right now,” I explain.

He agrees but doesn’t look too happy about it.

“What’s up your butt?” London asks, looking concerned.

“What’s with you and butts?” I ask dryly, throwing some of the empty beer bottles in the recycling bin.

“Don’t change the subject,” she says.

“Fine,” I huff. “Grayson and I had a fight. And then I threw up. And my period is late.”

Her blue eyes widen almost hysterically. “Information overload. Let’s go with the biggest shocker—pregnant?”

“I don’t know for sure,” I sigh, plopping down on one of the stools. The place is dead.

“I’m going to be an aunty? I’m too young to be an aunty!” she says dramatically.

“How did I know you were going to make this about you?” I ask her, rolling my eyes.

She ignores my comment. “Did you tell Grayson?”

“No, there’s no point saying anything until I know,” I say, laying my forehead against the cool bar counter.

“The fact that you’re stressing about it… He should be right there with you, sis. What did you guys fight over?” she asks, blowing a bubble with her chewing gum.

“His ex-girlfriend showed up at the house. I got jealous and upset,” I say. “You can imagine the rest.” Aiden walks out and sees me lying face down on his bar, feeling sorry for myself.

“What’s wrong, Paris?” he asks, immediately coming over to me. “What did you do now, London?” he asks, his tone laced with humour.

“Me! I did nothing. Trust me, I don’t have the equipment for it,” she says. I lift my head up and look at him.

“I don’t think you want to know, trust me.”

“Try me,” he says, taking the seat next to me.

“Fought with Gray. Threw up. Didn’t get my period this month,” I say, summing it all up once more.

He’s silent for a moment. “We’ll get through it, whatever it is.”

I put my hand on my stomach. “A stripper getting pregnant at my age—I’m a walking stereotype!”

“You don’t know for sure,” London pipes in. “Plus girls get pregnant much younger than that nowadays. Trust me”

I shoot her a look. “Not helping, London.”

“We’ll get a test on the way home. How about that?” she says.

“Yeah, okay. Thanks,” I say, forcing a smile.

“What’s family for, right? To be with you when you do stupid shit!” Her comment should make me angry, instead I start laughing. It’s one of those moments. The ones where you can either laugh or cry.

I choose to laugh.

“How do you pee on this without getting pee on your hand?” London asks, staring at the pregnancy test. We stopped at her house to do it, and I feel more relaxed than I would be at home. Probably because Grayson would be banging on the door and asking what’s wrong.

“Do you want to try one and see?” I ask her, biting my lip at the confused look on her face.

“Hurry up and do it. I’m dying here.”

“Get out. I’m not peeing in front of you,” I say, pushing her out of the door.

“Fine,” she pouts. I close the door and do my business. I walk out holding the stick, put it on the table and wash my hand. We stare at each other silently for a few moments, each of us looking down at the test but not studying it.

“Time yet?” she asks. I nod. We both lean our heads down at the same time, staring at the two pink lines on the test. Shit.

“Fuck your life,” I hear London mutter under her breath.

“Thanks for the support,” I snap, glaring at her. My phone starts ringing. Grayson.

“Good song choice,” London muses at my Katy Perry ringtone.

“Pay attention!” I growl. Instead, she starts singing the damn song. The phone rings out so I quickly send Grayson a message so he doesn’t worry.

With London, be home in ten mins. XxX

“What do I do?” I ask. “I’m going to do another test, see if it says the same thing.” I hear London mutter something about denial, but ignore her. I then realise I don’t need to pee anymore so I’ll have to wait. “Can you drop me home now?” I ask.

“Yeah, no problem,” she says, grabbing her keys. We open the front door to leave, when I see Grayson himself standing out the front leaning against the wall.

“Guess you won’t need that ride after all,” she says, kissing me on the cheek, waving to Grayson before walking inside and closing the door.

“You okay?” he asks, pushing off the wall.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What are you doing here?” I ask as we walk to the car.

“What am I doing here? I was worried about you. Have been all day. I thought you were running…”

“Just because of this morning?” I ask, surprised. I’m not going to get chased off by some random ex, even though it pissed me off. And hurt. A lot.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I tell him. He opens the door for me to get in. I think about what to say to him the whole way home. He’s never even mentioned whether he likes children or not, so I have no idea what to expect from his reaction.

“What’s going on in that head of yours, Paris?” he finally asks when we get home.

I bite my bottom lip. “We need to talk about something.”

He takes my hand and pulls me to our bedroom. His fingers tighten on mine before they let go, and he watches me with concern in his eyes. “I’m freaking out here, babe,” he says when I stay silent. He’s not the only one.

“There might be a slight possibility…” Okay, more than slight. “I’m pregnant,” I blurt out. Grayson stares at me for a few seconds, as if he didn’t understand what I said. He blinks. I wave my hands in front of his face. “Gray,” I say slowly.

“You’re pregnant?” he finally says, looking down at my flat stomach.

“Yeah, I mean, I think so. I did one test and it was positive, but they could be wrong I guess. I’ll have to go to the doctor’s tomorrow and see for sure,” I ramble on nervously.