Page 72 of Honest With You

“Can someone please tell me what’s going on here?”

“Yeah, Dad. Enlighten us,” Stephen echoes, “Since you seem to have everything figured out.” He quirks an eyebrow, his jaw ticking.

I’m shaking my head, trying to calm myself down. I feel my grasp on my self control slipping. My knees start to shake and I have to rub my palms over them to help alleviate some of the panic rising.

I’m overwhelmed with so much emotion.

The pain of being in the same room as Jesse.

The resentment I feel in dad’s presence.

The fear of disappointing my brother when he finds out about my pregnancy, along with symptoms that chose this moment to come back.

Dad stares at Stephen for longer than necessary until his gaze sweeps the room.

Addressing no one in particular, he hangs his head.

“The reason I called everyone here–and son, I meant to call you as well but I was told you were taking your finals–” Stephen scoffs, but dad continues unperturbed, “--is that we need to get ahead of this before Ava starts to show–” He makes a show of pointing at me, “--or someone tips off the media that she’s pregnant–”

“Dad–” I cut in, my eyes flying to Jesse’s as my dad drops the word carelessly..

Jesse stills before he slowly rises from his spot on the sofa. Mindlessly, he shrugs his mom off, his eyes stuck on me. He’s shaking his head profusely like he’s in a trance. Like he’s trying to convince himself what he heard wasn’t real.

His eyes make a slow perusal of my body, pausing at my abdomen. He swallows hard, his jaw tensing with the movement before his eyes stop completely on mine, begging me to tell him the truth.

“Ava… You’re- you're pregnant?”

Stiffly, I nod once. I’m uncomfortable with all the attention in the room on me which dad must sense because he starts talking again.

“Unfortunately, I have to fly to New York for a press junket tomorrow, so tonight was the only night I could make it here–”

Stephen marches over to our father, his finger pointing accusingly at him.

“Are you kidding me right now? Again with your stupid business shit? Do you hear yourself, Dad? A press junket is more important than Ava? You’ve been gone for months now. Where the hell do you come off doing this? I am sick of you putting everything else above us.”

Our dad sighs, trying to placate Stephen by gripping his shoulder, which he promptly shoves off. Our father’s brows meet, unable to comprehend why Stephen is so mad. As though he didn’t just ambush us with this meeting, without giving me the option to talk to Jesse or even my brother first.

Uncle Adam pipes up from his spot by the arm of the couch. Heaving an exaggerated sigh, he claps his hands once, then twice, as if calling the attention of the room.

“Okay. Well, we only really have two options, don’t we Luke? One, the kids get married and your PR team will release a statement saying they’re high school sweethearts. The media will eat that up, right? Or two, well…. we can pretend this never happened and Ava can.. well, you know…” He trails off, lifting a brow as he addresses my dad like Jesse and I aren’t even in the room.

How can he say that last part so callously like that?

I clear my throat, forcing his attention back to me.

“With all due respect, please stop talking like we’re not in the room.”

Uncle Adam laughs almost mockingly as he juts a thumb at me, turning his attention back to my dad. My father frowns back at him.

Jesse’s entire demeanor changes. His jaw locks as his fists bunch up at his sides, and he lets out a small growl when he turns to his dad. His mom gets in between them, sensing a possible altercation.

Then, it happens. The entire mood shifts from somber to explosive.

Everyone starts shouting over each other and I can’t see anything but Jesse, whose emotions are playing out on his face. His head swings back and forth between his dad and me. His anger at his dad is evident but it’s everything else that captures my attention.

The fear, the confusion… the determination when he looks back at me, like he’s trying to convey so much with a single look.

I feel Reese squeezing my hand. I break the connection to look at her, but she's slack-jawed as she stares at Stephen. Our brother is now getting in our dad's face about being an absentee father. Meanwhile, our dad stands absolutely stunned as he takes in every word Stephen spews at him.

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