Page 84 of Obligation
“Where’s Tiff?” she asked and glanced around them and down the hall.
A second later, Tiffany rushed off the elevator and toward their room. Carissa stepped farther into the room and waved for them to come in.
“What’s the emergency?” Tiff asked, panting and out of breath. “I legit just walked out of class and ran across campus.”
Carissa cringed. “Sorry. I forgot you were in class.” She closed the door, then turned to face her friends and brother. “I need your help.”
“With what?” Garrett asked, head tilted.
Taking a deep breath, Carissa licked her lips. She’d called them here to come clean about everything, and she couldn’t change her mind now. “Y’all might want to sit down.”
Tiffany eyed her suspiciously, but she didn’t hesitate to sink down onto her bed. She was still breathing heavy, but her face was no longer red with the exertion of running all the way here.
“You’re starting to scare me,” Cory said as he sat next to Tiffany.
“Yeah, me too.” Garrett sat on Tiffany’s other side.
Now or never.Carissa sat on her bed so that she was facing everyone. She twisted her hands in her lap. Where did she even start? She wasn’t quite ready to tell them about the miscarriage just yet, but she had to tell them about everything else.
“Danny and I broke up,” she said.
“Yeah, we know.” Cory shifted on the bed, closer to Tiffany.
“Right.” Carissa nodded. “Things haven’t been so great between us lately.”
“Yeah, we know that, too,” Garrett said.
Carissa frowned and exhaled heavily. “Then I’m sure you all know Danny’s cheated on me, too. I mean, he had another girl in his room during the bonfire after party.”
All three of them nodded sympathetically, guilt flashing across their faces.
“That wasn’t the first time he’s done something like that,” Carissa said softly. “At the end of last semester, just before he left to go home for the summer, he’d cheated on me with Lily.”
“The cheerleader?” Tiffany asked, eyes wide.
“Yup.” Carissa sighed. “He swears all they did was kiss and make out a little, but I’m not sure I believe him.”
Garrett grunted and shook his head. “Why the hell would he do that? You two were so great together.”
Carissa shrugged, but she did know why. Her secret burden hung over her head like an anvil suspended by dental floss. The threat of tears burned her throat and nose. She was tired of lying and shouldering all the pain and shame on her own.
“It’s my fault,” she whispered and lowered her head.
“Stop it,” Tiff snapped. “The only person responsible for Danny cheating is Danny.”
Tears pooled in Carissa’s eyes, and she lifted her head to look first at her twin brother, then her two best friends in the entire world. They deserved to know the whole truth.
“I started to pull away from him before he ever cheated. He could feel that I was becoming more and more distant.” Tears trickled down her cheeks. “I had found out I was pregnant, and I was terrified.”
Tiffany gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
“What?” Cory said. “You’re pregnant? Do Mom and Dad know?”
“Iwaspregnant,” she emphasized. “The night Danny was with Lily, I had a miscarriage. I was in the hospital, alone and scared and confused, and he was with another girl.”
“Oh, Carissa, honey.” Tiffany moved over to sit beside Carissa and pulled her into a hug. “I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”
“Me too,” Garrett said, moving to sit on Carissa’s other side. He gently rubbed her back.
